Water cooling questions

[WuGgaRoO]

Hey dudes...it seems that i might have a job during teh summer...so u know what that means?!?! DINERO for watercooling...now i currently have a p4 2.533 northwood, a radeon 9700 pro, a soyo dragon ultra platinum edition...does anyone have any suggestions?? I know how to water cool etc.. but i need help on which products i should purchase. Review sites will also be vastly appreciated...thank u bu-diez

[shwaip]

The three i usually browse around on:

www.dangerden.com
www.swifnets.com
www.d-tekcustoms.com

[WuGgaRoO]

thanks bro...ive done some looking around..and it seems like dangerden is the place to go for this type of shiznet

[muddocktor]

All 3 places shwaip linked to make and sell great products. I'm using 2-DD Maze 1C waterblocks on my Asus dually, which use the socket clips instead of the 4 holes around the socket to mount with(Asus board doesn't have the holes:( ). The radiator I use is the one that D-Tekcustoms sells, which is a heater core that has been modded with 1/2" OD filttings already sweated on and the fan shroud they make and it kicks ass. It will handle all the heat you can possibly produce with that P4 of your and then some. For a waterblock for your system, all 3 companies make some great products. Don't go cheap on your waterpump, whatever you do. You get a cheap one and it might quit on you or start leaking around the seals. I recommend Ehiem pumps as they've been around the aquarium industry for a long time and are known for making stone reliable products. I have a couple of cannister filters of theirs; the first one I bought in 1996 and the second in 1997 and neither has needed any parts replaced. The Ehiem 1250 water pump I'm using in my dually is now 1 1/2 years old and no problems. Finally, spend the extra bucks and get either silicone or Tygon tubing for your tubing instead of vinyl tubing because it doesn't harden and shrink like the vinyl tubing will.

[shwaip]

I had silicone tubing in my system, and the water wetter stained the tubing...not pretty. (just a heads up). You can also get the braided-reinforced tubing from your local home depot or lowes.

Don't use the little plastic clips that come with most kits, get the good metal ones at a home improvement store.

[WuGgaRoO]

good suggestions dudes... Now i was wondering what type of radiator should i get. Im looking at the blackice xtreme II, will that be overkill for my system? Will the blackice pro suffice? I was also looking at the ehiem 1048 will that be enuf power or should i get more power and get a 1250

[muddocktor]

I would think the 1048 would be enough. The 1250 is definitely enough but is kind of large; takes up a bit of room for a tight case.

This is the radiator/shroud I'm using (http://www.dtekcustoms.com/product.asp?0=205&1=228&3=17) and D-Tek also has this nice looking nb cooler too (http://www.dtekcustoms.com/product.asp?3=92) if you want to cool the nb also.

That Blackice extreme 2 looks like overkill to me as I don't need that much radiator with my dually and it's kicking out around 160 watts of heat into the radiator I'm using. It won't hurt anything to use it except your wallet though.;)

[WuGgaRoO]

im going to hook this all up in a server case..how many feet of tygon tubing do you guys think ill need? Considering ill have the cpu, radeon, chipset on the mobo, all connected to the watercooling system

Also, im a big confused with dangerden..what should my fitting size be dependant on? the tubing? the radiator? what?

[muddocktor]

Buy you about 10 feet of tubing, it gives you some extra in case you screw up on cutting the length right or change your mind later on the way you routed the tubing or decide to add nb or gpu cooling later. At DD and D-Tek, they are talking about the tubing's ID size, not the fitting's ID size on the radiator or wb. But the 1/2" fittings on the rad are made to fit the 1/2" tubing. I ended up using about 6-7 feet of the 10 feet of tubing I bought, but I'm cooling 2 cpu's.

BTW, go with the 1/2" tubing and fittings on everything because you will have much less pressure loss in your cooling system than using 3/8" tubing and fittings. This in turn puts less back pressure on the seals in your waterpump and will improve the life of them, plus you will get better flow rate through the 1/2" tubing. This is due to the larger ID of the tubing giving lower flow velocities, which, helps keep the flow regime in laminar flow, which has the least resistance.You want to have laminar flow throughout your system except for the waterblock and radiator, which by their design should mechanically induce turbulent flow for better heat exchange. The only stuff I would consider 3/8 for would be to use in cooling the gpu or nb, which don't need the flow rate like the cpu would.

Part of my job is dealing with the flow of newtonian(water) and non-newtonian(drilling fluids) fluids, so I know what I'm talking about here.

[shwaip]

Gaaaa....i just spent a quarter of hell learning about this stuff. And now you bring it on the forums to haunt me.

/me shakes fist at muddocktor

muddocktor said

BTW, go with the 1/2" tubing and fittings on everything because you will have much less pressure loss in your cooling system than using 3/8" tubing and fittings. This in turn puts less back pressure on the seals in your waterpump and will improve the life of them, plus you will get better flow rate through the 1/2" tubing. This is due to the larger ID of the tubing giving lower flow velocities, which, helps keep the flow regime in laminar flow, which has the least resistance.You want to have laminar flow throughout your system except for the waterblock and radiator, which by their design should mechanically induce turbulent flow for better heat exchange. The only stuff I would consider 3/8 for would be to use in cooling the gpu or nb, which don't need the flow rate like the cpu would.

Part of my job is dealing with the flow of newtonian(water) and non-newtonian(drilling fluids) fluids, so I know what I'm talking about here.

[WuGgaRoO]

i love this forum...everyone is so helpful (no sarcasm there what so ever!) thank u ppl...im not gonna buy the watercooling as of yet...but im going to eventually
oh btw, did anyone use water wetter in their water? i would like to know its effects, if their worth it or not. In addition, does it change the water to orange? Is it UV reactive? And does it present an odor?

[shwaip]

I used waterwetter, but i never tried without it, so i can't really say how it affects the performance. I never noticed an odor that came with it. I also died my water blue, so i never saw what color it made the water.

[Tiribulus]

Straight water will mildew after a while. .Water wetter (http://www.redlineoil.com/frames/watrwet.htm) will stop that as well as optimize your cooling so it's nutz not to use it.
>>>--Tiribulus-->:D
Yes it will turn your hoses pink, but who CARES

[WuGgaRoO]

awwww shucks i was looking more for an orange color in my hoses...anyone know where i can get uv reactive orange dye?

[fuxor]

if you get dangerden waterblocks be sure to leak test them carefully. I've had two maze 2-2c's and both of them were poorly soldered and had leaks in the exact same spot.

if you want dye, caseetc probably has something for ya

[WuGgaRoO]

good call fuxor...good call...ill be sure to test it
how long should one run water during a test? atleast an hour? perhaps 2?

[fuxor]

when I did it I left it running for a couple days, I'd suggest letting it run overnight.