Custom Computer Watercooling Tips
- If you are NOT going to overclock your system, I like to use a general rule of 120mm of radiator real estate for every part that is going to be cooled.
- If you ARE going to overclock the system, I like to use a general rule of 240mm of radiator real estate for every part that is going to be cooled.
- You can never have too big of a radiator for cooling using the rules above. You can however VERY easily have a system with too small of a radiator for its needed cooling. You can't have too much radiator surface area, so don't worry about having MORE than you "need".
- If you are mounting a radiator vertically for your water cooling loop, make sure that the fittings for the radiator's input/output are at the BOTTOM; closest to the bottom of the computer case!! This will allow better fluid circulation and prevent poor circulation that commonly occurs when you have the inlet/output of the radiator oriented at the top.
- Soft tubing fittings use barbs to grab onto and connect with the appropriate tubing.
- Hard tubing uses a compression fitting to connect to its tubing.
- The collar of a hardline fitting is not what's responsible for sealing the connection with the tubing that it's being connected to.
- As long as the compression of the fittings and the tubing both match each other (ie: 10x13mm for the fitting AND for the hose/tubing being used), then you know the two will be compatible to create a water-tight seal between the fitting and the tubing.
- For airflow, some fans will have an arrow somewhere on the fan itself to indicate the direction in which air will flow when the fan is turned on.
- If there isn't a directional arrow/indicator, the rule of thumb that I like to use is that a fan's airflow is 99% of the time going to be moving from the "caged" side of the fain (where the fan is connected to and supported by the fan's frame), to the "non-caged" side. I know, super technical jargon is being used here... But it's a simple way to easily remember which direction a fan's air will flow!
- You can also buy/3D print a fan spacer to install between the fan and the radiator to help prevent naturally occurring turbulence due to the fan's proximity to the radiator.
- Hard tubing is the least porous and the least prone to water loss/seepage. But hard tubing is also the most difficult to work with due to the fact it needs to be heated and bent into needed shapes; which requires its own special tools and processes to complete.
- Soft tubing is not as "nice" as hard tubing as far as looks and performance are concerned, but it is MUCH easier to install, work with, and cheaper to buy/replace vs. hard tubing.
- Try to use low-porosity tubing to prevent liquid absorption/seepage/loss and leaking.
- Configure your loop with a drain port; preferably at the bottommost position of your loop.
- Try to install your pump directly under your reservoir, or use a reservoir/pump combo.
- Use DISTILLED WATER if you are not going to use any fancy-colored/specialized liquid.
- Add a little bit of a Biocide, like Iodine, to your liquid medium to help prevent bacteria or other organic growth
- DO NOT USE FOOD COLORING TO COLOR YOUR COOLING LIQUID!
- BEFORE you fill your loop with ANY liquid whatsoever, use a simple hand air pump to do a basic pressure test and make sure none of your tube connections or fittings blow out or come loose.
- DO NOT FULLY POWER ON YOUR SYSTEM TO FILL YOUR LOOP!
- Most loop kits come with (or you can purchase) a basic PC power supply "jumper" plug that will allow you to power the system at a very low lever, without actually fully powering the computer on.
- That way you can add fluid to your loop's reservoir, use the PSU jumper to power on the PSU and pump the fluid through the loop, and then just rinse/repeat until the loop is fully filled!
- Flow Order is the order in which you are going to cool the devices in your custom loop.
- It doesn't really matter about what order you go in, and you DO NOT need a totally separate loop for each device being cooled. There might be a 2-3C temperature difference when daisy chaining devices together in a custom loop; nothing CRAZY. So it IS ok to go from a GPU to a CPU directly in a custom loop.
- An optimal Flow Order looks something like this when cooling a GPU & CPU:
Reservoir/Pump > 360mm Rad > GPU > CPU > 360mm Rad #2 > Back to Reservoir
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