1st time with water cooling...some questions
 

I'm about to go in a week or two and buy all the stuff I need(following the Cheap water cooling guide).
Question 1: I've been reading various places online and they say you should do stuff to prevent condensation. But the Cheap Water cooling guide says I won't have to worry about it at all(because the radiator is in my roon so my cpu wont go below room temp). Which one is it?
Question 2: After I set up all the tubes and make sure nothing leaks from testing. Should I start the pumping and get the water flowing and then turn my pc on?
Question 3: Following the cheap water cooling guide w/ a resevoir how often will/should I refill the resevoir?

Thanks everyone
jon

I never seen the cheap watercooing thinggy. But when you are building the system, I would use a 4x4 resivor box. You can get them at ACE Hardware, don't waste your loot paying 15 or more bucks on one online. All it is a Marine Grade Junuction Box (4x4x4 aprox.). Now that the rant is over, when you fill your system just fill the resivor up about 3/4 the way, and then turn the pump on, make sure the feed tubes are all the resivor or you might waste some liquid. The pump will fill the tubes, after all the tubes and such are filled just make sure the water level is up about 3/4 the way. If you are using a peltier to cool the processor then you will have to worry about the condensation. And for me I just use a relay to control the pump based on if the power to the pc is on/off. The water starts flowing as soon as you turn the pump on so it starts removing heat (if any) right away. Even the peltier (if you have one) will get cooled as soon as you turn the pump on

http://www.procooling.com/html/cheap..._cooling.shtml (cheap water cooling guide)

There is one part of your post i'm not understanding. "make sure the feed tubes are all the resivor or you might waste some liquid"
Could you clarify i'm not understanind it.
Also how often should I refill? Also what about air bubbles and stuff, and no I do will not be using a peltier.

Would it be possible to liek buy copper tubing and tie it to liek this 6" mini fan I have and use it is a radiator? Like buy a couple feet worth and wrap it in a circle and tie it?

yeah but its not gonna get rid of much heat...so it might not work. anyone who uses watercooling can tell you stories about how they have learned the hard way to only buy the best. Youre gonna wanna kill yourself for trying that...extra holes in your case etc.

You only need to insulate to prevent condensation when using a peltier device. I wouldn't reccommend using one your first time around. You can always add one later.
Once everything is in the case, you'll want to turn on the pump BEFORE you turn on the PC.
You'll never need to refill it if it is sealed. If it isn't perfectly sealed, evaporation may happen slowly over time. In that case, you'd have to top of the water every now and then.

I tried the copper tubing making into a coil... its a big pain in the ass since the tubes bend very easy and block water from going thru.. u need to heat em up at very high temps in order to make a perfect coil... and it wont do as good as radiator cuz radiator is like a heatsink with just passes going thru... and that helps getting rid of heat much better..

Ok this helped clear up a lot of my questions a lot. Thanks very much.
Also how long should I have the pump running for before I turn on my pc?

I have seen systems where they coiled copper tubing in a big spiral in front of a room fan as a radiator. It probably won't work as well as a tube and fin or stacked plate radiator, but it will work.

As a tip, to bend copper tubing, fill it with sand first. This will prevent it from kinking and allow you to get nice curves. Of course, you have to get the sand out once you are done, but nothing is perfect.

El

*bump* could someone answer my last question?

Theres no real Min. time to run a pump before turning on yer pc, just make sure its on when yer pc is on.

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C-ya
Joe - Owner/Editor
www.ProCooling.com
Where the Completely Addicted Come to Cool Off

Somebody set up us the bomb.

Another thing, Will a radiator from a junk yard work fine to keep it at room temp, or should I order a nice expensive radiator?

half the net is running their WC with yunkyard radiators..

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OC'ing is my middlename

Half the net don't even have WC http://www.procooling.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Ok thanks.

Yet a well known website was argue'n with me that "watercooling is so over done on the web, everyone and their dog has done it"

But yet they post links to Gf2 MX reviews instead... go figure.



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C-ya
Joe - Owner/Editor
www.ProCooling.com
Where the Completely Addicted Come to Cool Off

Somebody set up us the bomb.

LOL http://www.procooling.com/ubb/smile.gif

I am also pretty new to watercooling. I wanted to set up my system so that my water pump turns on when my computer does. It is a 110V, 10W pump that just plugs into the wall. I wanted to stick a relay from Radio Shack in the cord so that my computers 12V power will set of the relay and allow the 110V to get to the pump. Has anyone else ever tried anything like this before? If so, how did it work?

I myself haven't tried it, but it just works as it is supposed to work. Really simple.

Hey Brad,
Go to my site and look under the oc'd pc link and in the watercooling section I have a few words on the relay along with a link to an article on how to do it and part # from the shack.

Duh! It would help if I gave ya the link huh? http://yourpage.blazenet.net/nutndun/index.htm

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AMD TB 1Ghz@1310
MSI pro2a
Mushkin Rev2 256mb
Creative Gforce GTS
Watercooled

[This message has been edited by nutndun (edited 03-16-2001).]

Brad:
I have a relay to control my pump. If you want a really nice relay system go to http://www.jameco.com and order these two things:
1) 139766 <-- thats a part number for a 12VDC relay, its a little larger than those small blue ones at radiocrap hole (I didnt like the service when I went)
2) 141145 <-- thats a relay socket for the above relay, what it does is the relay basically snaps in and there are 8 screw lugs, which makes for better connections and you dont have to worry about soldering and you can remove it really easy if you like

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Blah Blah Blah
Overclocked Dual PIII 933
sitting on a VP6 mobo featuring liquid intercooling.
AIM[SN]: PhreeNET