[Conumdrum]

Ahh, the crux of being thorough and treating watercooling like a hobby. Cherish each moment as you play with the parts.

Radiators can have gunk in them, not as bad as the old days. The blocks have very small channels that can get clogged.

My first pump had bits of packing foam in it. Nuff said.

If new at watercooling your totally lost when your loop is clooged after 2 weeks. Dunno why your tubing is already cloudy. No clue why. Etc Etc Etc.

Thats why you take it ohh so slow and have fun with it. Not for everyone............Even your research is a slow, plodding fun time. Maybe this post, made long ago, and updtaed will help.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...96&postcount=3

[KyoKris]

Totally new to water cooling and this forum. This is exactly what i was looking for.
thanks

[hokiealumnus]

Welcome to OCF!

[Comedie]

sorta skips over the possibility to buy an already assembled and ready to plug in system like the Corsair H series coolers. Surely something labeled 'Beginner's Guide' should at least mention that!

[hokiealumnus]

Most of those are pretty on-par with top air coolers, plus it takes none of the skills or knowledge outlined to use one, hence they weren't mentioned.

[m0r7if3r]

Originally Posted by Comedie

sorta skips over the possibility to buy an already assembled and ready to plug in system like the Corsair H series coolers. Surely something labeled 'Beginner's Guide' should at least mention that!

Quit trollin.

[Comedie]

Originally Posted by hokiealumnus

Most of those are pretty on-par with top air coolers, plus it takes none of the skills or knowledge outlined to use one, hence they weren't mentioned.

So not really "Beginners" but "Intermediates".
I was sorta poking at the Corsair H100, and considering adding a reservoir and some tube length to it with a slight mod. At the minimum, at least adding a T to a dead-end high pipe with cap.

[hokiealumnus]

So, at that point it becomes a full water loop. Your pump & block are just one unit. Everything else is the same and the principles and lessons taught in the guide would apply perfectly. Thus, if you're considering modding an all-in-one unit it ceases to be that and becomes discrete components just like are outlined throughout the guide, no?

[Comedie]

Originally Posted by hokiealumnus

So, at that point it becomes a full water loop. Your pump & block are just one unit. Everything else is the same and the principles and lessons taught in the guide would apply perfectly. Thus, if you're considering modding an all-in-one unit it ceases to be that and becomes discrete components just like are outlined throughout the guide, no?

Maybe. I was just surprised that it was titled a beginners guide and didn't mention the most simple solution to putting in watercooling.
The upper T as my minimum mod I didn't notice in the article. That was just a thought I had based on general plumbing and irrigation, when I noticed some H100 reviews saying they seemed to have some air bubbles in the loop and what sounded like impeller cavitation/deprivation.
If I was really going to mod, I would probably be thinking peltier refrigeration thoughts, or maybe evaporative cooling. But I doubt I bother. Mostly I'm just looking to build a reliable system that does what I and the family need with the fewest headaches and fuss. From the design and components I've been penciling in, water cooling seemed to be a nice thought,,, and so the article title caught my attention.

[m0r7if3r]

Originally Posted by Comedie

Maybe. I was just surprised that it was titled a beginners guide and didn't mention the most simple solution to putting in watercooling.
The upper T as my minimum mod I didn't notice in the article. That was just a thought I had based on general plumbing and irrigation, when I noticed some H100 reviews saying they seemed to have some air bubbles in the loop and what sounded like impeller cavitation/deprivation.
If I was really going to mod, I would probably be thinking peltier refrigeration thoughts, or maybe evaporative cooling. But I doubt I bother. Mostly I'm just looking to build a reliable system that does what I and the family need with the fewest headaches and fuss. From the design and components I've been penciling in, water cooling seemed to be a nice thought,,, and so the article title caught my attention.

as far as most people here are concerned, all LCLC units are not watercooling, plain and simple. They are watercooling only in the most technical sense. They cost more than high end air coolers that outperform them and are really only useful for people who want to say their computer is watercooled but don't have the ability/desire to learn the stuff that is contained in this guide. There is no reason to mention them in this guide as they are on a completely different performance level and price range from real watercoolling...it'd be like mentioning you could use the stock cooler in a writeup about high end air coolers. Yea, the option is there, but it's not what you're looking for if you're reading that guide.

[evangs]

I've been reading about water cooling and researching for the last 5 years and finally pulled the trigger and am oh so happy. I remember when those prebuilt water cooling systems started coming out. I never once thought of buying one. Like m0r7if3r said, it ain't water cooling. It's not hard to build a custom loop if you do your research and learn everything you possibly can before even touching a part. then when you start building you go ahhhhh that's why they said to do it this way. ohhhh this makes sense. so yeah. don't buy prebuilt its lame and doesn't preform well. those things only have like a 120 rad on them anyway.....can barely handle cpu let alone adding in anything else.

[m0r7if3r]

Originally Posted by evangs

I've been reading about water cooling and researching for the last 5 years and finally pulled the trigger and am oh so happy. I remember when those prebuilt water cooling systems started coming out. I never once thought of buying one. Like m0r7if3r said, it ain't water cooling. It's not hard to build a custom loop if you do your research and learn everything you possibly can before even touching a part. then when you start building you go ahhhhh that's why they said to do it this way. ohhhh this makes sense. so yeah. don't buy prebuilt its lame and doesn't preform well. those things only have like a 120 rad on them anyway.....can barely handle cpu let alone adding in anything else.

Glad we could help, and well put

[evangs]

thanks!

[Crimson]

Very interesting!

Thanks!

[RobsterCraw]

Very helpful primer and instructions.

I found this article to be about as comprehensive as a novice like myself might judge it. Having read it several times and having performed a broader lit review, I think the one area where I still feel a little ignorant is in the combination/mounting of radiators and fans to cases. How important is it to leave X volume of airflow into/out of the case unobstructed by radiators? What types of case modifications/butchering is necessary to mount external radiators or accommodate more than a stock case can handle? stuff like that.

This is my first post. Haven't had a gaming PC since I was 21 playing BF2. The release of BF3 has inspired me to look into a nice quiet WC build, but that is for another thread.

[onetootreefor]

thanks for the write-up...Even on my 3rd loop build I read and learned some new things

[derek1387]

Thanks for the awesome How-To. I am working on doing my first WC custom loop in an NZXT Phantom, and this has proved invaluable! Thanksagain!

[hokiealumnus]

You're quite welcome, glad you guys found it useful!

[RobsterCraw]

on what must be my 6th read of it, I have some more thoughts.

It seems that despite the wealth of information, the stickies are not doing a great job of getting newbies to understand the basics of planning their loop. Since most newbies come with the intention of building a loop, then the crucial missing section or companion document that would be good to have in your guide is step-by-step guide to planning a loop. A lot of newbies might get done reading that and think, "ok, what do I do now?"

As a newbie I found the stickies helpful, but definitely didn't know how to go about figuring out what components to use and why. It took me a while to find the "how to figure out your delta T" guide with the formula for calculating heat load of OC'd CPUs. I think if you want newbies to get a grasp on the important concepts of WCing, then perhaps the first thing they need to know is that they need to plan their loop starting from the load.

Since I am a newbie this is only a suggested order:
Step 1: calculate your heat load
Step 2: ??
Step 3:etc

I know that in reality there is a lot of balancing of things like fan power and rad FPI, stuff like that, but I bet that if some of you experts gave it a little thought, you could come up with an optimum order of steps for planning a loop. I know that I'm not really qualified to do it.

[130rne]

Here's a question: I have a fountain pump from Lowe's and had thought of the heater core idea for a cheap water setup. I'm sure the pc water pumps are better quality, but the fountain pumps can run 24/7 and have similar flowrate for around half the cost. Do you know anyone who's used these cheaper pumps or what the specific differences are and if there's any reason not to use them? You mentioned the plug in pumps but didn't elaborate, and I'm thinking about this for my next mod.

Edit-btw, I'm a cheap b*s*a*d