Sine you pointed me at GOO's epic car build thread, I thought I'd return the favour and come over here to throw in a few pointers of my own. Haven't read the whole topic so this is just from a quick scan through. You started off with a question about Swiftech radiators. We use a LOT of Swiftech products over here, mainly blocks but also res's and pumps, but we stay away from their radiators. One of the first bulk W/C parts orders that I placed back in the days when I was getting started was for lots of Swiftech parts, rads included. Of all the rads that I bought, about half (enough to fit out 5 cases with dual loops) were of such bad quality that they all ended up getting sent straight back and replaced with a combination of XSPC and Thermochill ones. On some of them the screw holes were off, on others the barb holes had been tapped very badly and barbs wouldn't screw in there, and there was even bad powder coating on a couple. Since then I have tried to stay away from ST radiators. Their pumps (obviously rebranded Laing's) are excellent and never miss a beat, so are their waterblocks (I've fitted more Apogee's and Apogee GT's than I have everything else combined). For radiators I find XSPC good and Thermochill better. The ultimate PC radiators though, are the Hardware Labs range. Again, take everything else combined and I will have still installed more HW Labs BI rads than them put together. They are simply flawless, the fin density is second to none (but can make fan choice difficult if you're inexperienced) and the heat transfer properties are as well. You pay more for them, but they are SO worth it! You also mentioned that draining loops is a pain. It is, more than anything else about having a WC setup, draining is the thing that can be the hardest to do. What we do to make it a little easier is mount one DD Fillport per loop on the case at the lowest point possible (usually on the bottom of the case or just behind the front bezel close to the bottom), and T off the loops at their lowest points. When you open the fill port or res and the drain port at the same time, the coolant will flow out pretty easily and all you need to do is make sure you have a large container like a clean bucket ready to catch it. You can also attach a tap or valve between the T and the drain port to make it that bit easier to control the flow of coolant whilst draining. This makes life so much easier. Being a big user of Swiftech parts I have been dealing with Tygon 1/2" ID tubing over nylon 1/2" barbs for quite a while now, and that is the hardest combination of hose/ barb to seperate... It's like there is invisible glue holding the hose on the barb. You only break one graphics card or motherboard trying to pull a hose off before you learn your lesson and start installing drain ports in everything... thankfully I have never broken anything that way (touch wood!) and hopefully I never will!
Wow! Thanks a lot Unicorn! About the rad - a bit late, because I already pulled the plug on it. But no worries - if it turns out to be lemon, I'll make it a point to order a Thermochill or Black Ice. Thanks for the drain-port tip. With your recommendation added to the list, I think I will go with one for sure. Regarding the tubing - I'm going to break the (1/2") mold on this one. While it's not one of those "clean" builds, I'd rather just have smaller tubing for the sake of appearance I do appreciate your tip though. Also, since you seen to have experience with Swiftech parts, what screws/bolts would I need to get my fans on the radiators? Any links would be most helpful, so that I have written specs. I tried the internets, but everything was too confusing for me. I think I may have to go down to a shop and physically check threads/lengths and whatnot
Glad I could be of some help! RE: the bolts/ screws, we use a LOT of socket cap bolts, some builds I have done in the past have been 100% hex cap bolts, not a star or flat head screw in sight It's a PITA when a customer tries to work on the rig themselves but our motto is Bespoke Performance PCs I get all or most of our nuts and bolts from a company called Pro Bolt whos website is http://www.tastynuts.com. I always re- drill and re-tap the holes on rads just to be sure that I don't have any problems with bad threads (If i didn't tap it, I won't try to mount something into it, especially blind holes like on rads ). Assuming I'm using my standard M4x10mm socket caps (that's an M4 dia. [4mm] thread that's 10mm long and has a 3mm hex head) I drill with a 3.2mm or 3.3mm bit and then tap it with a good sharp M4x0.5 tap. Radiator shrouds are mostly brass or alu so they're a doddle to drill and tap Try to get M4x10 if you can, M4x8 would be even better... That allows just enough thread to go through the fan body and into the rad without puncturing the rad or damaging the fins. Incidentally that's only mounting through the bottom lugs of the fan frame, not the whole fan frame. Looks much tidier than 20 odd mil of thread sticking down through your fan frame
Thanks a bunch mate! I'll order a bunch of M4x10 and M4x8. I won't be needing anything longer, right? To tap the M3.5 on the Swiftech rad, will I need to drill it out, or just tap it with an M4 tap?
You won't need anything longer than 10mm no, as long as you understand that my method of mounting fans on the rads is to mount them through the bottom lugs on the fan body only, this requires you to put an allen key through the top hole of the fan to get at the head of the hex bolt that secures it to the radiator. Actually what I do most of the time is modify the fan body by grinding and sanding the top 4 lugs off. This not only allows easier access to the hex bolt through the bottom lugs, but tidies the look of the fans up that little bit as well About the drilling and tapping; If you are going to use what I do (M4 bolts) then you need to unthread the pre- existing hole with a 3.3mm drill, then tap with your M4 tap. I find that if you just tap the pre- existing hole without drilling it, you don't get as clean and free a thread to screw the bolts into. The other thing is that the original holes that Swiftech factory drill in the radiator may be as small as M3 or whatever that approximately equates to in Imperial, which means that trying to thread it with an M4 tap will be very hard unless you do drill it out to about 3.3mm beforehand. I have a copy of this drill and tap guide printed and stuck on the workshop wall so that I can keep myself right with drilling and tapping holes. There's nothing worse than spending hundreds of £££ modifying a customers chassis and then cocking the whole thing up by running the wrong sized tap through a mounting hole after the thing comes back from powder coat! (again, a mistake you only make once before you learn your lesson!) I hope this all helps! And sorry for my posts being so long
this is a great thread. +rep to frohicky1 for that link, and +rep for unicorn for all those detailed answers. and good for all of you for your helpful + patient responses to a noob!
I'm afraid I have YET another question Don't know if it warrants another thread I'm looking at Orange (UV reactive) dye for my loop. Does anyone know where the stuff can be had? I've seen every color on the net except for orange. It's quite frustrating, really.
There is a new brand of non-conductive coolant that will be hitting the market in the next few weeks in every colour under sun. either that or Primochill do a nice orange dye/coolant.
