Watercooling questions.

Chris19 · 26 Jun 2007 at 19:50

I have been looking to get water cooling for when i finally upgrade to Core 2 Duo (Possibly quad) but would like to play about with it on my older system first. Currently i have a socket 939 processor. I would like it to be an fully internal loop but space shouldnt be a problum as i have a Stacker 810 case.

I have been looking around reading a lot and came up with this for a loop:

Radiator: Black Ice GTX240
CPU Block: D-TEK FuZion CPU Block
Pump: Laing DDC- 1 Ultra 18watt Pump

The water flow would go Pump>Radiator>Block>Pump

Questions i have are:

1) What size of tubing is best? 7/16 or 1/2?
2) Is that cpu block any good for use on a quad cpu? or would it be better to wait and see if any better cpu blocks are coming out?
3) Would getting a north bridge block be wroth while?
4) Does it require a lot of maintenance? or just set it up and check it for the first week or so and let it go.
5) Can the case be put on its side for changing components when its full of water? and can it be transported while full of water?

And finally is a 75% tap water to 25% anti freeze ideal to be used?

Any input would be great.

PinkFloyd · 26 Jun 2007 at 20:19

Very nice waterblock going by everything I've read, one of the best.

I presume you meant 7/16" tubing, this is what I'm using in my setup I'm building at the moment and it fits nice and snuggly. In theory you don't even need clips to whole the tubing over barbs. I'm using MasterKleer 7/16" tubing, nice and flexible and not too expensive either.

General consensus is that northbridge blocks aren't hugely usefull as they are generally quite restrictive and don't really help clocking.

I've read various things on transporting watercooled cases. Seems to be that it is fine, just be carefull and check for leaks before turning it back on.

As to the liquid mix I'll be using Feser1 all in one liquid. Seems to be the thing of choice at the moment.

Chris19 · 26 Jun 2007 at 20:35

Yeah meant 7/16 change it now tho :cool:

. Even tho its fitting nicely whats a few pounds for some jubilee clips, don't want water all over the inside of your case lol. Seen your thread Pink, good luck drilling and fitting the radiator

PinkFloyd · 26 Jun 2007 at 20:48

I bought a load of jubilee clips, I'm not even going to use them. The 7/16 tubing is so tight, takes a lot of effort to get it off of the barbs.
Can't see it leaking, and if it does, can't see it being something jubilee clips could have stopped

Buying a Dremal tomorrow for some cutting on my case, had enough of messing around with a hacksaw

Chris19 · 26 Jun 2007 at 22:18

Just thought id post how my case is currently.

I was thinking of removing the bottom grill and placing the radiator there, would it be best to have fans blowing air through the radiator and out the bottom of the case or having them on the other side and sucking air from the bottom and blowing it through the radiator and into the case?

Would the pump be ok on top of the hard drive cage that's at the bottom there?

BEn_2600+ · 26 Jun 2007 at 22:23

If you got an Laing DDC pump with Alphacool top, you could fit it in the HDD bay as they screw into any 3.5" bay

edit: Just read youve got a DDC already, is this with a stock top or an aftermarket one?

Chris19 · 26 Jun 2007 at 22:36

I don't actually own any of the parts just now just wanting to see peoples views on the parts i have picked. The one that is selected there is just the normal one. Would be good to hide it in the hdd bay tho so will look into that.

ArchAnGeL · 27 Jun 2007 at 07:01

don't use tap water - use distilled.

There's quite a big threadknocking around on tubing sizes - seems it's not too important these days.

The materkleer is ok and pretty cheap although I was getting a couple of kinks with mine so I have got some tygon and something a bit special to go over it which I will post soon

the usefull ness of a nb waterblock will depend on your motherboard. I've never had any heat problems with 939 systems but on lower end c2d boards without elaborate heat pipe systems they can get pretty hot when they are overclocked and have extra volts through them.

Given your set up (18w dcc) I wouldn't imagine flow would be affected that much if you get a decent block