water cooling system

[mines]

Hi,
just wondering if anybody knows how to build a water cooling system? so far haven\'t found a good site yet..just found some pictures..but not very clear.
any further info on this would be much appreciated
thanks

[Roadkill]

Not easy answering that one, but I\'ll take the basic steps...

You need:
- A water reservoir (anything from a bucket to a cute alu-box...)
- A water pump (aquarium-thing works fine)
- Some hose
- Nipples for the reservoir, radiator and water block
- A water block for the cpu (swiftech has some good ones)
- A radiator

Put the thing together without mounting it into the computer. Testrun it for a couple of hours to check for leaks. When you\'re absolutely confident it has none, mount it on your cpu...

A smart move is putting some chemicals in the water to prevent algae growth. You could also get some cool red, green or blue chemicals in order to color the water...http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'\' />

I\'m running a T-Bird 1,33Ghz watercooled on 1,612Ghz at the moment... It\'s quite fun!

--
Roadkill

[mines]

Hi,
thanks for the feedback. you\'ve shown some good basic there.they seem clear to me.
but i\'m actually very new to this..is there any site that actually shows the pics of how they all should be put together.. \'cause i\'m not exactly sure also how those things work..

[Roadkill]

Sorry for the late reply, I\'ve been busy @ work...

It\'s been a while since I surfed around for step-by-step guides to watercooling, but again, I\'ll try to take you through the basics. Start with the pump. Depending on what kind of pump you\'ve got, you\'ll either have one or two hose-nipples standing out from it. Check the manual to find out which one is outgoing, and if you\'ve got two, which one is pumping in. I use a pump with only one, so it\'s sitting at the bottom of my water reservoir.

The next thing you do is to put a hose from the outgoing pump-nipple to your cpu waterblock. Then a new hose from your waterblock to your radiator. Another one from your radiator to your water reservoir. Do NOT mount it in your computer yet. Plug in the power of the pump, and let it run for a couple of hours. Check every now and then if you\'ve got any leaks. These will normally show up either in the hose/nipple connections, the waterblock (which is normally screwed together from two pieces) or the radiator. If you\'re planning to put the whole thing into your computer, you\'ll want to make sure that there are absolutely no leaks whatsoever.

When you\'re absolutely sure that you have no leaks, after running the thing for hours, run it again. Let it rest for a little while, and run it for another hour, just to be sure.

After going through these steps, you\'re just about ready to mount it in your computer. Put the whole thing in, be careful when mounting the waterblock on your cpu, and start the pump. When it seems to be running smoothly, boot the computer and hope for the best...:-)

Good luck!

--
Roadkill

[mines]

thanks roadkill!
you\'re the real road killer!!
i\'ll probably ask you more question as i do those steps....though hehe

[Wraith]

For water cooling info - go here

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q2/010528/index.html

Hope that helps

[mines]

hi, i saw the water-cooling section in Tom\'s hardware site.
well, the pics are in some what complicated. so basically, you have a host going out from the water-block(which is attached on the cpu) to the radiator. then there\'s a new hose from the radiator to the water-pump. then from the water-pump you have a host back to the water-block. is that the way to go?
i mean, for outgoing and ingoing direction, i can probably check with the manual later(as mentioned by roadkill), but is that the way you connect them together?

[Wraith]

Sounds about right. Just make sure that it is absolutly water tight and bled properly. If its not bled it won\'t cool properly and if its not water tight.. well, poof! They recommend testing it for a while (I\'d say a week but I\'m probably paranoid). Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Try using vehicle radiator coolant instead of water or that red gunk addative. Radiator coolant does not cause corrosion and has very quick heat dissipation properties.

[mines]

radiator coolant?? is that some sort of liquid?..
and i\'m not sure about \"red gunk additive\"...is that what they use as \"red liquid\" to see if there\'s any leaking occur?

[Anonymous]

Uhh, I think he means Prestone, you know car antifreeze!

[The_Flames]

car antifreeze isnt the correct stuff, this makes the water less able to remove heat and can cause some other nasty after effect, Only if I cound rember were the guide i read about the subject from !! :¬(

[The_Flames]

I rembered the url

http://www.overclockedcafe.com/article_1.htm

[AquaMaster]

You need to look @ the site that pretty much stated out as a hobby site back in 1997. There are a lot of other sites now but they just do it for the money. Stroll through the videos here:

http://www.overclockershideout.com/tutorials.shtml

They even dable in refrigeration if your hardcore:)

https://www.overclockershideout.com/Merchan...ategory_Code=C1

[AquaMaster]

Try these links.

They do it all from basic water to refrigeration:

www.overclockershideout.com

[PapaSmurf]

Hey I just did alot of research on water cooling. I recomend getting a Danger Den block. The pumps that are recomended are inline but if you buy a good radiator or heatercore you will be safe with a submersible pump. You can add antifreeze, you want to about 15% antifreeze. Or you can buy Water Wetter. That stuff just prevents corrosion on your parts. Be careful when you buy, alot of the sites are really expensive. I recomend www.aquastealth.com for a kit. If you want to piece one together check flying fish express for a pump. I bought mine from them and saved 30 bucks. check www.dangerden.com for a water block and you can use a heater core for a radiator. That I believe is the cheapest route

[EscapeYourMind]

I recommend mag drive pumps like danner, or aquatic pumps.  Mainly because you can get more bang for the buck.  An ehiem pump is generally more expensive than a mag drive pump. I personally have a 950gph aquarium pump running my system, which cost me as much as an ehiem 1250 (317gph I believe) or around $65.  The only problem that you need to watch out for with the mag drives is that they need to be sealed before you use them. This is a real easy process. Just unscrew the front of it, apply a line of silicone along the part where the front connects to the main body of the pump. Put it back on, screw it in and let it cure for 24hrs. You almost HAVE to do this with a mag drive pump if it’s running inline. If it’s submerged then there is no need to worry about it. But if you are running the pump inline you will need too otherwise it will leak. Very slowly, but it will still leak over a long period of time unless sealed.  Another thing you should do is go to www.heatercore4u.com  Look around their site for a heater core you like and one that fits your system, then head over to AutoZone or www.autozone.com and order it.  They generally have the heater cores in stock for half the price of heatercore4u.  I would not recommend buying a BIX (Black Ice Extreme) They are very overpriced and generally perform the same or less than a regular heater core.  I personally used my method above with heatercore4u.com and found a nice sized one for my external system for $25 and it holds two 120mm 131cfm fans.  For a reservoir, you could make one or just find any kind of box that holds water without leaking. I just used a watertight electrical junction box (4\"x4\"x4\") from home depot.  For a water block the maze3 ones are good at dangerden, the swiftech ones are good, and the spir@l and tc4 ones are good as well (those are at www.dtekcustoms.com)  In numerous test they generally perform about the same, so I would recommend that you just get the block that works for your budget or the one that looks better. It’s really up to you if you stay with those major three. The water is kind of tricky, I have not seen any single method just drop temps significantly or do something spectacular, as long as you have a corrosion inhibiter and oxidation prevention it should be ok.  Water wetter is a good choice, but it does have a nasty smell, and can stain certain types of tubing.  I’ve herd purple ice is good. Anti-freeze works ok too when combined with water.  I would recommend you experiment a little bit.  For the type of tubing I strongly recommend tygon if you have the cash for it.  Another small point I don’t recommend the metal type screw clamps as if you tighten them too much you can cut into your tubing. This has happened to me.  So if you use them just make sure you don’t over tighten them to the point where after a while a leak could form.  Some other points. The large the reservoir you can get the better. The more water you have the cooler it will generally be.  Hey if you can get like 5 gallons or so you might not even need a heater core.  If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] Id be glad to help anyone with their water-cooling system.

[Kunt]

I use a garden hose, my 9 year old son sprays the computer with a garden hose while i play games, I wear an inflatable duckie around me so i can stay afloat.

[CJTech]

hmmmmmmmmmm, I wonder if anyone remembers the basics that water and electronics doen't mix?!?!  http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'\' />  With how much $ you would spend on water coolers, it would be cheaper to buy a faster cpu on ebay.