Watercooling Your worst watercooling mistake? Any advice for WCing n00bs?

Not sure if any of you are following my build log, but since I have some spare time over the long weekend, I’m going to be assembling my first watercooled build. I’ve leak tested all the main parts of the loop (CPU Block, Rad, Res etc etc) and all seems fine.

Now, I know this is a very general question, but I want to get it right first time, so, I was wondering; is there any advice you’d give me about assembling a WC rig? What are the biggest mistakes you guys have made?

I’m using compression fittings and ½” ID black tubing, with De-Ionized water and a silver kill coil. I have a fillport on the top of the Res, and a drain port at the bottom of the loop.

 

Make sure the drain port is closed before filling the loop

 

Make sure you don't over tighten the barb's after the tube is fitted, because if you do you have to cut the tube.

 

Done that too, felt so stupid when I saw

 

Take your time and plan. I miscalculated the size of my res in my case and it screwed my plans up...

 

Just take your time and triple check everything.. and remember air always wants to go up, water down..

And dont use coloured liquids






In all seriousness, just use common sense, leak test properly, and if youre unsure, ask advice, no matter how stupid you might think it is, thats what this community is here for

 

When attaching water blocks to gpu's/cpu's, don't over tighten, or you may crush something, like i did. Ram Chips on 8800GTX's are required for the card to 'Work'

Sam

 

when tubing. draw out a diagram of where you want your tubing to go. check twice, cut once on tubing. also, make sure you connect everything up before you switch on, don't do what i did once and somehow connect your blocks to a rad, then forget to connect a pump in there somewhere

 

Forgetting to put the clamps on the hose before I ran a leak test, forgetting to jump the psu and seeing water pouring over my new graphics card whilst it had a current running through it.

 

Oh jeeze. Any of the above could be me. I'm going to have to go real slow.

I've already test fitted everything in the case and it all seems to fit, so at least that one is out of the way. I'm also just using de-ionised water for my first WC rig, Keep It Simple Stupid.

 

Leak test properly -- overnight ideally.

If you're using barbs, don't over tighten as you can split or cut the hose wall.

Careful when screwing in fittings to acrylic, you can crack it if you're over zealous.

 

may seem stupid but how do you to a leak test?

 

You pack your cabinet with towels and clingprack so if theres a leak it doesn't shower your components. Then you jump-start your PC with the paperclip method (Google it) and then you just wait and see if there's any leaks

 

As others have said, leak test your loop before you power up the system.

 

I know how to jump start a power supply do it at work everyday.

Would it be a good idea to put power to the pump and turn it on its side?

 

Well after you have ensured that your computer it leak-less you fill it up to the brim, and jostle it around to make sure all of the air in the radiators and blocks escapes to the reservoir. Then you fill it again and rinse and repeat until no more bubbles are present in the system.

 

i meant to leak test it lol but ^ I have read that before ^

 

Remember to reassemble things with the o-rings inside, not on the desk.

 

Lets be clear here, you're shorting out the PSU so you can apply power to the pump and only the pump. System is assembled with the minimum amount of components required so your loop and blocks are in place. *This* is leak testing.

No, the system is totally filled and bled during leak testing -- there's no use testing with a half filled loop as you're not simulating the same conditions that will exist during use.

 

ok where should I buy my gear from?