WC System

[Verran]

Watercooling has never been about low-cost cooling. <_< If you don't like it, don't get it. A good WC setup is an investment that can be used to wring every last drop of performance from your hardware for years to come. It's not something you have to upgrade when your computer plays the latest games at 3 frames per second, like all that fancy hardware. After a point, it just doesn't make any sense to pay more for hardware unless you have big piles of money in the basement of your mansion. He's at that point.

Eh. I've yet to see many really high-end WC setups prove their worth around here. There's at least a few members I can think of with some pretty intense WC systems on new hardware, but I still haven't really seen those chips clock significantly past what I've seen on air. I've seen a few hundred mhz increase at best, but in those cases you're looking at $300+ WC systems. That's $1.5-2/mhz! To me, that's pretty hard to justify. I am currently a water-user, and I'd love to be proven wrong on this, but so far I just haven't seen the big-dollar WC systems really pull their weight.

 

As for dropping WC and going air with better parts, that's pretty hard in this case. Everything he's buying is pretty much top of the line, so upgrades aren't really possible. And as for WC outlasting the parts it cools, that's pretty true, with the exception of the block. The block will only last as long as the socket it's designed for. When you compare swapping blocks to swapping air-coolers, the price and longevity are incredibly similar. A decent air cooler costs about as much as a decent block, and lasts just as long.

 

I won't argue with just plain "wanting to build one" though. I had a blast modding and designing my setup. If I were to go water again next time, it'd be for the sole purpose of the "modding fun". But as high-end water gets more and more expensive, it gets harder and harder to justify over the performance of a $60 air cooler that does an incredibly similar job.

[Bleeble]

I don't think anyone can argue that the cooling-per-dollar is lower with WC. But, if that's what you're going for, stick with the stock cooler. You really can't get cheaper than free. Besides, you're an overclocker. That last "few hundred mhz" is why people use WC, you know that.

 

I didn't do it for the performace or because it made financial sense. I did it because it was fun. It gave me a reason for my first case mod. If I cared about those other things, I'd be using a Dell.

[nsillej]

The next step up from water cooling would be adding a Peltier. Now that sounds Dangerious.... However I hear you can get additional mhz from running sub zero.(and burn your house down from drawing too much electrical current through your wiring)

[Bleeble]

The next step up from water cooling would be adding a Peltier. Now that sounds Dangerious.... However I hear you can get additional mhz from running sub zero.(and burn your house down from drawing too much electrical current through your wiring)

That's a whole different can of worms. And a very expensive one too! Maybe some day when I have big piles of money to burn, I'll consider it.

[road-runner]

The next step up from water cooling would be adding a Peltier. Now that sounds Dangerious.... However I hear you can get additional mhz from running sub zero.(and burn your house down from drawing too much electrical current through your wiring)

If you are thinking about a peltier forget it and just get a phase change. As far as the chip set WC block I do not know what the temps were with the stock heat pipe as I bought it all new and installed WC. I have read though that the stock heatpipe cooler on the P35 DQ6 does a very good job as its bigger than the previous 965P DQ6

[nsillej]

OK,

 

All the new parts are in. I set up my W/C last night and let it run. This Morning when i woke up I noticed that there was a black film in the reservoir. I think I remember somebody saying that the D-TEK Fuzion has some paint on the inside that comes off, any ideas?. I also noticed that my Water is "cloudy" I'm using Distilled water and swifttech green additive stuff, will it come back to the "clear-ish" green

[Verran]

Well, the water system should be a closed loop, so whatever's making it cloudy probably isn't going to just go away by itself

 

If that happened to me, I'd just drain it and mix up a new batch of coolant.

[road-runner]

OK,

 

All the new parts are in. I set up my W/C last night and let it run. This Morning when i woke up I noticed that there was a black film in the reservoir. I think I remember somebody saying that the D-TEK Fuzion has some paint on the inside that comes off, any ideas?. I also noticed that my Water is "cloudy" I'm using Distilled water and swifttech green additive stuff, will it come back to the "clear-ish" green

Did you clean and flush out all the blocks, and radiator? When radiators are made they use water soluble flux and thats usally where the cloudiness comes from if you did not flush it out. I used about 3 gallons of distilled water just to flush and clean everything before assembly on mine.

[Bleeble]

Did you clean and flush out all the blocks, and radiator? When radiators are made they use water soluble flux and thats usally where the cloudiness comes from if you did not flush it out. I used about 3 gallons of distilled water just to flush and clean everything before assembly on mine.

I would definitely suspect the radiator. I never had any problems with my D-Tek.

[nsillej]

I drained and refilled my system and everything is ok now. How did you attach the fans to the PA120.2 I cant put a screw all the way through because it hits fins. The screws i got were all too short. Do I need to go to the hardware store and find some longer self tapping screws? And finally anybody know where to get metal barbs for this radiator? Thanks

[Verran]

Do I need to go to the hardware store and find some longer self tapping screws?

Why would you use self-tapping? Doesn't the rad already have threaded fan-mount holes in it? Mine did on both sides.

 

If you have to use self-tapping screws to mount fans to a rad, I would think you're doing something wrong.

[Bleeble]

The PA series just has small holes and comes with self-tapping sheet metal screws to mount fans on the radiator. I had to go out and buy slightly longer screws because I was going through fan filters, the bottom of my case, and then the fans to reach the radiator. I think I bought 1.25" screws. Just make sure you don't buy screws that are too long or you'll puncture your radiator and be out $100+. And remember, 1 inch = 25.4 mm.