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First attempt at watercooling; need advice or opinions

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rumking

Registered
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
SO this is my very first foray into watercooling. I am very excited about it. But I do need some advice and opinions of the parts I plan on purchasing befor I actually buy them. This is to cool the following system:

INtel E4300 (currently at 330x9)
Asus P5B Deluxe
EVGA 8800GTS SUperclocked.

Ok so this is what I have chosen so far

Pump - MCP655
Rad - Blacice Extreme II w/ Swiftech Radbox to mount in back of case
Resevior - Swiftech Micro resevior
CPU block - D-Tek Fuzion
Chipset block - ???
VGA Block - ???
Tubing - ???
Coolant - ???

Now I need advice on the components with the quetsion marks. I am not sure what type of chipset block to get. As for the VGA block, I want one that can be used if I decide to upgrade to a GTX. WHat tubing do you guys recommend and what is the best coolant available on the market.

Also, how do you guys feel about the micro resevior? SHould I just stick with a T-line?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.
 
Don't need a Chipset block. Air is fine. But if you must, HR-05(-SLI) if you must.

Instead of BIX, go with Thermochill, or Swiftech MCR-220.

VGA block: if you got the cash, Check out EK's full cover blocks, they rule. MCW60 + G80 adapters + 80mm fan is also a choice.

Masterkleer 7/16" ID 5/8" OD tubing will be good. It's cheap and very flexible.

Coolant: There's a lotta ways to go here. Premixed stuff is what I use (MCT-40), it's more expensive but you know it's the right stuff for whatever you use. Distilled water and antifreeze in a 90/10 mix + a couple drops of iodine also wil get the job done.

The Swiftech micro res is also a great product!



Hope that answers your Q's
 
I am gonna stay away from the north bridge waterblock then. I cant afford a thermochill, but I can definately go with the MCR220, is that better than the BIX??

One last thing, where would u set up the 80mm fan on the vid card if I dont go with the full cover waterblock?

Thanks
 
I would set up the 80mm to blow across the board, perpendicular. Like as it the 80mm was mounted on your side panel of your case.

I hear good things about the MCR220. I personally do not own one. I have a Black Ice Pro III which I like. If you can afford a Black Ice Xtreme, get it then.. Otherwsise I'd ay save yo' monies.
 
As stated above, not many of us cool the chipsets, but if you must there are a few good blocks out there. As far as tubing, I use 1/2" ID clear tubing that I picked up at Home Depot. Been running it in 2 different rigs now for over a year and no issues so far. As far as coolant, I don't have kids or pets to worry about so I use a distilled water/motor engine coolant/water wetter mix. It has worked so far as well without any problems. If you have pets, I would stay away from the engine coolants just in case there is an un-attended leak. I suggest reading the stickies related to that. :beer:
 
Chipset water block isnt that much more expensive than a HR-05. It doesnt reduce the pressure that much and cools down the NB much better than HR-05 will.

Thermochill is over-rated just get some decent fans and you will save a fair bit of coin.

Cant walk past silver tubes for their antimicrobial activity.

Once you get the silver tubes just use distilled water without the additives...

Danger Den do make nice GPU water blocks lots to chose from, never had a problem with mine.
 
Swiftech MCR220 or even 320 is the rad you want over the Black Ice. It performs better than the Black Ice Extreme.

Ditto on WonderingSoul's video block suggestion.

As for fluids, I personally feel MCT, Primochill, and the rest really add no benefit. I just use about 10% Pentosin to Distilled water with a few drops of alcohol-free povidone iodine and a drop of fish aquarium algaecide. Cheap but effective.

I prefer the 1/2"ID 3/4"OD Masterkleer over the 7/16"ID 5/8"OD. The 1/2" is easier to work with when it comes to getting onto barbs. But if you don't mind wrestling a bit and want less bulky tubing, then the 7/16" will work well for you. Mcmaster.com is a good place to get this. I would highly recommend staying away from the tubing Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. sells. It is very inflexible and doesn't bend well at all.
 
Mycobacteria said:
Cant walk past silver tubes for their antimicrobial activity.

Once you get the silver tubes just use distilled water without the additives...

what silver tubes are u speaking of?? Also whats a good fan to use with the Swiftech MCR-220? SOmething that is not ridiculously expensive like the SilenX.
 
rumking said:
what silver tubes are u speaking of?? Also whats a good fan to use with the Swiftech MCR-220? SOmething that is not ridiculously expensive like the SilenX.

Tygon makes silver tubing, along with black tubing as well. I use the clear 1/2"id 3/4"od and have a few tight bends with no kinks and i'm not using any coolsleeves or smartcoils. Here you go.

On my 8800gtx I am using an EK-FC8800 got it shipped for 116.00 directly from EK. 8800gtx never goes above 49c while gaming for hours on end.
 
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Hm, yeah at close to 4 bucks a foot, thats a lil on the high end there. Plus I would like to use some uv color dye and be able to enjoy it.
 
Yate loons are the fan weapons of choice, i.e. http://nexfan.com/yate-loon-orange-d12sl-12.html . They are inexpensive, have a great cfm to noise ratio, are very quiet, and undervolt very well.

As for the tubing thing, unless you just like silver colored tubing, the tygon antimicrobial tubing isn't worth it to me. A simple $5 of aquarium algaecide from Walmart is all you need to keep your PC algae free for the next 50 years (it only takes 1 drop per fill up).
 
The differnce between tygon R3603 and Tygon silver is only 25cents!!!!!

Voitigs 25 cents is next to nothing....

25 cents of 5 dollars worth of chemicals errrrrm I wonder what I would chose????

http://www.petrastechshop.com/tubing.html

Yes tygon is expensive stuff but its quality stuff.... chemical resistant, stain resistant, antimicrobial properties, doesnt leach plastisizers into the water, its soft and super flexable, resistant to autoclaving (yes i have an autoclave) etc etc etc....

Best of all..... NEVER have to clean the loop ever again...
 
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I didn't realize that there was only a .25c difference. I guess if you like the look of silver and are going to buy Tygon R3603 anyway, then yes, the extra .25c is well worth the added benefit. I use red fluid however so silver is out for me.

Tygon is good stuff, and I have used it before, but unless you have really tight bends, Masterkleer works just fine and is a lot cheaper. I personally just stick to Masterkleer. Its inexpensive, stays clear the longest out of anything else I have used, and gets the job done.
 
damn, decisions decisions. I dont forsee any tight bends currently since I will just be cooling cpu. But, once I add the vga block, i might have a couple of tight bends. As good as that antimicrobial tygon sounds, I really want to be able to see my liquid.

Hey voigts, what kinda of red coolant do you use and how long does it usually last before u need to flush and refill? Let me know what kind of mixture it is too please thanks.
 
To voigits:

I used to use clearflex 60 it cloouds up very quickly and is not all that flexable. I have never used musketer tubes so no comment. After movin to Tygon I have never moved back.

If you want to save some money (savin 25cents) you can probably run half your loop on silver tubes. It will still kill the bugs. The other half can be Tygon R3603 and this way you can still use the cool coloured dyes and see them and at the same time have a very clean loop.

However keep this in mind... I got my tygon straight from Saint Gobain. I know for sure its R3603 coated with silver. The one in petras shop is also a Tygon but I think its tygon beverage tubes coated in silver. (you can get almost any tygon tube to be coated in silver and tygon makes a lot of differnt tubes all at vastly differnt prices).

The qualities of the tygon beverage tubes are not the same as R6303 they are not as chemical resistant, or heat resistant, however on the plus side they do not leach and the bore is ultra slick. ie nothing sticks to the inside of the tube and no plastisizers are ever leached into the water (It was made for drinks water after all)
 
rumking said:
damn, decisions decisions. I dont forsee any tight bends currently since I will just be cooling cpu. But, once I add the vga block, i might have a couple of tight bends. As good as that antimicrobial tygon sounds, I really want to be able to see my liquid.

Hey voigts, what kinda of red coolant do you use and how long does it usually last before u need to flush and refill? Let me know what kind of mixture it is too please thanks.

I use Toyota dealer antifreeze, which is really just red Pentosin. I use about 10% antifreeze to distilled water, a few drops of alcohol free povidone iodine, and a drop of fish aquarium algaecide. I've done this now for a couple of years with no issues whatsoever.

As for flushing/filling, I never seem to go more than a few months without messing with my setup somehow and hence flushing/refilling. As far as need goes, I could easily go a lot longer than that.

Myco: I too used Clearflex 60 when I first started and it absolutely stinks for our use. It clouds up something terrible.
 
Ok after a little consideration and with the help of you guys I've made my decisions on my parts.

However, I have one final question. Due to the lack of space in my case, which is an Antec P160, I am thinking of just attaching a single fan radiator to my exhaust fan location. would that be sufficient enuff to cool my cpu at the moment and quite possibly my single 8800 gts??

I would rather go that route than having to deal with a dual rad hanging out my case's *** and taking up more room with a radbox. If so, any ideas as to which rad would be the best for this instance? or perhaps maybe a heater core.
 
If you get a Thermochill PA single 120 it might do it since those are the best.. but for the price I would still stick with an MCR220 for sure.
 
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