Are the OCUK all in one watercooling kits worth it?

subbytna

subbytna

subbytna

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As the title says. Are they worth it? I'm thinking about going down teh WC route but not sure where to start and tbh I'm still a bit nervous about putting liquid near my computer.

Anyone know of any good reading material or clips to watch to get a bit more confidence on how to approach a WC build?
 
The guy above has given the same advice I would. To answer your first question though, yes they are worth it if they provide the spec that you want. The higher end kits such as the v12 and v10 are very capable, as much so as any equivalent custom loop you could build yourself, and will take the worry out of getting compatible components etc.

Also to respond to: "tbh I'm still a bit nervous about putting liquid near my computer"

As long as you are using de-ionised / distilled liquid and you properly leak test before running it unattended, you shouldnt really have anything to worry about. Small leaks are rarely fatal and large leaks dont really happen if you have done said leak testing and perform some basic maintenance every 6 to 12 months (i.e. cleaning and refilling the loop).
 
Distilled water is definitely the safest option, I had a very small leak on a rotary fitting above my graphics card, when I noticed the substantial puddle on the graphics card and the very small leak I realized it must have been leaking for days whilst the PC was on and I was playing games ETC...
All I did was turn off the PC, dab a paper towel on top of the graphics card, remove the card and left it to dry out for two days on my window seal, still works fine.

Like BluSky said generall small leaks aren't fatal, just leak test for a good 12 hours at least.
 
I found that even extensive leak testing was pointless.

Go for compression fittings, then grab some PTFE tape from your local DIY store if your paranoid about leaks.


Wrap the PTFE twice around the thread of your fittings and ensure they are as hand tight as you can possibly do ( this means a good effort on seeing if they will go any tighter )

I have one big leak so far but thats my fault as I use my big res as a filling / draining solution and I needed to put a 45 deg rotary fitting on the bottom of my rad to allow the tipping of the res to drain, unfortunately the tube slipped of the compression gland and the contents of my 240mm rad ****ed onto the bottom of my case.

Quick power off and an old T-shirt to mop up the spill out with the hair dryer to get to the hard to reach places and within 40mins it was all safe to go.
 
Is it easy to maintain a loop though?

I don't know much about pumps or cleaning any bio gunk from them. Can you get anything that keeps the water free of biological build up or is that just part of the process?
 
subbytna said:
Is it easy to maintain a loop though?

I don't know much about pumps or cleaning any bio gunk from them. Can you get anything that keeps the water free of biological build up or is that just part of the process?
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Grab some pre mixed stuff like mayhems X1 range, and that should keep the gunk away but you should clean it every six months as per the guides here.

Grab some compressed air can and blow dust from rads every few months, once your filled you wont need to touch it unless you add stuff to it.

From my experience do the CPU and GPU first time around and make sure you get all your rads fans pumps e.c.t empty your case bare and get an idea of the tubing runs I have drained my system twice since the original build to add in 90 or 45 rotary bends to stop kinking.
 
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The biocidal angle is played up all the time, but seriously, what are you expecting to grow in a loop filled with distilled water? There is no source of nutrition for micro-organisms so they basically won't grow. Unless you put a vegetable based dye in there... in which case they have a food source so they'll grow as much as they can.
 
WJA96 said:
The biocidal angle is played up all the time, but seriously, what are you expecting to grow in a loop filled with distilled water? There is no source of nutrition for micro-organisms so they basically won't grow. Unless you put a vegetable based dye in there... in which case they have a food source so they'll grow as much as they can.
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While you are technically correct, I have never seen the disadvantage in taking extra precautions with these things. After all biocides cost next to nothing and provide peace of mind, so why not?
 
BluSky said:
After all biocides cost next to nothing and provide peace of mind, so why not?
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Because they don't cost next to nothing. They cost at least a couple of pounds for a couple of pennies of chemical and it's just something else to scare newbies with. And these chemicals are poisons, so they're not the sort of thing you want lying around the house if you have pets or children.

And it also allows the manufacturers to cover up the whole distilled water scam. Most of isn't distilled water at all. It's deionized at best but most people don't know the difference.

Even then, there is no source of nutrition, so what's going to grow? Nothing.

The only thing disturbing my peace of mind is the advertising blurb from the manufacturers.

Don't use a kill coil because it could react with our badly finished equipment.

Don't use anyone else's fluids because we can't guarantee what will happen. Of course they know exactly what will happen but because they buy from Chinese manufacturers that fake certificates of compliance they're no more manufactured to a specification than fly to the moon.

If your tubing goes cloudy, blame the tubing manufacturer because it's easier than testing and reformulating your product so it's compatible with all the popular brands of tubing.

The manufacturers, by and large, just want to sell us product. They have no interest in making it last because they want us to buy MORE product. What, you're still using our 2011 CPU block? You poor thing. Our 2012 block is flavour of the month now you know. Buy that and your PC will run colder than Antarctica. It doesn't of course, but we're all mugs to marketing. Even me.
 
subbytna said:
As the title says. Are they worth it?
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Hi

I am the person who specs all of the kits.

essentially, they are designed to present you as a customer a few things.

  • Compatibility
  • Performance
  • Value for money

I will be honest, they are only 'worth it' if you don't want the hassle of compiling your own list of hardware.

however, these kits are picked out because we have tested them and we know that all of the parts work together.

It depends what you want. but if the prospect of having a box of cherry picked parts arrive on your doorstep with no hassle of compatibility or compromised performance.
 
I only ever leak test for 1 hour.
Place paper towel under each fitting & check to see if any drops appear on it, no more is really required.

I have also never looked to maintain my loop every 6-12 months. The only reason I ever touch my loop is if I need to change something. If nothing needed changing the loop would sit there for years. Quite often you can replace fittings/components without even draining the loop. Physics holds the liquid in the loop when you disconnect a fitting (unless you open the res) so if you do get a leak it's very easy to just swap the fitting over. Same with adding a new block. Disconnect one block, don't drain the loop first, connect new bock, job done. Decent fluids don't seem to harm things either, my motherboard & sound card have been wet thanks to a leak in a rotary fitting, I knocked the fitting while dusting inside the case & didn't think anything of it, a few days later I noticed my res had gone down, found a nice puddle on my sound card.

Water cooling is a scary step, but once you've taken it things get a lot easier :)
 
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