New to custom watercooling need some advice

Durwesh Naeem

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Hello everyone, recently i made the choice of letting go of the standard AIO cooling for my i7 - 6850k cpu in my case i have a Corsair H115i cooler with push and pull fan configuration, so in my local gaming community a guy was selling is liquid cooling custom kit its specification are as follows :-

WATER RESERVOIR:
1 x EK-Multioption RES X2 - 250 Basic (EK-RES-X2-250-D)

WATER PUMP:
1 x Swiftech MCP655 Special Edition 12 VDC Pump With Speed Controller (MCP655-SE)

FITTINGS:
Bitspower Premium G1/4" Black Matte High Flow 3/8" (5/8") Compression Fitting (BP-MBCPF-CC3)

CPU BLOCK:
1 x EK-Supremacy CPU Water Block - Nickel - CSQ (EK-SUPREMACY-NK)

RADIATOR:
XSPC AX360 Triple 120mm Radiator w/ Aluminum Enclosure - Black


I shall recieve it tomorrow it comes with all the soft tubing and all its fittings, mayhem fluid and fans etc ...

Thankfully EK ships products in my country so last night i ordered an EK XE 360 Rad...

So my question is in the recent future should i get a newer pump and the reservior mentioned enough is good enough for custom cooling my cpu , is this cpu block a decent one, because i think so it is and i do not plan to custom my gpu
And sorry i am a total newbie in the custom cooling game

My specs are
Corsair 900D super tower
I7 - 6850k
Asus v rampage edition 10
 

Durwesh Naeem

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thank you for replying :) .... i hope the pump being old is not a problem

 


swiftech make quality stuff

and theres not a huge amount in these pumps to go wrong

no complicated moving parts that is

just a pcb and the impeller/the part that spins

 

Durwesh Naeem

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oh i get it its like a very small water pressure motor, i am just thinking to get PETG tubes and proper fittings for it

 


far as i remember on the pcb there are copper windings/magnets

they spin the impeller

and the fluid/coolant separates/fills the gap between the impeller and the housing

so hardly any friction

petg can look great

but its harder to get it right than using soft tubing

most first time watercoolers start with soft tubing

 

Durwesh Naeem

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yesterday i dismantled everything failed because soft tubes were used before and cut too short as i have a 900D case but i was thinking i could separably test the previous and pump independently .. :)
 


yes should have used new tubing

its cheap any way

and yes you can test the pump independently

just make a tiny loop pump to reservoir back to pump--out side the pc

connect the pump to psu---disconnect the 24 pin and 8 pin from the mother board

then jump start the psu with a paper clip/small bit of wire

this is also how you leak test the loop once its in the pc

by disconnecting the mother board from psu and only running the pump
 

Durwesh Naeem

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ok i will do that next
may i tell you what type of tubing and fittings i am ordering ? because EK configurater is a bit confusing and it is the only reliable water cooling website which ships to my country :'(
 

Durwesh Naeem

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i am grateful, first of all the cpu block is called the ek supremacy csq nickel, apparently when this block was released in 2012 it supported the then 3rd gen 2011 socket so it supports my 2011v3 socket too, and i have ordered the ek xe 360 rad which is coming on Wednesday hopefully , i am happy with my reservoir and pump although they are old ... but the fittings and tubes i find them not to my choice .. i am planning to buy the following fittings and tubing, i hope they are not too thiick

Tubing :- https://www.ekwb.com/shop/tube-primochill-primoflextm-advanced-lrttm-19-1-12-7-mm-onyx-black-retail-3m
Fittings :- https://www.ekwb.com/shop/fittings/compression-fittings/for-13-19mm-1-2-3-4-tubing

i prefer the tubes black, i hope they are not shiny but i am still curious what color the fittings should be ... and Ek's configurator is telling me to buy two of these tubings each would be 3 meters
 
i am using that tubing in red--yes its shiny--though very good quality tubing

fittings colour--whatever complements your build really

1 x 3m should be enough normally

wont be too thick since you are changing both the fittings and the tubing

the part of the fitting that screws in is still g 1/4 even though you went from 3/8 id 5/8 od

to 1/2 id 3/4 od
 
never used 1/2 id 3/4 od

think thats about 3mm more than my 3/8 id 5/8 od

so should get a bit more flow

though may be harder to make tight bends if need any in your build

for tight bends that primochill is pretty good--but like all tubing can only go so far before kinking

where i needed a tight bend i held the tubing in very hot water then bent it

held it in that shape and plunged it into ice cold water--did that couple of times

the tubing then held the shape on its own

 

Durwesh Naeem

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that is true a thicker tube is less likely to bend easily, i have a feeling in my case i have a 900D super tower case i would be able to sent them up easily ? but i hope all of these things are compatible with each other which i have chosen
 



with a 900d you may be safer just getting the 2 x 3m of tubing--nothing worse than being just short of tubing

depending where you put radiators,reservoirs etc you might need quite a bit of tubing as its such a big case

and less likely to need tight bends in such a big case as space isnt restricted

and yes its easier due to having such a big case since lots of room to work with

far as i can see its all compatible unless i missed something
 

Durwesh Naeem

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i know i was thinking the exact same thing, what if the tubing are a bit short. To be honest with you i am very much concerned about two things, one i have to remove the two drive bay hubs which are at the bottom of my build i will send you an imgur link of my rig, i have 4tb WD black HD and a NZXT hue advance lighting device, i would need to relocate otherwise the pump will look nasty up top .... secondly i have no idea how the pump mechanism works, like where it is sucking the liquid and where it will push it our :S ..

this is my build sorry there are too many pictures : http://imgur.com/gallery/l07ia
 


thats ok got fast internet no problem loading them all

nice photos--i suck at photography lol got totally no artistic talent

i have a hue+ i just used adhesive velcro on it then you can stick it where ever you want to

the pump should have in and out marked on it usually

if it doesnt you just make a tiny test loop

pump inlet/outlet to top of reservoir

other pump inlet/outlet to bottom of reservoir

pour coolant into reservoir

very short on then off with the power--mustn't run the pump dry so soon as you see where the coolants coming in the res its power off

if the coolant comes in top of res you know which tube is on the outlet of the pump

if it comes in the bottom you will get load of bubbles so will still know that tubes on the outlet

 

Durwesh Naeem

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my EK XE 360 rad came today, i could feel the stickiness of the paint on it, it seemed so new... i got my hands on another RES as the one i had the ek multioption 250 basic edition has some sort of tiny cracks in it and i thought it might be a risk to keep it... the other res which i got is called the phobya 250 matte black, its a bit used and has stains on its inside .

http://imgur.com/a/LR91p

i might have to let go of the EK res, this phobya res has very nice reviews overall and has quite a very solid body to it but i need to remove of these stains, should i put it in warm soapy water for an hour ?
 
wow never seen a res with all those micro cracks i dont blame you for not using that

yes can try warm soapy water--just warm though not scalding hot

some times the staining just wont come off though

thats why i love my glass reservoirs they dont stain like acrylic does
 

Durwesh Naeem

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will its done i placed the new res in soapy luke warm water for a few hours, it do not help but good thing is when there is liquid inside the res the stains vanishes. Today i removed one of the drive bay hubs, as i am going to place the pump in its place because i want it hidden at the bottom, the strange thing about my pump is its has 5 speed levels , you can switch it from high to low pressure, apparently i have only a cpu block so i am going to keep it at 3. I also need to drill a tiny hole in my case so i could hook up the res holder bracket thingy . fingers crossed

Last night i ordered this stuff then i am gonna start building when it comes

i) 8 X EK ACF Fitting 13/19mm Nickel
ii) 2 x PrimoChill PrimoFlex Soft Tubing 19.1 / 12.7 mm - Onyx Black 3m
iii) 1 x Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut

i ordered the nickel colored fittings because i thought they would sort of match with my soft shiny black tubing... thanks a bunch for your help :D