Moving from Watercooled PC to Aircooled PC

[dipen143]

I purchased a 3XS system from SCAN around late 2009 and the case is a Corsair Obsidian 800d which is currently watercooled. I want to upgrade my PC
at some point and want to move to air cooled using the same case. I want to remove the watercooled components from the PC but do not know where to begin.
I have googled as well but I am worried that I may do something wrong. Please advise.

[Cornholio]

Where abouts are you based? I'm sure one of the forum members won't mind giving you a hand stripping out the W/C setup.

[dipen143]

I am based in Twickenham

[dipen143]

I have some pictures of my PC but if I were to do this myself then where do I start. Drain the water first. I am not looking to upgrade right now but when games come out that are dx12 compatible, that is when I will want to upgrade.

[Ttaskmaster]

It's usually possible to remove the entire loop in one, particularly if you have a spare pair of hands. Once it's outside the case, you can drain it much easier and keep fluids off the expensive bits.

[dipen143]

Ok, are there any existing components that I could keep such as the radiator which is below the 3 top fans on my obsidian 800d when I switch to air cooled. Which loop should I remove first.

[Ttaskmaster]

You could keep the fans...
The rad, pump, reservoir, CPU and GPU blocks, tubes and fittings are all designed to use water though, which won't be of much use if you're air cooling.

When you say 'which loop' - Do you actually have more than one loop, with separate pumps, reservoirs etc, or do you mean the individual pipes?

Either way, if you have taken the whole thing out of the case, you should be able to open the reservoir fill port and begin draining from there. Make sure you open this over a large container like a washing-up bowl or something, as it will likely spill out and get a bit messy. It should just be de-ionised water in there, possibly coloured, but generally quite harmless.

Try and keep the fluid off any attached components, such as the graphics card and if possible detatch such components before draining.

If you cannot take everything out, find a point low down where you can detatch the fitting and drain any immediate fluid into a container. You'll then have to tip the case around to get as much of the remaining fluid out. You could even blow down one tube to help it.