anyone know what liquid to use? - Page 3

Originally Posted by un-nefer 

It is important to understand there is a difference between distilled water and deionised water and how electrical current travels through water.
Distilled water is made from boiling water and capturing the steam, then cooling the steam so it will condense back down to a liquid. While most of the impurities are removed, and it has much lower mineral ion count then standard water, it still has some mineral ions in it.
Deionised water is made by passing water through an deionisation process that uses ion-exchange resins and polymers that attract and trap the mineral ions that are in the water, and removing all the mineral ions from the water. Once it has passed through this deionisation process and is bottled, it as free of ions as humanly possible (obviously the best deionised water comes from manufacturers with the best deionisation processes in place).
As for electrical current travelling through water - it passes through the mineral ions that are present in the water. So if you think distilled water is non-conductive, think again. While it has a low amount of mineral ions, it still has them and so it is still conductive.
This is also why deionised water is non-conductive, as it is free of mineral ions - however, it is only non-conductive while it is not in contact with any minerals. As soon as it is in contact with them, it will start to gain ions and becomes conductive. So once it has been put into a water cooling loop,with copper blocks, silver koils, brass radiator header tanks etc, you can be sure that it will be full of mineral ions again and as a result, it will be conductive.
There are too many ppl on OCN that are using the words "distilled water" when they should be using "deionised water" - there are also too many ppl on OCN who don't realise they are different. I just wanted to point out that they are different.

Originally Posted by Outlawed 

That's risky business though. Your already introducing a res to the redesigned loop and now you are talking another rad? Seems like that could be bad news for the pump.

Originally Posted by 66racer 

Its not going to harm anything adding another radiator or reservoir. What I will say is that adding another radiator doesn't do miracles for better cooling. Maybe 3-5c better. I think the issue is that the weak link is the cpu blocks ability to pull the heat away from the cpu. It does good but not aftermarket cpu block good. I think for best cooling, adding a bigger reservoir helps the most. The more fluid the better since it will take longer to heat the whole loop up. I have a 180mm and a 120mm now and temps aren't much different than the 120mm x2 setup. Next weakness would be tube diameter.
That's why the best thing is get more volume of fluid in the loop for the best results. Oh and at one point I had my antec 920 and h70 both in the loop for extra pump power but there were no changes so after a few weeks took it back out and left the 920 in.
This has all been with fesser one fluid. Soon I will be switching to distilled water with pt nuke.

Originally Posted by Tsumi 

The pump can't handle the added work of pushing more water though more things. There have been plenty of reports of premature failures of the XSPC 750 pumps when pushing anything more than a single CPU, GPU, and radiator. Trying to make the AIOs do more than they are designed to handle is not really a good idea.

Originally Posted by Tsumi 

From the reading I've done, you actually WANT to avoid deionized water.

Originally Posted by Tsumi 

Distilled water, due to still having some ions in them, is more stable. And the amount of ions in it is low enough that for all purposes it is non-conductive.

Originally Posted by un-nefer 

I never said to use it - I was simply calrifying the difference between it and distilled water. Please try not to misquote me.
Would you fill a plastic bath with distilled water, sit in it, and then drop in a running hrair dryer? I didn;t think so, because you would be electrocuted.
Distilled water IS conductive, and it is even more so once you pour it into your loop.
But this is getting OT, as this thread is about what liquid to uise and not if distilled water is conductive or not. I just wanted to quickly point out the difference between deionised water and distilled water - not get into a debate about duistilled water being conductive or not.
The real reason people suggest distilled water in a watercooling loop is to limit and/or slowdown the onset of mineral buildup of algae and/or bacteria within the loop. And while it will reduce the time it takes to occur, it will still eventually occur.
This is also why those who do suggest distilled water also suggest things like ptnuke, biocides and silver "kill" coils - all add to the ability of reducing the onset of mineral buildup of algae and/or bacteria within the loop. But again, it can and does still occur over time.
If you want to use distilled water plus a silver "kill coil (or silver fittings) or even some type of biocide, go for it, it works well. You just have to keep an eye on it, and flush it the moment you see any clouding, gunk or floaties in the liquid in the loop.
But for the OP, he is using mixed metals in his loop, and as such, using distilled water without some type of rust inhibitor or anti-corrosion additive would not be recommended. This is why people in this thread have suggested coolants that include such additives.
From past experiences with mixed metal loops, I'll take a diluted auto coolant with rust inhibitor over distilled water any day

Originally Posted by superericla 

Even if you did that with deionized water you would get electrocuted. Salt and ions from your skin would make it conductive either way.

it is only non-conductive while it is not in contact with any minerals. As soon as it is in contact with them, it will start to gain ions and becomes conductive.