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Beginner's Guide to Water Cooling Your PC *** READ THIS FIRST ***

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i almost prefer it under normal lighting! i love the sabretooth boards! I have been planning on making a custom Mobo cover for yonks but never got around to it.
 
I guess an update is due, I opted for the Caselabs SM8 which arrived last Tuesday. Moved hardware over to see what kind of room, routing, wiring etc I would have and need. Ordered these parts to trick it up a bit and get rid of the Dual Bay res.

G1/4" Matt Black Aqua-Pipe I Fitting
Water Tank Z-CAP - Three Port End Cap
XSPC RX 480 Rad
Bitspower S/Dual D5 Top Upgrade Kit 250
Bitspower Dual D5 Mod Top
Bitspower D5 Pump Mod Kit
Bitspower 480 Rad Gasket
Razor SLI Flow Bridge - 3-slot

Hopefully will arrive next week and I can get started. Pic of the SM8 with Dual Bay res set up but not for long!
 
Strategic Approach

Firstly, I'd like to offer my thanks for a very helpful write-up. I am in the process of purchasing my second water-cooled PC, but I want to build the next myself, so finding this article was very helpful.

There are a couple of points I thought might be worth clarifying in your article, however... [ Maybe this is nonsense - I am sure you'll correct me if I am wrong].

First, in your explanation of components, you include details of things like different types of VGA water blocks that can be fitted to existing graphics cards. Absolutely true, but I wonder if it's wise to suggest to a water-cooling beginner that it might be a good idea to get a pre-water-cooled card for a first build? I wonder if it might help to keep a first build down to assembly only?

Next, a question. In the build that I'm currently waiting for [which is nearly complete] I notice that my friendly engineer has used exclusively "perpendicular" barbs - which is to say that all the tubing connects "straight on" to components. I have seen that many providers offer barbs that include either 45 or 90 degree turns, which can be employed to help make tube routing easier. My question is: does the use of "engineered bends" hamper water flow? Will this reduce flow rates or cause other problems?

Another question: in the system I'm currently commissioning, I have 2 completely discrete loops (a CPU loop with a dual radiator and a GPU loop to a triple rad). Neither of these loops have fill/drain ports. Chatting with my engineer, he explained that to fill the GPU loop he actually laid my tower case down on it's side, removed one of the port plugs on the GPU (a GTX680 that was supplied with a waterblock) and used this to fill the loop. This seems a bit "extreme" to me, and I wondered if it's easier to actually have a "fill point" with some hose routed to near the top of my case into which the coolant can be introduced? Are there specific guides for this?

Related question: when contemplating draining a loop, is there any reason why I can't fit a "T" piece near the "bottom" of a loop, with say an 18" length of "drain pipe" so that I can just set up a gravity-fed drain if required?

New topic question: Does the coolant in a system have an "effective life"? Is this something that needs to be changed like car oil, or can I keep fluid indefinitely? If it needs to be changed, how do I know when to do so?

Related question: if I am going to leave my PC switched off for a period of time - let's say a month or so, when I'm travelling - do I need to worry? Should I drain it before I go and re-fill on my return?

Final question: [ sorry, just feels like I'm asking lots and lots here, so better stop ]. The reason I am building a new machine is because my existing system has recently become BSoD-unreliable during CPU-intensive tasks - in other words, I think the entire machine is "on the way out". However, I am aware that BSoDs are happening only when the machine gets particularly warm - i.e. during a pretty intensive gaming session, or if I'm trying to convert a movie file from one format to another, say for editing home movies taken with a 1080p camera. So... I have done this sort of thing with my PC for the last 4-5 years without issues, with no mods or config changes. It feels as though the system has recently started to run warmer than expected. I wonder if some or part of my water cooling could be losing efficiency? I have used cans of compressed air to clear dust from radiators, checked cooling fans for reasonable air pressure, etc, but still have problems. I am wondering if my pump might be "slowing down"? Is this possible? If so, is there any way I can find out without stripping the entire WC circuit and starting over?

Sorry to ask so many questions...

Thanks in advance for any guidance!
 
This is just a 'Beginners Guide'. 7th grade info, lots of great ideas. We have probably 100 hours more, 200 hours if you dig in and become 'one' with watercooling.

So start your journey and begin to read and learn. Over the next few MONTHS, reading the stickies like research for a paper, and reading posts in this forum on a regular basis then all your questions will be answered. We don't want to spoon feed you but we will no matter what help you build a wonderful rig if you also work hard at it.

And if you have had a PC with watercooling for 4-5 years and have NOT done the annual 100% full tear-down of every bit then I can see why your having issues. Surprised it took that long.

Lastly, an engineer built your PC? Well just ask him to build another? Never knew an engineer was needed to build a PC. Nice, but not needed.

And no, I'm not answering any of your questions, give it a few weeks as you learn.
 
Thanks Conundrum... I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Annual tear-down? Oops...

I've built more than my fair share of air-cooled systems over the years, but was nervous about a water-cooled system, asked for help, and the engineer of my local PC shop was kind enough to offer to assemble the bits if I bought them:-

Xigmatek Elysium (non-windowed) Case
Gigabyte X79S-UP5-Wifi Mobo (Socket 2011)
Intel Core i7-3820, 3.6GHz Quad Core (which apparently is sweet and stable @ 4.2GHz)
32Gb of Kingston X Hyper-Beast 2400MHz RAM (4x8Gb)
EVGA GTX-680 GPU with supplier-fitted XSPC waterblock
XSPC Processor waterblock
1 x 360mm XSPC Triple Radiator (GPU Loop)
1 x 240mm XSPC Double Radiator (CPU Loop)
5 x Noctua NF-S12B ULN 120mm Fans
2 x Laing DDC Pumps with Integral XSPC Reservoirs
Pioneer BR-ROM and DVD-RW Drives
Zalman ZM1250 Platinum PSU
4-Slot Akasa "Drive Bay" Housing, to take up to 4 x 2.5" SSD/HDD Drives in a single 5.25" slot housing (4 direct SATA connectors to 6GB/s motherboard ports...)
 
nice read

this intro guide was great... it took me a long time to read it, but it was great... good helpfull knowledge base for any one getting into custom water loop. I do have one question I can't seem to find any thing on.... Now that I have my first water loop running, been running for about 2 weeks now; flawlessly might I add.. :) what I like to know is, I know I have to empty, and re-fill my loop once every 6 months or so... but is there any thing else I need to maintain on a regular basis... I'm using distilled water with a silver coil in it... I'm just wondering about pressure build up, etc... do I have to worry about that, or just keep an eye on the water level, and flush the systeme every 6 months...

Thanks a bunch...
 
Thanks!

No, there's nothing else to do really. Once a year you might want to take your blocks apart just to make sure there isn't any build up (plasticizer, for instance), but running distilled plus silver, there probably won't be much/any. Sounds like you did it right. :thup:
 
whoo hoo... Great... now, I want to start making this thing alot more cool... what are some cool things I can do to this loop to just simply make it look nicer. I've got this setup sitting inside my new NZXT Phantom 820 color white...
 
Post a pic of your rig and maybe we can make some suggestions :)

If you haven't already, coloured tubing with some LED lighting looks great. And depending on your reservoir, some places sell acrylic G1/4" plugs with LEDs built in to illuminate the water in the res.
 
Wow! That's a pretty sweet looking rig... I don't have a good enough camera at my disposal at the moment, but I will come back in here, and post pics withiin a day or so...
 
ok, and here I am, with a cheap A** webcam, sorry for the bad pictures, but this will give you good idea what my rig looks like now...

and I know it's nothing fancy to look at but, it will be when I get more mods done to this puppy.... and that's a NZXT phantom 820 for the tower.
 
Wow! That's a pretty sweet looking rig... I don't have a good enough camera at my disposal at the moment, but I will come back in here, and post pics withiin a day or so...
Thanks Destructor, as skorpien(who happens to be in my home province...lol) mentioned the G1/4 plugs that are set up for 5mm lights work great. I have one installed in the top res cap but you can also put a 3 or 4 port cap on the bottom of the res to shine light up into the res as well. I used 2 NZXT 2m LED sleeved strips around the outside edge of the case but you can string 'em anywhere. LED fans, cold cathodes and UV products are all a great way to dress up you're rig. You may have to get creative in wiring and placement of light switches, this is why I'm putting a 20 LED Station and power terminals on the backside to make the cable management cleaner. Good luck sir!!
 
Great to see a fellow Canadian on these forums :thup:

Seeing as everything's up and running, you may want to wait till the annual teardown and possibly replace those tubes with some coloured ones. Primochill has some great colours, and they've recently released some pearl UV variants (where were these when I was buying parts? *grumble grumble*).

Coupled with some UV lighting (either LED or cold cathode tubes) and those would look stellar.
 
Great to see a fellow Canadian on these forums :thup:

Seeing as everything's up and running, you may want to wait till the annual teardown and possibly replace those tubes with some coloured ones. Primochill has some great colours, and they've recently released some pearl UV variants (where were these when I was buying parts? *grumble grumble*).

Coupled with some UV lighting (either LED or cold cathode tubes) and those would look stellar.

yes, I agree with adding the extras your talking about... I just can't seem to find any where here in Canada to purchase any colored tubing... I'm hoping for UV Red, but now I have to go check out that "pearl UV variants" as I know nothing about what that thing is.. but you make it sound pretty cool.. :) My current 5 1/4 single bay reservoir really bites the big one too.. I need to replace that.... my tubing is the first thing I want to change though. and I've got all kinds of lights I can add all over the place... need the tubing to look nice first.. :)

PS. Where about in Canada are you located... I'm in eastern ontario... 1 hour South East of Ottawa.. :) nice storm brewing up around here.. lol
 
I forgot to mention one big thing that's been bugging me since I have this water system installed in my RIG Is it normal to be hearing like a cracking sound from my tower almost once every ½ hour or so.... sounds like metal expanding and stuff...

Any one got any thing on this one for me?

Thanks.
 
Don't really know about the cracking sound, but it does sound like it could be metal expanding. If you can, I would disconnect everything but the pump from the PSU, jump the PSU, and leave the pump running for a few hours and listen for the sound. If it doesn't happen then it's the case, but if it does it may be the pump...

The Primochill pearl tubing I'm talking about are these here at Performance-PCs. They don't have UV red in the pearl unfortunately, though they do have a "bloodshed red" colour (though I don't think it's UV reactive, not sure).

I know PPCs is not located in Canada, but I've ordered many things from them and the import duties/fees aren't that bad if you select USPS shipping.

Dazmode and NCIX are both Canadian and also carry tubing, though Dazmode doesn't carry Primochill and NCIX doesn't have the pearl.

I'm in Southern Alberta. We are on the tail end of a major flood actually. Our city declared a state of emergency and any low-lying areas near the river had to be evacuated. Thankfully I wasn't affected but I think the estimates were ~100,000 displaced due to the flood, though the water's now receding and everyone is helping to rebuild.
 
I forgot to mention one big thing that's been bugging me since I have this water system installed in my RIG Is it normal to be hearing like a cracking sound from my tower almost once every ½ hour or so.... sounds like metal expanding and stuff...

Any one got any thing on this one for me?

Thanks.
I'm in BC(Edmonton born) myself Destructor and I usually deal with Dazmode for my W/C supplies...like you he's in Ont. As far as the sound you are hearing, can you pinpoint the sound? I'm not familiar with using the type of pump you have as I use dual D5s.
 
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