neiroatopelcc

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Wierd topic, sorry. Anyhow. I'm about to build my first ever water cooled rig out of second hand parts. I'll be cooling an old p4 setup. Not because it's oc'ed or anything, but simply because I don't dare ruin the expensive stuff.

What I don't know yet is how to put any liquid in there. I've got a T splitting thing right before the pump (eheim 1046) that leads up to a 'filling point' or whatever it is, and then the rest is a loop thru a tripple 120mm rad, and a (dd tdx) cpu block. I won't be using chipset og gpu cooler, although I got those things as well. Thing is. How I put liquid in there? Isn't the pump kinda getting damaged if there's air in there when I turn it on?
And how cheap liquid can I get away with?
I was thinking of just buying distrilled water (used in batteries and stuff) and add some coolant that I use on my car also ? And a bit of that uv reactive stuff to check for leaks
 

iroc

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What pump do you use? Normaly 12volt pumps can run dry.

Yip I use 50/50 distrilled water and auto coolant (Holt's auto coolant are neo green NICE!!!) You still have to check the system once a year for c orroding.
 

apt403

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I wouldnt use coolant if you have pets. They like the taste/smell, they'll drink it, they'll die. Or you shell out the ~$300 to get the antidote, which will only work if you catch them in the act, or suspect somethings up. I've heard they won't show any symptoms until the damage is already done.
 

aziraphale

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I wouldnt use coolant if you have pets. They like the taste/smell, they'll drink it, they'll die. Or you shell out the ~$300 to get the antidote, which will only work if you catch them in the act, or suspect somethings up. I've heard they won't show any symptoms until the damage is already done.

WTF? You sound awfully serious... :?
 

mobo57

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You get better cooling with pure water, but with time you will also get a mess in your system (wonderful science experiment). If you have a leak such that an animal can get to it, gonna guess that you will probably know about it, like real quick, as in a damaged system?!?!?
I go with a 75/25 mix De-ionized water to coolant. Just about any of the name brand auto coolants will work fine. You don't need a very high ratio of coolant to water to keep corrosion and slime under control.
 

neiroatopelcc

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Okay. I've got some nice clean water - which strangely enough has a higher liter price than fuel! Anyhow, I've got some of that, and some of the coolant I use on my alfa. If it's good enough for my car, it'll be good enough here too. For the time being I won't have any hardware in the case, so I'll not break anything by having a leak
 

mobo57

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Best to disconnect all our components except your water pump from your psu then give your water system a good long test for leaks. Jump the green and a black ground wire on your large mobo power connector. That way if you do have any leaks they won't get on charged components.
 

neiroatopelcc

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Thanks for the tip. But it's actually running in a completely empty chieftec dragon chassis right now. It's a 220v pump, so it's running on a wall outlet. I had an old at power supply, a cd drive and a floppy in the chassis to make sure not to run the water lines where other things are going to be. If we'd filled the system while a motherboard was installed I'm quite sure it would've ceased working, cause we ended up having water all over the place.

Anyhow it's running now, and I'll let it run thru the night and check for water tomorrow morning. I don't like the noise that pump makes though. I've always thought that water cooling was less audible than air - but my regular computer with its 5 120mm fans and the two 80mm in the psu is actually a lot less noisy. In fact if it weren't for the very loud hp switch I'd not be able to hear anything except that stupid pump!

Here are the things I've got running:
pump : http://www.aquariumguys.com/eheim1046.html

cpu block : http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.p...9&cat=21&page=1

rad : unknown make and model. 3 120mm fans on top. Sais 'aqua computer made in germany' on the grill. Not sure if that's only the grill or the whole thing.

no reservoir except for 15cm of pipe thing
 

apt403

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I wouldnt use coolant if you have pets. They like the taste/smell, they'll drink it, they'll die. Or you shell out the ~$300 to get the antidote, which will only work if you catch them in the act, or suspect somethings up. I've heard they won't show any symptoms until the damage is already done.

WTF? You sound awfully serious... :?

Because anti-freeze will seriously f*ck an animal up.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=440287
 

r0x0r

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I wouldnt use coolant if you have pets. They like the taste/smell, they'll drink it, they'll die. Or you shell out the ~$300 to get the antidote, which will only work if you catch them in the act, or suspect somethings up. I've heard they won't show any symptoms until the damage is already done.

WTF? You sound awfully serious... :?

Because anti-freeze will seriously f*ck an animal up.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=440287

That cat is gorgeous.



Good to see it's okay.
 

chuckshissle

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I have about similar set up with that and I have a T-Split before the pump. I'm using 1/2" tubing and the way you fill it up is with small amount at a time. Let the pump suck it in and then let some air out and then repeat. It is a very time consuming process but worth it. You'll have a quite reservoir and also less restriction. For the coolant use distilled water makes with 10% anti freeze or you can buy the mixture at the internet. You can even get non-electrical conductive coolants for you liquid cooling loop.
 

neiroatopelcc

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Ya the system's got almost a liter distrilled water, 3 drops of color thing (to make it greenish) and about a dl of anti freeze.

Also this morning I noticed that the pump was much more silent. I think the reason it was so loud yesterday was because there were still some air bubbles in the system - which all were at the fillpoint when I got up in the morning. So before going to work I replaced the air with the anti freeze, and I'll see how it looks when I get home. Hopefully all fo the circuit will have the same color meaning it circulates. If it doesn't there'll be more blue at the top and more transparent at the bottom.

On a small side note, I saw a project which had a small reservoir with built in pump that attaches directly to the motherboard. How powerful is such a thing? is it good enough to cool a conroe if coupled with a dual 120mm rad ?