First WC. You know the drill.

[BigBadBaz]

Hi. I'm getting ready to WC for my first time. Before I say anything more, I already spent over a month in research. You may have seen I've posted some questions in some threads already, but now I'm ready to make my decisions. My paycheck is coming soon and I'd like to be ready to order as soon as it does.

I'm willing to spend up to $400 if necessary, but I don't think it will be. To start with I will only be cooling my CPU. (I might WC my 4870's when I get them and perhaps the NB/SB in the future, but not now.) Most important to me is performance, but it would be nice if it was quiet.

My rig is in my sig with one change. I will be using the Asus Rampage Formula which I just got. Oh yea, and I won't be using the OCZ Vendetta 2.

I'm pretty sure about most of the parts, but I'd like you to please look it over and tell me what you think. I also do have some things I'm unsure about an will ask.

CPU WB: Swiftech Apogee GTZ Extreme - $61.95
I understand this is probably the best performance CPU WB.

Rad: Swiftech MCR320-QP - $51.95
I would like to install the entire loop in my HAF932 without any mods, so I need the spacing of this rad. If there's a better rad with this spacing (maybe the Black Ice GTX 360?) please let me know.

Pump: Swiftech MCP 355 - $64.95

with: XSPC Laing DDC Top - $16.95

Res: Swiftech MCRES-Micro Rev. 2 - $25.95
I would actually prefer a res which I can see the water level from outside the case. Is there a res (perhaps a bay?) which will allow me to do that, but won't cause any performance loss? Or is there perhaps some kind of LCD screen that I can put in a 5.25" bay which will tell me levels? If not, oh well.

Fillport: Danger Den Fillport - Delrin - $11.95
The HAF932 has a hole for a fillport on top under the rubber mat. I would like to put the fillport there so I don't need to open the case to topoff the res. I would also like to be able to put the rubber mat over it, so how much of a "bump" does it cause over the case level? Does it make a difference what fillport I use? I chose this one because it's black and seems pretty low. Also, do I want the "Perfect Seal" 1/2" barb or the "High Flow" 1/2" barb? Does it make a difference?

Barbs: 8 x Danger Den Silver Compression Fitting - 1/2" to 5/8" - $6.95 each x 8 = $55.60
I prefer the look of the compression fittings over regular barbs with clamps. If regular clamps are better, please let me know and I will change them. Is this the right size? Do I have the right number of them? Also, will I be able to put one of these in the fillport? If so I'll need to add one more.

Tubing/Additive: For tubing I'm really not sure. I want a very red UV look but I'd rather do it with clear tubing (Tygon R-3603 7/16" ID 5/8" OD Chemical Tubing) and red UV dye, but I understand this may give me problems. Is there a good red UV dye (really looks red) which won't cause me any problems? If not I would go with red UV tubing (Primoflex Pro LRT UV Red Tubing - 1/2" ID 3/4" OD in which case I'd need to change the compression fittings to 3/4" OD) and clear distilled water. How would I be better off?

Additive: Petra'sTech PT_Nuke Concentrated Biocide (10mL) - $2.50
Is there something equivalent I can get from JabTech so I can get everything together?

Fans: I want to use red LED fans, but not if it will lower performance or increase noise (by much). Are there any good ones for this rad? Also, I think I'm going to start with 3 fans unless you think I should just skip to 6.

Coolant: I should just use regular distilled water from the store? Anything I should know to watch out for?

I think that's it! If I missed anything please let me know. Also any comments/suggestion/recommendations and especially answers to my questions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance!

(I'm not even going to bother adding up the total yet because there's still too much undecided. I'm currently at about $325 though.)

 

[Conumdrum]

Looks solid. Three medium fans should be enough, you can always add later. Your just doing the CPU, you'll do fine with 3.

Coolant and liquid. I'd try to stay away from dye. I'd go with Feser or TC UV red hose. It's always best to stay as simple on the liquid, less problems. If your using just distilled, go with Petras PN nuke instead, actually better for just a distilled loop.

Dunno about whats a good Red fan. I know Yates makes one, check out if they are in stock at Petras. Yate Loon Mediums would do fine on that rad. Cheap too.

 

[BigBadBaz]

So Petra'sTech PT_Nuke -PHN Concentrated Biocide instead?

You say "If you're using just distilled." Is there something better to use (that doesn't cost thousands for a drop )?

Tubing: Feser Tube Active UV Hose - 1/2" ID 3/4" OD -UV Red?

That would mean for compression fittings: Danger Den Silver Compression Fitting - 1/2" to 3/4"

Unfortunately Petra's seems to be out of Yates reds. Is there anywhere else that's likely to have them?

 

[Conumdrum]

I'd only buy Yates from them, long story. E-mail him and ask him when he expects more. And if you read whats in PN-Nuke, you can make it yourself I guess. Petras Biocide is well known and used by thousands I bet. It's about the best you can get, I dunno. The bottle is a few $ and you only need 1-2 drops, the bottle lasts forever.

I'm sure there is something better, maybe DARPA or NASA can clue us in, hehe. But on more technical forums where engineers hang out, they pretty much all agree, water is best, distilled is cleaned of all the hard water stuff that can clog a loop. it's cheap and effective.

 

[vkvenom]

No sales outside the classifieds -- David

 

[BigBadBaz]

OK. I emailed Alex (yesterday) and am waiting for reply. I guess I shouldn't expect on until tomorrow the earliest though.

I'm just not sure if the "PN-Nuke" is the stuff I mentioned? Petra'sTech PT_Nuke -PHN Concentrated Biocide

FYI, engineers do hang out here. Or they will as soon as I get my degree.

Thanks vkvenom. I usually don't go for used equipment (even if it's a little crazy), but YHPM just in case you can convince me.

Doesn't that Primoflex look a bit orange? Do you know if the feser is also?

What about answers to my other questions? Especially the compression fittings? Are they better than or equal to regular clamps?

Also, it turns out the new Feser X-Changer Triple 120mm Xtreme Performance Radiator has normal fan spacing. What type of performance increase could I expect if I would get that instead of the MCR320? (Approximate *C would be nice.)

 

[Conumdrum]

You can never give C differesnces. Depends on rad mounting, deltas, ambients, fans, blocks, mounting, TIM, chip quality etc etc. Every one's setup is really different. Read up on rad diffs for a few hours at Martins, you got a few hours left till the hosting runs out. He reviews radiators with true scientific methods.

http://www.martinsliquidlab.com/

Best of luck on geting a E degree, not an easy one to get. Try XS Forums, but be careful. Simple questions like the ones asked here are ignored or sent off packing. Wonderful place though for info. The host of the board is a world champ overclocker and world famous.



Compressions are the bling, but cost more, thats it. Barbs and clamps are cheaper and as good.

There is feser colored tubing, look at Danger Den, they are about the same in make and quality.

Look on Petras website for the differences in biocide, you can do it. PHN or PN is the new stuff.

 

[BigBadBaz]

You can never give C differesnces. Depends on rad mounting, deltas, ambients, fans, blocks, mounting, TIM, chip quality etc etc. Every one's setup is really different. Read up on rad diffs for a few hours at Martins, you got a few hours left till the hosting runs out. He reviews radiators with true scientific methods.

OK. I looked at his reviews on the Feser and the Swiftech rads. In his review of the Swiftech rad he compares it to the TC which is supposed to be very similar to the Feser. From what I saw, the performance increase is not enough to justify the extra cost (for me at least).

Best of luck on geting a E degree, not an easy one to get. Try XS Forums, but be careful. Simple questions like the ones asked here are ignored or sent off packing. Wonderful place though for info. The host of the board is a world champ overclocker and world famous.

Thanks. I'm very good with that type of stuff and I find the harder the courses get, the more I enjoy them.

I've been prowling the XS forum for a while now. I actually just registered but haven't posted anything yet.

Compressions are the bling, but cost more, thats it. Barbs and clamps are cheaper and as good.

I don't mind paying the extra for the bling. The question is, is there any disadvantage to the compression fittings?

There is feser colored tubing, look at Danger Den, they are about the same in make and quality.

The stuff I mentioned earlier is Feser UV red tubing. The question is, do you know if it's really red, or orange like the Primoflex? Feser Tube Active UV Hose - 1/2" ID 3/4" OD -UV Red

Look on Petras website for the differences in biocide, you can do it. PHN or PN is the new stuff.

I've looked on Petra's site. The only 2 biocides I found were the PT-Nuke and PT_Nuke-PHN. I haven't seen any "PN-Nuke".

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Conumdrum]

Agreed on the Feser/TC vs Swifty. Still, I'll stay with the $ one, I got $ and Shhh is what I like.

LOL read the post about "Distilled water, silver and conductivity", see how deep it gets. They get so carried away. I'm Conumdrum there too.

No diadvantage except the cost. Been some issues with them being sooo fat and on close CPU fittings you can't get two on the block. Research to figure which, I don't use em, I need no bling, I just need solid seals. heck, I don't even use a case, a big piece of butcher block and a modded tech station. Ugly, easy.

Tubing, I dunno, you'll have to read all the posts and look at the pics. That one is rather orange under UV tho.
Edit: Look at posts at Danger Den and look up Darth's rig, looks red to me?

PHN or PN, guess I made a typo.

 

[BigBadBaz]

You're right. I found the TFC UV Red in use on the DD forums. It looks friggen' awesome. I assume the stuff I linked to is the same thing?

ROFL. Did you see Darth's CherryX project???

 

[vkvenom]

You're right. I found the TFC UV Red in use on the DD forums. It looks friggen' awesome. I assume the stuff I linked to is the same thing?

ROFL. Did you see Darth's CherryX project???

That pics of my setup, that is TFC UV RED tubing.

There might be other tubing that looks red under UV but its not TFC or PrimoFlex, as I have both and they look the same under UV light.

 

[saxile]

no uv red shows red under uv, it's always either pink or orange but never red, at least in all of my trials with it

 

[iLoki]

I got primochill 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD tubing. Its a real nice dark red without UV light, but with the UV light its a very bright orange. I think its pretty nice ;D

no UV:


with UV

 

[BigBadBaz]

OK, so under UV it'll look orange. Seems there's nothing I can do about that. But what vkvenom has in that pic looks orange even not under UV.

Also, I've seen pics of tubing that looks RED, at least not under UV. Even under UV it looks almost red. http://www.dangerden.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10920&highlight=

Any answers for the reservoir or fillport questions?

 

[saxile]

Res is much better than t-line imo, quick and easy fills, for that a swiftech micro-res v2 course the best method is the XSPC DDC Res top, http://www.jab-tech.com/XSPC-Acrylic-Reservoir-for-Laing-DDC-pr-4123.html , best flow rates out there for the ddc series.

edit: Most of the red in that pic is the red leds.

 

[vkvenom]

OK, so under UV it'll look orange. Seems there's nothing I can do about that. But what vkvenom has in that pic looks orange even not under UV.

Also, I've seen pics of tubing that looks RED, at least not under UV. Even under UV it looks almost red. http://www.dangerden.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10920&highlight=

Any answers for the reservoir or fillport questions?

That looks more orange that red, the red led fan give it some red color.

That Pic was taken under fluorescent light in my shop, that my have affected the red color.

I just took this pic. Red?

 

[saxile]

looks red to me

 

[BigBadBaz]

Yeah, now it looks red.

BTW, I'm going to be having LOTS of red LED fans in my rig, so that's awesome.

My question about the res was: "I would actually prefer a res which I can see the water level from outside the case. Is there a res (perhaps a bay?) which will allow me to do that, but won't cause any performance loss? Or is there perhaps some kind of LCD screen that I can put in a 5.25" bay which will tell me levels? If not, oh well."

Fillport: "The HAF932 has a hole for a fillport on top under the rubber mat. I would like to put the fillport there so I don't need to open the case to topoff the res. I would also like to be able to put the rubber mat over it, so how much of a "bump" does it cause over the case level? Does it make a difference what fillport I use? I chose this one because it's black and seems pretty low. Also, do I want the "Perfect Seal" 1/2" barb or the "High Flow" 1/2" barb? Does it make a difference?"

Any answers?

 

[saxile]

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/big1sishfifo.html is the best fittings imho. Fill port doesn't matter much, and no bump in rubber, a funnel is needed tho as the hole and port doesn't line up exactly. Stay away from bay res, they tend to leak often, get a micro-res v2 and put a barb in the fill area for the fill port tubing.

 

[vkvenom]

I was looking at this one before geting the res/top combo


http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=318&products_id=22698