Dual Loop Water Cooling Spec. - Your advise please

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I fancy trying a Dual loop ( I get bored easily ;) ) in the near future.

Q6600 3.2ghz
Maximus Formula SE - Using the boards Northbridge block
8800GTS 640mb (o/c to roughly GTX speeds)
Coolermaster Stacker 830

I would incorporate these existing parts :

Swiftech Apogee GT - CPU
EK Full Cover Block - GPU
GT Stealth 120 Radiator - For the GPU Loop already mounted in the roof
Swiftech Fanbox - The CPU/Northbridge Rad will be externally mounted

(Possibly a Swiftech 240 Radiator for the CPU+Northbridge - But would like to go with 120.3 , unless that is complete overkill )

Parts i've picked out :

Thermochill PA120.3 - With shroud
3 x Yate loon D12SL-12 Fans
2 x EK Multi Option Res. 150
2 x DB1 Compact 12v Pumps
Masterclear 7/16th i/d Tubing

Anyone see any problems , or recommend other parts ?

Trying to keep below £200 for the new parts.

Also , please recommend me some coolant/fluid thats actually is the same colour as advertised !! .
I've tried Feser - Both distilled water plus dye / and Feser 1 coolant ( premixed ) , neither turn out good with UV for me.

I seen a couple of dual loops with very vibrant coloured fluids in the gallery here ( Matt100 ( I think ) had a very bright red and blue set-up ) i would want Purple and Blue.

Hope this is enough info.

Thanks for reading :)

Mark
 
I would consider investing in some more powerfull pumps tbh. The d-tek pumps are ok for single block applications but I fancy it will struggle in a multi block configuration, especially with the Asus fusion nb block which is VERY restrictive. This will no doubt hinder your temps. A DDC with alphacool top or D5 vario would be great if you can stretch that far. They keep popping up in MM for around £40 and are much better suited to a multi block loop configuration.

The Apogee GT is ok for dual core but is surpassed by current blocks for quadcore cooling. Consider a D-tek Fusion, Appogee GTX and the EK supreme for best performance.

The other parts you have are fine. I would certainly choose a pa120.3 over a swifty 240 rad for the cpu and NB loop.

For UV it really depends on what colour you want. My personal preference is green/blue.

Green - Feser UV dye (acid green) - this gave the best long lasting results. Its the only feser I have had good UV results with.

Blue - Tricky this tbh. I have tried no end of products and the best was also the cheapest. Alphacool clear UV blue dye.

I believe to get different colours feser use a base UV green dye then some other additive to get whatever colours they can get which is all good and well but when it separates you don't always get the desired result i.e by orange looked greeny/brown.

It's also worth bearing in mind that adding anything to water will lower its thermal transfer properties and therefore raise temps. Have you considered getting coloured tubing instead (XSPC or primochill)? Thats what I may be going for next.

Hope this helps.
 
hi, bye the way the Alphacool "alphacola" if thats the one you mean, is not a dye, its a full coolant, and we dont use pigments like other manufacturers, for the UV reactivness we use crystals instead, a lot better for the system as it wont start to congeale or clog.

Btw MRD , you asked at the start that you were wanting to keep costs down, prehaps looking at another radiator, the thermochill (being a very good radiator indeed) is not the most inexpensive item in your setup, there are much more radiators for half the price which will do the job no problems.

Cheers

Chris
 
No it wasn't the alphacola. It was branded Alphacool Clear UV blue dye and came in a 50ml bottle. I used it about a year or so ago but can't seem to find it anymore. It was supplied by a couple of competitors to ocuk so sadly I can't give you the suppliers name.

Alphacool Power-Fluid UV-active Clear blue
When UV-light is in use, the pigment starts to light strongly in a blue tone. This water addition is non corrosive protection, but it can be mixed with some anticorrosives, for example AntiCorro-Fluid.

Content: approx. 50ml, sufficient for approx. 750 distilled water.


Great to see a rep (assuming thats what you are) of Alphacool on the forums.:)
 
no worries about the name, i know who they are lol, sadly we no longer supply this liquid, although the new coolant is doing quite well allover i believe.

Yes I am a rep, I´m the sales manager for the UK market (and a brit too haha )
so no probs on the language here.

Any questions,problems on any of our products, please feel free to buzz me.

cheers

Chris
 
Swiftech Apogee GT - CPU
EK Full Cover Block - GPU
GT Stealth 120 Radiator - For the GPU Loop already mounted in the roof
Swiftech Fanbox - The CPU/Northbridge Rad will be externally mounted

(Possibly a Swiftech 240 Radiator for the CPU+Northbridge - But would like to go with 120.3 , unless that is complete overkill )

Parts i've picked out :

Thermochill PA120.3 - With shroud
3 x Yate loon D12SL-12 Fans
2 x EK Multi Option Res. 150
2 x DB1 Compact 12v Pumps
Masterclear 7/16th i/d Tubing

Anyone see any problems , or recommend other parts ?

What loop setup are you looking for? I'm a bit confused! :(

Trying to keep below £200 for the new parts.

Also , please recommend me some coolant/fluid thats actually is the same colour as advertised !! .
I've tried Feser - Both distilled water plus dye / and Feser 1 coolant ( premixed ) , neither turn out good with UV for me.

I seen a couple of dual loops with very vibrant coloured fluids in the gallery here ( Matt100 ( I think ) had a very bright red and blue set-up ) i would want Purple and Blue.

Check out Feser One - they make a UV Blue and UV Purple (both light up nicely under UV). Your looking at about £8 per litre.
 
Thanks for the replies :)

@Webbo - Pumps

Iv'e got a d5 Vario i will use for my main CPU + NB loop , so i need a small ( due to space ) pump just for the GPU loop , hence the DB1

Do you think it will be OK for just a GPU loop with an EK full cover block ?

@ Alphacool

What Triple Radiator would you recommend ?

TBH if i'm paying double for the Thermochill PA120.3 , to shave 1 or 2 degrees off the loop then i am willing to reconsider ( The money saved will go to a better CPU Block ).

Do Alphacool do a Purple dye/coolant ?

I'm looking for a colour like "Ribena" concentrate and a Deep Navy Blue ( Samples welcomed ;) Email in trust )

@prosser13

Yeh , i was not too clear :).

I've got a full CPU/NB/GPU loop and want to split it into a seperate GPU loop , and seperate CPU/NB loop.

Wanted recommendations on Rad types/size for the CPU and NB loop and suitable pumps for the 2 loops.

Have tried Fezer fluid , the Purple one turns out a milky Bluey/Pink under UV.

I actually used the Fezer Purple in this loop ( about 1/2 way down the page ) :

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17305236&page=15

Cheers all.

Mark
 
I believe you can add extra Feser One dye to the loop to make it a more concentrated colour, and I know Feser One reworked some of the colours to make them better...i.e. the first batch of red was a vibrant pink, even in normal light!

For the CPU and Northbridge, use a PA120.2, and use the same if possible on the graphics card loop although a PA160.1 would probably suffice. If you can't afford all Thermochill radiators, add an extra fan on and go for something like a Swiftech MCR - (i.e. PA120.2 -> xx120.3)

As for pumps, a DB-1 should be fine for the GPU loop, but may struggle on the CPU loop - go for a DDC if you can afford it :)
 
Yeah it'll be fine for gpu loop. I was just concerned with you using it for cpu and NB thats all m8.

Looking like a V.good spec.
 
for the record I had the normal UV dyes from the normal places but I used way too much (on purpose) which had the desired result of getting red and blue but stained the hell out of the reservoirs and tubing.

I've been running a ghetto setup in advance getting my new pc set up and utilising old tubing without dyes and I occasionally see clots of it get washed off the inside wall of my tubing lol!

Also I used orange for red as red is pink... go figure.

I would suggest a red and blue mic for purple and just a standard blue for blue, blue is pretty consistant, purple should be easy enough with a mixture. Test a bit in a jug and put it somewhere near your nuclear powered cathodes! ;)
 
Thanks for the replies :)

@Webbo - Pumps

Iv'e got a d5 Vario i will use for my main CPU + NB loop , so i need a small ( due to space ) pump just for the GPU loop , hence the DB1

Do you think it will be OK for just a GPU loop with an EK full cover block ?

@ Alphacool

What Triple Radiator would you recommend ?

TBH if i'm paying double for the Thermochill PA120.3 , to shave 1 or 2 degrees off the loop then i am willing to reconsider ( The money saved will go to a better CPU Block ).

Do Alphacool do a Purple dye/coolant ?

I'm looking for a colour like "Ribena" concentrate and a Deep Navy Blue ( Samples welcomed ;) Email in trust )

@Prosser13

Yeh , i was not too clear :).

I've got a full CPU/NB/GPU loop and want to split it into a seperate GPU loop , and seperate CPU/NB loop.

Wanted recommendations on Rad types/size for the CPU and NB loop and suitable pumps for the 2 loops.

Have tried Fezer fluid , the Purple one turns out a milky Bluey/Pink under UV.

I actually used the Fezer Purple in this loop ( about 1/2 way down the page ) :

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17305236&page=15

Cheers all.

Mark

Hi Mark,
We only do the colours Red,Blue;Green,Orange,Blue/Clear and Yellow at the moment.

As for a Radiator, hmm well naturally I could recommend one of our own, but I don't want to break any Forum rules here, so I will leave that up to others to say what they think.

There are so many to choose from, basically looks are unimportant especially if the Rad is based in the roof of the case (not seen anyway), obviously if the Rad is set outside the case then a good chrome or high polished finish would look ok.

But here is a tip, with all Radiators, before you build them into your loop, give them a good flushing first, as there is always some sort of rubbish in them, no matter what manufacturer they come from.

cheers

Chris
 
I've had no problems with the XSPC 360mm radiator, forgotten the model! Temps dropped quite a lot when compared to my 120.2. Think they can be had new about £30-40
 
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