- Joined
- May 29, 2002
- Location
- Japan/Daytona Beach
ok im gonna put commonly asked questions here
then will edit it into 1 large post so we dont have to get angry at noobs for not using the search button
i will cut and past stuff that is well worded when possible so dont be suprised if you see some of your briliant replys in here
when in doubt check here:
http://overclockers.com/topiclist/index31.asp#WATER COOLING
BASICS
Parts needed for a water cooling system:
Radiator or heater core.
These are basicaly the same thing but heater cores come from cars and sometimes require small modification unless you buy a premodified one . they cost anywhere from free at a junk yard to $200 for custom made ones . USE- they cool the water by passing the water through small tubes of copper or aluminum that transfer heat from the water to the surrounding air. for general use you should look for one that has 2 barbs ( the inlet and outlet that you attach the tubes to) . barb sizes are usualy 3/8ths inch OD or 1/2 inch OD
NOTE!! because the tubes go on the OUTSIDE of the barbs the INNER DIAMETER ( called ID ) of the tubes should be the same size as the OUTER DIAMETER ( called OD)of the BARBS. it is OK to have the tube ID slightly smaller than the Barbs OD because you can heat the tubes a little with hot water causeing the tubes to slightly expand and stretch to get a tight fit over the barbs.
pics of a heater core that has been modified for a water cooling system
TUBES
if you are reading this and dont know what tubes are then dont bother water cooling. Generaly there are 2 brands of tubes that are the acceptable standard and 2 sizes as well. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU CANT BE DIFFERENT . The cheeper of the 2 is called CLEARFLEX60 and can be found easily and is not much diferent from the more expencive version called TYGON . I personaly recommend clearflex60 because of the price . The 2 sizes are rated ID and are 3/8ths inch and 1/2 inch . there are also varying sizes of wall thickness but i recommend thick wall versions ( clearflex60 thick wall version has a 1/8th inch thick wall).
HOSE CLAMPS
YES you need them. They protect your system . if you do not have them you may or may not experiance leaks that could fry your system or worse ... start a fire and burn down your place of residence. they are cheap but one of the best insurance policies you can have. they come in plastic or metal and there are several variations . if you want to you can use zipp ties as a substitute. metal worm gear type hose clamps have been known to slightly cut into tubing which usualy isnt a problem . you want to make sure that if you get metal ones that they are about the right size to reduce this effect and some even have curved back plates to eliminate this .
PUMPS
are needed to push the water through the system and there are several brands and models to choose from to suit your needs . to decide which is best for you is a PERSONAL CHOICE YOU MAKE based usualy on case size and your budget. there are 2 basic ways for a pump to take in water. SUBMERSIBLE or INLINE. submersible pumps are put inside a resevior and suck the water directly from its surroundings. the problem with this is that the pump itself generates heat that is added to your cooling system . the benifit is that you usualy have a silent or near silent pump in this configuration. Inline is much more common . Most of the pumps listed are made to do both jobs but some are inline only.
some examples of pumps people use are :
EHIEM - known for being dependable for many years .
HyDRO - a good pump that is newer than many other brands so it doesnt have have as much support by the people because its relitivly new on the water cooling scene .
Danner MAG - another good pump .
IWAKI - these are very expencive but they are top of the line . Most people will not use these because they cost a lot but those that do can tell you that they are the best IWAKI PUMP P/Q CHART!!!
VIA AQUA: An inexpensive, yet dependable pump. Often considered noisy unless you follow the 'quiet your Via Aqua pump' guide http://www.wc101.com/guides/ViaAqua/
you may ask IS THIS PUMP BETTER THAN X BRAND
the best thing to remember is that Max Head is more important than flow. there is a huge misconception that flow is the best way to measure a pumps value. to illistrate...
imagine you are on a highway in a honda accord doing 120 miles per hour and you hit the brakes . your stopping distance will be roughly 500 yards or less .NOW imagine you are in a 2 trailer big rig doing 120mph . yes going the same speed. if you try and stop it may take you as much as 3000 yards due to the weight and force of the truck right?. well water is the same way except you dont want to stop. max head pressure is like rating how big a vehicle you are driving and flow is like measuring the speed limit of the road. so a big rig pump like an iwaki r20 that travels at only 65mph will have more force than honda accord like hydro l20 pump traveling at 85mph.
sure hope you understand all that lol .
for more information on pumps look at the The P/Q Thread listed here:
http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5068
What to look for in a pump
you have many variables to consider when buying a pump and again its PERSONAL CHOICE .
1 flow rate - how much water the pump can move. usualy rated in gallons per hour or per minute. they are also sometimes rated in liters per hour or minute . make sure you know wich one you are seeing.
2 head pressure - this is basicaly the amount of force that it can move the water with at a certian flow rate. so higher head pressure usualy means higher flow also. sometimes we just call this head for short and for many systems a high head pump will do wonders .
3 HEAT. yes the pumps will create heat and as the water flows through the pump it will recieve some but this isnt usualy a big problem
4 Vibration. some pumps just vibrate more than others . some have better mounting than others to counter vibration as well.
5 SIZE - can yuo fit your pump into your case with everything else ?
6 Noise - this is usualy a byproduct of vibration but some pumps are just louder than others
Mounting the Pump ... some pumps (ex: iwaki, quiet one) mount directly onto the chasis of the case and would require additional modding. Other pumps have surface mount or a suction-cup design that would allow for a 'cut-free' installation.
WATER BLOCKS
these are the things that you attach to your CPU to remove the heat from the cpu and transfer it to the water to be carried away to the radiator . there are MANY diferent waterblocks out on the market and many people choose to make theier own or have one custom made. i recommend doing a bit more research on your own to cover this because it wont fit in this basic faq. NOTE on materials used for cooling parts. aluminum is a cheep material used in many heat sinks and water blocks. copper is a bit more expencive but has better heat conductive properties and is cheep enough that most people can afford to use it in thier cooling setup. silver is better than copper but due to the cost and odd shapes and requirements is rarely used. for silver to be a viable solution it needs to be 97%+ pure or you might as well use copper. silver is very hard to find in correct sizes that are 100% pure ( really 99.997%) and the shape and cutting of it may cost you double the actual price of getting it in 92% ( sterling silver). silver is very soft like gold and can be easily scratched or bent when pure and hence they add other metals to it to make it stronger . GOLD IS NOT a better conductor of heat . electricity ,yes , heat no . PLATINUM also is worse than aluminum. the only benifit platinum has is that it is very corosive resistant to many chemicals and conducts electricity well. DIAMOND is much better than any of the other mentioned materials but as you can see it cost way more than silver and if you are reading this faq then you probly arnt ready to design your own diamond water block just yet .
FANS
these push and pull air through your radiator or heater core to take the heat from the water and transfer it to the air . there are 2 general sizes ,120 millimeter and 80 millimeter . most people use 120mm fans .
ARRANGEMENT- for a 1 fan setup you can choose to push the air through the radiator or pull it through. when possible pulling the air through is prefurred but its usualy dependant on where you want to mount your radiator . for a 2 fan setup 1 pushing and 1 pulling . many people reduce the speed of 120mm fans and use 2 of them in a push pull configuration and get a quiet system with very good cooling ability so dont think that you have to have them at full speed for them to be effective.
SHROUDS are used to remove the dead spots of air directly in front of the middle part of the fan by moving the fan a little bit away from the core . if your fan is directly touching the core then you will have a small section of core that is not benifiting from the moving air . shrouds are easy to make or you can buy them premade for some heater cores or radiators . Willys shroud guide
COOLANT & ADDITIVES
OK well you want to actualy fill your system with liquide right? well you will need to add water but not just any water. USE DISTILLED WATER distillled water is water that has been evaporated to remove the impurities such as minerals.. some people suggest de ionized water but this is not a good idea because de ionized water will attempt to re ionize itself by pulling ions from the surrounding metal parts of our system ( not generaly a good thing) .
ADDITIVES usualy mixed in a 90% water 10% additive solution but you can safely go as low as 97% to 3% depending on your system. the function of additives is 2 fold .
1. toprevent corrosion of your water cooling system
2. some agens like water wetter are designed to releave tensionon the metal surface area so tht more water molecules can touch the surface and therefore carry away more heat . this may or may not really benifit a system but has been proven in higher temperature ranges for automobiles so why not .NOTE water wetter will stain your tubing most of the time unless you opt for special tubing .
Mixing your water solution
step 1 is to know exactly how much water your system will hold with all the air bubles out of it . you achieve this by running the system for more than 24 hours before installing it in the case and continue to refill it till it wont fill no more. then after yuo are sure as much of the air is out of the system as possible drain ALL the water from the entire system in some large container that will allow you to measure how much was actualy in the system. now that you have your measurement ( for instance my system holds about 1.8 liters ) you can now do some math to find out how much additive you need to add. this requires that you finished 5th grade math AND know your measurement tables which is far less common knowledge!!!
common examples of additives are :
Antifreeze ( most brands as long as it does not use a wax binding agent)
Water wetter
Purple Ice
windshield washer fluid ( some people use this but i dont recomend it because it lowers heat transfer slightly and in some situations can cause bubbles )
more to come in the quick answer section (need your guys help with this section)
Q:Who or what is a billa
A: BillA is a person that was a member of some OC and water cooling sites that is very good at doing testing and has been picked up by a company to do tests and help design its new products
Q: what is a cascade ?
A: cascade is the name of one of the current leaders in cooling and was designed by a member here and has several variations . the White Water block is the original design which is now in mass production .
Q: which is better , a white water or a cascade?
A: CASCADE
Q: where can i get a white water? or a cascade ?
A:
white water
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/product.asp?3=106
cascade
http://www.employees.org/~slf/lrwb/
Q: whats the best order to put my stuff in
A: USUALY it goes pump outlet to radiator inlet, then radiator outlet to waterblock inlet , then waterblock outlet to northbridge inlet, and then from north bridge outlet to video card inlet. next from video card outlet to resevior inlet and from resevior outlet to pump inlet. NOTE that you dont have to do it this way and that not all of the stages are required for your water cooling system.
Also some people commonly switch the north bridge and video cooler stages due to the motherbored shape and hosing requirements
Q: Should I build a customized system, or buy a pre-configured one?
A: The general consensus is that you will get better performance out of a system that you build yourself.
Q: My motherboard doesn't have waterblock-mounting holes. What blocks can I use?
A: The best performing blocks that are compatible with socket-A mounting clips are the Swiftech MCW-5000, DangerDen Maze-3 with the optional socket-hold-down kit, Innovatek X-Flow or innovaCOOL.
Q: is a bleed and fill kit required if i do not want/ like a resevior
A: ABSOLUTELY NOT . a bleed and fill kit is nothing special and is just an easy way for you to spend more money than you need to. instead you can use a simple T at the highest point inside your case ( air rises to the top so that is usualy where the bubbles will go)
Q: I'm new to WC and would like you to review this setup I'm thinking of buying...
A: These posts are as common as they come in the WC forum. They vary from posting complete DIY installations to comparisons between complete WC-in-a-box kits. This question can't exactly be answered in a FAQ, since every person that wishes to WC will have different goals in mind; quiet cooling, highest overclock, compact design... or maybe they just want to be as cool as thorilan. The basic answers to these posts are:
1) If the system is a proprietary cooler-in-a-box (Swiftech's solution) is it from a respected source? Swiftech puts out quality parts, but ABC Cooling CO may not be the best product. The most common response to someone wanting to go with a pre-packaged cooling setup is, "You should be able to get a better performing system for a cheaper price if you build your own setup." For those that truly wish to stick with a WC-in-a-box, stick with name-brands and well-reviewed setups and you'll be fine. Otherwise...
2) For piece-by-piece, review me questions, there is a 95% chance that every component on your shopping list has already had some sort of review or post discussing its quality and performance. If you have to hear someone say that the Eheim 1250 has a good reputation, you didn't use the search button and people will scorn you for it. Especially me. Tygon tubing over rubber hose? do a basic search... Your shopping list might get narrowed down to 1 or 2 components that haven't been discussed. Great! Ask about them and save the NEXT person the headache of finding opinions on that component.
3) Some companies sell packages that are very much like a DIY setup. You might see an Eheim 1250 with a Maze4, Black-Ice radiator and Tygon tubing. Good package! The best thing to find out is, are you saving any money? Look around and see if the $200 package couldn't be bought separately for $120.
Q: Will my temps. be lower than air cooling ?
A: almost allways yes .
Q: is xxC temp good?
A: this one depends on you really as each mothorboard is diferent and the temp is not as important as the stability of the system.
Q: which tube size should i get ?
A: tubes with 1/2 ID are the standard here for most people
Q: How much will my temps drop going from heatsinks to
watercooling ?
A: depends on your heatsink. the thing to remember is that efficientcy IS NOT MEASURED by temp drops . the fact that a water cooled system can handle More heat and is quieter than a HSF and you usualy get a few degrees better temp is reson enough to decide to use it .
Q: are reseviors required?
A: NO
Q: if i want a resevior which is better , a home made one or a pre made one .
A: a pre made one has less chance of leaking than a home made one usualy BUT a home made one can be designed to fit yuor needs and may look really kool like mine
SERIES VS PARALLEL FLOW
Here's a graphs showing some pressure drop vs flowrate curves.
The 'Sim' curves, are graphs of equations that approximate the PQ curves of Iwaki MD20-R and MD20-RZ pumps.
The other four curves show hypothetical cooling loops consisting of a 2-342 heatercore, (single pass, low restriction) 6 feet of 1/2" ID tubing (resistance of the tubing is based on one continous straight piece) and one of the following:
2 White Waters in series
2 White Waters in parallel
2 MCW-5000's in series
2 MCW-5000's in parallel
No attempt is made to account for the added flow resistance of 'tees' or 'wyes' required for a parallel setup.
Two White Waters in parallel have about the same curve as two MCW-5000's in series, so the two curves nearly overlap.
For the Sim20-R, per block flowrate is:
WWS 7
WWP 6.15
MCWS 12.3
MCWP 8.75
For the Sim20-RZ, per block flowrate is:
WWS 8
WWP 5.4
MCWS 10.8
MCWP 6
In all of these cases, series blocks always yields better flowrates through each block. In the high pressure pump case, (similar to cheap pumps in series?) the flowrate advantage of putting the blocks in series is even greater.
Keep in mind that these numbers don't include the flowrate hit for 'wyes' in the parallel cases. Variations in flow resistance in the tubing is not accounted for either.
Looking at the C/W vs flowrate curves for the blocks, it appears that the gain in flowrate would frequently offset the higher water temperature seen by the second block in a series setup. The first block in the series combination would always gain performance from the higher flowrate of course.
References:
Bill Adams' White Water test data.
http://www.overclockers.com/articles692/
Bill Adams' MCW-5000 test data.
http://www.overclockers.com/articles720/
[And here's a similar graph indicating performance with Eheim pumps:]
then will edit it into 1 large post so we dont have to get angry at noobs for not using the search button
i will cut and past stuff that is well worded when possible so dont be suprised if you see some of your briliant replys in here
when in doubt check here:
http://overclockers.com/topiclist/index31.asp#WATER COOLING
BASICS
Parts needed for a water cooling system:
Radiator or heater core.
These are basicaly the same thing but heater cores come from cars and sometimes require small modification unless you buy a premodified one . they cost anywhere from free at a junk yard to $200 for custom made ones . USE- they cool the water by passing the water through small tubes of copper or aluminum that transfer heat from the water to the surrounding air. for general use you should look for one that has 2 barbs ( the inlet and outlet that you attach the tubes to) . barb sizes are usualy 3/8ths inch OD or 1/2 inch OD
NOTE!! because the tubes go on the OUTSIDE of the barbs the INNER DIAMETER ( called ID ) of the tubes should be the same size as the OUTER DIAMETER ( called OD)of the BARBS. it is OK to have the tube ID slightly smaller than the Barbs OD because you can heat the tubes a little with hot water causeing the tubes to slightly expand and stretch to get a tight fit over the barbs.
pics of a heater core that has been modified for a water cooling system
TUBES
if you are reading this and dont know what tubes are then dont bother water cooling. Generaly there are 2 brands of tubes that are the acceptable standard and 2 sizes as well. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU CANT BE DIFFERENT . The cheeper of the 2 is called CLEARFLEX60 and can be found easily and is not much diferent from the more expencive version called TYGON . I personaly recommend clearflex60 because of the price . The 2 sizes are rated ID and are 3/8ths inch and 1/2 inch . there are also varying sizes of wall thickness but i recommend thick wall versions ( clearflex60 thick wall version has a 1/8th inch thick wall).
HOSE CLAMPS
YES you need them. They protect your system . if you do not have them you may or may not experiance leaks that could fry your system or worse ... start a fire and burn down your place of residence. they are cheap but one of the best insurance policies you can have. they come in plastic or metal and there are several variations . if you want to you can use zipp ties as a substitute. metal worm gear type hose clamps have been known to slightly cut into tubing which usualy isnt a problem . you want to make sure that if you get metal ones that they are about the right size to reduce this effect and some even have curved back plates to eliminate this .
PUMPS
are needed to push the water through the system and there are several brands and models to choose from to suit your needs . to decide which is best for you is a PERSONAL CHOICE YOU MAKE based usualy on case size and your budget. there are 2 basic ways for a pump to take in water. SUBMERSIBLE or INLINE. submersible pumps are put inside a resevior and suck the water directly from its surroundings. the problem with this is that the pump itself generates heat that is added to your cooling system . the benifit is that you usualy have a silent or near silent pump in this configuration. Inline is much more common . Most of the pumps listed are made to do both jobs but some are inline only.
some examples of pumps people use are :
EHIEM - known for being dependable for many years .
HyDRO - a good pump that is newer than many other brands so it doesnt have have as much support by the people because its relitivly new on the water cooling scene .
Danner MAG - another good pump .
IWAKI - these are very expencive but they are top of the line . Most people will not use these because they cost a lot but those that do can tell you that they are the best IWAKI PUMP P/Q CHART!!!
VIA AQUA: An inexpensive, yet dependable pump. Often considered noisy unless you follow the 'quiet your Via Aqua pump' guide http://www.wc101.com/guides/ViaAqua/
you may ask IS THIS PUMP BETTER THAN X BRAND
the best thing to remember is that Max Head is more important than flow. there is a huge misconception that flow is the best way to measure a pumps value. to illistrate...
imagine you are on a highway in a honda accord doing 120 miles per hour and you hit the brakes . your stopping distance will be roughly 500 yards or less .NOW imagine you are in a 2 trailer big rig doing 120mph . yes going the same speed. if you try and stop it may take you as much as 3000 yards due to the weight and force of the truck right?. well water is the same way except you dont want to stop. max head pressure is like rating how big a vehicle you are driving and flow is like measuring the speed limit of the road. so a big rig pump like an iwaki r20 that travels at only 65mph will have more force than honda accord like hydro l20 pump traveling at 85mph.
sure hope you understand all that lol .
for more information on pumps look at the The P/Q Thread listed here:
http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5068
What to look for in a pump
you have many variables to consider when buying a pump and again its PERSONAL CHOICE .
1 flow rate - how much water the pump can move. usualy rated in gallons per hour or per minute. they are also sometimes rated in liters per hour or minute . make sure you know wich one you are seeing.
2 head pressure - this is basicaly the amount of force that it can move the water with at a certian flow rate. so higher head pressure usualy means higher flow also. sometimes we just call this head for short and for many systems a high head pump will do wonders .
3 HEAT. yes the pumps will create heat and as the water flows through the pump it will recieve some but this isnt usualy a big problem
4 Vibration. some pumps just vibrate more than others . some have better mounting than others to counter vibration as well.
5 SIZE - can yuo fit your pump into your case with everything else ?
6 Noise - this is usualy a byproduct of vibration but some pumps are just louder than others
Mounting the Pump ... some pumps (ex: iwaki, quiet one) mount directly onto the chasis of the case and would require additional modding. Other pumps have surface mount or a suction-cup design that would allow for a 'cut-free' installation.
WATER BLOCKS
these are the things that you attach to your CPU to remove the heat from the cpu and transfer it to the water to be carried away to the radiator . there are MANY diferent waterblocks out on the market and many people choose to make theier own or have one custom made. i recommend doing a bit more research on your own to cover this because it wont fit in this basic faq. NOTE on materials used for cooling parts. aluminum is a cheep material used in many heat sinks and water blocks. copper is a bit more expencive but has better heat conductive properties and is cheep enough that most people can afford to use it in thier cooling setup. silver is better than copper but due to the cost and odd shapes and requirements is rarely used. for silver to be a viable solution it needs to be 97%+ pure or you might as well use copper. silver is very hard to find in correct sizes that are 100% pure ( really 99.997%) and the shape and cutting of it may cost you double the actual price of getting it in 92% ( sterling silver). silver is very soft like gold and can be easily scratched or bent when pure and hence they add other metals to it to make it stronger . GOLD IS NOT a better conductor of heat . electricity ,yes , heat no . PLATINUM also is worse than aluminum. the only benifit platinum has is that it is very corosive resistant to many chemicals and conducts electricity well. DIAMOND is much better than any of the other mentioned materials but as you can see it cost way more than silver and if you are reading this faq then you probly arnt ready to design your own diamond water block just yet .
FANS
these push and pull air through your radiator or heater core to take the heat from the water and transfer it to the air . there are 2 general sizes ,120 millimeter and 80 millimeter . most people use 120mm fans .
ARRANGEMENT- for a 1 fan setup you can choose to push the air through the radiator or pull it through. when possible pulling the air through is prefurred but its usualy dependant on where you want to mount your radiator . for a 2 fan setup 1 pushing and 1 pulling . many people reduce the speed of 120mm fans and use 2 of them in a push pull configuration and get a quiet system with very good cooling ability so dont think that you have to have them at full speed for them to be effective.
SHROUDS are used to remove the dead spots of air directly in front of the middle part of the fan by moving the fan a little bit away from the core . if your fan is directly touching the core then you will have a small section of core that is not benifiting from the moving air . shrouds are easy to make or you can buy them premade for some heater cores or radiators . Willys shroud guide
COOLANT & ADDITIVES
OK well you want to actualy fill your system with liquide right? well you will need to add water but not just any water. USE DISTILLED WATER distillled water is water that has been evaporated to remove the impurities such as minerals.. some people suggest de ionized water but this is not a good idea because de ionized water will attempt to re ionize itself by pulling ions from the surrounding metal parts of our system ( not generaly a good thing) .
ADDITIVES usualy mixed in a 90% water 10% additive solution but you can safely go as low as 97% to 3% depending on your system. the function of additives is 2 fold .
1. toprevent corrosion of your water cooling system
2. some agens like water wetter are designed to releave tensionon the metal surface area so tht more water molecules can touch the surface and therefore carry away more heat . this may or may not really benifit a system but has been proven in higher temperature ranges for automobiles so why not .NOTE water wetter will stain your tubing most of the time unless you opt for special tubing .
Mixing your water solution
step 1 is to know exactly how much water your system will hold with all the air bubles out of it . you achieve this by running the system for more than 24 hours before installing it in the case and continue to refill it till it wont fill no more. then after yuo are sure as much of the air is out of the system as possible drain ALL the water from the entire system in some large container that will allow you to measure how much was actualy in the system. now that you have your measurement ( for instance my system holds about 1.8 liters ) you can now do some math to find out how much additive you need to add. this requires that you finished 5th grade math AND know your measurement tables which is far less common knowledge!!!
common examples of additives are :
Antifreeze ( most brands as long as it does not use a wax binding agent)
Water wetter
Purple Ice
windshield washer fluid ( some people use this but i dont recomend it because it lowers heat transfer slightly and in some situations can cause bubbles )
more to come in the quick answer section (need your guys help with this section)
Q:Who or what is a billa
A: BillA is a person that was a member of some OC and water cooling sites that is very good at doing testing and has been picked up by a company to do tests and help design its new products
Q: what is a cascade ?
A: cascade is the name of one of the current leaders in cooling and was designed by a member here and has several variations . the White Water block is the original design which is now in mass production .
Q: which is better , a white water or a cascade?
A: CASCADE
Q: where can i get a white water? or a cascade ?
A:
white water
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/product.asp?3=106
cascade
http://www.employees.org/~slf/lrwb/
Q: whats the best order to put my stuff in
A: USUALY it goes pump outlet to radiator inlet, then radiator outlet to waterblock inlet , then waterblock outlet to northbridge inlet, and then from north bridge outlet to video card inlet. next from video card outlet to resevior inlet and from resevior outlet to pump inlet. NOTE that you dont have to do it this way and that not all of the stages are required for your water cooling system.
Also some people commonly switch the north bridge and video cooler stages due to the motherbored shape and hosing requirements
Q: Should I build a customized system, or buy a pre-configured one?
A: The general consensus is that you will get better performance out of a system that you build yourself.
Q: My motherboard doesn't have waterblock-mounting holes. What blocks can I use?
A: The best performing blocks that are compatible with socket-A mounting clips are the Swiftech MCW-5000, DangerDen Maze-3 with the optional socket-hold-down kit, Innovatek X-Flow or innovaCOOL.
Q: is a bleed and fill kit required if i do not want/ like a resevior
A: ABSOLUTELY NOT . a bleed and fill kit is nothing special and is just an easy way for you to spend more money than you need to. instead you can use a simple T at the highest point inside your case ( air rises to the top so that is usualy where the bubbles will go)
Q: I'm new to WC and would like you to review this setup I'm thinking of buying...
A: These posts are as common as they come in the WC forum. They vary from posting complete DIY installations to comparisons between complete WC-in-a-box kits. This question can't exactly be answered in a FAQ, since every person that wishes to WC will have different goals in mind; quiet cooling, highest overclock, compact design... or maybe they just want to be as cool as thorilan. The basic answers to these posts are:
1) If the system is a proprietary cooler-in-a-box (Swiftech's solution) is it from a respected source? Swiftech puts out quality parts, but ABC Cooling CO may not be the best product. The most common response to someone wanting to go with a pre-packaged cooling setup is, "You should be able to get a better performing system for a cheaper price if you build your own setup." For those that truly wish to stick with a WC-in-a-box, stick with name-brands and well-reviewed setups and you'll be fine. Otherwise...
2) For piece-by-piece, review me questions, there is a 95% chance that every component on your shopping list has already had some sort of review or post discussing its quality and performance. If you have to hear someone say that the Eheim 1250 has a good reputation, you didn't use the search button and people will scorn you for it. Especially me. Tygon tubing over rubber hose? do a basic search... Your shopping list might get narrowed down to 1 or 2 components that haven't been discussed. Great! Ask about them and save the NEXT person the headache of finding opinions on that component.
3) Some companies sell packages that are very much like a DIY setup. You might see an Eheim 1250 with a Maze4, Black-Ice radiator and Tygon tubing. Good package! The best thing to find out is, are you saving any money? Look around and see if the $200 package couldn't be bought separately for $120.
Q: Will my temps. be lower than air cooling ?
A: almost allways yes .
Q: is xxC temp good?
A: this one depends on you really as each mothorboard is diferent and the temp is not as important as the stability of the system.
Q: which tube size should i get ?
A: tubes with 1/2 ID are the standard here for most people
Q: How much will my temps drop going from heatsinks to
watercooling ?
A: depends on your heatsink. the thing to remember is that efficientcy IS NOT MEASURED by temp drops . the fact that a water cooled system can handle More heat and is quieter than a HSF and you usualy get a few degrees better temp is reson enough to decide to use it .
Q: are reseviors required?
A: NO
Q: if i want a resevior which is better , a home made one or a pre made one .
A: a pre made one has less chance of leaking than a home made one usualy BUT a home made one can be designed to fit yuor needs and may look really kool like mine
SERIES VS PARALLEL FLOW
Here's a graphs showing some pressure drop vs flowrate curves.
The 'Sim' curves, are graphs of equations that approximate the PQ curves of Iwaki MD20-R and MD20-RZ pumps.
The other four curves show hypothetical cooling loops consisting of a 2-342 heatercore, (single pass, low restriction) 6 feet of 1/2" ID tubing (resistance of the tubing is based on one continous straight piece) and one of the following:
2 White Waters in series
2 White Waters in parallel
2 MCW-5000's in series
2 MCW-5000's in parallel
No attempt is made to account for the added flow resistance of 'tees' or 'wyes' required for a parallel setup.
Two White Waters in parallel have about the same curve as two MCW-5000's in series, so the two curves nearly overlap.
For the Sim20-R, per block flowrate is:
WWS 7
WWP 6.15
MCWS 12.3
MCWP 8.75
For the Sim20-RZ, per block flowrate is:
WWS 8
WWP 5.4
MCWS 10.8
MCWP 6
In all of these cases, series blocks always yields better flowrates through each block. In the high pressure pump case, (similar to cheap pumps in series?) the flowrate advantage of putting the blocks in series is even greater.
Keep in mind that these numbers don't include the flowrate hit for 'wyes' in the parallel cases. Variations in flow resistance in the tubing is not accounted for either.
Looking at the C/W vs flowrate curves for the blocks, it appears that the gain in flowrate would frequently offset the higher water temperature seen by the second block in a series setup. The first block in the series combination would always gain performance from the higher flowrate of course.
References:
Bill Adams' White Water test data.
http://www.overclockers.com/articles692/
Bill Adams' MCW-5000 test data.
http://www.overclockers.com/articles720/
[And here's a similar graph indicating performance with Eheim pumps:]
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