Custom water cooling setup help? - Page 4

Could I offer a proposed setup?

Radiator:
- XSPC EX360 ($60-$70)
- Alphacool NeXXos UT60 or XT45 360mm rad ($70-$80)

CPU Block:
- XSPC Raystorm ($60)

Pump:
- MCP35X PWM-control pump ($85)
- D5 Variable ($75-$80)

Bay Reservoir:
- XSPC Dual-DDC Bay Res for use with 1-2 DDC Pumps ($50)
- XSPC D5 Bay Res ($50)

Tubing:
- Primochill Primoflex Pro LRT 1/2ID-3/4OD *if you want colored tubing* ($18 for 10ft)
- Tygon Norprene 1/2-3/4 ($38 for 10ft)

Fittings:
- XSPC G1/4 1/2-3/4 Black Nickel Low-Profile Compression Fittings ($4/ea x10)
- Bitspower 45deg Rotary Adapter Fittings ($9.50/ea x2-4)
- Bitspower 90deg Dual Rotary Adapter Fittings ($15/ea x1-4)
- Bitspower 10mm Matte-Black Extension Fittings ($4/ea x2-4)
*you will need the compression fittings, and the XSPC are the best for the best price; the rotary angled adapters you can pick and choose but keep in mind that they can make tube routing much easier and cleaner than without; extensions are for giving a bit of extra clearance*

Fans:
- Scythe Ultra Kaze 120x38mm 3000rpm 130cfm fans ($10/ea)
- XSPC 120x38mm 150cfm fans ($18/ea)
- Gentle Typhoon AP15s 120x25mm fans ($18+/ea)
- NZXT FX120LB 1-2Krpm 120x25mm 98.3cfm 3.x mmHg ($15/ea)
- Akasa Apache 120x25mm fans ($10-12/ea)
- Yate Loon 120x38mm fans ($6-7/ea)
- Yate Loon High-Speed 120x25mm fans ($5/ea)

Fan Controller:
- Lamptron FC-8 ($35-45 I believe)
- Sunbeam Rheosmart 45W/ch or 60W/ch ($25-40)
- Bitfenix Alchemy 1x3pin-to-3x3pin Individually Sleeved Fan Extension and Splitter Cable ($8/ea)

I think that you can pretty well mix and match any of these parts and have an awesome liquid cooling system!

I would disagree on the tubing and the fittings part. Compression fittings are not necessary. you can go that route, but they are expensive and mostly for looks. Barbs + zipties are just as effective and cost significantly less. if you go the barb route, make sure to get tubing that is just slightly smaller for a secure and snug fit (the popular choice here is 1/2" OD fittings with 7/16" ID tubing, which I use myself with no leaks from the barbs in 2.5+ years of use)

Also, primochill tubing right now is having plasticizer issues, which to date haven't severely harmed any blocks/pumps, but it looks ugly and requires cleaning. Tygon norpene is good, but significantly overpriced for what you would need. Duralene is what Martin from Martin's Lab uses (a major water cooling guru and trusted name in the industry), and in the plastsicizer thread the duralene seems to be the best performer. It can also be had for 49 cents a foot, which make it the most affordable. For more on the plastsicizer issues, there is a big thread going (100+ pages) documenting each case and the severity, and can be found here :


http://www.overclock.net/t/1199158/plasticizer-problems-discussion-gallery

Hope this helps

I think that's an awesome proposed setup by nleksan. Ofcourse I would buy a DDC pump for $35 from bmaverick, and having used the high speed yates and the b-gears b-blasters, I'd def put b-blasters up there for recommended fans.

I'm fairly certain I'm one of the only people in this board who has purchased a new stock of and used said stock of Primochill tubing in the last 1-3 months. Saying "right now" makes it sound as though you have a large sample size of ongoing cases to refer to...which to my knowledge there isn't. People have been avoiding Primo like the plague for 6 months.
Edited by Skripka - 7/18/12 at 10:49am

Fair point, Skripka. However, I don't know how easy it will be to get that new, fresh batch from retailers, or verify that it is indeed a fresh batch. Did you request specifically? Also, how long have you had the tubing in?

Plasticizer aside, I would still go for duralene based solely on price and performance. I had primochill in my initial build, no plasticizer issue (this was early 2010). Then in 2011 when I did my maintenance i replaced the tubing and within 6 months the difference was notable. Now people are seeing similar results in a matter of weeks. It just reminds me of EK fiasco, and they are STILL having block issues and it's been months since they "fixed" it.

Thanks, Jagz!

The reason I recommend Primoflex is because it is available in multiple colors, which means that no dyes are necessary. The plasticizer issue is something that I am trying to figure out myself, as I am a Biochemical Engineering (psychopharmacology) student, and the tubing shouldn't leach in a pH-neutral setting so I wonder what is going on? Obviously distilled water should have a neutral pH, but with all the stuff that people add its been hard to find a common denominator.

Honestly, I will likely be buying white Primoflex myself unless there is a better option for white Tubing, and I am not interested in dyes of any kind (I know Mayhem's are good, I just prefer not to add anything other than a kill coil and maybe a drop of Biocide to my water)

So far, about two months. There's a hyper linky in my last post to my entry in the tubing database. FWIW, my current batch of Primochill which has yet to do any leaching is very different from my last batch (which clouded in about 2 days) just in terms of pliability. Not as easy to work with, but I'll take that over clouding.

If you're running solid colored tubing, use whatever you want. The clouding issues are purely aesthetic. I had a batch of UV Primochill blue translucent, and could tell easily when it leached.

clear tube with uv fluid, or uv tube clear fluid?