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Water cooling

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Floppyman

New Member
Joined
May 29, 2001
Hey all,

I'm getting ready at my first attempt at watercooling. I chose the Maze 2 kit from www.dangerden.com, powered by an Eheim 1048 aquarium pump,which will be submerged in a bucket of water. I just had a couple questions. First I'm also thinking of watercooling the Via KT133A chipset on the Iwill KK-266, and I see that www.dangerden.com also sells a chipset cooler. How do you guys think I can mount it? Or are there any other places that sells chipset water blocks with 3/8" connectors that can be mounted? Also, to split the flow to the cpu and chipset, could I just use a t connector, and each would still get adequate flow? Also about the water itself, do I have to add anything to it? I was thinking of using just plain distilled water. Any suggestions? Thanks in Advance!
 
I was reading through the tips & techniques, and one guy water cooled dual Celerons with the outport of one water block leading to the inport of the other water block. He said that temps didn't differ more than 2C. I'd imagine that if you're cooling the chipset, it would be even less of a difference.

The current buzz is adding Water wetter and Purple ice in the loop. They are supposed to make the water carry more heat or something, and prevent corrosion.
 
On my second system(which is my play system) I run form the pump to the in on the chipset cooler, then form the out on the chipset cooler to the in on the cpu waterblock. Then from the out on the waterblock to the radiator. I have had good luck doing it this way. I noticed only a 3C difference form doing it this way rather than doing it with 'T' connectors going to each of the blocks. I would rather have fewer connections to possibly leak water so I took the approach I explained.

As for water additives I use water wetter, it helps transfer heat, helps against corrosion, and makes your water a cool red/pink color !!!! The recommended amounts for use are labeled on the back of the bottle so it's an easy to use additive.

I also use dangerden products and they seem to work just great for me. I purchased my water wetter form them just because of the fact that it seemed to be about the same price every where else I looked.

As for chipset/video card coolers are concerned I've found that dangerden has the best constructed blocks available for the price. They test all there blocks to insure a water tight seal, this helps me sleep at night. That's the main reason I stick with dangerden products.

Take it as you will, It's just my opinions and experiences.
 
The only downside I've found with the WaterWetter/Distilled Water combo is that the smell is hard to get out of the wood desk when the reservoir leaks....

I am on reservoir #3 and tempted to use a pickle jar at this point!
 
Thanks for the info guys, it's much appreciated. Do you think it is better to run the water to the in on the cpu first and then from the out of the cpu to the in on the chipset....or....to the in on the chipset first and then from the out of the chipset to the in of the cpu? Also what do you guys use to tighen down the dangerden chipset cooler onto the chipset? Thanks again.
 
Also, one more quick question, is it important to insulate the socket against condensation if NOT using a peltier, just water cooling? Thanks again.
 
Floppyman (May 29, 2001 07:00 p.m.):
Also, one more quick question, is it important to insulate the socket against condensation if NOT using a peltier, just water cooling? Thanks again.

Well, it really isn't necessary as long as you're not going below ambient, which is unlikely without using something other than a radiator to cool your water (freezer, chilller, ice, whatever.) It's wouldn't hurt you at all, but rather unecessary.

For your plumbing order, I would suggest pump, radiator, chipset, cpu, pump or go with the splitter right after the pump so it would be pump, radiator, chipset/cpu, pump. I don't know how much heat the chipset really gives off, so I don't know whether or not to recommend the splitter or not. If you have enough flow rate, it really isn't going to matter.

I say to put the radiator after the pump because the pump does, in fact, add heat to the water, even if it is inline and not in a resevoir, and it's always nice to cool the water as much as possible before attempting to cool something else off. Seems logical to me, at least. Oh, and I suggest putting the chipset before the cpu cause I know that it doesn't get anywhere nearly as hot as the cpu.

Hm, if you're going inline, don't forget to put in a fill/bleed line so that you can bleed all the air out (inevitably you will have air in your system still) and of course keep it full of water (as you bleed the air out)

Hope this helps you out some.
 
Thanks again for the info. How does this setup sound:

Eheim pump in reservoir (probably a bucket of some sort with water wetter in it with water of course), line to radiator, radiator to chipset in, chipset out to cpu in, cpu out back to reservoir. Question, how much water should I keep in the reservoir, one gallon? 2 gallons?
 
Also, I bought some vinyl 3/8" ID tubing today at Menards, is this ok to use, or do you have to use the stuff danger den sells (menards tubing was way cheaper)? Thanks again.
 
That tubing will be just fine. Your setup sounds good.

I would consider getting a sealed resevoir just so you don't have to fill it. Size isn't really all that important, as the res. isn't going to actually help the cooling at all (aside from cooling the pump, which keep the case cooler, which is nice, really) it's just going to make the system take longer to change temps. More water = longer period of time before temps stabilize. If you wanna keep the whole thing in your case, you could get one that just fits your pump with probably a bit of space to spare and toss that sucker in there.
 
Thanks again guys, is there any advantage using silicon tubing over vinyl tubing or vice versa? Danger den and some other kits I saw were selling silicon tubing.

As for the reservoir, I was thinking a bucket, or some sort of conainter, with a lid, and then just holes drilled for the tubes, does this sound good? As for water, would one gallon do, or should I go two?

Thanks again.
 
For your reservoir , you may want to use an outside plastic electric splice box available @ home depot . I use the 6"x6" in my tower and really like it . If you don't have that much room they have a 4x4 model .

Hope this helps , Billy

ps: go for the cooling cube @ Danger Den
 
Floppyman (May 30, 2001 10:12 a.m.):
Thanks again guys, is there any advantage using silicon tubing over vinyl tubing or vice versa? Danger den and some other kits I saw were selling silicon tubing.

As for the reservoir, I was thinking a bucket, or some sort of conainter, with a lid, and then just holes drilled for the tubes, does this sound good? As for water, would one gallon do, or should I go two?

Thanks again.

Tubing shouldn't really matter...the silicon from DD is very flexible and it easily fits over larger than 3/8" barbs, but not really worth it. Pretty expensive at 1$ a foot or whatever it is.

The size of your resevoir isn't to important as long as your pump fits in it and you can fit the necessary barbs and such.
 
Thanks guys, guess I'm all set =]

I already ordered the Eheim 1048 pump, but it's backordered so it will delay this project a bit. Once it arrives I'll order the board and cpu and the watercooling stuff I need.
 
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