need 2 watercooling items identifying please

pastymuncher · 6 Oct 2010 at 13:36

What is the XSPC block? Being newer it should hopefully be better performing but you never know and it's always worth comparing some reviews.

As for piccies. My rig is'nt normal. My rad is mounted in a box on a windowsill. The window side of the box has a filtered cut-out so that the rad can suck in cold outside air and blow it out the top of the box. My pump and res are in another box along with the small AT psu that powers the pump and rad fans. The only things in my case are the three blocks and a small amount of tubing. The reason i have it set up this way is that my computer room was just a cupboard at the top of the stairs measuring 5'x3' and it got extremely warm inside so i needed to get the heat out altogether. Due to the rad having access to outside air i get some very, very low temps, especially in the winter. I have now enlarged the room to 5'x5'6" by knocking through to the cupboard that was next door to it. I can still take some piccies if you like.

Schizo · 6 Oct 2010 at 17:51

the block is a XSPC Delta V3.

after a description of your set up i must see some pictures please.

Serpantine · 6 Oct 2010 at 18:09

Lets see some pics of this Pasty

pastymuncher · 6 Oct 2010 at 19:07

I would say the Delta is better than the Storm. It does pretty good in reviews.

I will put some piccies up tomorrow.

pastymuncher · 7 Oct 2010 at 11:48

As promised here are some piccies.

Pump/Res/PSU box external:-

Internal:-

The original nylon fittings on the pump were starting to split so on the last rebuild i replaced them with metal ones and compression fittings. Thread size for the pump fittings are G1/2" by the way.

The psu is a old 200w AT switching psu but i am looking at replacing it for something much smaller as the pump, fan controller and three Yate Loons only pull 22w.

Rad Box:-

The rad is hanging from the fan grill so it's:- Grill > 3x 120x38mm Yate Loon D12SM-12D fans > Thermochill shroud > Thermochill PA120.3. Fans are set to suck air through the rad and exhaust out the top of the box. In the winter i can turn the fans down to almost off.

Window side:-

I meant to do something better to fix the mesh but as it's on the window side it can't be seen anyway. Drawing pins do make it easy to remove the mesh to change the filter though. I have the window open so that the colder outside air can be drawn through the rad. Only a crack in the winter mind. I have two lengths of 15mm copper pipe going down the wall of my pc room and going through the wall to the landing. Each end of the copper pipe has a 15mm>10mm stepdown drilled out to 12mm so that i can fix the tubing to it. Tubing is XSPC UV clear/reactive blue 7/16". Coolant is de-ionised water with Primochill liquid utopia and after 5 months it has'nt made the tubing go cloudy so i doubt if it will now.

Both boxes are made from 10mm MDF and cut to size using a table saw. Cut outs are done by jigsaw and all panels were then routered for a good fit. The pump/psu/res box has each individual panel covered in fablon before putting the box together. I am quite pleased with the outcome. The Rad box was undercoated and then glossed as i was told to try to make it "blend in" by she who must be obeyed.

PC internals:-

The cooler above the graphics card is a Thermalright 5850 VRM cooler. I got this off the bay with the Enermax Magna fan for £10 delivered!!

Fully loaded temps GPU and CPU both at 100% load for around 10 mins. CPU is running Linx. Temps stabilised after just a few minutes.

CPU is only at 3.8Ghz for normal use. Could'nt tell any difference between 4.13Ghz and 3.8Ghz.

Schizo · 10 Oct 2010 at 20:47

well ive got it all set up now doing a dry run with nothing in the case.

had a few leaks but soon fixed them.

the pump does not seem powerful enough to be really honest.

got a res and there isn't a lot of water running through there.

might need a bigger pump i think.

ill get a few pictures up if anyone is interested.

pastymuncher · 11 Oct 2010 at 10:15

The 50z is 700LPH so should easily be enough. Take the front off the pump (after draining) and make sure the vanes on the impellor are not blocked by some old gunk. The holes are quite narrow but you should be ok with something like a cocktail stick. Did you flush the rad out a few times? All the air bled out? It looks like you have the loop set up as Res>Pump>Rad>Block>Res. Ideally it should be Res>Pump>Block>Rad>Res but should'nt affect flow rates the way you have it set up.

Schizo · 11 Oct 2010 at 10:20

ive cleaned everything several times and everything is spotless.

im not sure the pump is working correctly as ive taken the tube off and it just trickles out.

any idea on how to get some air out of the loop if there is any in the first place.

pastymuncher · 11 Oct 2010 at 10:35

There is a good chance that there is air in the rad. Lie the case down or turn it upside down and rock it from side to side to see if any air comes out of the rad. Failing that the vanes in the pump may be blocked and need cleaning.