People have been asking about kits a lot lately. While kits have thier place, I'm here to show you that it's not that hard to put the pieces together yourself.
Part 1: Hardware Choices
There are not that many parts to a water cooler. This is not intended as "these are the only parts to pick from." Rather, I want to give a few examples of each and why it is popular. There are many more items to choose from. You can't go wrong with most of these, though.
It is important to be careful about ordering all of the fittings the same size. Most people around here use 1/2" I.D. (inside diameter) hose, so that meas we need 1/2" fittings.
The Waterblock: The main heat transfer point. Since the CPU die has been getting smaller and smaller, smarter design has been needed in this department.
Swiftech MCW5000 : This block is built to be universal to both AMD and Intel. It can be used if your motherboard doesn't have mounting holes and is a good performer.
Danger Den Maze4 : This series of blocks has been the leader of the bang for buck category. It has an adaptor that can be used for socket mounting, but is mostly considered for through-hole mounting. Performance similar to the Swiftech.
White Water : This block is one of the performance leaders. Beaten only by the Cascade , this block will undoubtedly keep your CPU cool at high voltage. One disadvantage to this block is that it uses a 3 barb system (the cascade is 2 barb). While it's part of what makes it a top performer, it's inconvenient to use a "y" splitter to combine the outlets back to one for the return trip. This is a through-hole mount block and can be adapted for Intel use.
Radiators: This is what cools the water. While a very tiny rad is no longer very useful, there are many options to choose from here. The important part of any rad is to make sure to shroud it.
Heater core: This is the most commonly used heater core. It's a 6"x6"x2" unit that could be out of a Chevy Chevette or various Ford vehicles. A lot of stores sell these pre-moded for PC use and that's as deep as I'll go into it for now.
Black Ice Extreme: This product, while having lower performance than a heater core will fit many more locations. It's still wise to shroud these, but not as necessary as a small one is built in.
Pumps: These obviously pump the water through the system. Usually a given block will perform better with more flow up to a point where pump heat combined with CPU heat overloads the Rad. Here are some popular choices:
Mag Drive 3: This is a popular pump because of it's head rating. Basically it will pump more water through a more restrictive system. It is however plagued by leaking impeler chambers that can be fixed with a little silicone.
Eheim 1048 & 1250: These have been a staple for a LONG time. They are VERY reliable and quiet.
Maxi-jet: These are inexpensive, but need to be modded to run in our systems. The reliability of these are questionable. THey have a steel impeller shaft which may react with other metals in our systems. As always use additives to prevent corrosion.
Hose: Can't go without this
Clearflex: This is one of the most common. It can bend without kinking, is very flexible and affordable.
Tygon: Very similar to Clearflex,but is much more transparent. Better for dyes and such. Otherwise almost the same except very expensive.
Vinyl: There are two types and both can be found locally. Thin walled vinyl is pretty common. It will kink if you look at it funny. Thick walled, braided vinyl is pretty common too. It's hard to kink, but also hard to bend. Both of these are much cheaper than clearflex or tygon, but having used both types of vinyl and clearflex, I can't reccomend the vinyl.
Bleeding system: This can be a few things. The purpose is to get air out of the system.
"T" fitting: When used with a length of tubing and a plug, this is the most simple way of bleeding. It does take a long time, though (hours). Pinching the tubing can reduce the amount of time spent.
Reservoir: This will accomplish the task quicker. There are many different types for different applications.
Hose clamps: Important for keeping water inside your tubes as opposed to all over the place
Plastic: Not much to say... They work.
Metal worm drive: Although they can be found locally, I've found that McMaster part #5388K17 to work best for me. It is important to find ones that aren't too big.
Relays: These are optional as you can just run the Pum's plug out the back of the computer. They are used to turn on and off the pump with the computer. This is helpful with a hot running pump. Cutting the wires is a must.
Fans: These mount to your shroud. A lot of people use a shroud and fan on both sides of thier rad. This is called a push/pull configuation and gets us closer to the true CFM rating of the fan. There are too many to chose from. From loud, high performance to quiet solutions.
This is one of the more poular models as it's a good blend of quiet with performance.
In conclusion, I will list some of the vendors that will have the supplies you will need.
Cooltechnica, D-tek, Be Cooling, Danger Den, Case Etc., McMaster, and more.
Part 1: Hardware Choices
There are not that many parts to a water cooler. This is not intended as "these are the only parts to pick from." Rather, I want to give a few examples of each and why it is popular. There are many more items to choose from. You can't go wrong with most of these, though.
It is important to be careful about ordering all of the fittings the same size. Most people around here use 1/2" I.D. (inside diameter) hose, so that meas we need 1/2" fittings.
The Waterblock: The main heat transfer point. Since the CPU die has been getting smaller and smaller, smarter design has been needed in this department.
Swiftech MCW5000 : This block is built to be universal to both AMD and Intel. It can be used if your motherboard doesn't have mounting holes and is a good performer.
Danger Den Maze4 : This series of blocks has been the leader of the bang for buck category. It has an adaptor that can be used for socket mounting, but is mostly considered for through-hole mounting. Performance similar to the Swiftech.
White Water : This block is one of the performance leaders. Beaten only by the Cascade , this block will undoubtedly keep your CPU cool at high voltage. One disadvantage to this block is that it uses a 3 barb system (the cascade is 2 barb). While it's part of what makes it a top performer, it's inconvenient to use a "y" splitter to combine the outlets back to one for the return trip. This is a through-hole mount block and can be adapted for Intel use.
Radiators: This is what cools the water. While a very tiny rad is no longer very useful, there are many options to choose from here. The important part of any rad is to make sure to shroud it.
Heater core: This is the most commonly used heater core. It's a 6"x6"x2" unit that could be out of a Chevy Chevette or various Ford vehicles. A lot of stores sell these pre-moded for PC use and that's as deep as I'll go into it for now.
Black Ice Extreme: This product, while having lower performance than a heater core will fit many more locations. It's still wise to shroud these, but not as necessary as a small one is built in.
Pumps: These obviously pump the water through the system. Usually a given block will perform better with more flow up to a point where pump heat combined with CPU heat overloads the Rad. Here are some popular choices:
Mag Drive 3: This is a popular pump because of it's head rating. Basically it will pump more water through a more restrictive system. It is however plagued by leaking impeler chambers that can be fixed with a little silicone.
Eheim 1048 & 1250: These have been a staple for a LONG time. They are VERY reliable and quiet.
Maxi-jet: These are inexpensive, but need to be modded to run in our systems. The reliability of these are questionable. THey have a steel impeller shaft which may react with other metals in our systems. As always use additives to prevent corrosion.
Hose: Can't go without this
Clearflex: This is one of the most common. It can bend without kinking, is very flexible and affordable.
Tygon: Very similar to Clearflex,but is much more transparent. Better for dyes and such. Otherwise almost the same except very expensive.
Vinyl: There are two types and both can be found locally. Thin walled vinyl is pretty common. It will kink if you look at it funny. Thick walled, braided vinyl is pretty common too. It's hard to kink, but also hard to bend. Both of these are much cheaper than clearflex or tygon, but having used both types of vinyl and clearflex, I can't reccomend the vinyl.
Bleeding system: This can be a few things. The purpose is to get air out of the system.
"T" fitting: When used with a length of tubing and a plug, this is the most simple way of bleeding. It does take a long time, though (hours). Pinching the tubing can reduce the amount of time spent.
Reservoir: This will accomplish the task quicker. There are many different types for different applications.
Hose clamps: Important for keeping water inside your tubes as opposed to all over the place
Plastic: Not much to say... They work.
Metal worm drive: Although they can be found locally, I've found that McMaster part #5388K17 to work best for me. It is important to find ones that aren't too big.
Relays: These are optional as you can just run the Pum's plug out the back of the computer. They are used to turn on and off the pump with the computer. This is helpful with a hot running pump. Cutting the wires is a must.
Fans: These mount to your shroud. A lot of people use a shroud and fan on both sides of thier rad. This is called a push/pull configuation and gets us closer to the true CFM rating of the fan. There are too many to chose from. From loud, high performance to quiet solutions.
This is one of the more poular models as it's a good blend of quiet with performance.
In conclusion, I will list some of the vendors that will have the supplies you will need.
Cooltechnica, D-tek, Be Cooling, Danger Den, Case Etc., McMaster, and more.
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