First timer questions (Risk, parts ect ect)

Zswizzy

Zswizzy

Zswizzy

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14 Jun 2012
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Location
Sheffield
Ok so I love my pc (a lot) and I could never afford it to be broken/damaged, ect ect It would kill me so here are some questions I'd like answered by you lovely folks. (Bearing in mind, I know almost nothing other than names and that I want to do it but Im not sure my testicles are big enough)

- Is there a liquid that if your loop leaks wont do any damage (Kind of like how you can put entire pc's in mineral oil)

- How much would a custom CPU loop cost (Prefferably buy it off oc ofc, was thinking about the http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-171-EK&groupid=962&catid=1532&subcat= or something simmilair)

- How difficult is it to put together (Bearing in mind I have put 20+ systems together)

- How customisable are these 'kits'

- What are the long term risks (So not like leaking just after you installed)

- Will it fit in my case and will it look bitchin? :D


Specs:

Intel i5 2500k
NZXT m59 case
Corsair hsw800 psu
4gb corsair xms3 RAM
1tb spinpoint f3
some optical drive (I dont mid losing this for space for a resavoir)
GTX 560 ti 1gb (asus version)


Im welcome to picking up a new spacious case (I dont really like the m59 as it is)


So thanks for your help, check back on this thread since ill probably respond to you, Thanks a lot guys :)
 
Zswizzy said:
Ok so I love my pc (a lot) and I could never afford it to be broken/damaged, ect ect It would kill me so here are some questions I'd like answered by you lovely folks. (Bearing in mind, I know almost nothing other than names and that I want to do it but Im not sure my testicles are big enough)

- Is there a liquid that if your loop leaks wont do any damage (Kind of like how you can put entire pc's in mineral oil)

- How much would a custom CPU loop cost (Prefferably buy it off oc ofc, was thinking about the http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-171-EK&groupid=962&catid=1532&subcat= or something simmilair)

- How difficult is it to put together (Bearing in mind I have put 20+ systems together)

- How customisable are these 'kits'

- What are the long term risks (So not like leaking just after you installed)

- Will it fit in my case and will it look bitchin? :D
Click to expand...

Some coolants claim to be non-conductive but I don't see that such a coolant would remain non-conductive for very long as it would obviously be mixing with metal particles from the components of the loop (CPU block, Radiator ETC...).

Well if you go second hand you could construct a CPU only loop for as little as £80-100. The watercooling kit you linked to would be perfectly fine to cool your CPU and with a bit of addition could cool your GPU aswell.

Watercooling is very simple to put together, apart from a few fairly obvious rules of thumb (res before/above pump, avoid kinks in tubing ETC...) you really can't go that wrong, I think anyone would recommend you do as much research as you can as the consequence of messing it up is expensive, but aslong as you're not a complete idiot and do atleast some research then you'll find it easy and most likely enjoyable.

Just like building a PC yourself with watercooling you can choose what you like aslong as the components are compatible, perhaps take a look at some watercooling build logs, most loops are different from each other in some respect.

Well having leaks after you've just installed the watercooling components is why people "Leak Check" for atleast several hours which involves only having power going to the pump so that if a leak occurs then their PC should be ok if left to dry for long enough, also some people test their watercooling kit completely separate from their PC. Leaks after a long period of leak checking is uncommon. Check some watercooling guides for maintenance information.

IMO watercooling can look horrific if its just thrown together without any planning, it can look messy and careless but it can also look awesome when done right.
 
Yeah Im a stickler for looks, Thanks a lot iB, answered everything pretty much how I wanted, I think I might pick up that system then get some stuff, will my case be big enough by the way?

Also are there special lights (For componants) and dyes for the coolant?
Also what is a good coolant?

I know I linked the other EK kit but what about this one? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-169-EK&groupid=962&catid=1532&subcat=

Apparantly the other one had a really big radiator or something, Would this cool my cpu and come with everything I need, apart from water?
(I wont be adding a GPU for a good while yet)
 
Zswizzy said:
Yeah Im a stickler for looks, Thanks a lot iB, answered everything pretty much how I wanted, I think I might pick up that system then get some stuff, will my case be big enough by the way?

Also are there special lights (For componants) and dyes for the coolant?
Also what is a good coolant?

I know I linked the other EK kit but what about this one? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-169-EK&groupid=962&catid=1532&subcat=

Apparantly the other one had a really big radiator or something, Would this cool my cpu and come with everything I need, apart from water?
(I wont be adding a GPU for a good while yet)
Click to expand...

The case you have isn't good for watercooling, and the radiator in the kit you linked to in your first post would not fit in your case because 1) the roof of the case can only support a 120.2 rad (without modding), 2) there looks to be very little room inbetween where the top of the motherboard would be and the roof of the case.
I think you'd really struggle to get enough radiator in your case to make watercooling worth while.

I'm not sure what you mean with your second question, could you rephrase?

Distilled water is a good choice, its cheap, fairly easy to come by and has no dye so won't cause blockages in blocks. If you want something more colourful then perhaps look at mayhems coolants, though be careful because some coolants are not designed to be used for long term use.

The EK-KIT H3O 120 LTX kit wouldn't be worth the cost IMO, you could spend half the cost on a good air cooler and get similar temps because the EK-KIT H3O 120 LTX kit has a small radiator (120.1).
Water is better at picking up heat molecules than air is but you still need a surface area to dissipate that heat and a 120.1 radiator is pretty so won't be much better than a big air cooler.
 
You won't fit much of anything in an m59, I have the non windowed version (gamma) sat at home, it would barely fit a 120.1 in due to the side door positioning.

Pick a case and build around your case, if money is tight look at the cm690 ;)
 
Thanks a lot, Ill have a look around and see how much it'll come to (Im planning an upgrade in early 2014 so)

Thanks.
 
And in terms of the EK Watercooling kit, it's a perfect item to go for - all of the components in it are just as you would buy normally, so there's room for expansion or changing out single components etc.

This is the bonus of "proper" watercooling, you can pick and choose and switch out items as and when you please :).

Pretty much all of my watercooling kit is EK!
 
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