First WC. You know the drill.

[muddocktor]

Thanks for the replies ya'll!

I'm very unsure about getting that MM res as it would mean I have no open 5.25" bays. Do you think I can get a pic of it in action mudd? (BTW, price comes out cheaper than the EK res with fillport and not much more than the Swiftech.)

If you check out my U2-UFO build thread here there are a few pics of it in action.

As far as the fans go, why not get your Yates from Petra's since you need the PT Nuke. The Petra's fans are supposed to be better than other vendor's yate Loon fans according to some tests run at Xtreme I have seen linked here several times. I know that Jab-tech has them much cheaper, but since you need the PT Nuke anyways you might as well get the fans there.

 

[BigBadBaz]

Thanks for that link! I don't think I like the look of it, couple that with the limit of bays, I think I'll go for the Swiftech, at least to start with. I'll save a couple of bucks with that instead of the MM or EK.

BTW, isn't your case green now? Or was that someone else's?

Interesting about Petra's. The only problem is they only have the mediums and highs, I was hoping for something a bit quieter. I'd also rather not need to get a fan controller right now. Unless you know of a good fan controller which is black with red/no LEDs?

 

[Conumdrum]

You would be amazed how quiet the Mediums are. I can hear my pump and HD fan a bit more than the rad fans. And that rad really does well with mediums. If you have to run as quiet as humanly possible, then look at the Thermochill (TC) rads, at way over double the cost and use low fans. I run the TC PA 120.3 with YL Med and just turn them down to low, full in summer. My fan controller was a cheapy from Frys and have all 3 fans on one channel. Still quiet. The TV on low completely drowns out my PC, 100%.

There are TONS of fan controllers out there, I'm sure you can find one that fits your needs.

 

[BigBadBaz]

Ok, fair enough. I'm convinced. I'll go for the mediums from Petra's and if it gets to noisy I'll look into a controller.

So unless someone has anything more to add, this is my final list:

CPU WB: Swiftech Apogee GTZ Extreme - $61.95

Pump: Swiftech MCP-355 - $64.95

Top: XSPC Laing DDC Top - $16.95

Rad: Swiftech MCR-320-QP - $51.95

Res: Swiftech MCRES-Micro Rev. 2 - $25.95

Fillport: Dangerden Fillport - Delrin - $11.95

Tubing: 10 x Feser Tube Active UV hose - UV Red - $2.75 x 10 = $27.50

Fittings: 9 x Dangerden Silver Compression Fitting - 1/2" to 3/4" - $6.95 x 9 = $62.55

Additive: Petra's Tech PT-Nuke-PHN - $2.50

Fans: 4 x Yate Loon Medium Speed - 4/$19.96 = $19.96

Fan Screws: Black - 4/$0.25 x 4 = $1.00
I assume I need these? (They're an option for the Yate Loon fans.)

Total: $347.21 + $20.83 (shipping) = $368.04

Unless someone has something to add/change, I'm going to order this as soon as the check clears.

Thanks for all the help!!!

Baz

 

[muddocktor]

You are thinking of one of nik's cases, which is green. He has 3 or 4 U2-UFO systems.

The list looks good, Baz, but since you are going with a separate res, have you considered the XSPC Res top instead of the regular XSPC top? According to Martin's, it works even better than the regular XSPC top for pressure and volume and you might even save a buck or 2 with it compared to your proposed system since you can get rid of the Micro Res. Of course if you aren't planning to mount the pump in a position where it would be vertical with the Res top mounted on it you couldn't use it.

 

[BigBadBaz]

You are thinking of one of nik's cases, which is green. He has 3 or 4 U2-UFO systems.

+1

The list looks good, Baz, but since you are going with a separate res, have you considered the XSPC Res top instead of the regular XSPC top? According to Martin's, it works even better than the regular XSPC top for pressure and volume and you might even save a buck or 2 with it compared to your proposed system since you can get rid of the Micro Res. Of course if you aren't planning to mount the pump in a position where it would be vertical with the Res top mounted on it you couldn't use it.

I can also get rid of 2 compression fittings which is $13 right there. Can I put a compression fitting in the fillport to connect to my external fillport? It looks like it only has 2 G1/4 holes which would be for in and out, and no extra for a fillport.

 

[muddocktor]

I'm not sure exactly how it's rigged up, since I don't have one. It has a rather large threaded port on top to fill it with though, from what I can see in the pics. Maybe you can get some kind of adapter that fits the thread on that fill port on it and put a barb on it to make yourself a T line fill.

EDIT: I just asked that question in the "Contact Us" section of XSPC's website, so we will see how fast they will answer my question and hopefully fill us in on how to reduce it down to G 1/4 fittings.

 

[BigBadBaz]

Looks like I found it on XS.

http://jab-tech.com/XSPC-M20x1.5mm-to-G1-4-fillcap-adapter-pr-4205.html

 

[muddocktor]

Hey, that's cool. And I like the idea of remoting the fill like you plan to do. If you have a window in your case you don't have to do anything but add water through the fill line since you would be able to check the water level in the res just by looking through the window.

 

[BigBadBaz]

Hey, that's cool. And I like the idea of remoting the fill like you plan to do. If you have a window in your case you don't have to do anything but add water through the fill line since you would be able to check the water level in the res just by looking through the window.

Exactly.

So I'm all set? Same as last list but with the following changes:

8 compression fittings instead of 9

XSPC Laing DDC Res top instead of regular

Add adapter: http://jab-tech.com/XSPC-M20x1.5mm-to-G1-4-fillcap-adapter-pr-4205.html

remove MCRES-Micro

And I believe that's it.

 

[muddocktor]

Yeah, looks good to me.

And I don't think you will find the medium Yates to be very noisy at all. They are definitely on the quiet side to me and not much noisier than my low speed Yates.

 

[Ric2L]

Looks like I found it on XS.

http://jab-tech.com/XSPC-M20x1.5mm-to-G1-4-fillcap-adapter-pr-4205.html

Thats the same adaptor I use on my XSPS Res Top, And I also have the Danger Den fill port connected to it. It works pretty good, just make sure its tight, but not to tight, you can crack the res by overtightening it.

 

[BigBadBaz]

OK, thanks guys. I guess I'm set to buy, just waiting for the money (should be a couple more days at most).

Thanks for the heads up Ric2L.

Now I have a couple of questions for when I actually get the stuff.

1. I've seen people mention cleaning the loop. Do I really need to do this? If so, what parts need to be cleaned? What's the quickest and easiest way to clean it?

2. What should I use to cut the hose? I've seen people mention regular kitchen scissors, but it seems to me that would kink the hose?

3. For leak testing I'm thinking to set up the whole loop and wrap paper towels around all the joints and letting it run for a while. Is this a good idea? Is there a better way? How long should I leak test it for? I assume I should leak test with the m/b... out?

 

[muddocktor]

For cleaning out the new parts, you can simply run hot water from your tap through the radiator for a while and then drain it well. For the block and pump you can hook some hose to it and run it at the sink also (that's what I do and use cold water) and then shake the residual water out of the pump and block. The idea about the paper towels around the fittings is a good one, but I never did that myself. I just watched things very carefully for around 15 minutes and then left it running and checked for wetness about 4 times and hour once I was satisfied that I had no bad leaks. I usually let my loolp run for 2-4 hours testing for leaks.

As far as for testing with the motherboard out; well I don't do that. What I do is to mount the mobo and route everything just like it will be permanently mounted (with the block in place and bolted down), then after I am satisfied with all my plumbing and routing I take the waterblock loose from the board and test everything with the board in place but the block hanging to where it won't leak on electronic components if something leaks a bit.

For cutting hose I just use a very sharp knife (non-serrated edge). That has worked well for me for cutting braided PVC hose, Tygon R3400, Silver Tygon and even old school silicone tubing.

If you decide to flush out the pump and wb at your sink, make sure you prime the pump first so you don't damage the bearing. And with the res top it might be hard to flush like that too. But really, I don't think it's necessary to flush the pump and waterblock, just the rad.

 

[BigBadBaz]

OK!! Money finally cleared (took forever because of the holidays ) and I placed my order!!

I ordered as follows:

CPU WB: Swiftech Apogee GTZ Extreme - $61.95

Pump: Swiftech MCP-355 - $64.95

Res/Top: XSPC - Acrylic Reservoir for Laing DDC - $39.95

Rad: Swiftech MCR-320-QP - $51.95

Fillport: Dangerden Fillport - Delrin - $11.95

Tubing: 10 x Feser Tube Active UV hose - UV Red - $2.75 x 10 = $27.50

Fittings: 8 x Dangerden Silver Compression Fitting - 1/2" to 3/4" - $6.95 x 8 = $55.60

Adapter: XSPC M20x1.5mm to G1/4" fillcap adapter - $4.95

Additive: Petra's Tech PT-Nuke-PHN - $2.50

Fans: 4 x 120mm Yate Loon D12SH-12 - 4/$19.96

Fan Screws: 16 x Black - 4/$0.25 x 4 = $1.00

Total: $342.26 + $22.58 (shipping) = $364.84

I went for the Yates highs instead of the mediums because the mediums are now OOS as well. I hope they won't be too loud, but if they are I'll just get a controller. I plan to exchange these for red LED fans when they come in stock anyway.

I'll post a build log with pics once it's done, and post a link here.

Thanks for all the help y'all!!!

 

[Spawn-Inc]

nice, those high speed yates run nice on 5v, at least for me they do. barely hear them.

 

[soul23]

nice.good choise of parts m8.if you are 1st time WC builder,best of luck to you.hopfuly its gona go all smooth and ull get no leaks and other probs.
p.s. my parts arived too and im gona be puting it all together at weakend.my setup quit similar to yours.

 

[BigBadBaz]

Well I got my stuff ( ) and I started putting it together, and I already ran into some problems.

First of all, the screws that Petra's sent with the YLs are way too short and way too wide to work with my setup. What types (size) of screws do you use to attach your fans to your rad?

Also, I believe I would do better with my fans in push? Martin seemed to say push is better for high RPM fans and mine are ~2200RPM.

Lastly, how do people usually mount their MCP355 + XSPC res. top? I think I'm going to throw a nut and bolt through one of the fan holes on bottom of the case and another through one of the holes in the fan grill. Any other ideas?

 

[Ric2L]

Well I got my stuff ( ) and I started putting it together, and I already ran into some problems.

First of all, the screws that Petra's sent with the YLs are way too short and way too wide to work with my setup. What types (size) of screws do you use to attach your fans to your rad?

Also, I believe I would do better with my fans in push? Martin seemed to say push is better for high RPM fans and mine are ~2200RPM.

Lastly, how do people usually mount their MCP355 + XSPC res. top? I think I'm going to throw a nut and bolt through one of the fan holes on bottom of the case and another through one of the holes in the fan grill. Any other ideas?

1) For fan to rad mount, depending on fan thickness, I'm guessing 120x25mm, you need 4/40 or 6/32 screws 30mm (1 1/8") long and nuts.

2) my fans are 2000 rpm, I have them in a pull configuration, rad in top of case then fans, my temps are very good. Idle around 20c Load around 45c. thats CPU only loop with Black Ice Stealth 360 GT, & fan controller turned down to 7v.

3) Not sure what case your using, but I have the same pump & res, I drilled 2 holes in bottom of case, in line with the pump mounts, put 4 self adhesive rubber feet on the bottom of pump to give me air circulation, and bolted it down. works great so far, been a year and no issues, very quiet.

The MPC355 needs decent air circulation around the pump, dont mount it directly to the bottom of your case, and dont use Gel Stuff, it will get to hot and burn up eventually. Thats why I used the self adhesive rubber feet to lift it off the bottom of the case about 1/8". You can get them anywhere, Wal Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

 

[Spritzup]

Just wanted to say that I'm very interested in your build. As an engagement gift to me, my fiance has given me the go ahead to build a new rig, but I won't be doing water cooling for at least a few months. Once I do however, I imagine it will be very similar to yours.

Great work!