New to water cooling, need some pointers on getting started.

[TheGreySpectre]

Do people always use reservoir's now? Back in the day we had T lines for drain and fill...

I mean back in the day we also used Chevette heater cores for radiators. You could still do a T-line, especially if there are space concerns, but a reservoir is going to be significantly easier. When using a T-line it always took a ton of effort for me to get all the air out of the system for me.

With OP's system, if we are concerned about heat would a Dual Rad system be feasible? 2x 2-fan rads instead of 1 3fan.

 

[don256us]

I mean back in the day we also used Chevette heater cores for radiators.

Haha. Mine was a '74 Vega heater core. The guy at the junk yard just shook his head at me.

 

[Maviryk]

I used a couple heatercores for my cube AMD build. It seemed to work just fine. Not sure what all the fuss is about with these "new" radiator designs.

I don't remember having any problems running a pair of T-lines for drain/fill.

 

[infowire]

well i got the 3 fan rad, hopefully it works out.

 

[don256us]

My first water cool setup was in a full tower case. I bought a 1-gallon cool-aid jug from the local big box store and cut the handle off. I sunk an aquarium pump in it, used Danger Den water blocks for my CPU and GPU, the Vega heater core, a Tupperware container as a fan shroud and various types of tubing. One trip to the emergency room after I filleted my knuckle and a subsequent leak that took out my 56k modem and it worked like a champ. I wired in a relay so that when I turn the computer on/off the pump would turn on/off, a full gallon of water on a 1 GHz Thunderbird and that thing worked great.

I still used a T-fitting to fill it and top it off and Redline brand water wetter to increase the water's heat transfer ability.

This is, of course, well before you could buy a pre made water setup. A lot of people were fabricating their own water blocks back then. This site was where I got the majority of my water cooling knowledge too. I'm gonna say that was back when I joined the site 15 years ago? No that can't be right. That's too long ago, but I guess so.

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well i got the 3 fan rad, hopefully it works out.

It might. Be mindful of your wattage load from your CPU and GPU and keep the rad and fans clean since it sounds like you may be on the edge of what your new water cooling system can handle.

 

[infowire]

well winter is coming, should be ok for winter time.

Now i was thinking of hooking up 3x 4pin fans on the radiator to a header for CPU_FAN and my liquid temperature to PUMP_FAN, anyone disagree with this set up ?

 

[infowire]

Also, do i clean my radiator with distilled vinegar and distilled hot water ?

 

[don256us]

well winter is coming, should be ok for winter time.

Now i was thinking of hooking up 3x 4pin fans on the radiator to a header for CPU_FAN and my liquid temperature to PUMP_FAN, anyone disagree with this set up ?

I wouldn't. 3 x 120 mm fans pull quite a load and your header may not like it. In other words, it may be too much of a draw and blow your header. The pump by itself should be fine.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Don is right. You could risk blowing that header. Most if not all fan headers have a 1 Amp limit. Check and see what rating that fan header is from your MB's manual or online as well as those fans and see if they're way under 1 Amp which most single fans would be.

Worst comes to worse or if you don't want to take any chances, I would grab a simple fan hub. It get's powered (SATA) via PSU and only requires the PWM signal from the CPU fan header.

 

[maxfly]

Also, do i clean my radiator with distilled vinegar and distilled hot water ?

if its new you should only need to rinse it out with plain old distilled water(no need to heat it up). drain it into a clear glass/plastic bowl and see if any crud comes out. if not your gtg. if you do see some crud come out, rinse it and shake the crap out of it with plain old tap water. if its unusally dirty rinsing it with vinegar may help clean it out. once you get all of the crud out. rinse once more with distilled.

 

[infowire]

What kind of glue should i attach my mesh screen on my metal front case that i cut out? I was thinking hot glue

 

[maxfly]

What kind of glue should i attach my mesh screen on my metal front case that i cut out? I was thinking hot glue

it depends on how permanent you want it to be. hot glue would be good if you may decide to make modifications/changes. epoxy would be what to use if your certain you like it as is.

 

[infowire]

should i use soap with distilled water to lube the fittings ? should i wash the tubes bore installing (prob.)? green corrosion inside fittings maybe some will washout?

 

[infowire]

progress

 

[maxfly]

looks good! i cant say whether or not the tubing needs to be flushed or not. green stuff in new fittings is usually oil from the rubber gaskets from what i know. that i would try to clean up as well as possible.
are you running your drain off of the res/pump? ive got the same res combo. looks sweet and works very well.

 

[infowire]

i'am ruining from bottom of my radiator, i figure gravity. Its in the back of my case. What do you use to flush ?

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Not bad. Eventually it'll be up and running.

I couldn't help but notice the back fan is configured for intake instead of exhaust. Are you changing up the air flow?

 

[infowire]

yeah its blowing out up front.

Not bad. Eventually it'll be up and running.

I couldn't help but notice the back fan is configured for intake instead of exhaust. Are you changing up the air flow?

 

[GTXJackBauer]

yeah its blowing out up front.

What is configured as a whole and were the filters added and or removed?

 

[infowire]

i have air filters on all the fans. ignore the pump design in the pic.