Hummer

I've been using a Zalman resevator water cooling system for a while and I've just read that that the coolant should be replaced every year. The resevator has a capacity of 2.5 litres so I'd need three bottles of this which would be £24.63. That seems rather expensive so I considered using engine coolant with corrosion inhibitors which I could get for £6. However I've now read on this forum that engine coolant doesn't transfer heat well, which rules that option out.

Is expensive coolant necessary or can you get away with just using distilled water? If distilled water isn't an option are there any cheaper brands of CPU coolant?

One other question, how often does the CPU water block have to be replaced?

Thanks for your help with these questions.

sctheluna

Wish I could help but I am no expert on liquid cooling,so sorry

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No it's not necessary. To be honest I would just pick up some pentosin G11 (you can find some at automotive stores or get it here. Petras will ship to UK if you pay the extra cash, they're great businessmen with fantastic customer service.) That and add a small amount of anti freeze to kill algae and some distilled water. Pretty cheap, and you'll be set.

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MadeInBrazil

hey here its some info:

I believe you might have to add some biocide to you coolant even if you just want to use distiled water to help prevent grown stuffs in you blocks and make you lose flow...

This might help...

I like to mix this at 10 or 11 -1 with distilled..Pentosin..Then a couple of drops of this for a biocide..PT Nuke..Then a ounce of glycerin for a water wetter and a drop or two of blue "Dawn" dish-washing soap, its a surfactant or water wetter also...You don't want to use to much of either one of those or it will hurt temp's....If you have a VW or Audi dealership near you, you can get Pentosin cheap there, its just anti-freeze, the blue is G11 and the red is G12.....

That was posted by Ira-k...

starlon

You're right that automotive coolants don't transfer heat well. The best option is plain distilled water if you want the absolute best heat transfer. Sadly though we can't run our loops on that or stuff will grow in our loops. To keep algae from growing, two drops of PTNuke does the job. If you're running mixed metals in your loop (e.g. aluminum and copper) then you'll need something to inhibit corrosion. Most people suggest Pentosin for this. Mix that bottle in 40 ounces of distilled water.

A waterblock should last a long time. The sealing o-rings do however need to be replaced after time, especially if the waterblock has been sealed and reopened a few times. If you can't find the o-rings, then the only option is to replace the waterblock.

Edit: Looks like I was too slow

Hummer

Thanks a lot for all the replies. I'll get some of that Petras stuff and use distilled water, which will definatley work out a lot cheaper than the Feser One coolant.

Thanks again for saving me money

propagating insanity

ive done a lot of research on this pretty recently.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...oducts_id=1955
thats all you need, mixes one bottle to 33oz of distilled water. its got anti corrosive properties along with anti fungal.

alexgheseger

The other option is 95% distilled water + 5% antifreeze. It does make the coolant a little thicker, but it is the cheapest way of getting things done.

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propagating insanity

yeah that would work just fine but it will lower the overall flow rate of the coolant. trying to cool one of the hottest chips out right now if they want to overclock they need the lowest viscosity they can manage

alexgheseger

In that case, why not just drop a silver dollar in your res? The silver does a wonderful job as an anti-fungal treatment.

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