Attempting to water cool again after 20 year gap - needing some advice please

fantasticCG said:
Dont grab an AIO and be a sheep. If custom cooling is what you want to do then do that, custom cooling looks better.
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loonyk said:
it's not a waste of money, it a good hobby. and performance it's way better than AIO. It's expandable to your needs too. Even best AIOs can't compete with custom loop
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It's not cost effective sure it looks pretty and cools slightly better so if you don't mind paying then go for it.

Even sheep need hobby's. ;)
 
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malccy said:
The Blitz pack is a hefty outlay to clean a couple of used 240mm rads. I've seen a lot of recipes to clean rads online, from vinegar to bi-carb soda. I'm thinking I will use the method mentioned by LuckyBenski using vinegar but dilute it with some of the DP Ultra I have arriving in the next few days.

Edit: 'pre' - would kettle de-scaler do the same thing as the espresso cleaner?
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Not quite the same, expresso cleaner such as Cafiza tablets is a base so alkaline solution when dissolved in water. You should dilute vinegar with boiled or distilled water not your DP ultra. If you flush with a lot of water and then distilled at the end you should be OK.

You'll know if you didn't flush the vinegar solution well enough if you end up with something like this when you do maintenance - https://www.reddit.com/r/watercooling/comments/zg1u3k/whats_this_green_stuff/
 
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I was/am looking at mini-itx motherboards with temp sensor connectors, mainly due to fan control. I know for example that Asus armoury crate (although I personally loathe it) has the ability to set fan curves in relation to temp sensor readings.

My confusion about using a valve connector as a drain port was more with what should be connected to it, but i'm guessing just a bit of hose connected to a male connector and then connect this to the valve connector when wanting to drain the loop?

Thanks again for replies and for continual assistance.

That's a scary picture pre btw of a green stained block. I will try to rinse thoroughly after cleaning my rads.

Cheers for answering my question regarding ptfe tape, although from your answer I now want to ask - Should washers on connectors be changed at regular intervals etc?

With regard to the motherboard/cpu and ram I am starting to realise that there is not much difference in buying new mid-range than older used mid-range. I shall follow a few items that I have already bookmarked on eBay for next week but also price up a few new bundles. I was tempted by the 7500f in MM Sales but could not find many reasonably priced mini-itx motherboards to fit it to.
 
malccy said:
I was tempted by the 7500f in MM Sales but could not find many reasonably priced mini-itx motherboards to fit it to.
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If you plan on water cooling the GPU I would advise getting a CPU with integrated graphics which often helps in troubleshooting and potentially striping down your loop . The 7500f doesn't have intergraded graphics denoted by the F suffix and for AM5 6000mhz ram is ideal preferably C30 .
 
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mickyflinn said:
If you plan on water cooling the GPU I would advise getting a CPU with integrated graphics which often helps in troubleshooting and potentially striping down your loop . The 7500f doesn't have intergraded graphics denoted by the F suffix and for AM5 6000mhz ram is ideal preferably C30 .
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The lack of onboard gfx was another thing putting me off a bit, as you say, it is a help if ever troubleshooting.
 
malccy said:
I was/am looking at mini-itx motherboards with temp sensor connectors, mainly due to fan control. I know for example that Asus armoury crate (although I personally loathe it) has the ability to set fan curves in relation to temp sensor readings.

My confusion about using a valve connector as a drain port was more with what should be connected to it, but i'm guessing just a bit of hose connected to a male connector and then connect this to the valve connector when wanting to drain the loop?

Thanks again for replies and for continual assistance.

That's a scary picture pre btw of a green stained block. I will try to rinse thoroughly after cleaning my rads.

Cheers for answering my question regarding ptfe tape, although from your answer I now want to ask - Should washers on connectors be changed at regular intervals etc?

With regard to the motherboard/cpu and ram I am starting to realise that there is not much difference in buying new mid-range than older used mid-range. I shall follow a few items that I have already bookmarked on eBay for next week but also price up a few new bundles. I was tempted by the 7500f in MM Sales but could not find many reasonably priced mini-itx motherboards to fit it to.
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I use asus AI suite instead of
Armoury crate
It can set curves based on coolant temp
I wouldn't even install Armoury crate but it's only
Option to control the oled screen on my motherboard

Yes basically unscrew the g 1/4 blank off
The end of your ball valve
Screw in a male fitting with some hose on it
ideally with the pc on a desk,table,worktop etc
And a long enough bit of hose to reach whatever you're
Draining the coolant into
So gravity helps you and you have both hands free

Washers/0 rings on fittings
Those tend to last a very long time
Unless you cause any physical damage to them
Can't say i have ever replaced one
 
Ive found on some quite old fittings, the o-rings on the G1/4 threaded size have been compressed and deformed by being left so long in a rig. You can buy replacements for sure, basically have a look. If they're still round with no bad indentations or tears, they should be fine.
 
malccy said:
I was/am looking at mini-itx motherboards with temp sensor connectors, mainly due to fan control. I know for example that Asus armoury crate (although I personally loathe it) has the ability to set fan curves in relation to temp sensor readings.
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If you get an aquacomputer quadro it'll free you from having to shop for motherboards with temp sensor headers and the fan control software it comes with is far ahead of rubbish like armoury crate. I've got a high flow next and a quadro running off their aquasuite software and a razer chroma argb controller running off signal rgb. I'm now mercifully free from motherboard software.
 
Thank you newuser, I have been looking at aquacomputer products including the quadro and getting a little confused if I am honest. I see Overclockers do one for about £40, it might be from the sounds of things a good investment. When I attempt to read all the details about it either on the product page or from a reddit post about them, it overloads me though, especially some of the jargon.

Am I correct in thinking that I connect the four radiator fans cables to it (the vario d5 I will leave unconnected as will just forever leave it on a low quiet setting) and the 2-pin temp sensor, then connect the quadro to the pc via the usb cable, run the Aquacomputer software, adjust fan curves to the temp sensor readings, disconnect the usb and that's it?

I have again updated my 'Wanted' thread to include a request for an Aquacomputer Quadro. If anyone has one laying about please reply.
 
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malccy said:
Am I correct in thinking that I connect the four radiator fans cables to it (the vario d5 I will leave unconnected as will just forever leave it on a low quiet setting) and the 2-pin temp sensor, then connect the quadro to the pc via the usb cable, run the Aquacomputer software, adjust fan curves to the temp sensor readings, disconnect the usb and that's it?
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You can leave it connected to the USB. I check in on mine periodically in the Aquasuite software. But it will still work if you disconnect USB/the PC stops responding. So it's your choice :)

Might make for neater cable management to remove or stash the USB connection.
 
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think i saw a quadro recently in mm
or might have been an aquero
never used one
but the last bit sounds wrong
would expect to keep usb connected to get constant
updated data?

just a point too
think you get aquacomputer software free
for 1 year
then need to pay if you want new versions of
the software
someone with it can hopefully confirm that
or say its wrong
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
think i saw a quadro recently in mm
or might have been an aquero
never used one
but the last bit sounds wrong
would expect to keep usb connected to get constant
updated data?

just a point too
think you get aquacomputer software free
for 1 year
then need to pay if you want new versions of
the software
someone with it can hopefully confirm that
or say its wrong
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Yep, I think it's one or 1.5 years of software updates. That means you can only install the version of Aquasuite that was available when the product was first sold and registered (if it's second hand).

USB can be connected if you want the data for your own graphs etc, but Aquacomputer stuff will keep functioning even without USB. The configuration is stored on the microcontroller itself, which means for instance you can have high temp alarms, emergency shutdowns, or higher fan speeds, even if the PC locks up. They're often used for big cooling systems in lab/factory equipment apparently!
 
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LuckyBenski said:
Yep, I think it's one or 1.5 years of software updates. That means you can only install the version of Aquasuite that was available when the product was first sold and registered (if it's second hand).

USB can be connected if you want the data for your own graphs etc, but Aquacomputer stuff will keep functioning even without USB. The configuration is stored on the microcontroller itself, which means for instance you can have high temp alarms, emergency shutdowns, or higher fan speeds, even if the PC locks up. They're often used for big cooling systems in lab/factory equipment apparently!
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interesting can disconnect the usb
personally i would leave it connected
just in case ever need to set it up again
assume we mean internal motherboard usb header?
 
You get at least 6 months of updates with new hardware but you can keep using it after. Updates are about a tenner a year but once you're running you shouldn't need them.
I've left the usb to mobo cable in.
I'm running 6 140s split between two headers, 4 200s on another and the pwm for the pump off the 4th.
The quadro doesn't support the emergency shutdown cable that piggy backs on your power switch cable. The hf next does, not sure about the octo.
The software has a huge amount of options for sources and control methods. Can read most mobo and gpu temps. Easiest is to use a set point for water temp on each fan header with a min and max pwm % and let it do the rest.
 
Update:

I've received the xspc pump/reservoir that I won on Ebay, but I have slightly messed up...

I thought it said in the listing 170mm, but it actually said 270mm. The tiny reservoir that I bought last week is a much smaller diameter that the pump and I already feel a bit out of my depth. What is a 'top' and do I need one as well as a smaller reservoir (this reservoir is much too big) and how do I know what reservoir will actually fit the pump that I now have? Also, do I need to buy anything else apart from the reservoir for the reservoir to fit (hope that makes sense).

Here are some pics of said pump/res.







I sincerely hope that I am not being a pain, asking for help like this. Thanks again.
 
Thanks. How do I know which reservoirs will fit my xspc vario D5 and do they need to have a bottom to them like in my bottom picture?
 
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