Back to Water - New Rig (Pics)
 

After taking a long hiatus from watercooling, I am back with a system that combines carefully chosen components to create a robust cooling solution.

Let me outline my goals before I start listing components:

• Quiet - the fan should be inaudible
• Still allows for moderate overclock
• Low maintenance

Radiator: I needed something with lots of surface area so a large, low noise fan could be attached. I also wanted copper internals so galvanic corrosion with a copper WB would not be a problem. Corrosion was the biggest factor in my decision to junk my first WC sys.
A: Lytron 6310 (use hotgawd@hotmail.com if prompted for login)
This radiator was perfect: large surface area due to size and thin fins. It also had a mounting flange for a 10" fan...

Fan:
A: Comair Rotron Caravel AC
This fan packs 550 CFM at stock voltage, but at a heavy acoustic price. Using a ceiling fan controller I am able to adjust the fan speed all the way down to an inaudible level, which still moves a good amount of air.

Pump: I needed a pump with a good pressure rating to overcome the pressure drop from the extensive tubing in the radiator. It also needed to be as silent as possible.
A: Custom Sea Life Velocity T3 (sadly, CSL has ceased operations, but here is a retailer's page.
This pump works as advertised, delivering high pressure and very low noise. However, the large power consumption is a drawback, as much of that energy is released as heat into the water. I had hoped the large radiator would be able to handle the added heat load.

WB:
A: Danger Den RBX
I wanted the best water block available, which at the time was the Cascade (and still is). I figured my high pressure pump would yield some serious impingement with the Cascade's tube-in-cup design. However, due to availability and pricing, I had to find an alternative. I chose DD's RBX, as it offered similar advantages as the Cascade and was priced much lower. Also, the ability tweak the impingement plates was a plus.

Tubing:
A: 1/2" and 3/4" Tygon and Vinyl
I would have preferred an all Tygon loop, but I was too impatient (and cheap) to wait for an internet order, so I had to substitute vinyl for some of the loop. I used 3/4" vinyl to connect the pump inlet to the reservoir to minimize throttling the intake.

Reservoir:
A: 1 Gal clear plastic cookie jar with watertight lid.

Coolant:
90/10 mix of "steam distilled, micronfiltered and ozonated" water and antifreeze.
Although the radiator and waterblock are the same metal, the pump rotor is titanium. The antifreeze should prevent corrosion between the copper and titanium.

Leak Test 1 (Disaster)
After finally procuring all the parts, I assembled the system and leak tested with 100% water. I didn't turn on the fan during the test. 12 hrs into the test (2:30 AM, while I was asleep next to the system), it started "raining." I was jolted out of bed to find the tygon tubing had blown off the waterblock. Water was gushing out of the detached hose all over my desk and carpet. I yanked the pump power cord before the res drained and it ran dry, but I couldn't prevent more than a gallon of water from pooling up on my floor...

A: HOSE CLAMPS

Leak Test 2
After buying new hose clamps (the ones from my first system disappeared), I installed them onto every connection. Installing them on the RBX proved to be a chore: there is little room between the barbs and I did not want to block the mounting springs. I was fairly confident I wouldn't see any leaks this time, so I filled the system with the 90/10 coolant and started up the pump. I soon realized my res was leaking slowly, all over my desk and computer. Strange, I thought, there wasn't a leak there before, and yanked the pump plug. After running out of ideas, I desperately ask members of Pro/Chat for advice, but I had pretty much tried everything already. I managed to control the leakage by putting a clear plastic food takeout tray under the res, but it was started to fill up. I didn't want to drain the system, and risk more spillage. So I enlisted 2 friends to help move the whole system into the bathroom, where I could more easily work on the leak. I managed to invert the res so there was no water pressure on the leak, and slathered everyone's favorite Plumber's GOOP all over the area. After the GOOP dried, I tipped the res back up, and no coolant leaked. SUCCESS! I restored the system back in its original place on my desk and started...

Leak Test 3

That's where I am as of writing this, about 8 hrs into the test.

And now, PICS :cool: :cool: :cool:

That's pretty intense. :D although i guess heading to a LAN party is out of the question. hehe. can't wait to see your temps.

if I could fit that rad and fan, i'd use that combo too. looks pretty insane :D

metal hose clamps are your friend :)

nice pump, how it perform? it is noisy?

having the system exposed like that will probably grow algae like a mofo.