concerns about custom water loops

I have a water cooling guide (videos are in this guide) in sig explaning eveything you need to do.

A decent pump (like the one in the kit you linked) should normally last 5+ years without failing. Of course like any electrical goods some last longer and some shorter - just the luck of the draw really.

If the pump fails you are unlikely to destroy your GPU (or CPU) - even without a pump the water should act as a heat sink to some extent, which should prevent a meltdown. What should happen is that the GPU/CPU will fairly quickly overheat and shutdown automatically. If you are really worried about this then you can probably set something up with a flow meter to shut down your computer if the flow stops.

You should always leak test your loop before using it for real, preferably testing it for 24-48 hours. Basically you test the loop without the computer switched on - electrical components are actually very resistant to water damage provided they aren't switched on when they get wet. If the worst does happen and you do get a leak during testing, then your components are likely to be fine provided you dry them thoroughly before using them.

As for maintenance thats a matter of opinion. Some people like to clean out their loops every few months, whereas others are happy to leave them for 2+ years. If you get an acrylic top GPU waterblock then you can just look at it an see if it appears corroded or filled with gunk. If it does then it's probably time for a clean up. Cleaning the loop is somewhat time consuming - you need to take it all apart, give everything a clean and reassemble the loop (including more leak testing). The only costs involved will typically be some more distilled water and maybe some new tubing.

Also, when you get the kit be sure to flush the rad thoroughly to remove excess flux.

Are you going with a kill coil or another type of Biocide?

Hey ! I'm a first time wc builder - I'm in the middle of it, using the RX360 extreme kit from ppcs - coz they don't offer the D5 Vario pump as a $15 option.

My 2 mistakes right off - I tightened the pump too much onto the res. It pinched the O-ring and during leak testing, sprouted a few drips after an hour or so. My other mistake, was in tightening the compression fittings' collar too much - when I undid the collar, it pulled the fitting out of the rad.

Now that I have fixed that, I ran a leaktest yesterday for 8 hours - not a drop or a drip ! I ran the leaktest without any hardware in the case but the psu. This XS-PC kit gives you a single jumpered 24 pin connector - you do NOT connect it to the psu, but obviously you do connect its non-jumpered side to the 24 pin cabling. I also hooked up my push/pull fans on the rad, and I am using a Lamptron FC8 fan controller - $35 ! - so that part of the wiring is out of the way. I'm using the included tubing, XSPC hi-flex blue uv 7/16" ID x 5/8" OD, with black chrome compression fittings.
I decided to add 4 more compression fittings, a t-fitting, and a mini-valve to come up with a drain line that hits the radiator return tube to the bay res.

Other than that, I'm ready to attach the waterblock to the motherboard, and install the mobo, then rehook the tubing, and let it sit dry until the drain line parts come in. For the cpu block, I'm using MX-4 paste.

It was really very simple, but seemed a daunting task before doing it. The hardest part, for me, in building a w/c pc, is the steps to include the w/c hardware. I'm used to building air cooled pcs, I know nothing about plumbing, plus when I ran into problems - the RX360 rad is listed as being 63mm tall, but is 60mm - that's a problem for most cases, IF you are putting fans inside the case and on top of the case - with the rad being the common mounting point. I am building in a NZXT Switch case, which is one of the bigger and easier cases to build a w/c pc. All I had to do was to dremel a small part of the rear inside fan housing - otherwise, the fan was resting on the 8 pin plug - this is using an Asus Z77 board. Also, in the Switch case, the pump's attaching ring - it has teeth, much like a gear wheel - and they notches will interfere with screwing the bay res to the case, so I had to Dremel some material off the 2 offending teeth - plastic, not a sweat ! - and now it fits fine, and I can also fit in a dvd rom drive. The fan controller is so short, that it can fit into the top rom bay drive, even tho half of it is taken up by the fan/rad.

The rad drops halfway into the top rom bay floor, and with a fan inside, that nearly rests on the bay floor. There is 90mm of room between the bay floor and the inside top of the case. Switch w/c builds are well documented in the Switch thread in Forums › Case Mods & Cases › Computer Cases

I'm using distilled water, and the kit comes with a Killcoil that you can drop into the res or the tubing. I also bought a small bottle of Petra PHN.
Some people claim to use both, most claim one or the other. Petra PHN is a biocide.

The Extreme kit is a great way to get yourself involved in your first w/c build. Its a fast way to find out how addicting a w/c build can become, and I plan to build a w/c pc for myself, when I'm done with my buddy's build.

As for the filling of the res, buy yourself a long slim neck funnel - and when you cut your tubing - I used a 40 year old pair of steel scissors - add an extra inch to the length running from and to the bay res - that way you can unfasten the bay res mounting side screws, and pull the res out far enuf to get a funnel into its fill port. As for connecting the compression fittings, finger tighten the fitting, then with a quarter, tighten the fitting a 1/4 to a 1/2 turn more - but don't over tighten. Then slip the fitting's collar onto the hose, and fasten the hose - press fit - onto the barb of the fitting till its flush - now thread the collar on, fingertight and then a bit more. Too tight and you will unscrew the fitting with the collar attached when ever you need to remove a hose/fitting.

Don't turn on the power to the pc yet - remember to use the jumpered 24 pin connector from the kit - funnel some water into the res - watch the front res window for water level - when it gets nearly full, make sure the pump is plugged into a molex - now flip the psu on, and listen to the pump sound - the default setting of 2 on the speed switch is more than enough for all loops I've read about - I had what I thought was a lot of water into the loop, but the water was staying in the pump's outlet and return tubes, so I shut the psu off, then restarted it and eventually the pump kicked in and started sucking that water thru the system, which meant I had to keep pouring water into the funnel. The pump may get starved a bit, and it will begin to make some noises - either shut it off and put more water into the res, or quickly put more water into the res without shutting off the power. In all, it took me about 5 fills to get the whole loop and rad and res filled. Total time for filling and bleeding, about an hour. Then I put the filler plug in and let it run for a leaktest.

Just think clearly, and don't ever let that pump run dry. And it was so much easier and worry-free running the leaktest without any hardware - but the psu - in the case. The benefit is that I get another chance to disassemble and reassemble the loop in the case, more experience !

I've gone on too long, but its important to find some tips all in one place, esp for the first time w/c builder.

Here's the drain pipe rig - I had read this post, then went searching for parts that made sense, and that's what I ended up with - looks like it might be a bit heavy, but we'll see. Oh, the 6.5 feet of tubing that you get in this kit - its more than enough for a cpu only loop. Matter of fact, I cut the loops to go from the pump outlet to the r.rear rad port, and from the l.rear rad port to the cpu in, and the cpu out to the pump inlet.
I changed it so that the pump fed the cpu inlet right off, and I didn't have to change any hose lengths, and I have about an 18" hose section left over.

Good Luck, and have FuN!

oh yah - the flush. There is a manual way to do this, I bought a bunch of distilled water, and poured it into the rad and did the shake shake shake thing - about 5 flushes this way - and yah, theres a bunch of gunk in there. But I was despairing of ever getting it all out, so I went to the HomeDump and bought a $20 GE filter bottle,
a 2 pak filter, 2 of these 1/2 in ID x 3/4 in MIP nylon hose barbs, a submersible fountain pump, and a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. Just ask for one.

I used a utility knife to cut roundish holes in the bucket up near the top, I cut mine a tad low. Find a container of some sort to stand the Filter bottle in - I did buy tubing from the Depot, but it was the wrong size, and was all kinked up, so I ended up using the XSPC kit's tubing - and was able to re-use it - got the right length cuts somehow !

Here's an overlong vid about how to run a flush system, the HomeDump trip cost me $60, and yah, there was still some more gunk in the radiator. I also poured some distilled water thru the res and the cpu block.



Edited by socketus - 8/13/12 at 11:17am