custom water cooling

[addthewin]

hihi I'm interested in custom CPU cooling may extend to GPU. Haven done it before
curious to try it out?

i'm not sure what i need but after some read up..
i think i need

A reservior pump
Water block
the silver thingy (?Antimicrobial)
compression fittings (?better at preventing water leak)
Pipe
Radiator 240mm

so is that all i need? a price range agar agar how much?
the pipe for size 1 or standard?
the fittings are standard size too right?

where can i get it and how much? anyone?

 

[congrade07]

Actually there are a few threads on custom WC, you can do a search and estimate how much it will cost.

A basic setup like I mentioned in other threads are

- Reservoir
- Radiator
- Pump
- Blocks

Above are the four main components. After finalizing them then you decide on

- Fittings
- Tubing (Hard Acrylic or Normal Tubing)
- Coolant
- Anti Bacterial Agent

Cost depend on your things you wish to water cool. Honestly if you just want to watercool a CPU, I would just tell you to save your moolah and buy a AIO.

For custom WC, WC GPU are a must or one of the criteria that ppl WC.

Reason is because, CPU dont get as hot or noisy as GPU. It normal circumstances, one should get ready around 800 - 1k for decent WC setup.

Myself I had sink more than 3 - 4K on WC. And fittings are the ones tat are expensive.

 

[addthewin]

wahh.. i saw ur rig of the month in guru 3D!
look like u are a sexpert in this area.. estimation a single 240mm radiator with a loop to cool CPU den GPU.. is it good enough? cause i dun like my PC hot air blowing at my leg and cannot tolerate noise in my system..

if i water cooled it i intend to put my PC on my table.. can enjoy it's beauty..

but will i meet my objective of silent and cool operation?
will my system run cooler?

 

[royfrosty]

You will still need the fan to exhaust out the heat from the rad.

 

[congrade07]

In terms of noise level, coming from 580 Lightning SLI/ 6970 Lightning SLI/ 7970 Xfire and 680 SLI. All of these above I had run air cooling before. With the default cooler plus case fans, my rig is like a wind turbine.

This is one of the reason why I am going for custom WC, especially for my GPUs.

Do note that WC does not mean no noise. You still have fans for cooling the radiators. So it all boils down to the fans that you are using. I am using all gentle typhoons for my current built which has a total of around 8 of them.

My new build which is still ongoing has a total of 14 fans which 7 of them are enermax magmas and rest are gentle typhoons.


For your question if 240 rad is enough for GPU and CPU. I would say that its not sufficient. To be safe, at least a 360 radiator.

Lastly, do not save on WC. Say if you are on budget and gotten a cheaper component. In future if you decide to change it, u lose more money and also you have to drain and reloop the whole setup.

For WC setups, in normal cases once we up the loop we will leave it untouch except for RMA (touch wood) or 6 months/yearly draining of coolant.

 

[shadow84]

Is there a preferred/ideal direction of flow of water?

 

[congrade07]

Loop does not matters unless u are so particular about that 1 degree difference. Most important is Reservoir before pump

 

[shadow84]

Does a first timer need to run the loop for 24hrs before putting onto the system?

 

[cyberwave]

Does a first timer need to run the loop for 24hrs before putting onto the system?

not only first timer. whenever u setup ur loop best is to have 24hr leak test before powering on your components.
so just jumpstart your psu and connect the pump to it such that only the pump is running. the psu should not be connected to other components

 

[congrade07]

Does a first timer need to run the loop for 24hrs before putting onto the system?

For me, I dont. I jump start the whole rig (jump start PSU with pump powered up) and let it run for a few mins. Using kitchen towels at all the fittings joints. As my coolant is colored, so if any leak were to occur I would be able to notice right away. After leak test a few mins, I just went ahead to use my com as per normal.

WC is safe if done correctly

 

[silencer13]

If it's not too much trouble, could you guys share how you drain the loop?
What kind of system do you install for draining? Pictures would be great.

I'm buying my parts now, got everything except the draining system. Saw some interesting ideas using QDC and swivel fittings, wonder if there are other more efficient (and safer) ways.

 

[cyberwave]

If it's not too much trouble, could you guys share how you drain the loop?
What kind of system do you install for draining? Pictures would be great.

I'm buying my parts now, got everything except the draining system. Saw some interesting ideas using QDC and swivel fittings, wonder if there are other more efficient (and safer) ways.

include this at the lowest point of your loop

or using qdcs work as well

 

[congrade07]

Just to share my ongoing build draining plan with you. Like what cyberwave had shown, that is a drain valve from bitspower. I have 3 of these and also a aquacomputer filter which acts like a drain valve as well as filter.

For draining, I have a total of 3 draining point. Reason is because my case is huge and to ensure total draining, I have 3 points which are

- Reservoir
- Dual Radiator at Bottom Chamber
- Radiator at my Flex Bay (For caselabs front mounting)

Reservoir Drain Valve


Bottom Chamber Dual Monsta Rad's Drain Valve


I also installed dual quick disconnect behind the motherboard panel. These are used for different purposes.

- For filling up of loop
- For Sealing of water and Draining

Image of the dual Quick Disconnect. (Compression fittings yet to install)


The dual quick disconnects will be leading down to my bottom radiator which allows me to remove my radiator without the need of draining the whole loop during changing/ removing/ maintenance.

For my Flex Bay radaitor, my draining is not finalized so no pictures for it.

 

[silencer13]

Thanks for sharing.
Those are very nice! No wonder you spend so much! But I think it was all worth it, really eye-candy.

 

[cyberwave]

thats y if u wanna wc be prepared to throw loads of money in to make it nice and perform well.

if wanna save money and do a half___ loop, my advice is to take that money and go eat buffet. can get more satisfaction that way

 

[congrade07]

I understood as a beginner it is hard to imagine to fork out more than $500 just on cooling. But honestly speaking, custom water cooling is a total different ball game compare to AIO water cooling solution.

Custom watercooling is very versatile, and not forgetting Eye Candy like you mentioned. When I first started, my budget is only $500 max. But as I started, I found out that I will need to get more stuffs so the budget soon bursts. The biggest culprit are the fittings.

For good quality ones like those I shown in the pictures are all from Bitspower.

Lets take an example of the bottom drain valves fittings setup.

2 X Bitspower 90D Rotaries ($16 - $19 each)
2 X Bitspower 15mm Extender ($7 - $8 each)
2 X Bitspower Aqua Link ($15 each)
1 X Bitspower T Joint Rotary ($22)
1 X Bitspower Multi Transfer ($6)
1 X Bitspower Stop Plug ($6)
1 X Bitspower Drain Valve ($35 - $38)

This above is just for a single pass through with drain valve for my dual rads.

A pair of QDC from bitspower or Koolance easily cost you $50 - $65 with shipping. But you cant save on draining as it is an important part of WC. so do save up and research a bit before venturing.

 

[addthewin]

very in depth insight on ur water looking! thumbs up for you!
anyway recommendation on such venture? although i dun quite understand the drainage part? u put a valve to drain water? how to clear water from all the pipes? dun quite understand.. hahas..

 

[cyberwave]

very in depth insight on ur water looking! thumbs up for you!
anyway recommendation on such venture? although i dun quite understand the drainage part? u put a valve to drain water? how to clear water from all the pipes? dun quite understand.. hahas..

the valve is just a tap. turn on the tap and water will flow

water will flow from high to low, with gravity as the driving force. thats y place your tap (valve) at the lowest possible point of your loop to drain maximum amount of water from the loop

 

[congrade07]

Yes. You just have to turn on the valve and loosen one of the ports at the top, water will be gushing out. Loosening the port hasten the draining process as allowing air to escape. As my build is huge and also would like to have ease of changing parts thus the need of that much of drain ports and qdc.

For QDC I have a total of 7 sets but will utilize 4 only. 2 behind the motherboard tray and 2 more btm chamber for the rads.

Most important for qdc is the loop order and drain

 

[shadow84]

If i get WC with my i5-4570, and a while after that, i get i7-4770k, would it be easier to replace the cpu?