Who here has D-Tek Radiators and........

Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
edited February 2004 in Hardware
......what is your opinion on the finish. Are there dents in the tanks? How does the paint look? Does it look like a quality job? I just returned a Pro Core for a JR120 and thought the Pro Core was kind of "rough looking" but thought I got an exception rather than the rule. Now my JR120 shows up and has dents in the tanks and the paint looks terrible. I am not a happy camper at all!!! I will post pics when I'm no so busy working. Further more the shroud is cheap, flimsy and warped. I am not sure if I really want to install this horrible looking thing in my nice new case but don't really feel lik waiting any longer either, especially after spending the extra money on "Next Day Air" because I want to put all this stuff together and know it will take at least 2 weeks to get it turned around. I'm so bummed!!! :(

Comments

  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    OK, I decided to keep it and try it out. The thought of the $30.00 spent on "Next Day Air" to get it here and this taking so long to get done is making me sick. It would cost me at least $13.00 to return it and then I could have got something more useful with the total of $43.00 spent on shipping. I just want to get this finished. I did take some pics but need to do it in better light without a flash to get the dents and look of the paint. I will send them pics with a letter insted of RMA'ing it.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I feel forya guy. I guess if I were you I'd call Dtek direct and let them know howya feel ...nothing to lose right? If you call and arrange something of an exchange then take the name of the person you talk to ...usually that insures special pickens and handling.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    It sure didn't help that I ended up having to work this whole weekend for a total of 82.25 hrs for the week!!! I am beat and now have to go back tomorrow for the start of a new week. The good part will be when I get this next pay check with 42.25 hrs. of OT on it. :D On another front, I am happy I swapped out the Eheim 1250 for the Hydor L-30 pump because the L-30 is only 1/3 the size, very quiet and will hide behind my HD cage rather nicely (see pics). Currently you will only be able to see the blocks and tubing inside the case with the pump hidden and the radiator on the outside rear of the case.

    I still need to figure out if I want to convert the lower front fan to a 120mm and cut the holes for the radiator barbs to go into the case and move the radiator fan to inside the case.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Is that the Jr-120? Can't you just mount the radiator inside the case on the floor near two 80mm's? Sorry for the noob post but I've been trying to imagine myself so I can do one this summer.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    csimon wrote:
    Is that the Jr-120? Can't you just mount the radiator inside the case on the floor near two 80mm's? Sorry for the noob post but I've been trying to imagine myself so I can do one this summer.

    Yes it is the JR-120. Even after opening the bottom fan to a 120mm I can't get enough airflow to put the radiator in the front.

    UPDATE:
    After placing a temperature probe in different areas of the radiator full of warm water and pulling the air through it with the DTek shroud that is only .6" deep there is a drastic difference in temps from spot to spot on the rear surface of the radiator along with a lot of noise. I just finished building a new shroud out of plexiglass that is 1.5" deep and will be mounting the assembly inside the rear 120mm hole with the fan on the outside (pics to follow). I finally have just about everything ready to go and just need a day to get it together and test it then power up. :)
  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2004
    I got a question...couldn't you have just put a blow-hole over the PSU and mounted it up there more towards the front of the case but not blocking the 5.25" bays?
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    madmat wrote:
    I got a question...couldn't you have just put a blow-hole over the PSU and mounted it up there more towards the front of the case but not blocking the 5.25" bays?

    Matt

    Two things are in play right now and starting to come together.

    1. I am not in a big hurry to mod the visable aspects of my new $160.00 case (PSU not incl.). At least for now.

    2. The blow hole at the top is out because that would put my rad almost exactly 12" above my CPU/ 14" above NB ion this big case. If you look at the above pics with my current layout (except the rad wil now be in the case) everything is just about level and will give me the best flow rate with minimal head loss. I have even figured that if I go with rad > CPU > VPU > NB I will have no sharp bends in my lines as opposed to rad > CPU > NB > VPU.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Larry, i hope that you plan to seal the space between the rad and the fan right?
  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2004
    Mack, I think it's got a shroud inbetween them.
    Larry, I see what you're talking about...I'm so used to my Exos sitting ontop of my case that I never have stopped to consider the hit it's taking from pushing the water that far.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Mackanz wrote:
    Larry, i hope that you plan to seal the space between the rad and the fan right?

    Mac,
    I have some weather-sealer I plan on putting between the fan and shroud and the shroud and radiator. Am I correct in my order of; rad > CPU > VPU > NB so that I will have no sharp bends??? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions??? I am ordering a VPU block tonight, not sure which but it will have 1/2" fittings.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Looks good larry. Just the way it should be. I would suggest Swiftech with their 3/8-1/2 inch adapters. Brilliant piece of kit.

    Edit//, i see now that you have a shroud. Good man.
  • Trash80Trash80 Calgary, AB
    edited February 2004
    MtGoat, All I can say is if you want something done right ya gotta do it yourself. I bought a 86 chevette heatercore and built my own shroud etc. then painted it myself. Another option for the Rad if your case can accomodate is mounting it sideways in the lower front of the case ( you'd have to lose some drive mounting bracket) but this way it pulls air from one side and pushes it out the other. Very efficient for keeping temps down in case and cooler water)
    Here's how mine looks.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Trash80
    Great work and good ideas! Your plan along with a post from Media Man earlier has sparked a thought for the next round.

    Mac
    Won't those adapters bottleneck me since I have taken pains to keep with 1/2" ID tubing and 1/2" barbs on all my components or am I bein too anal??? Also, I thought you didn't like the side mounted barbs as they get in the way of ram sinks on vid cards???


    Here are some pics of the shroud I made. I need to get to the store and get some screws to mount it all together. All the hard work and modding are done! :)
  • Trash80Trash80 Calgary, AB
    edited February 2004
    Lookin good MtGoat. Here's my new GPU block by Silverprop (Fusion HL) I like it better than my Danger Den block.

    Good luck with everything.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2004
    I gotta say that the acrylic shroud looks pretty pimp man. Very nice work and an excellent solution to the rad location issue. Very elegant.
  • Trash80Trash80 Calgary, AB
    edited February 2004
    Quote: Am I correct in my order of; rad > CPU > VPU > NB
    I have my sequence as:
    Rad > CPU & NB in parallell ( line is split with Y adapter and water runs through NB and CPU atthe same time, then to GPU. I have read info that shows better cooling through the entire system by doing this ( a couple of degrees). As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Larry, the adapters are really thin-walled, but honestly, i had the same thought as you. They are brilliant. The adapters i'm talking about is just small plastic tubes that you stick into the block's holes. No sidemounting is needed.

    What Trash is saying about the parallell loop is very correct but it's a little more PITA to setup.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I ordered the Swiftech MCW50 vid block and adapters. I am thinking I will run the NB and GPU on one side of a "Y" with the CPU on the other side.

    I also have the same reservoir Trash80 has and was thinking of using a single line off a single "T" on the suction side like on a car's cooling system to eliminate pushing my loop any farther. I know this will mean a more tedious fill and bleed procedure but think it will be worth it in the end.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Reservoirs are just pointless. Especially if you use that "T" line on the suction side of the pump. It does the same job as a reservoir actually. If you look on the Prometeia thread i did a while ago, you'll see the "T" i use. As you will see, i don't care about the looks though.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Mackanz wrote:
    Reservoirs are just pointless. Especially if you use that "T" line on the suction side of the pump. It does the same job as a reservoir actually. If you look on the Prometeia thread i did a while ago, you'll see the "T" i use. As you will see, i don't care about the looks though.

    I spend more on lunch each day than I did on the res I got and it looks good so I got it. If you can't tell I'm into looking good too! ;) I just started tearing my system apart and getting ready to move it into the new case. My GPU block should be here by Thursday and it looks like work will be rained out for the rest of the week. That means less money but I will get some time to do some things including getting this finished. I also changed my mind and decided to do one more mod. I am going to cut a hole in the mobo tray to be able to get at the back of the board in the socket/ NB area in case I need to work on anything.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    mtgoat wrote:
    I also changed my mind and decided to do one more mod. I am going to cut a hole in the mobo tray to be able to get at the back of the board in the socket/ NB area in case I need to work on anything.

    Or perhaps a Prometeia? ;):D
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Mackanz wrote:
    Or perhaps a Prometeia? ;):D

    Oh no!!! I'm already in enough trouble for doing what I'm doing now. ;) My wife won't mind as much when she doesn't hear my computer anymore though. :D
  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2004
    You coulda done like me a married a deaf woman then she wouldn't care how loud it was. umm...wait, my wife was also bipolar and left me...ok bad example, carry on.
  • DonnegalDonnegal Calgary, Alberta CANADA
    edited February 2004
    Although new to overclocking, modding and water-cooling, I recently purchased the D-Tek Pro-Core with the fan shroud and a 120mm fan.

    Mine showed up dented and the paint wasn't all that great, but I repainted it with a really nice metallic blue (filled in the fins a bit too which looks a tad cleaner) and just backed all the edges of the shroud and fan with automotive foam tape. Clean and no vibration at all.

    The dents were on the top of the chambers for the barbs, but in my custom built enclosure mounted under my Lian Li, you can't see them anyways, so that wasn't a big deal for me.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited February 2004
    Sounds like Dtek's QC has gone down a bit since I bought my radiator from them 2 years ago. I bought mine unpainted but it had no dents either.

    Even though Mackanz isn't a fan of reservoirs, I like them if you have enough room in your case for them. It gives you a little extra water in the system for good measure so that you don't have to keep such a close eye on the water level to take care of losses due to evaporation or a weeping seal on the pump. I mounted my reservoir in the top front of my sx1240 behind the top 2 5 1/4 drive covers and extended a 1/2" brass nipple up through a hole cut in the top of the case with a 1/2" knockout cutter and capped it with a threaded brass 1/2" end cap with a 1/32" breather hole drilled in the center of the cap. My pump is mounted on top of my psu, which makes it extremely important for me to use a very good quality pump to minimise leakage problems from the seals, which is why I went with the Eheim 1250. Mounting like this eliminates most of the pressure loss due to height as most of the components are lower in the case than the pump suction, which is only about 1/2" lower than the reservoir.

    I also used a Y type setup to feed each individual proc on my dually rig; it's a little bit of a PITA to set it up right but it was by far my best option for my dual rig. Larry, I would recommend that you Y the feed to the nb and gpu separately from the proc for most efficient cooling so that they aren't taking the heat from the proc's cooling water.
  • Trash80Trash80 Calgary, AB
    edited February 2004
    Donnegal, I am a fellow Calgarian! Where you gettin your watercooling stuff?
  • DonnegalDonnegal Calgary, Alberta CANADA
    edited February 2004
    heya Trash80, fellow Calgarian :) Nice to see I'm not alone.... I got most of the stuff from CritiCool here in town.
  • Trash80Trash80 Calgary, AB
    edited February 2004
    Right on, me too.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Donnegal wrote:
    heya Trash80, fellow Calgarian :) Nice to see I'm not alone.... I got most of the stuff from CritiCool here in town.
    I ordered some of my stuff from them and was quite happy with the prices and speed which I got it. I was a little worried that I needed to turn off my firewall to put anything in "My Cart" though.
  • Trash80Trash80 Calgary, AB
    edited February 2004
    That is an interesting problem. Didn't run into that problem cause I get to phone Sean and pick up my stuff. :) He does have very good prices though, hard to beat his Ehiem 1250 pump price. I like his relay cards too.
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