Need some personal advice

[Ossadtchii]

Hello forum.

A week or 2 ago i made a topic here asking for some advice on a new UV reactive coolant. However the more experienced people here advised me to stay away from Colored coolants and use Distilled water/Colored tubing.
So after they convinced me to use distilled water i tried to ask as many questions regarding my setup. However i thought it would be odd to dig the topic up now with more totally off-topic questions.
Anyways, October/November last year i build my first water-cooling system. I have been building my own pc's since i was 13~ years old (now almost 20). However water cooling was a whole new step for me and i did as much research on parts as i could and ended up with a decent setup(i hope lol).

Sorry for the long-ish introduction! lets get to the actual questions.
This weekend i'd like to do some maintenance on my system and would like to change my coolant to distilled water and probably add some better fans for better cooling.

My setup currently consists of
-Corsair Obsidian 800D
-Corsair HX850 PSU
-Maximus IV Extreme-z
-intel core i7-2600k @4.5Ghz 1.376v
-G.Skill 16GB PC3-12800 (1600MHz) Ram
-N680GTX Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC (+150 core, +515 mem)
-Asus Xonar phoebus soundcard
-120GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD(OS) ||60GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD || WD Caviar black 1TB

Wit the following water cooling parts
- RayStorm Intel CPU Waterblock
- D5 Dual Bay Reservoir
- D5 Vario Pump
- RX360 Dual Radiator
- G1/4″ to 7/16″ Compression Fittings (Black Chrome) & 11MM (7/16 ID - 5/8 OD) EK-PSC Fitting 12mm - G1/4 Black
- XSPC 1650rpm 120mm Fan x3
-EK-FC680 GTX - Acetal CSQ + EK-FC680 GTX Backplate - Black CSQ
-Tygon R3603 - HighFlow - 7/16 ID - 5/8 OD - Clear
-Bitspower G1/4 Temperature Sensor Stop Fitting Matt Black BP-MBWP-CT
-Koolance 5-way Fitting Body (zilver) SPL-XUFY5B
-NZXT Sentry 2

As you might noticed i do have a draining system. Draining the system is not such a big deal. The actual water-block/Radiator maintenance is my problem.
All the water cooling parts where bought brand new and still have warranty on them. which brings me to the following dilemma! Do i take them apart to clean or not? it's only been 7 months~ how clogged up can it be?

And what advice do you guys have on flushing the blocks/Radiator?
is it allowed to clean it with normal tap water and then flush it with distilled water? Also when using distilled water what chemicals do i need to add to the loop?

And last but not least: i have been looking at the Corsair SP120 High performance edition fans for the Radiator. i currently have the standard fans that came with my case/Radiator. And i think these Corsair fans will be better performance/noise wise but i haven't looked so much at other options.
Also been thinking to get Either the Tygon R3400 - HighFlow - 3/8 ID - 5/8 OD - Black tubing or go with the DangerDen DD-TFC Tubing 3/8 ID - 5/8 OD - UV White but the DangerDen seems like cheap tubing that will plasterize in a matter of weeks(could be totally wrong though).

Thank you for your time and i apologize for my bad English spelling. i did my best to make it as readable as i could.

Please post your advice/suggestions

EDIT: I will be adding some pictures later this week showing the tubing and maybe the blocks after 7 months with the Feser One Cooling Fluid - UV ACID GREEN

 

[ASUS ROG]

You clean your rad with vinegar and warm water, make sure you have one of the fan on because warm water will make your rad hot very quick.
I also change my coolant every 7 month too
If you can, buy some Koolance quick disconnector, make your job a whole lot easier.
You can remove the entire loop with water in it and clean out your pc

ps: i use Primochill coolant, they're uv reactive, some people doesn't like that,
When i first start water cooling, Alex Castle, one of Maximum pc magazine editor have recommend me to use coolant

 

[Ossadtchii]

Thank you for your reply ASUS ROG.
Question about vinegar.

-i have read that some people advice against using it because it will damage your system if you don't clean it properly. also isn't vinegar a bit over the top for a first time maintenance round?

 

[Conumdrum]

Tap water is fine. One good rinse and shake with distilled is fine. My 6m cleaning is drain, fill, run th loop for an hour or so, then fill. My 1Y is tear it all down. You should treat it like a year to get rid of all the other liquid.

 

[johan851]

Nice looking setup! I think you did well.

Vinegar is a mild acid, and most people recommending mixing a small amount of it (5% or so) with distilled water for cleaning the radiator only. Pour it in, do the radiator dance, and pour it out, then give it a good rinse with more distilled water. A couple of rinses should be fine. I don't think there's much risk of damaging the system with that approach.

 

[Ossadtchii]

Nice looking setup! I think you did well.

Vinegar is a mild acid, and most people recommending mixing a small amount of it (5% or so) with distilled water for cleaning the radiator only. Pour it in, do the radiator dance, and pour it out, then give it a good rinse with more distilled water. A couple of rinses should be fine. I don't think there's much risk of damaging the system with that approach.

Ahh okay that clears thing up a little.
Cleaning Rad with tap water is a bad idea? even if i flush it once or twice with distilled water afterwards?

 

[ASUS ROG]

Ahh okay that clears thing up a little.
Cleaning Rad with tap water is a bad idea? even if i flush it once or twice with distilled water afterwards?

Watch this video, this's the best way to clean up your rad

 

[Conumdrum]

That is a bit overkill, his is a newer rad but it would work.

Boil water (tap). Let cool a bit. Pour into rad. Let sit for 10-15 minutes. Pour 1/3rd out. Shake twist, rock n roll. Drain liquid into a glass bowl, let liquid settle,, look for bits in bowl or dye color etc. If no bits, your done. If bits, do it again.

No need for vinegar etc, it's a new rad.

 

[johan851]

Cleaning Rad with tap water is a bad idea? even if i flush it once or twice with distilled water afterwards?

I do that with tap water, so...

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Congrats on your Rig. It looks nice. You did a great job.

 

[Armani2468]

^Agree good job mate!

*One thing I wanted to mention you really don't need the twin fan GPU cooler anymore your on H20 now

 

[Ossadtchii]

^Agree good job mate!

*One thing I wanted to mention you really don't need the twin fan GPU cooler anymore your on H20 now

You mean ASUS ROG's setup right mine is the small picture in the first post.

So how about the Fans and tubing? i'd like to order them today so i can get them asap.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

You clean your rad with vinegar and warm water, make sure you have one of the fan on because warm water will make your rad hot very quick.
I also change my coolant every 7 month too
If you can, buy some Koolance quick disconnector, make your job a whole lot easier.
You can remove the entire loop with water in it and clean out your pc

ps: i use Primochill coolant, they're uv reactive, some people doesn't like that,
When i first start water cooling, Alex Castle, one of Maximum pc magazine editor have recommend me to use coolant

Asus, don't go posting your PC picture like that without stating or asking the OP because for a few times I thought that was the OP's picture as well if I didn't pay attention to it. Common now, you know better than that.

And as for the magazine guy that recommended that fluid I'am sure its all conflict of interest if he said otherword. SMH Don't fall for the marketing schemes folks. Once we ALL stop buying their products than they will be forced to rethink it all again. Innovation sometimes works in mysterious ways.

 

[Ossadtchii]

i don't mind but perhaps ASUS ROG can remove the picture for less confusion?

Anyways. i'm about to order 3x Corsair SP120, 120mm High performance edition fans to do a push/pull configuration on my radiator. And probably Some Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste.

id like to know if anyone has experience with the black tygon tubing i posted in my first post? it's quite expensive 14EU/meter and i would need 2 :/

 

[Ossadtchii]

Update posted in main thread!

 

[Armani2468]

I personally like the SP's a lot of people don't. As long as you keep them calm with a fan controller your good to go in which case you do.

I can barley hear my fans and I have 10 of them. 7 are SP's.

BTW 4.8 is a good OC you really don't benefit much after hitting 4.5

I run mine at 4.7 24/7 because I can

i don't mind but perhaps ASUS ROG can remove the picture for less confusion?

Anyways. i'm about to order 3x Corsair SP120, 120mm High performance edition fans to do a push/pull configuration on my radiator. And probably Some Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste.

id like to know if anyone has experience with the black tygon tubing i posted in my first post? it's quite expensive 14EU/meter and i would need 2 :/

 

[Ossadtchii]

Yes Armani i thought i'd try to get 4.8Ghz stable and keep it just because i could. but it turned out to be far from stable i didn't feel comfortable with 1.445v for 4.8Ghz and not even stable. however i'm confused because it requires so much voltage for 4.8 but runs stable at 4.5Ghz 1.335v :S

i set everything to default and only changed memory and multi.
Perhaps someone have some settings i could try for 4.8-5ghz? Who knows maybe i can get it stable at a decent voltage.

 

[Armani2468]

I'm stable at 1.368 @4.7 took me a lot of man hours to get down that low... I'll be more then happy to upload my bios pics for you to try. As you know every chip is different blah blah but at least you can try my settings and aim high. Plus we both have a ASUS MB and your board is the ASUS flagship.

Just so you know w/ the I7 2600k chip it needs A LOT of VCORE to go beyond 4.7. Hence why 4.7 is the sweet spot well really 4.5 is..... But majority of the chips over 4.7 you really have to crank it up.

I'll dig up my BIOS screens and post here in a few.

 

[Ossadtchii]

Yes ofc it's all different for everyone however some bios pics will definitely be helpful.
You never know maybe i forgot some settings.

And yeah love the board. don't think its Asus flagship board anymore though
Perhaps flashing my bios is a good idea as it's still at 3203 and that goes all the way back to 03/05/2012!


EDIT: Decided not to get new fans just yet. Read some discussions regarding push/pull and so far people claim it does not give a sufficient advantage temp wise. perhaps i will get them later so i can run then at the same speeds as my current fans but then with less noise.