Finalizing watercooling setup - Few last questions

[Davan]

OK Ive about finished. Ive worked through a leaky MCRES-Micro and a defective MSI motherboard, major Dremel work on my chassis, numerous "Oh I forgot that lemme run to Home Depot/Frys/Microcenter/Frozencpu.com and spend more cash", and of course the most gut wrenching of all, the removal of the IHS on my Opeteron.

Sorry for the blurriness, Im not working with a real digital camera at the moment, just a webcam. The loose pump (if you can even really make it out) has plans on its head, its just on the backburner. But I do intend to secure it.

Im about ready to migrate my DFI and Opteron into the waiting chassis but I have a few last burning questions I would like to get answers for before I do so.

The first and most important, I think, is in regards to a noise the watercooling setup is making. Occasionally, randomly, I will hear a noise very similiar to water being pushed forced through a small opening, kind of like if youre washing your car and you put your thumb over the opening. Could this indicate that I dont have the bubbles sufficently out of the loop? I can see some residual air bubbles trapped in the resevoir right now but they are very small and everytime I try to fill it the last 0.5% I just succeed in getting solution all over the place.

The second questions is about adding a 7800 block to the loop - Is there any good way to cut through the tubing I have between the CPU block and pump that will let me avoid having to drain and refill the system?

And finally - My loop is filled with a 90% distilled water, 10% antifreeze, few drops of iodine mixture; Usually, how frequently do I need to drain, clean, and refill the setup?


Im using:
Swiftech Apogee, 1/2" fittings
MCP655 Pump, DD 5 1/4" Bayres
BlackIce Extreme 3X120 Rad
3X Delta fans (130-150CFMs each, also very loud. Need to find an alternative for normal operation and just use these for OCing)
On:
DFI Lanparty NF4
Opteron 146 CABYE w/IHS removed (will replace with 148 CABNE once I get this up and benched)
1GB OCZ GoldVX BH-5 Memory
WD 200GB SATAII HDD
eVGA 7800GT CO

The case is an Enermax CS-EN5688bfs if anyone cares. I have a Thermaltake Xaser but I really didnt wanna Dremel that case, and this one was $30 and came with an 80MM fan, blue neon case light, 400W PSU (piece of junk but good for testing parts and having around) and mounts a 120MM fan in front and two 80MM fans in the rear, with one 80MM fans on the door. So except for an abortion of a mod on the front 5 1/4" bay covers the chassis is working out great and I dont mind breaking things cause I can go buy another with all replacement parts for less than a tank of gas.

If anyone has anything they want to see or recommendations to make I would love to hear them! Appreciate all the assistance Ive gotten here so far and I feel really at home on these forums so I think Ill be sticking around

 

[citronym]

The air sounds fade with the air bubbles in the loop. Give it some time. Rocking the chassis back and forth can sometimes help trapped air along.

 

[bryan_d]

Will have to add to what citronym has said, if you also let the loop stop, the air bubbles form together. When the loop is turned on again, the air pockets are easier to get out. I was lucky because with my custom RES, the loop bled itself in roughly 2 minutes!

Great components you got there and I wish you well with your build.

Bryan D

 

[Davan]

Thanks for the input! After testing/running for about a week heres my results so far -

146 CABYE maxed out at 310X10, 3100Mhz at 1.5V

148 CABNE Maxed out at 265X11, 2915Mhz at 1.475V

I was able to get the 146 into Windows at 3200Mhz 320X10 @ 1.55Vx110%, but it crashed before I could get a SS so I didnt want to add more voltage. The 148 required a jump from 1.475 to 1.55V for just a 55Mhz upgrade from 265FSB to 270FSB, and it wasnt worth that increase.

Runs really cool - The CABYE runs from 22ishC idle to 31C load, the CABNE does 25C idle to 35C load. Thats a pretty large temp difference for similiar voltages so I might need to try reseating the CPU Block but it does seem to run a little hotter across the board.


Just have one last CPU to test, a 144 CABNE but I might just test it with the IHS on unless it does REALLY good

 

[citronym]

Sounds good man. Thats not that big of a temp difference, but if your unsastisfied you are on the right path by attempting a reseat. Sometimes the best way to test your seat is to do it 3 or 4 times right off the bat, checking the temps in bewteen each step. Thats the best way to get an idea of how your seating is.

Good luck for the future, glad its working out for you.

 

[Davan]

Part of it Im sure is the ambient temp of the room which was much cooler than before. But I guess the questionable seating is because the Apogee has two white mounting spacers that you use on the A64, but without the IHS on the Opterons I have to remove those. So I basically have to eyeball the installation and do it the best I can. I can always take it off and see how smashed the AS5 is, but then I just have to do it over again. Maybe I need to start counting turns on the screwdriver

 

[Uncivil]

I have my micro res mounted real low and accessable outside my case. I got me a couple of feet of 1/4 id tubing from Lowes and a plastic bucket. The tubing just barely fits in the top of the res. While my pump is running I start a little siphon to drain the fluid out of the res as the pump is refilling it. As soon as it starts sucking air I cut my pump on and off in very short bursts to have it push the rest of the fluid into the res. And continue to suck it all out the whole process takes like 3 minutes.