Confused!! (water cooling)

[vasqualo]

Hi guys, i have a swiftech triple radiator and im just planning to install this in a cosmos s chasiss..
I feel stupid to ask but how do i fill this rad up, attach and install etc as the only visible holes are the two ones where the barbs were omitted.. I have attached barbs and am ready to attach everything else but i cant do that with a constant opening of the rad as the coolant will surely leak??? no? Surely once its full i would need to be able to close ( plug) the unit so no water will escape. Is it just a matter of being very careful?
What im saying is, how do i fill up the whole chain without there being air pockets, bubbles etc... Its really late and im sure there is a logical solution so pardon my ignorance, im just baffled at the moment..
Also , the installation is for an asus striker 2 extreme, what are the basic rules as to intake and outake etc... i plan to use the built on water block also but i just need to know where exactly to route the tubing for optimal performance..

 

[Bobly]

A/ You are SO not ready to run water through your computer imo, take 3-6h to read through everything you can find about water cooling, leak testing ect... It'll save you a lot of money in the long run.

B/ You build the whole loop, fill as much of it as you can through your fill port (whichever opening in the loop you're using to fill the loop) and then turn the pump on for a second (don't let it spin without water in it), add some more water, run pump, add water, run pump... Once it's pretty much full, leave the pump running longer, shake the rad a little and the blocks to dislodge water bubbles, keep tipping it up as when the air bubbles come out, the water level depletes...

Edit: I forgot to mention it helps (as in, is quite important) that your fill port is at the highest point of your setup, if the rad if going to be at the top of your rig, you'll probably find it easier to fill your loop while it's outside the case imo.

 

[vasqualo]

Thanks, yes its daunting but i did already have watercooling setup using the single rad but it had the additional opening at the top separate from everything else so i could have everything connected first hand.. if you get what i mean...
The other thing was the routing of the tubing?? are there any fundamentals as which tubes connect in what configuration....

Just in case, youre right and im not ready to progress in this then do you have a quick reccommendation as to whats the most efficient air cooler out there??
My Performance/gaming pc is located in a room that gets quite hot due to the other equipment in there.. This is why i chose the water cooling route...
many thanks...

 

[matt100]

basically you need to add some sort of reservoir or fillport arrangement.

I'm guessing before you had something like the swiftech micro kit? There are rads that have reservoirs built in like the one you had before, what you've done is buy a rad without a res built in so you need to site the res somewhere else.

Place your res before the pump so you can "prime" the pump ie fill the res to feed the pump inlet and then proceed as above, fill, pump till res empty, fill, pump etc.

Or you could be lazy and cool like me and pour your coolant into the res at the same time as the pump is pumping fast enough to keep feeding the pump etc.

Filled my last loop in about 5 minutes like that

 

[vasqualo]

oh my *^7%!!!, How right you are... Yes i originally had the compact kit and have mistaken this rad to have a built in res..... Ok ill follow instructions now as posted once i recieve a res.. thanks

 

[Bobly]

I forgot to mention the alternative is to fill a bit, close loop, tilt case so that water flows through case, and repeat, but it can take quite a while

Regarding whether you are ready or not, go for it, just make sure you read up about it first You might as well do it right and avoid any silly mistakes (IE: Leak test for 24h outside your case to make sure everything is okay )