Water cooling set up for beginners.

Karan Swaich

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Apr 12, 2014
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Hey guys, I would like to set up a water cooling set up for my system but I am new to it. Could someone post some helpful guides and give me an idea as to how difficult it is to setup and maintain.

I have the following hardware

Gigabyte z77x-udh Mobo
i7-3770k Processor
GTX 780ti classified
Venegeance low pro 16gb ram
evga 1000w p2 PSU

These are the core parts, and I read somewhere I need to figure out what kind of radiator i would need. I forget but there was a thread about how you go about to figure out the TDP, then from there choose the rad.

If anyone can help me , I would greatly appreciate it. I am new to all of this so I could use some help.
 
Solution
hello and welcome to the forums!

I saw this post was needing an answer, and thought it would be best to reply.

Water cooling is good, that is custom that is, pre-built's don't offer much better performance then a high end air cooler. Water coolers take time to setup, you need to drain them first before installing them, several times. Every 6 months it is best to replace the coolant in order to prevent buildup inside the tubes. Installing in the case is also an issue, especially for the first time, you need to make sure your case has the right mounting holes and headroom needed to support some of the larger radiators, and if not, you may have to resort drilling yourself, not the best option.

Custom (not pre-build) liquid cooling has...
hello and welcome to the forums!

I saw this post was needing an answer, and thought it would be best to reply.

Water cooling is good, that is custom that is, pre-built's don't offer much better performance then a high end air cooler. Water coolers take time to setup, you need to drain them first before installing them, several times. Every 6 months it is best to replace the coolant in order to prevent buildup inside the tubes. Installing in the case is also an issue, especially for the first time, you need to make sure your case has the right mounting holes and headroom needed to support some of the larger radiators, and if not, you may have to resort drilling yourself, not the best option.

Custom (not pre-build) liquid cooling has it's benefits and drawbacks, but I can only really suggest going high end air cooling, due to these reasons;

1) Far less maintenance, basically apply thermal grease and mount it on, done and you don;t have to tough it for a long time. Once every one and a half years, bets to re-apply thermal grease.

2) Expect less noise, liquid cooling pumps can be quite loud, and compared to a heatsink and fans, there is no competition in quietness

3) Expect a longer lifetime, Air coolers tend to last longer as pumps tend to fail first on a water cooler, and depending on the use, it may not last 3 years.

4) the price is much more competitive for the performance you get, these high end air coolers can match the performance of a pre-built liquid cooler, making it an effective cooler for high overclocking.

5) Don't have to worry about leaking!, sometimes, if not correctly installed or there is a manufacturing defect, no expensive hardware is lost due to air cooling using no liquid, and if somehow you do get a leak in a liquid cooler, it is not covered by the manufacturers warranty, so you lose everything with no replacement.

Hope this helps.
 
Solution

kiezz

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Jul 7, 2011
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i know water cooling can seem daunting at first but when you have the parts to set it up its a lot easier to do practically with the guides than just reading the guides alone, the best place to start is with this guide http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky

i suggest to start with buying a kit for just making a loop for your cpu to start with and see what your doing before thinking of seconds loops or adding rad space and the gpu,

as for maintenance as long as your practical and use de-ionised water and don't use coloured liquid just use coloured tubing and lighting for effect and add a kill coil you will maybe need to drain once a year maybe even less,

water cooling is not for everyone but it can be fun and satisfying when you run your pc and see it working at lower temps, part of that fun can be modding your case to make parts fit if you don't have a case specifically designed for water cooling, for me i tend to do maintenance once a year cleaning dust and what not so as i learn about different tips and tricks for more efficient cooling i always have ideas of what i want to chop and change and try improve so by the time maintenance comes around i can't wait to get started,
if your looking for a just fit and forget about it solution then air cooling / all in one liquid is the way to go,

after reading the sticky if you have specific questions there is a wealth of knowledge from people who use this site and water cool that will be more than happy to help you out
 

Karan Swaich

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Apr 12, 2014
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Thanks guys. I am still learning how to do install/repair my pc myself. I plan on getting the Thermaltake level 10 and keeping it around until I can get a new 2011 mobo, with a 4960x processor. So i'm going to pretty much build a new pc and give my current pc to my younger brother. Thanks for the information.