Tuesday, March 12, 2024

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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