Newb Water Cooling Question

[r1zeek]

Hi guys, i'm looking for a bit of advice about watercooling
I recently decided I would take the leap to watercooling as my overclocks have been producing more and more heat. I looked into one of the kits by Asetek but the reviews don't seem to be that good. After reading a 2 guides in PC Extreme on how to water cool your system I decided I would look for the individual components. Now i'm kinda stumped on what to buy and where to buy it from. I think i'd like to get Danger Den stuff as i've heard alotta good things about them. I know I need a Radiator (Black Ice Pro/Extreme), Pump(Eheim maybe?), Tubing (PVC or Tygon), Waterblocks (CPU and GPU) and a resevoir but what confuses me is all the 3/8 ID and 1/2 OD (Is that Inner Diameter and Outer Diameter?) , i don't get that and I also don't really know what clips to get to hold the tubing down and other small things like that.
Hope someone can shed some light on the subject.
Thanks

[m2c4u]

If you do decide to go watercooling , I would think long and hard about positioning of the components in the case. Thats the mistake I made, I just bought the stuff and just put it in, it was such a mess. If I ever did do it again I would first think if it would be feasible with my current case / will I need a new one. It really does help to have plenty of space to plan things. When you hear 3/8 for a water block e.g. DangerDen Maze 3 3/8 means that the block supports 3/8 ID tubing. Seems a bit backwards since most tubing companies supply everything with the OD measurements. If you can use 1/2 ID silicon tubing with a powerful pump, helps heaps. Theres lots of useful info on www.overclockers.com will charts of the best performing wb's etc.

[TeePee]

I'd reccomend spending money on your tubing. 1/2"ID Tygon or Clearflex is the way to go. Cheap PVC is very inflexible and can make things more difficult.

[Proplus]

Go to www.over-clock.co.uk

[r1zeek]

Thanks m2c4u, im reading one of their articles at the moment. I have begun to think out where to put everything, I worked out that I can mount the radiator in the roof of my case as there is room above the PSU and between the CD Drives and PSU. I'm abit stuck about pumps and resevoirs aswell. In PC Extreme they advise getting an Eheim 1250 as it is just short of 1,500 litres/hour. What i wanna know is how loud is it, cuz im trying to reduce the noise of my machine. I was wondering about a resevoir aswell because I've got a chieftec AX aluminium dragon (I only just bought it so I dont wanna change my case) and it has 2 removable 3.5 drive cages, each containing two 3.5 drive bays, I removed 1 as my cold cathode wasnt shining through the front enough and now I'm left with 1 3.5 drive cage and a tray where the other cage goes. Theres about 11cm clearance below it and about 10cm clearance above it. What do you think about mounting a pump there? Apart from that everything seems asthough it would fit fine but I still need to work out which components to get. I got p4 and an ATi 9800 Pro so what blocks your recommend for them?
Thanks

[SilentDeath]

I think we need a watercooling sticky, my fingers hurt

This is what id recommend:
Dangerden D4 pump. (this is all from what Ive read/heard, never used one but I want to replace my eheim 1250 with one). These are currently the best pumps in the UK for the money and are rebranded from a (german?) comany Liang(sp?). They run at 12v which gives the motor more torque than at 240v. Also they have a better closed impeller deisgn. I thinkthey are rated 6-24v or similar, above 12v they get niosy but below they are silent. The extra torque is because the lower voltage = more current, current is what gives motors the torque, in DC motors voltage gives the speed (so these pumps are adjustable). AC pumps are only adjustable using a light dimmer (triac) which adjusts the frequency of the AC sine wave. These pumps are about as small as the ehiem 1048 - the equvalent eheim is the 1250 and is a lot bigger.

For blocks I would recommend making your own, a lot cheaper and most of the time better results if you do some research. Id never buy danger den stuff (except the rebranded pumps) because of there business taktics, for example some one deisgned a block and they stole the design. The design wasnt patented (was one person making it, how could they afford that!?) so there was no legal ground for that person to stand on. this design became the Maze4, which was there FIRST resonably decent design (compare it with there previous crappy blocks). The RBX is also heavly based on Cathars white water design.
Id recommned a white water for cpu. There are german companys making lots of good blocks which ship to the UK. none of the UK w/c shops sell them (coolercases/o-cuk).

You should place your res above your pump so that the water goes into the pump becuase of gravity (pumps are not self priming!). eheim/Hydor/D4 pumpos should not be nniosy once all the air bubbles have left your system, air and vibration is what makes 99% of hte niose so stick some foam under the pump. The d4 might get loud above 12v becuase it uses a shaft based motor, and is not mag driven like the eheim.

Tubing and connectors gets complicated. Tubing is always listed with the ID and the wall thickness. Connectors (Barb sizes) are listed as the Inside Diameter of the tubing thats ment to go over it so for 1/2 tubing you would use a 1/2 barb, simple . I hate this though becuase all 1/2 tubing will fit over 15mm OD pipe which is much less restrictive to flow. (heating it up first helps a LOT. Tubing is less likely to come off if its stretched over bigger pipe, which is one of the resons I use pipe. 2 meters of copper pipe costs about £2.50 from homebase, definatly work it considering you can use it for lots of stuff including a hdd block and ram w/c aswell as lots of less restictive elbows (pack of 10 is £250 aswell - though the last pack I got only had 9 in it )
Aswell as barbs you have thread sizes, in the UK these are called BSP/BSPT. There sizes are always two lower than the tubing size, for example you use 1/4" BSPT for a 1/2" barb. a 1" barb would use 1/2" BSPT.
BSPT means tapered which is most common, the T is usually missed of. In the US they use NPT which is almost the same but the threads arnt compatable, so with US products you need US barb fittings.
On waterblocks with polycarb/accrylic tops ONLY use plastic barbs as there VERY brittle and with crac if overtightened. Poly carb is a lot stronger though. I use polyethelene as its not brittle (make my own blocks).


Where you stick the parts doesnt really matter. Most of mine is outside case (im making a new case + making blocks, w.c just fitted for testing).

I recommed using a heatercore for your rad but these are usually slightly wider than the crappy overpriced commercail ones. This just means they might not fit in your case in the normal place. I got my nova ones for £10 each, where as the less good ones are £50+. I recommend the thermochill ones if you get a commercail one, they are better.

I roccomend getting a mix of different tubing. Tygon is very flexable but PVC can be mouled into shape in hot water, and it keeps it. Never used clearflex, but I think its like tygon. I dont know anywhere selling tygon/clearflex in the UK that acctually has stock atm.

Unless you have loads of optical drives, take all your small drive cages out and stick your hdd's up with the optical drives. You need a converter thing but it gives you loads more space. If you want your hdd's silenced you can make one of these or I can make one for you (see later in the thread for my design). W/c hdd's allows you to surround them in lots of foamto make them compleatly silent without the problem of them overheating.

Before putting anything in your case do a 24h leak test. Put worm drive clips on all connectoions in the case and if you get any leaks dont just smother them in sillicone sealant as it probably wont hold forever.

Also get two radiators (heatercore + something that fits in your case) and plumb the heatercore into your garden. Use quick disconnect fittings by your case so you can switch between heatercore/other rad. This means whenever your pc is in that one place you wont need ANY niose as it will all be outside. the one for yyou case is only needed if you take it to lans etc...

Think thats just about everything. Im going to save a link to this post so I dont have to keep typing it out

edit - thread with pics of my stuff http://forums.hexus.net/showpost.php...14&postcount=7

[JimLad]

I think making your own waterblock would be a bit of fun, but might take longer than you think

I find my Maze 4 to be just fine.