Water cooling?(Yep, another one)

[mammaZ]

yet another water cooling question from an idiot who probably doesn't know enough to venture into the dangerous realms of pumps and water blocks...

yeah anyway.

so as you may have guessed by the opener i am thinking of setting up a water-cooling system in my rig(details of the rig will be revealed later when necessary) but basically the thing im most confused about is all the diffrent tubing measurements. why are some in imperial and others in metric?

i was thinking of starting with a basic system to cool my CPU, and eventualy expand it. i don't want to use one of the pre-built pre-filled kits as, well, they take out half of the adventure... later i would expand to chipsets and maybe GPU later(when they eventual make water blocks for 5850s and such) haven't decided on weather id have that on a separate loop or not.

i'm fairly fluent in computer terms, but most of the water-cooling "jargon" is new and haven't got a scooby what half of it means...

any help would be greatly appreciated...

Computer:
Antec 200(not big, but it has a heap of fans and probably just about enough room for water-cooling)
Asus M4A78T-E with Corsair XMS3 (4Gb 1333MHz) phenom [email protected]
HD 5850
coolmaster 650w psu
and not much else appropriate to mention.

anything i have forgotten please nag me about it, im trying my hardest to get further into it but i'm still learning..(apart from spelling, i gave up on that a few years ago...)

again thanks for any help

 

[JonJ678]

Welcome to the forums. I'll give this a shot.

Tubing is measured by inner diameter. Occasionally both inner and outer are listed. So 1/2" tubing has an inner diameter of 1/2". Some is in imperial, because Britain and America are fond of this. The rest is metric, because the rest of the world has moved on. Measurements are otherwise the same, I use 11/8mm tubing.

Barbs are measured by outer diameter. So a 1/2" barb has an outer diameter of 1/2". 1/2" barbs therefore work with 1/2" tubing. Compression fittings are different, but again 1/2" compression fittings fit 1/2" tubing.

Complicating the issue, with barbs, tubing with a smaller inner diameter can be used with barbs with a larger outer diameter. 7/16" with 1/2" barbs is popular. This makes it harder to fit the tubing on, but as a result it is less inclined to fall off. 3/8" over 1/2" barbs can be achieved by dipping the tubing in boiling water to make it more pliable, when it cools it is not coming off. Jubilee clamps will hold the tubing on the barbs, and 1/2" tubing, 1/2" barbs, jubilee clamps is unlikely to come apart. Compression fittings are essentially barbs with jubilee clamps built in, prettier but cost more and harder to use.

The main thing to work out is where to put radiators. Pump is small, waterblocks are smaller than heatsinks. It's radiators which are big and hard to place. 60mm thick are better, especially with low speed fans, but of course are a bit harder to fit. Generally the more radiator area the better.

 

[mammaZ]

its not so much space for radiators im worried about(hell, iv got a hack saw and am young enugh not to have had my arms lopped off by one yet), if they dont fit ill jig arround my case operations and orientations.

i was intending on using the standard 1/2' tubing, but got confused when it came to the measuments on the antiking wire(i know is not 100% nesesary, but it looks nicer adds a bit of flare and stops the unwanted kinks.)

i was also intending on just getting a pump& resofwar combo(for ease of everything, and sheer cheepness), a 12cm rad sitting on one of my fans, and the obvious blocks and the likes, but what about fan orientation. is it best to have the rads on inlet fans or outlet fans? or im presuming it matters a fair bit depending on the temps(well if your trying to loose heat from something itll go to the air, and warm air tachnicaly has less potential than chilly air from the outside of the case.

any other hints and tips? or just whack a 2X rad on the front and a 1X rad on the back(2x on intake and 1X on outlet)? im presuming that would be a little overkill for just the CPU though... would a 12cm rad be enough for my processor or would it make more sence to have a 2x rad for that little bit more headroom?

 

[mammaZ]

note:

do they even make a waterclock system for the m4a78(t-e) motherboard?(asus)
or are they universal? i realy am a nub...

 

[jellybeard999]

Waterblocks are based on CPU sockets - so AM3 for you I believe.

Waterblocks - D-Tek, Swiftech, DangerDen, EK etc - check out extremesystems.org for the latest best block, I'm a bit out of touch with hardware

Pump - DCC with an aftermarket top. Also look for a Petra's Delrin top or the XPSC res for ease.

Rads - Though there are bigger rads (Aquacomputer, Black Ice etc) they still pale compared to the Thermochill PA rads. Not sure about Monster. How are TC doing now they've been taken over ?

Tubing - Stick to 1/2". Get whichever you fancy, they're all a much of a muchness.

 

[mammaZ]

thanks, i shall check them out,

is there anything else i should consider? well anything that gives benefits, and does the order much mater? or just whatever fits best?

 

[gr1mey]

cpu first then gfx is what i ran on a very high flow 1/2" based system.

with adequate case ventilation I dont see any need for northbridge/ram/hdd water cooling.