I see most people use Distilled Water - is there a better solution?

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dirtyblacksocks

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Jun 27, 2013
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I see a lot of people recommending Distilled Water - but then you've got to add a piece of silver, and the chances of it ruining your equipment are pretty high.

Is there a more inert solution that does not damage the pump or gunk up the tubing at all, that you guys would recommend?

I'm also finding stuff like this Dragon Ice or whatever it's called, that CLAIMS it's nano solution helps regulate thermal temperatures at an all new low, but I figure if it's claims were as good as the truth everyone and their mother would use it.

So what is the verdict here on the best stuff to actually use in a system, how often does it have to be changed, and is using colored tubing really the overall best way to go - rather than putting some kind of UV dye in your unit?

What are the pro's and con's of dye's overall, too?

Thanks.
 
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youtube is typically the place to go to learn things these days.

And the coolant thing is very much a personal opinion from experience. Dyed coolants tend to gunk up your parts and reduce cooling capability after a few months, while pure distilled water does not. typically you do some maintenance in your water cooling look when you see your temps rise by over 5 degrees celcius from initial temps when you first set it up. this really does vary based on dust, the type of coolant you use, and the setup of your watercooling loop.

EK waterblocks are considered some of the better waterblocks out there, but again, the temps between the ek waterblock and maybe a super high end custom one may only be a degree or two celcius.

As far as...
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Brantyn Gerik

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Sep 18, 2013
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The temp difference will be at most 3-4 degrees using a brand name coolant over distilled water. With the brand name stuff, it tends to need to be replaced more often than distilled water

also the verdict is to use colored tubing over colored water, as the dye tends to leach out onto your parts, meaning you will see temp decreases after a while without cleaning the insides of your heatplates.

distilled water can go as long as 8 months without cleaning, assuming you get a good biocide or a piece of silver to put in your tank.

Pros of dye, is that it is a dye and honestly can look super super cool. the downside is the extra maintenance that is needed with the dyes.

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the claims of better temps are as i stated above, max 3 degrees cooler, if that
 
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dirtyblacksocks

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Jun 27, 2013
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So something like that Dragon Ice solution - will give me 3 degree's better temps - CELCIUS - but I'll have to change it out what, every 8 months or so, versus what? Every year?

I'm a little lost on the overall requirements to maintain a cooled system.

Is there a place you'd recommend I go to find some well drawn out FAQ's for complete noobs, from cases, to reviews on pumps and resevoirs, to maintenance, to the best equipment out there?

This is a lot to take in, and I've got a few months to do it - but it's always nice when people with experience, real experience, push you in the right direction. I really don't want to get bad information and waste money, or worse - kill expensive hardware.

I'm making a flagship gaming build here, that is going to cost a pretty penny - and as such I feel like water cooling is the obvious choice. I realize that the pro's of water cooling are overclocking like crazy and low noise, and the con's are maintenance - but I need some real information for why I should be buying this resevoir or chill plate for my GPU instead of that one, and why I need to do maintenance at this time period instead of another, etc.
 
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Brantyn Gerik

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Sep 18, 2013
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youtube is typically the place to go to learn things these days.

And the coolant thing is very much a personal opinion from experience. Dyed coolants tend to gunk up your parts and reduce cooling capability after a few months, while pure distilled water does not. typically you do some maintenance in your water cooling look when you see your temps rise by over 5 degrees celcius from initial temps when you first set it up. this really does vary based on dust, the type of coolant you use, and the setup of your watercooling loop.

EK waterblocks are considered some of the better waterblocks out there, but again, the temps between the ek waterblock and maybe a super high end custom one may only be a degree or two celcius.

As far as fittings go, barb fittings from almost any company are fine and cheap

compression fittings are the more premium and expensive fittings that tend to give a system a cleaner look and are easier to install in most cases.

If you want to know which parts to use, almost every part in computing has been reviewed at some point, even certain brands of fittings and waterblocks. all it takes is "part name review" in google to find what you are looking for and often they are compared to other parts of similar. function

maintenance is not unreasonable, just set an alarm on your calendar on your phone on your computer for every 6 months or so to do a full system clean (clean the waterblocks, change coolant, etc.)
 
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Brantyn Gerik

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Sep 18, 2013
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The cheapest watercooling system won't be more than 10 degrees cooler than the best one. Everything has some limits, but typically you could just buy an all in one cooler for your cpu, and then a good aftermarket cooler with your gpu and get just as good of performance for MUCH less than a full custom water loop (fittings and waterblocks get expensive as you add more to the loop)
 
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