Excellent guide. Makes me want to watercool my rig. The money factor is the main thing that's stopping me at the moment, but now I'm happy with my current hardware setup, I might give it a go come christmas. Would help if I actually had a case to put it in though, instead of the pile of wood that's still sitting on the floor (gotta be less lazy).
This is probably the best article about watercooling I've ever read (including the ones I wrote myself). Nice job guys!
I've been using watercooling in all of my mods, even my very first one (a ridiculously expensive ($300) Asetek kit). To those new to watercooling, I can only recommend getting 8/10mm (ID/OD) compression fittings. The fittings really are the source of at least 90% of problems with watercooling. And if you really want something thicker, you could try the 11/8mm Tygon tubing (you'll need special 11/8 compression fittings for that).
Nice guide for those who've never heard of or don't understand H2O cooling.
I myself was already familiar with the concepts due to having taken classes in thermodynamics and heat transfer.
I've been running water for ~1yr and I'll never go back to air (for my main rig) except while I've got it on a test bed (MB box); currently the case while I'm building a new custom acrylic case.
the swiftech and the fuzion are block that arent restrictive so they dont need a strong pump to keep up instead the aqua computer with the most restrictive design ive seen you will need a strong pump to make it shine....
beside if you have dual die like the qx you are better with a fuzion or the swiftech larger cooling base....
For the Bit-Tech staff or someone who has this set-up: Since you are about to review watercooling solutions can you review the Thermaltake Kandalf LCS (Liquid Cooling System) as I am looking to buy this soon. Is this a good set up for watercooling as the radiator is outside the case but built into the case. Does this have a good Pump, Block, ect.. it's priced at $260 US for case, fans, and watercooling setup. Thanks, Good 101:)
Originally Posted by supermonkey I do want to address one of the initial points in favor of watercooling:
I see this point made in just about every watercooling guide, but I think it's a little misleading. If you're using watercooling to replace the fans on those beefy graphics cards, coupled with a power-hungry processor, you're going to need more than just a single, slow-spinning 120mm fan. You'll probably need 2 fans, both of them spinning fast enough to push a decent amount of air across the radiator. Add another fan or two for the passive components (hard drives, northbridge, etc.) and at least one more for the power supply, and the total number of fans is no less than when you started with air cooling.
Nonsense frankly. I'm water cooling an overclocked opteron, 7900GS, mosfets, northbridge, RAM and HDD all on a 120mm rad with a single 7v 120mm fan. It performs well and is damn near inaudible! Throw in a watercooled psu and you're saving yourself another fan.
I see this point made in just about every watercooling guide, but I think it's a little misleading. If you're using watercooling to replace the fans on those beefy graphics cards, coupled with a power-hungry processor, you're going to need more than just a single, slow-spinning 120mm fan. You'll probably need 2 fans, both of them spinning fast enough to push a decent amount of air across the radiator. Add another fan or two for the passive components (hard drives, northbridge, etc.) and at least one more for the power supply, and the total number of fans is no less than when you started with air cooling.
I don't agree with that. I have two 120mm fans in my case, one intake over the radiator at the front of the case and an exhaust at the back of the case. Both fans are controlled by uguru to go between 0v and 7v so operate silently and they cool an over clocked Q6600 and a volt modded 7900GT easily and far more effectively than air cooling could. All this is achieved in a mid tower case with out loosing a single drive bay to the water cooling components.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kipman725 But with water cooling your faced with leaks and most annoying a system you are unable to easily able to tinker with as it's full of tubes! (no more just quikly installing anything... evey job is suddenly at least 3hrs long while you replumb)...
I agree with you on the ease of swapping out components, it does take considerably longer with a water cooled system but then that is why its not a mainstream solution. How ever as i don't tend to change my CPU, GPU, or motherboard that often its not a major problem. Even then with a well planned loop you can make it almost completely painless.
Originally Posted by Darv Nonsense frankly. I'm water cooling an overclocked opteron, 7900GS, mosfets, northbridge, RAM and HDD all on a 120mm rad with a single 7v 120mm fan. It performs well and is damn near inaudible! Throw in a watercooled psu and you're saving yourself another fan.
Dual Opteron and a Ati 1650 Pro on a single BIX here, baby! No sweat at all.
Sound:
It's easier to get a quiet water system than an air system. You can get a bigger radiator, add more fans and run slower. It's tough to put 2 120mm fans on a CPU heat sink. The larger the fan the more efficient it is, especially at lower speeds. I went from a loud single CPU fan to 2 silent 120mm radiator fans and an almost silent pump. SO much quieter. Notice I said "easier", I know you CAN get a silent air cooled system, but it's easier with water. And with water, the cooling doesn't change as you move components around. The air flow through the case becomes much less critical.
Leaking:
I put together my very first water cooled system (see the WaterPlant in my sig). Only leak was in the homemade reservoir (long before actually trying to run the system). It's a pretty complicated single loop system (36 connections, 6 components cooled). Worked perfect first time. I was expecting it to be much more difficult, but it was really quite easy. Just takes attention to details and double-checking everything.
Efficiency:
Anything that effects efficiency, like tubing size, 90 degree elbows, etc. are points to consider, but not necessarily laws to follow. If you get enough cooling to keep your system in the specs you need, that's what matters. I have all 1/4" tubing connecting 6 components on a single loop in my PC and 7x90 degree elbows in the external cooling system, with 10 feet of tubing in between (total of about 30 feet of tubing). It works fine. If it DIDN'T work fine, then I would start looking at those efficiency factors. However, I just have an old AMD 3200 and it's not overclocked.
Basically, I'm just commenting that watercooling is not as difficult as it might seem. This article has some very good information, and it's good to try to understand all the concepts (I'm going to carefully read the whole series!). But you don't have to understand everything the article says in depth. Don't let the complexity of the underlying principles scare you away. Keep reading. When you build you first one, just keep it simple and use common sense based on what you've read. As you get more adventurous, you (and I) may need to come back and read through it again.
One thing I forgot to mention; It would be good to list some of the products/manufacturers to avoid and provide justification for that as well.
I'd avoid using Koolance & ThermalTake (e.g. Bigwater) products because they 1) have a weak pump, 2) only use 1/4" tubing (I prefer 1/2"), 3) use cheap/poor waterblocks, and 4) use aluminum radiators (at least Koolance does) resulting in a mixed metals loop, which can corrode/damage the components.
Originally Posted by coolmiester I'm impressed Brett - you won't believe how much time you have just saved me.
My only gripe.................what took Bit-Tech so long! [j/k]
Looking forward to Part II
Couldn't have done it without you, Nexxo and Firehed. :) Thanks for all your help, guys.
And thanks for all the great comments so far, everyone, I'm glad to know this is something you've been looking for. It's taken a LOT of planning, but water cooling is here to stay on this site. :D
Originally Posted by Darv Nonsense frankly. I'm water cooling an overclocked opteron, 7900GS, mosfets, northbridge, RAM and HDD all on a 120mm rad with a single 7v 120mm fan. It performs well and is damn near inaudible! Throw in a watercooled psu and you're saving yourself another fan.
How in the world are you cooling all of that on a single radiator with a single fan at 7v? When I was doing my initial research, the TDP of my processor and graphics card nearly exceeded the radiator's capabilites, and that was running the fan at full speed. I just don't see how you can cool all of that on a single-fan radiator, not to mention all of that plus a power supply. My watercooling noobness is showing, isn't it?
I still think that if you put the same amount of thought and consideration into an air cooling setup, noise becomes a non-issue.
Originally Posted by supermonkey How in the world are you cooling all of that on a single radiator with a single fan at 7v? When I was doing my initial research, the TDP of my processor and graphics card nearly exceeded the radiator's capabilites, and that was running the fan at full speed. I just don't see how you can cool all of that on a single-fan radiator, not to mention all of that plus a power supply. My watercooling noobness is showing, isn't it?
I still think that if you put the same amount of thought and consideration into an air cooling setup, noise becomes a non-issue.
-monkey
All I can say are that figures don't mean everything. I've not got the PSU in there yet, but nothing would stop me putting it in. Oh and the fan might be at 5v, I'm not certain.
I work on the basis of try it and see, then fix it later if it doesn't work
As for the noise. I reckon you could make an aircooled computer quiet. But you won't be able to put the HDD into an enclosure without turning it into an oven, unless it's watercooled. In my system the HDD made the most noise before it was cooled too.
Plus, as much as I love my quiet system, I enjoy the fun of watercooling! :D
I agree that figures can be misleading. Based on projected figures, I originally had thought that my components would run just fine, but Nexxo and pdf27 plugged in the raw numbers and shed some light on the difference between manufacturer specs and real-world numbers. In my case, the numbers didn't give me any increased cooling over my current air setup. My mileage varied.
Watercooling is pretty neat. One of the reasons I wanted to do it was because it looks really fun, but I just couldn't justify the cost given the limited returns I would have obtained.
the only thing that's holding me back from trying this out is the concern of pump failure, i know this is the least likley source of problem, but if your CPU HSF dies, you have monitoring software... answered my own question...
... anyway... :o ... is there any method to test line pressure / HSH /flow rates, to make sure it fits within the pumps tollerances?
Don't worry about the pump. I've ran an AMD 64 3500+ with watercooling without a pump in the system. Temps went up to 90 degrees but it worked. And if it doesn't, most modern CPUs have thermal throttling and/or will shut down when it gets too hot. Your CPU wont die. With GPUs though, its usually a different story.
Also, if you buy an Aquacompter Aquastream pump and connect it to an Aquaero, you can set the Aquaero software to shut down the pc on pump failure.
a question about leak testing... for pumps that are powered off the PSU, how would you turn everything on for 24 hours without connecting at least the motherboard?
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thats a cruel statement to make
I've been using watercooling in all of my mods, even my very first one (a ridiculously expensive ($300) Asetek kit). To those new to watercooling, I can only recommend getting 8/10mm (ID/OD) compression fittings. The fittings really are the source of at least 90% of problems with watercooling. And if you really want something thicker, you could try the 11/8mm Tygon tubing (you'll need special 11/8 compression fittings for that).
I myself was already familiar with the concepts due to having taken classes in thermodynamics and heat transfer.
I've been running water for ~1yr and I'll never go back to air (for my main rig) except while I've got it on a test bed (MB box); currently the case while I'm building a new custom acrylic case.
beside if you have dual die like the qx you are better with a fuzion or the swiftech larger cooling base....
Nonsense frankly. I'm water cooling an overclocked opteron, 7900GS, mosfets, northbridge, RAM and HDD all on a 120mm rad with a single 7v 120mm fan. It performs well and is damn near inaudible! Throw in a watercooled psu and you're saving yourself another fan.
I don't agree with that. I have two 120mm fans in my case, one intake over the radiator at the front of the case and an exhaust at the back of the case. Both fans are controlled by uguru to go between 0v and 7v so operate silently and they cool an over clocked Q6600 and a volt modded 7900GT easily and far more effectively than air cooling could. All this is achieved in a mid tower case with out loosing a single drive bay to the water cooling components.
I agree with you on the ease of swapping out components, it does take considerably longer with a water cooled system but then that is why its not a mainstream solution. How ever as i don't tend to change my CPU, GPU, or motherboard that often its not a major problem. Even then with a well planned loop you can make it almost completely painless.
My only gripe.................what took Bit-Tech so long! [j/k]
Looking forward to Part II
Dual Opteron and a Ati 1650 Pro on a single BIX here, baby! No sweat at all.
It's easier to get a quiet water system than an air system. You can get a bigger radiator, add more fans and run slower. It's tough to put 2 120mm fans on a CPU heat sink. The larger the fan the more efficient it is, especially at lower speeds. I went from a loud single CPU fan to 2 silent 120mm radiator fans and an almost silent pump. SO much quieter. Notice I said "easier", I know you CAN get a silent air cooled system, but it's easier with water. And with water, the cooling doesn't change as you move components around. The air flow through the case becomes much less critical.
Leaking:
I put together my very first water cooled system (see the WaterPlant in my sig). Only leak was in the homemade reservoir (long before actually trying to run the system). It's a pretty complicated single loop system (36 connections, 6 components cooled). Worked perfect first time. I was expecting it to be much more difficult, but it was really quite easy. Just takes attention to details and double-checking everything.
Efficiency:
Anything that effects efficiency, like tubing size, 90 degree elbows, etc. are points to consider, but not necessarily laws to follow. If you get enough cooling to keep your system in the specs you need, that's what matters. I have all 1/4" tubing connecting 6 components on a single loop in my PC and 7x90 degree elbows in the external cooling system, with 10 feet of tubing in between (total of about 30 feet of tubing). It works fine. If it DIDN'T work fine, then I would start looking at those efficiency factors. However, I just have an old AMD 3200 and it's not overclocked.
Basically, I'm just commenting that watercooling is not as difficult as it might seem. This article has some very good information, and it's good to try to understand all the concepts (I'm going to carefully read the whole series!). But you don't have to understand everything the article says in depth. Don't let the complexity of the underlying principles scare you away. Keep reading. When you build you first one, just keep it simple and use common sense based on what you've read. As you get more adventurous, you (and I) may need to come back and read through it again.
I'd avoid using Koolance & ThermalTake (e.g. Bigwater) products because they 1) have a weak pump, 2) only use 1/4" tubing (I prefer 1/2"), 3) use cheap/poor waterblocks, and 4) use aluminum radiators (at least Koolance does) resulting in a mixed metals loop, which can corrode/damage the components.
Couldn't have done it without you, Nexxo and Firehed. :) Thanks for all your help, guys.
And thanks for all the great comments so far, everyone, I'm glad to know this is something you've been looking for. It's taken a LOT of planning, but water cooling is here to stay on this site. :D
I still think that if you put the same amount of thought and consideration into an air cooling setup, noise becomes a non-issue.
-monkey
All I can say are that figures don't mean everything. I've not got the PSU in there yet, but nothing would stop me putting it in. Oh and the fan might be at 5v, I'm not certain.
I work on the basis of try it and see, then fix it later if it doesn't work
As for the noise. I reckon you could make an aircooled computer quiet. But you won't be able to put the HDD into an enclosure without turning it into an oven, unless it's watercooled. In my system the HDD made the most noise before it was cooled too.
Plus, as much as I love my quiet system, I enjoy the fun of watercooling! :D
Watercooling is pretty neat. One of the reasons I wanted to do it was because it looks really fun, but I just couldn't justify the cost given the limited returns I would have obtained.
-monkey
... anyway... :o ... is there any method to test line pressure / HSH /flow rates, to make sure it fits within the pumps tollerances?
Also, if you buy an Aquacompter Aquastream pump and connect it to an Aquaero, you can set the Aquaero software to shut down the pc on pump failure.