You still havnt answered any of my questions...

1. Is the heatercore used?

2. Have you put it into a test loop to see if you are getting ANY flow at all?

Your waterblock shouldnt warm up at all, or at least very little. I think your flow sucks big and you arent moving the water through the loop.

Take the heatercore and blow through it. Can you? Same with the block. Something is obstructing your water path.

ok, its a submersible pump, not inline, and i ran it through to make sure there was no air bubbles at all. I am using Vcool as a temperature readout, without all the idle loops and extras, just plain temperature readouts. I ran a few games and it was about 136-138 after playing them for about 30 min.

MeltMan= For the answers about the heater core, the heater core is used. The water flows through it at the same rate as it does without the heater core hooked up. I think its probably the pump and the block. I can blow through both the block and the heatercore as well.

The pump would be the culprit. Lapping the block might help some, but probably very little.

I don't believe that the CPU block is at fault because it's aluminium. In Alu vs Cu (copper), the difference is there, but it shouldn't be that far off.

I think that the WB design is also a big factor, and that the only way to compensate for those two limitations, would be with an increase in flow, which in this case, obviously can't be had with this pump.

I think that the pump should be the first concern.

Recommendations: get another pump. Check out your local pet store, but lookup the "pump roundup thread" first:http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/sho...&threadid=3650
[edit] off-hand, I'd go with a maxijet or a Danner (with mod), if price is an issue.

Guys, there's something that we've ignored here: it's an aluminium waterblock, and a (copper?) heatercore. I know that we're only at the testing stage, and that no additives have been added, but that's going to have to be addressed.

its an aluminum heater core, i will definitely check out the pumps roundup section. I also added some purple ice additive from becooling.com, they also have a special on a 370 gph pump for 22.00 or something like that, would that be good enough? or do I need something a little bigger?

More is always better, but that should fix you right up. Do you have a link? I can't find it.

here is the link for the 370 gph pump, that should fix the problem with the high temperatures do you think? but that pump has 1/2" barbs on it, my waterblock is 3/8", how do i convert it??

With an adapter! All you have to do is go to your favorite place in the whole wide world: the hardware store!

Via Aqua 1300. Hum... It'll do. If you can though, I'd spend a bit more on something like this:
http://www.graystonecreations.com/riotable.htm
Plus, if you mention this site, you get 10% off:
http://www.procooling.com/worklog/1/...ws.cgi?newsall
(look for the heading: "Email from John - 10% discount on pumps!")

would you reccomend the rio1400, which is 420 GPH for 24.99 or the rio1700, which is 642 GPH and is 29.99? would the 1700 be more than i would need? also, I think i would need a better waterblock, maybe a copper one, like a maze? can you reccomend one with a really good price??

In short:

Rio 1100
$19.99
382 gph@0
max head 8 ft.
3/4 fittings

OR

Rio 2100
$34.99
692 gph@0
max head 10ft.
3/4 fittings

(I don't know how noisy any of these are though)

Between those 2, I'd go with the 1700, definitely.

I will probably go with the Rio1700 then, its seems like a good upgrade from the Rio180. But i need to find a good waterblock now that isnt that $$! Any ideas?

Well, you need to take a step back here...

I want to recomend a TC-4 waterblock, but then we're back to the pump selection again.

What do you want to do?Do you want to try a bigger pump first, then if the performance is still bad, you'll upgrade the WB?

I guess upgrading the pump first would be best, but from the size of the waterblock, being small, check it out , it might not be the best, as opposed to a decent copper one.

I wouldn't put out the Alu block just yet, if I was you.

It says (in your link) to lap it. Did you get around to that?

no, ive never lapped a heatsink, and i read that it could be more harmful to the processor if i lap it. In UnaClocker's article, he says about how a more powerful pump might hinder the performance of the WB

BLOCK
BLOCK
BLOCK
BLOCK
BLOCK
BLOCK
BLOCK

Oh yeah.. get the TC-4 or wait for the Spir@l!!!!!

How can that tiny Alm block cool anything hotter than a PII233? I bet 49.99 that simply replacing the block helps a TON.

ok, thanks everyone for posting and helping me out so much!!! I am going to buy a new pump and waterblock!! Lets CLOSE this post! I will post again in a week or so, after I order and hopefully recieve my new equipment!! Thanks again, you all were a great help!!

....600 GPH?? lol, talk about overkill. 250-350 will be more than enough. you might also want to change to 1/2" ID tubing. and are you sure the rad is aluminum? most, if not all, heater cores are copper / brass.

Overkill, yes, but we're trying to compensate for the poor performance of the block here. This could be a good lesson: an Alu block for $15-$20 and a pump for $25 might turn out to be almost as good as an Eheim 1048 $60 and a Maze 3 $45.

Also, keep in mind that a 600gph pump won't get you an effective flow that's anywhere near that, especially the Rio, because they have a small head, compared to a lot of other pumps. I think he'd be lucky to get above 100 gph effective, but that's what we're shooting for here.

The 1/2 in. would be a good upgrade.

I also suspect that the HC is copper inside.

I have to say something here about what started all this: Unaclocker's article.

Una started this by putting this article together. Is it good? Well, he might have emphasized the need for lapping that Alu block, and state clearly what kind of results one can expect, but he didn't. I believe that this setup can work, that spending an extra $10-$20 on a more powerful pump would have made a big difference, but all in all, the purpose of it is to get someone to be watercooled, not to give anyone the ability to get into some serious overclocking or anything like that, for a relatively low price.

As most of us know, Una is not here anymore.

Has anyone here had any experience with a big Rio like that? How about noise?

Bump.

I'm increasingly worried that this pump won't last, because it'd be pushed pretty hard, and because it might be noisy.

Again, does anyone have any experience with the bigger Rio pumps?

i do. not in a computer but, in a fish tank. I have a 2100 and an 1100 running right now and they have been for 3 1/2 years. They work well. Only problem is that he will never be able to fit the 2100 in a res, unless its big. That pump is like 6" x 4"

Thanks Ambient, that's good to hear.

How is it for noise?

its not to bad, but it is louder than my danner 500 gph.

I might be a bit late, but I gotta get my opinion in about these pumps. I'm not saying anything bad about those Rio's, but I have the ViaAqua 1300 mentioned earlier, and I'm quite happy with it. I wouldn't throw it out of the running just yet.

I have a rio 1400. It pumps more than enough water to keep even a vmoded chip cool. It runs quiet as well, but you need to do a impeller glue trick to keep it from rattling. I got the pump in December, and well, its still working. It keeps my duron 1k at 36 load and 29 idle (via smbus diode reader).

Eheim 1048 or 1250 as a pump. Spend the extra dough. It's worth the piece of mind.

i have had a rio 180, rio 1100, eheim 1250, and the viaAqua 1300.

the eheim is the biggest, but emits the least emi, and is the quietest

the rio 180 was weak, but quiet

the rio 1100 was fairly quiet, but emited a decent ammount of emi

and the viaAqua 1300 seemed alot like the rio 1100, but i never had them at the same time to compare flow rates.

The Via Aqua 1300 does NOT have 1/2" fittings, they are 3/4" (I bought one of the POS's). I ended up buying another pump and I have that Via collecting dust. Also, depending on the size/layout of your machine, that pump may not get the results you need. The specs are highly overrated on the box/ad on becooling. As someone who bought one and hated it, go with the eheim 1250. You'll thank yourself in the end. God knows I wish I went that way.

I'm currently running a nursery pro NPU500 that is extremely overrated for the job (probably adding a bit of heat to the mix, but I know it'll never go down) that cost me $80 (on sale). One thing that the damn manufacturers don't tell you is that for EVERY bend in the system (block, elbows, res, rad, bong, etc ... ) you LOSE pressure rapidly. The specs on the boxes (head/GPH) list what they will do with NO RESISTANCE. For every bend you can subtract a goodly amount from that. I'm running a pump that should get 500-600 GPH at 10 ft of head, and I'm getting 80 GPH at 3ft.

Just some food for thought. Go with what people have already had success with: in this case it is the Eheim 1250. I've heard nothing but good reviews.

In Una's article, he does not say that a higher pump might hinder performance.

In all our experiences, a bigger/better pump always helps.

I sure would like to know where you read that lapping can be harmful. I'm preparing to start a new thread (tmo?) on the subject.