- Mar 12, 2011
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Custom water cooling loop.
For those that want a better cooling solution for their computer components and are willing to spend the extra money there is an option. The inexpensive way has always been to use fans and heat sinks to cool the CPU and GPU and while it is acceptable to do it that way you are sometimes limited to an average overclock and some what higher temps when stressing the computer.
Lately there has been an introduction to water cooling through the closed loop cooler which uses liquid, a pump, radiator and fans to cool the CPU, but so far it has been limited to the CPU and in some rarer cases a high end video card.
These closed loop coolers can do a good job but each one requires a separate radiator and fan set up and can start to clutter up the inside of your case unless you have a full tower with lots of room.
This is where the custom water cooling loop comes into play and you have multiple options to cool anything and everything and the best part is that you can color match the overall theme of what your going with inside the case.
To begin lets identify the parts needed.
a. The radiator, there are a selection of sizes to meet your cooling needs.
b. The pump, again there are many to choose from.
c. The reservoir, like the previous parts there is a selection.
d. The tubing, again there are sizes and colors to choose from.
e. The fittings, there is a fitting for every need.
f. The blocks, mostly everything that produces heat can be cooled.
Now that we have identified the parts we can begin by planning the loop to include the components that you want cooled and how it will look inside the case.
Step 1.
A simple loop that will cool the CPU and the Video card. So you look through the catalogue and pick out the CPU cooling block that you want and the video card block that you want. Lets say that you have an Evga GTX 780 and you want to get the blobk that is made for that card. At the same time you pick out the Koolance CPU block.
You attach the blocks to the components by following the instructions that came with the blocks and you will be also using the thermal compound just like you would if attaching a heat sink.
Step 2.
Using compression fittings you will need two for each block and they are good to use because they give a clean look.
Step 3.
Picking and placing the radiator. Since we will be cooling the CPU and GPU we'll go with a 360mm radiator which will fit three fans on one side and a total of six fans if both sides are used. If you set this up with three fans and your not quite happy with the temps you can add three more fans to the other side or the radiator and have then in a push/pull configuration. One side the fans blow into the radiator and the other side the fans blow out from the radiator so that all six fans are blowing in the same direction.
Step 4.
We will be using the reservoir/pump combo that will fit in two of the front 5.25 bays, since this unit contains both pump and reservoir it will cut down on the tubing and fittings needed.
The reservoir will have a place to fill it and depending on where you placed the radiator you always try to fill from the highest point, just like you will drain it from the lowest point. So in your loop most likely below the video card you want to place a drain fitting that will allow you to drain the liquid from the loop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HLxSOpMk7w
Step 5.
Running the tubing and cutting it to fit. The route that the tubing takes should be the least obtrusive and look well especially if you have a side window. So you will go from the reservoir to the radiator (lets say you mounted the radiator in the top of the case) , then from the radiator to the CPU block and out of the CPU block to the Video card block then out of the video card block you place the drain and continue on back to the reservoir.
This is a single loop that along with the 360mm radiator will keep the CPU and GPU at respectable temps. If your choosing to overclock the CPU and Video card then you may want to add some cooling power to the radiator in the form of the three additional fans in a push/pull configuration.
Next up Filling , testing the loop and running the loop to maintain liquid level. This will be covered in the next Tutorial.
For those that want a better cooling solution for their computer components and are willing to spend the extra money there is an option. The inexpensive way has always been to use fans and heat sinks to cool the CPU and GPU and while it is acceptable to do it that way you are sometimes limited to an average overclock and some what higher temps when stressing the computer.
Lately there has been an introduction to water cooling through the closed loop cooler which uses liquid, a pump, radiator and fans to cool the CPU, but so far it has been limited to the CPU and in some rarer cases a high end video card.
These closed loop coolers can do a good job but each one requires a separate radiator and fan set up and can start to clutter up the inside of your case unless you have a full tower with lots of room.
This is where the custom water cooling loop comes into play and you have multiple options to cool anything and everything and the best part is that you can color match the overall theme of what your going with inside the case.
To begin lets identify the parts needed.
a. The radiator, there are a selection of sizes to meet your cooling needs.
b. The pump, again there are many to choose from.
c. The reservoir, like the previous parts there is a selection.
d. The tubing, again there are sizes and colors to choose from.
e. The fittings, there is a fitting for every need.
f. The blocks, mostly everything that produces heat can be cooled.
Now that we have identified the parts we can begin by planning the loop to include the components that you want cooled and how it will look inside the case.
Step 1.
A simple loop that will cool the CPU and the Video card. So you look through the catalogue and pick out the CPU cooling block that you want and the video card block that you want. Lets say that you have an Evga GTX 780 and you want to get the blobk that is made for that card. At the same time you pick out the Koolance CPU block.
You attach the blocks to the components by following the instructions that came with the blocks and you will be also using the thermal compound just like you would if attaching a heat sink.
Step 2.
Using compression fittings you will need two for each block and they are good to use because they give a clean look.
Step 3.
Picking and placing the radiator. Since we will be cooling the CPU and GPU we'll go with a 360mm radiator which will fit three fans on one side and a total of six fans if both sides are used. If you set this up with three fans and your not quite happy with the temps you can add three more fans to the other side or the radiator and have then in a push/pull configuration. One side the fans blow into the radiator and the other side the fans blow out from the radiator so that all six fans are blowing in the same direction.
Step 4.
We will be using the reservoir/pump combo that will fit in two of the front 5.25 bays, since this unit contains both pump and reservoir it will cut down on the tubing and fittings needed.
The reservoir will have a place to fill it and depending on where you placed the radiator you always try to fill from the highest point, just like you will drain it from the lowest point. So in your loop most likely below the video card you want to place a drain fitting that will allow you to drain the liquid from the loop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HLxSOpMk7w
Step 5.
Running the tubing and cutting it to fit. The route that the tubing takes should be the least obtrusive and look well especially if you have a side window. So you will go from the reservoir to the radiator (lets say you mounted the radiator in the top of the case) , then from the radiator to the CPU block and out of the CPU block to the Video card block then out of the video card block you place the drain and continue on back to the reservoir.
This is a single loop that along with the 360mm radiator will keep the CPU and GPU at respectable temps. If your choosing to overclock the CPU and Video card then you may want to add some cooling power to the radiator in the form of the three additional fans in a push/pull configuration.
Next up Filling , testing the loop and running the loop to maintain liquid level. This will be covered in the next Tutorial.
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