Are the specialized pumps and tubing really necessary for custom water cooling? (and other questions on the topic)

Chamandepastel

Honorable
Aug 25, 2013
3
0
10,510
I'm planning on building a custom water cooling system this up and coming Christmas as my Hyper 212 has proven insufficient (72 degrees Celsius @4.7) and I'm going to need a better cooler if I'm going to OC any further. I decided to ask my dad about this since he was the one who got me into overclocking a couple months ago and he's taught me pretty much everything I know about computers so far.

A little bit about my dad: he has been working with computers since he was my age (15) and used to be a very passionate programmer and general all around computer guy. He used to be a pretty avid overclocker as well, and was always rigging up crazy things in our basement, although sometimes unsuccessfully (I remember smoke and shouting coming from his computer room from time to time). But for the most part, it seems like he was pretty good (he told me the most he ever overclocked was an AMD Athlon 3.4 something-or-other to 8ghz) so I trust his advice. However, he is sort of a dinosaur since he stopped messing around with computers when he was forced to quit professionally working with them in the early 2000's, so he has been out of the loop for a long time.

Anyway, I brought it up to him and he dug out an old radiator (a Zalman gallon tower thing with a reservoir and pump inside it) and a few other things that might be useful and gave me some advice on how to keep everything dry and whatnot. He also told me that the pumps and tubing made for watercooling are a load of horse shit and only to buy a good radiator and a cpu block. He said that he always used to use aquarium pumps in all his rigs, 3/4 inch tubing from home depot. He also said that all store bought coolant is is propylene glycol and water, and with the right ratio you can make it yourself. However, I have heard a lot of people on the internet say that fish tank pumps don't provide good enough pressure or something, and also a lot of talk about the "best" tubing and whatnot.

So is buying a $200 pump really worth it/necessary? It seems to me like paying $50 for plastic tubes is a waste of money. I'd prefer to spend as little money as possible, but I'd prefer not to destroy my computer either. I'm planning on keeping the pump outside of the case and a few feet away from the computer, so if it leaks it won't be the end of the world. Do you really need a firehouse on your cpu to keep it cool? I don't know a lot about water cooling yet, but it seems like a big marketing ploy to me, and if I keep the tubes clamped and tight what can really go wrong?

A few unrelated questions about water cooling:

I also found an old thermoelectric cooler that might be compatible but I'm not sure how outdated it is. As long as it isn't broken or leaky, will an outdated thermoelectric cooler still work fine?

I heard about a type of UV reactive oil that you can put in your coolant to create a sort of lava lamp effect, but I can't find it anywhere, and nobody seems to know where to find it. However I know that there is UV dyed oil that they use in cars to detect an oil leak. Could I use this in my loop to create this effect, or will it mess around with the conductivity or something?

Sorry if this post was too long, for any stupid questions, and if I overused parenthesis at all. I'd really appreciate it if anybody could help me out on this. This is also my first post so sorry if I messed something up.

My specs if it matters:

Case: Zalman Z11
MB: ASRock Z77 Extreme4
CPU: i5 3570k @4.7ghz
GPU: Msi GTX 660ti
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16gb
HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB
SSD: Samsung 840 120gb
Heatsink: Hyper 212 Evo

Thanks

 

rubix_1011

Contributing Writer
Moderator
First, about the pump-

The pump is the single most important component in your watercooling loop. Its performance is directly related to the cooling performance of the loop based on flow rate of the liquid. Pumps are typically rated in both flow and head pressure; flow is the amount of volume they can push per minute or hour without any load applied. Head pressure refers to the ability of a pump to push a column of water, directly vertical under ideal conditions. This is important because water cooling loops are always under restriction due to the water being forced through channels and components endlessly as it travels in your loop. More components, the more restriction.

Now, take that and compare to aquarium pumps where there is less restriction and you aren't pushing through so many components, and those that you are will likely be less restrictive. Yes, aquarium pumps have been used for decades as watercooling pumps, but as the market has moved toward high-density blocks and multiple component loops, you need more power to push through all this restriction. Old blocks and components were far less restrictive and more free-flowing...aquarium pumps worked well for these implementations.

I'm not telling you to ignore your dad's advice, but I will strongly advise you to do some research on your own. The watercooling sticky (linked in my signature below) should be a good place to start as you still have a lot of questions that can be answered there.

Tubing doesn't have to be the greatest stuff, but I also wouldn't skimp on it, either. I've used the cheap, hardware store PVC stuff and it's terrible- it kinks very easily, it clouds quickly, its very thin walled so when you have a high flow pump running, it can actually collapse tubing...think of sucking through a straw, then you put your finger of the end, and it flattens out. You can find some decent tubing online and some hardware stores that won't break the bank and also have features that combat these 'cheap tubing' symptoms.

As for the Zalman Reserator (if it is what I think it is...tall blue tower?) Avoid it. It's made of aluminum (Google galvanic corrosion and watercooling...or check the sticky) and the pump is notoriously under-powered and prone to failure. Do some homework and read up as much as you can...depending on your actual budget and what you want to do, you can likely find some creative solutions for your goals. If all else fails, there is a list of starter watercooling kits that is discussed in-depth (also in the sticky) that can give you a place to start comparisons vs. custom components.