just ordered setup - help with some daft questions please

[sloesoft]

Hi
Finally got round to ordering watercooling

Heres what ive gone for

GPU Block : Maze 4 Uni-GPU Block Black
Reservoir : Criticool Waterplant 6"
Pump : Eheim 1250
Radiator : ThermoChill HE120.2
Tubing : 20ft DangerDen Clearflex Tubing
Additive : Purple Ice
Compound - Arctic Silver 5

I know i don't have a CPU block, but struggling to find an LGA block in the uk, will add as soon as i can.

2 questions i probabley should of sorted before i ordered lol.

Will the amount of tubing I use have any real effect on performance? (not to bothered about overclocking or extreme low temps).
I have a few options on where to mount pump, rad etc, atm the room next to me is looking good.

Also what do i acctually fill it with? I seem to remember distilled water being good, and i can get hands on loads of this as i do A-level chemistry.

Oh and one other thing - the main reason i'm doing this is for silence.
I'm mounting the 1250 externally so got plenlty of room to dampen it, just any tips on the best way to do it?
Was thinking of hanging it from elastic, unless theres a better way.

Cheers
Dan

[JWFokker]

The more tubing you use the harder the pump will have to work, or rather, the less flow you will have since the pump works at a constant rate.

Use distilled water with 15% antifreeze added, or buy Swiftech Hydrx for an additive if you like green. How much you use will depend upon how much fluid is in the loop.

Make sure you use heavy duty rubber bands is all I have to say about the pump, but that's definitely the way to go for silence.

[JWFokker]

http://www.swiftnets.com/products/mc...asp#mcw6000775

The best LGA block for your buck. Assuming you can find one in the UK that is.

[sloesoft]

thanks for the replies
Carn't find any LGA blocks at all in the uk yet, tempted to order from the US (much cheaper even with import duties)

I will get some distilled water then, I tagged purple ice addative onto my order.
Will this be better/worse than antifreeze, as either arnt a problem to get.

How much distilled water am i going to need? Will take a bottle with me today.

Cheers

[bobkoure]

Originally Posted by sloesoft

...the main reason i'm doing this is for silence.
I'm mounting the 1250 externally so got plenlty of room to dampen it, just any tips on the best way to do it?

There's also vibration transmitted from the pump through the tubing attached to it. You might think about using soft silicone tubing for the runs to/from the pump. Come to think of it, soft silicone tubing might make a good way to suspend the pump although there are pump mounts designed specifically to not transmit vibration/noise. I've seen 'em in mcmaster but have no idea where to look in the UK for 'em. You could also use short sections of this kind of tubing with the ends glued to bolts (or with nuts glued inside each end of each short piece of tubing) to make your own vibration damping mounts.

[Toiletduck]

Originally Posted by bobkoure

There's also vibration transmitted from the pump through the tubing attached to it. You might think about using soft silicone tubing for the runs to/from the pump. Come to think of it, soft silicone tubing might make a good way to suspend the pump although there are pump mounts designed specifically to not transmit vibration/noise. I've seen 'em in mcmaster but have no idea where to look in the UK for 'em. You could also use short sections of this kind of tubing with the ends glued to bolts (or with nuts glued inside each end of each short piece of tubing) to make your own vibration damping mounts.

So what's soft sillicone tubing? Is Tygon classed as that?

[JWFokker]

Originally Posted by sloesoft

thanks for the replies
Carn't find any LGA blocks at all in the uk yet, tempted to order from the US (much cheaper even with import duties)

I will get some distilled water then, I tagged purple ice addative onto my order.
Will this be better/worse than antifreeze, as either arnt a problem to get.

How much distilled water am i going to need? Will take a bottle with me today.

Cheers

I'd avoid Purple Ice. It does almost nothing for anticorrosion. Stick with Zerex if you can, or if you don't mind the awful smell, Water Wetter. Really, 15% of any antifreeze should be plenty effective.

How much water you need depends upon how much tubing you have, whether or not you have a reservoir and whatnot. With a dual 5.25" bay reservoir and a double heater core I used just shy of two litres and I'm only cooling the CPU. I'd get two because no matter what, you're probably going to use more than one litre. Besides, water is the cheapest part of your loop anyway, go nuts.

[bobkoure]

Originally Posted by Toiletduck

So what's soft sillicone tubing? Is Tygon classed as that?

It's tubing made out of silicone It comes in a number of different hardnesses (or softnesses if you'd rather think about it that way), typically measured in durometer. I've had good luck with NSF51 which is a soft silicone tubing (peroxide cured, but for what we're doing the curing mostly doesn't matter - mainly determines which chemicals it'll stand up to best).
It has the disadvantage of allowing water to evaporate through it, so you'll need to top up a bit more often.
Tygon is (AFAIK) not silicone - but at least some grades of it may be soft enough to damp vibrations - and it is better at not letting water evaporate...