Worth installing water cooling if not gamer?

[ProgramGuy]

Much cleaner... and I think that you'll be very happy with it and the fittings should be 45's... probably just a typo. Since you decided to go with just 1 radiator, you might want to consider running high speed fans.

 

[Lochekey]

I would stay away from the premixed coolants. If you are having trouble finding a kill coil to buy you can make one petty easy. It is nothing more than a coiled up strip of pure silver. I just went to a local jeweler and they sold me a strip of silver plate for about 8 USD and then I just coiled it around a marker and dropped it in my res.

 

[CROE]

Much cleaner... and I think that you'll be very happy with it and the fittings should be 45's... probably just a typo. Since you decided to go with just 1 radiator, you might want to consider running high speed fans.

All right, nice! Thinking about putting the tube from top of the rad to the res in the backside of the case, and adding two pairs of 2-way-ball-valve with a steel filter in the middle of them, dunno yet tho, maybe overkill.

I would stay away from the premixed coolants. If you are having trouble finding a kill coil to buy you can make one petty easy. It is nothing more than a coiled up strip of pure silver. I just went to a local jeweler and they sold me a strip of silver plate for about 8 USD and then I just coiled it around a marker and dropped it in my res.

Okay, thanks for the tip!! I have a silversmith just one house from me, I'll go ask him.

EDIT*

Btw, I read somewhere it could be bad having silver inside the setup, causing corrosion and such. Some EK blocks had problems with the silver and caused shunks of metall in the liquid. Should I worry or is it fine having a bit of silver in the res?

 

[ProgramGuy]

Silver is fine... stay away from aluminum.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Pure silver is actually used as a form of biocide in watercooling loops.

 

[Lochekey]

I know that ek had some issues with their nickel plated posts but did not hear anything about problems with silver. I would be interested in reading the article if you have the link.

 

[CROE]

So it is 100% no problem using a silver coil in the X360 kit? Should I use AntiCorro anti corrotion liquid as well, or is silver enough?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

So it is 100% no problem using a silver coil in the X360 kit? Should I use AntiCorro anti corrotion liquid as well, or is silver enough?

Only reason you need anti-corrosives is when you have metals other than copper and nickel in the loop.

 

[CROE]

Only reason you need anti-corrosives is when you have metals other than copper and nickel in the loop.

Ah all right, I guess that the EK kit x360 is only copper and nickel. So only a silver coil and distilled water it is!

 

[Flat-6]

EK certainly do not recommend using silver in a loop.

For starters it introduces another metal into the loop and it does nothing for corrosion protection.

You may want to read the following by an EK staffer who recently posted on this very topic on another forum.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1580670/few-problems-with-my-loop-silver-kill-coils-safe/20#post_24640258

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Well, I don't know where you got the idea that water cooling/liquid cooling was just for gamers, or that all gamers had water cooled systems. That isn't entirely accurate.

I run a liquid cooler in two of my PC's currently, but it isn't because I'm a gamer. It's because I overclock my CPU's, most of the time. I'm looking for the coolest temps I can get with ambient cooling (cooled by air in the environment where the PC is used), so that I can get higher overclocks (where necessary, or wanted). Bought my first AIO cooler in 2011, but didn't really start gaming on a PC until 2013. But I started overclocking my components around 2009, and eventually I wanted to try an AIO liquid cooler to see if I could get some lower core temperatures than I could while air cooling with a heat sink and fan(s). Though, come to think of it I might still run liquid cooling if I didn't overclock or play PC games, just due to my competitive nature and desire to get the most performance out of my hardware I can.

The noise you will hear with a water cooler is the pump which can be whiney and the fans unless you replace them. Odds are if you replaced the fan on your 212 Evo it would meet your needs. Most people recommend the Noctua products because they perform very well and are quite quiet

Nice to see a post where someone knows the difference between "quite" and "quiet," and uses both of them correctly in the same sentence. Thanks for that, it seems to be a rare thing these days.

 

[Conumdrum]

EK certainly do not recommend using silver in a loop.

For starters it introduces another metal into the loop and it does nothing for corrosion protection.

You may want to read the following by an EK staffer who recently posted on this very topic on another forum.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1580670/few-problems-with-my-loop-silver-kill-coils-safe/20#post_24640258

Remember when EK had the nickle flaking off their blocks years ago and blamed it on the liquids? Or maybe you weren't watercooling yet.

They retracted their statement and had a massive recall due to poor plating on the blocks.

They want you to buy their liquid. They want to ensure they have no issues.

There is NO corrosion in a loop with the proper metals. There is more to watercooling than just EK.

I ran killcoils and distilled for TWO years without changing my liquid once. Everything stayed beautiful. And I didn't have to buy fancy liquid.

 

[ProgramGuy]

Nice to see a post where someone knows the difference between "quite" and "quiet," and uses both of them correctly in the same sentence. Thanks for that, it seems to be a rare thing these days.

I like to see people that know the difference between "then" and "than"...

 

[Flat-6]

Remember when EK had the nickle flaking off their blocks years ago and blamed it on the liquids? Or maybe you weren't watercooling yet.

They retracted their statement and had a massive recall due to poor plating on the blocks.

They want you to buy their liquid. They want to ensure they have no issues.

Yes they did go through that period where they had plating issues - however that was sorted some time back although probably not handled as best as could have been. Their recent offering have been fine as far as I know.

There is NO corrosion in a loop with the proper metals.

The crux of the issue is that we cannot guarantee what metals are used in our loops. Take our rads for instance - Most people think the better units are all copper. In reality they consist of copper plus many other metals which form the various solder alloys utilised by various manufacturers - all possible points where corrosion can take hold.

There are too many unexplained cases of corrosion on the various forums where people have utilised just straight distilled and a kill coil so I'm not convinced that running just distilled will work for all the various combinations of all the hardware out there.

While distilled water causes no corrosion, this is only the case while it has not absorbed ions. Over time it absorbs ions from the metals and only in a few days it will become conductive allowing corrosion to form. The speed of corrosion is what we basically control by selecting the appropriate materials that make up our loops to effectively slow down the corrosion.

To be fair to the EK staff member replying to the particular thread he did not really push their product but did highlight that their product was based on glycol and the main advantage of a glycol based solution over just straight distilled etc.

Over the years I myself have run automotive glycol solutions with excellent results. One example I like to refer to is where people may use straight distilled with copper blocks.

If you run straight distilled, the copper will always tarnish relatively quickly and end up black - While this is not really a major issue for us, what it does show is that oxidisation has formed ie very light corrosion is taking place. If you run a glycol based auto coolant then the block will stay shiny even a year later showing that the surface has not oxidised - simply due to the corrosion blockers in this type of fluid.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

That is true. Corrosive process is always on going, its just at a much slower rate when aluminum isn't in the loop.

Can I ask, what do you use to clean out oxidization, in reference to household products? I used 50/50 vinegar and distilled water on some of my CPU blocks to clean them up. It took a while but they did show improvements but not completely good as new.

I'll never forget the first time I experienced this, I thought the culprit was full blown corrosion but was calmed down and corrected that it was only oxidization.

Till this day, my Koolance QDCs look horrid but some of my 4+ yr old Bitspower silver compression fittings look good as new.

 

[Flat-6]

Can I ask, what do you use to clean out oxidization, in reference to household products? I used 50/50 vinegar and distilled water on some of my CPU blocks to clean them up. It took a while but they did show improvements but not completely good as new.

Lots of people use diluted vinegar however vinegar is fairly strong. Many have had success using tomato sauce (or ketchup as you guys call it..) The added salts help eat away the oxidisation leftover products better than just using diluted vinegar.

You will probably never return the surface to as good as new as the oxidisation actually eats into the surface (very lightly) rather than just being a layer on top. Ideally you would also need to polish with something a bit more aggressive like a soft metal polish - This would be fine with copper items but you would want to be very careful with plated items.

Till this day, my Koolance QDCs look horrid but some of my 4+ yr old Bitspower silver compression fittings look good as new.

Different surfaces/materials/platings will have different corrosion reactions so the timing of visible corrosion will vary widely across different brands of gear. If you have a bad lot of plating like EK did, then it can be eaten away relatively quickly.

 

[Lochekey]

I use toothpaste to clean my components. You just gave to use something that does not have abrasives in it. I like to you a toothpaste that is designed for sensitive teeth sends to do va good job cleaning without being overly aggressive.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Many have had success using tomato sauce (or ketchup as you guys call it..)

Tomato sauce and Ketchup are two different things here.

 

[MNMadman]

I ran an EK-KIT 360 watercooling kit with distilled water, a killcoil, and Feser Base anti-corrosive additive for two years without any problems. When I sold that system, I took the CPU block apart to clean it before shipping it out. I was surprised to find that nothing needed to be cleaned, since I had done no maintenance whatsoever on the loop over that two-year period.

Even if the whole loop is supposedly the same metal, I always recommend an anti-corrosive when using distilled water. That way, you're covered.