I am not worthy to WCooling

[EluSiOn]

I am not worthy to Water Cooling....

OMFG.... this might be a good lesson for Water Cooling first timer.

This is my story....

My road to water cooling in the beginning I thought it was great, but actually it is not, I was only being a stupid a$$. All the advise so far I received in this forum were absolutely correct.

In the beginning, I want to cool my cpu, my chipset and also my video card. People advise me not to cool my chipset and my video card but I didn't listen. People advise me that a T might be better than a resevior but I didn't listen.

The first time I am trying fill up water into my system in my case.. I had a spill. It was all over my 8KHA+ mobo and my VisionTek Geforce 3 original. I was filling the resevior too fast and it was full and the water start coming out from the resevior. (my resevior is right above my CPU) I panic and scared to death. I spend the next 30 mins wiping out the water. Miraculously, my first attemp to boot the machine, everything works. It was damn cool. I was cooling my cpu, mobo chipset and video card using a parallel. 3 days later, my Geforce 3 is gone. I don't know it was my failed video card cooling or it was that spill made my GF3 R.I.P.

About a week ago, I was posting question about my water temperature. At first I thought it was my radiator failing but everyone point out it was my waterblock did not have a good contact with the cpu die. This time I learn my previous lesson. They told me the 4 mounting hole kit is better than socket hold down device. So I order the 4 mounting hole kit (they are not here yet.. but will be tomorrow). Mean while I am getting insane temp like 49c at stock speed. Just out no where, I decide to use my CoolerMaster HHC-001 ( and yes.. it is loud... now my computer is like a jet taking off) one more time. Guess what, my idle temp @ stock speed is 28c compare using water block it was at 39c. the ambient temp is the same. Full load using HHC-001 was 34c compare to 49c using water block.

My advise is, listen to others and don't be a smart ***. If you don't, you will be like me.... ...

I will do a push and pull setup for my radiator as well because many people said it works great!.

 

[NeoMoses]

Good story. It's nice to see someone who is humbled. I find it is always easier to learn from other people's mistakes and experiences.

 

[The Spyder]

everyone needs to learn their lesson atleast once! I did the samthing to a pIII 450 my first time, made my own aluminum waterblock, resivor and a rad out of a desoto (1948, solid copper heatercore)
killed the 450, the 8mg ATI, the PS, the soundcard, network card, and ram, and motherboard,.. NEVER did i NOT use hoseclamps again.......

 

[wildfrogman]

Yeah, hose clamps are a really a must. The nice metal ones you tighten with a screw driver, not zip ties i have seen people use before. If you go to wal mart or kmart or big stores like that you can get them for 50Cents or so rather than 1.25~1.50 i have seen at "hardware stores" heheh aka price gouging and this tip could save you alot if you buy and need alot of them for your setup. Hope this helps.

 

[SkiFletch]

yeah, sometimes lessons just have to be learned the hard way


btw, I LOVE that little smiley face

 

[safemode]

Pffft.. We dont need no stinkin hose clamps.

They really aren't a "Must" though. some common sense with what you're using can usually determine if you need them or not.

But of course it's really hard to go wrong with using them.

I'd say the only real must is complete contact with the cpu core and the water block. Other than that you've pretty much got a variety of things that can be done.

I'm even somewhat sure that you can get a water cooling system functional without a pump.

 

[trex]

i think alot of people are having problem with wb mounting........

 

[Frodo Baggins]

just be careful WHO you listen to

glad to see you didn't end up too bad

 

[EluSiOn]

well....

cathar will never harm... dodgeviper will never harm.... NeoMose will never harm... JFettig will never harm.... Caffinehog will never harm... and hoot is the god himself.... actually there are more on my lists... the more time you spend in this forum, you will know who to listen to.....

not like I would listen to the advice given by the latest tapeworm hoax

 

[FeralCom]

My first experience in water cooling was bad as well. My problem wasn’t that I didn’t listen to others…I didn’t listen to myself.

I ordered a kit that consisted of a reservoir/pump, block and rad. Bells started going off about a week after I ordered it and it had not yet shipped.

3 weeks after order, I get the kit in an eagerly opened one of the biggest disappointments in my life. The only thing decent in the box was the water block. The rad was not the one I thought I ordered (and pictured). I was probably the cheapest and worst one you could get. However, the big shock was the reservoir/pump.

I wasn’t able to inspect it on the web site and from what I could see, it looked like a real nice all-in-one package. What I received was anything but. First, it had a Molex connector and it was supposed to plug straight into the wall. The sealant they used was all over the outside and the packaging material was “glued” to its surface. As for being a resivior, I don’t know how they though it was going to work with only ¼ centimeter of water space over the intake. No big deal , I thought until I opened it up and saw the pump.

The pump was one of the cheapest things I ever saw. I was new to water cooling, but I was an expert at pumps from working with aquariums for years. This thing was pathetic and I knew then that installing it would be a mistake. Did I box it up and ship it back like I should have? Nope.

I was eager to be on my way and I installed it like an idiot. I had everything nice and pretty thanks to the modifications I made to my case and after a couple days work, I was running a water-cooled system. Make that a water-cooled system that cooled as well as a $30 Hs/F combo. I wasn’t real upset about that because my main goal was noise reduction. However, that cheap pump was going to fix that.

After about a month of operation, I come home from work and see my system down. I power it back up and get a XP blue screen. The system was shutting itself down because the CPU would quickly heat up because the pump had seized! I foolishly tried to boot it again (after messing with the pump) and I fry a $180 motherboard (The 1800+ somehow survived).

I haven’t set up another WC system since, but I will soon. However, this time I will know to slow down and use my better judgment.

 

[Nico3k]

Same thing here.

First experience...

I was hooking everything up and redoing everything in my case etc. i also went with CPU, Chipset, GPU, and a res. when i first started the system, it failed. water wasnt going anywhere. the inlet/outlet of the pump were backwards. so i drained it and fixed that. then i was getting bad temprature. 60C. i re-adjusted the waterblock (4 hole mounted) and reapplied AS3 and the temps were fixed. then came time to refil my system. i (just like you) overfilled my res and water went all over... motherboard, and especially graphics card. so i drained everything, detached everything, and dried out every inch of my system with big fan/hair dryer. after cleaning it, i put everything back together and filled it up (without spilling this time). the system was finally working great when disaster struck. the res was leaking. badly. i was wondering why the computer kept crashing, and then i saw the big puddle of water on the bottom of my case, dripping down from my cpu to my graphics card.... the parts lived. i got away with just one fried PCI slot on my mobo.
i sent the res back and got a replacement. i put everything back together and now its running perfectly.

i must agree its very stressful... but once everything is running, it starts to become rewarding.



all i can say is good luck and dont give up.

 

[calvin]

Very entertaining thread, by sharing some of those experiences may save others grief

 

[JFettig]

Pffft.. We dont need no stinkin hose clamps.

They really aren't a "Must" though. some common sense with what you're using can usually determine if you need them or not.

But of course it's really hard to go wrong with using them.

I'd say the only real must is complete contact with the cpu core and the water block. Other than that you've pretty much got a variety of things that can be done.

I'm even somewhat sure that you can get a water cooling system functional without a pump.

ok man, Your rong, it depends on the barbs, Poly barbs, you dont NEED THEM, some brass barbs you dont, but on the maze3 I have for testing purposes NEEDS them,

sorry to hear man

 

[Iron Hawk]

Ill back up my friend JFettig, to some extent. With poly or nylon barbs you MOST LIKELY DONT need them. But it also depends on your tubing. Silicone tubing is really soft and may not form a tight enough seal with the barbs. Also, when the tubing is extruded, certain tollerances will affect the true inner diameter, some might have a slightly larger ID. Also, high pressure pumps will cause leaks at barbs if the tubing isnt sealed on tightly. If you dont have Hose barbs handy, 2-3 zipties often does the trick, esp. for silicone tubing.

 

[bongo]

Hose clamps are always a good idea, especially if you like swapping hardware and moving your tubing around...

 

[cack01]

Unless your system is in a beauty contest AND is never turned on, there is no excuse for not having hose clamps.

 

[Lithan]

I got air compressor hose clamps. Basically a ring of about 1-2mm thick steel. I'm assuming that you take a wrench or pliers and crush it down on the tubing. Haven't tested them yet. We'll see in about a week if my hose clamps succeed at clamping hoses. (Paid 10$ for 12 or 18 of them (and some 3/8" brass splicers I didn't need) so they damn well better work.

 

[Slaught]

Have to say i dont use hose clamps on my Maze3, and havent so far had a problem. My w/c been running for about 2 months now (not continously). I REALLY need to get some on my rad tho, as that doesnt even have barbs on it...
Guess i've been lucky so far.

 

[Nico3k]

heh i use hose clamps on every part where tubing connects to something

Unless your system is in a beauty contest AND is never turned on, there is no excuse for not having hose clamps.

hose clamps can even make you system look better. ive seen some where the clamps were glowing blue from a UV light

 

[FeralCom]

Those clamps look like the nylon ones that come with aquarium products a lot. Probably not as secure as the metal screw-tight ones, but I used those for years with no leaks. Plus…they look a lot better.

Do you always have to use clamps? I guess there are times when you don’t. However, you do not know when those times are. Just because it looks like a good seal months afterwards, doesn’t mean squat. Water can take YEARS to slowly crawl, build up and form a leak. Take it from someone who has seen this many times. There are many ways this can happen and clamping that hose eliminates those possible problems.

So why not clamp? If knowing the above and you are running a system that you probably spent hundreds to build, why not spend another $5 to secure its protection?