Final Decisions and dimensions for watercooling

manisinghb

manisinghb

manisinghb

Associate
Joined
12 Apr 2009
Posts
627
hey guys tell me what you think of the following order and pricing:

1 x ThermoChill PA120.3 radiator
1 x Watercool Heatkiller CPU Block Rev. 3.0
1 x XSPC Acrylic reservoir
1 x Swiftech MCP335 12v Laing DDC Ultra Pump
3 x Coolermaster 120mm fan
1 x XSPC Laing mount
2 x 1m 7/16" ID 5/8" OD high flex tubing
8 x Zinc plated jubilee clips
8 x 1/2" nickel barbs
2 x Thermochill non-conductive coolant uv blue

all for £229.38....
honesty appreciated :P

also, trying to get grip of the whole tubing measurement perspective, if i get a 7/16" ID hose (5/8" OD) will this still fit a G1/4" or 3/8" thread size ?? and what is the best dimensions to get for a tubing in watercooling? any thoughts and opinions welcome, thanks... :)
 
Last edited:
If the thermochill rad still uses 3/8"BSP threads in its ports then you will need the appropriate 3/8"BSP to 1/2" barb. All other threaded holes on your blocks, res etc will be G1/4", hence will need a G1/4" to 1/2" barb. In other words the tube is not bothered about what thread size the port the barb screws into is, just the size of the bit of the barb which plugs into the tube, which will be either 3/8" or 1/2", you want 1/2". The reservoir you spec, is that a res top or separate? If it it separate then you will need a replacement top for the pump as it comes with moulded 3/8" barbs as standard, which will not fit your tube size. The replacement top allows you to fit the barb size of your choice to the pump, as well as increase performance.

I would steer well clear of any coloured fluid, use distilled or de-ionized with either silver kill coils or PT-Nuke, and coloured tubing if you want.
 
Bubo said:
If the thermochill rad still uses 3/8"BSP threads in its ports then you will need the appropriate 3/8"BSP to 1/2" barb. All other threaded holes on your blocks, res etc will be G1/4", hence will need a G1/4" to 1/2" barb. In other words the tube is not bothered about what thread size the port the barb screws into is, just the size of the bit of the barb which plugs into the tube, which will be either 3/8" or 1/2", you want 1/2". The reservoir you spec, is that a res top or separate? If it it separate then you will need a replacement top for the pump as it comes with moulded 3/8" barbs as standard, which will not fit your tube size. The replacement top allows you to fit the barb size of your choice to the pump, as well as increase performance.
Click to expand...

the res is XSPC DDC 18w Ultra Pump/Reservoir which i think is a res top as it has the pump installed in it at the bottom? so what if i attach 1/2" nickel barbs to 3/8"/g1/4" fittings, along with jubilee clips, will this work?

Bubo said:
I would steer well clear of any coloured fluid, use distilled or de-ionized with either silver kill coils or PT-Nuke, and coloured tubing if you want.
Click to expand...

may i ask why this is? i know silver kill helps rid of algae and such? but whats wrong with coloured fluid?? (sorry still learning :) )
 
water plus silver is just cheaper, that's all.

Still easiest and simplest to buy something liked you specced and have clear pipes as you can change your water colour when you want.

Great list of stuff. The only thing I would recommend is getting 1450rpm Gentle Typhoon fans and do you have a fan controller already?
 
Greebo said:
water plus silver is just cheaper, that's all.

Still easiest and simplest to buy something liked you specced and have clear pipes as you can change your water colour when you want.
Click to expand...

Not quite.

Quite a few people (including myself and Ducky Spud on here) have had the dye seperate from the liquid in coloured coolant and just build up in their loops - causing loss of performance and possibly an expensive replacement as although you can clean some blocks you can't clean them all and the inside of your rads

I would always recommend using coloured tubing + water over dye filled coolant
 
Greebo said:
Great list of stuff. The only thing I would recommend is getting 1450rpm Gentle Typhoon fans and do you have a fan controller already?
Click to expand...

i was looking at this fan also, but am hoping for blue led's in the fan (being a bit picky but every detail hey? :P ) would it be possible to put blue led's into the Gentle Typhoons??
 
You need a pair of these for the rad.

I am ditching my Feser one fluid soon and going back to distilled water and Zerex. I have seen too many horror stories about the coloured fluids and my cooling is not as good despite having a far superior radiator than i used too. Hope the stuff has'nt choked my blocks as well!!
 
manisinghb said:
PaulyD - so you're basically suggesting colourd tubing with de-ionised water??
Click to expand...

Absolutely for the following reason:

pastymuncher said:
I am ditching my Feser one fluid soon and going back to distilled water and Zerex. I have seen too many horror stories about the coloured fluids and my cooling is not as good despite having a far superior radiator than i used too. Hope the stuff has'nt choked my blocks as well!!
Click to expand...
 
Looks like a really good spec to me, however you will either need to get a pair of those 3/8" barbs that pastymuncher has mentioned, or get a pair of these Bitspower adapters to convert the threads on the rad to G1/4" so you can use the fittings you have chosen.

I would also change the fans as well to something other than those Coolermaster ones, the Gentle Typhoons that Greebo mentioned would be great, and maybe get a fan controller as well so you can turn the fans down for a quieter running system..

I've seen a lot of guys say that these colored fluids are not a good idea, all I have in my loop is DI water from halfords with a silver kill coil in my res, WJA96 was the one who suggested that I used this instead of these fancy colored coolants.

There should be several threads on here where guys have had serious issues with the likes of Feser one coolant, where it has made a right mess of their blocks, this is something I would try and avoid tbh!

If its LED fans that you want, I am sure you get Yate Loons LED fans, Yates seem to be very popular fans for fitting to rads, they are reasonably priced, and are meant to be good performers to.

I have some really nice Xigmatek XLF-F1253 fans on my rad, they have transparent orange blades, with transparent black surrounds, and white LED's, they look really nice imo, and are really decent as well.
 
Last edited:
DavyBoy said:
I have some really nice Xigmatek XLF-F1253 fans on my rad, they have transparent orange blades, with transparent black surrounds, and white LED's, they look really nice imo, and are really decent as well.
Click to expand...

what are the dimensions of these fans DavyBoy? i'm just cautious as whether the fans fittings will fit my rad properly. i am thinking 3x120mm or 2x140mm?
 
manisinghb said:
the res is XSPC DDC 18w Ultra Pump/Reservoir which i think is a res top as it has the pump installed in it at the bottom? so what if i attach 1/2" nickel barbs to 3/8"/g1/4" fittings, along with jubilee clips, will this work?
Click to expand...

In that case all you need are two of these for the rad:-

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-003-TO&groupid=962&catid=1529&subcat=

and 6 of these for everything else:-

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-006-EK&groupid=962&catid=1529&subcat=

That should give an idea what I'm talking about, you may want to choose a different barb manfacturer if you don't like the look of the EK fittings for example, but the sizes will be the same.

manisinghb said:
may i ask why this is? i know silver kill helps rid of algae and such? but whats wrong with coloured fluid?? (sorry still learning :) )
Click to expand...

Dye, especially UV blue dye, has a nasty habit of coagulating in your blocks and generally buggering things up.
 
They are 120mm fans mate, there wont be any problems fitting them onto the Thermochill PA120.3 rad.

Here is a pic of them on my rad:

104_2351.JPG


As for fittings, I personally prefer the look of compression fittings rather than barbs with hose clips, though this is just a personal preference really.
 
Last edited:
As for fittings, I personally prefer the look of compression fittings rather than barbs with hose clips, though this is just a personal preference really.
Click to expand...

ah u don't need hose/jubilee clips for compression fittings?! that would look much better lol thanks DavyBoy!
 
Remember when using compression fittings that your tubing size MUST match the size of fittings, for instance for 3/8" ID 5/8" OD tubing, you would use 3/8" ID 5/8" OD fittings.

And yes, you don't need clips with compressions, it looks so much nicer imo.

From what I have gathered tubing with thicker walls is better, as it doesn't tend to kink as easy as tubing with thin walls.

Here is a pic of my GFX block with Bitspower 3/8" ID 5/8" OD compression fittings and rotary 45's:

104_2615.JPG
 
Remember when using compression fittings that your tubing size MUST match the size of fittings, for instance for 3/8" ID 5/8" OD tubing, you would use 3/8" ID 5/8" OD fittings.
Click to expand...

yes i understand this part, but for example i am looking at 1/2" ID and 3/4" OD tubing and 1/2" ID and 3/4" OD compression fittings, but the waterblock is G1/4" thread size, will i need to get an adapter of some sort for this?

**i've just found compression fitting with 1/4" thread and 1/2" ID and 3/4" OD sizings :) "
 
Last edited:
The G1/4 is the thread (the bit the screws into blocks and rads etc.) the ID inside diameter and OD outside diameter is the tube end

compression fitting
cheaper compression fitting
barb
cheap barb
note price differance - if you want bitspower ones drop down to 7/16 tube as they are half the price of the 1/2 ones!

Compression fittings are not for a first time builder imho - they have inherent issues unless you buy rotary fitting for everything (which really up's the cost). Straight fittings also frequently can not be used with chipset and some cpu block (as they are too wide)

7/16 tube over 1/2 barbs doesn't need a clip if you buy 'high flow' 1/2 barbs as they have the widest OD - Danger Den bigboys or Bitpower highflow are the ones to get.
If you want extra peace of mind or like to fiddle with your pc hardware oftern then use a cable tie as well (can be colour matched to tube or something of a statment).

Compression fitting do look good (especially the 3/8 ones) but there are not universal or forgiving if you don't get it right.

Just my 2c worth
 
Last edited:
shadowscotland, how does this sound...

2metres of 1/2"ID, 3/4"OD tubing
6 x G1/4", 1/2"ID, 3/4"OD compression fittings
2 x G1/4", ThermoChill 3/8"BSP to 1/2" Barb (adapter for rad)...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom