Legit Reviews

How to Setup A Watercooled System : A Guide in Pictures

Component List
1. Pump - MCP355â„¢ 12 VDC Pump
2. Waterblock - Swiftech Apogee
3. Tubing - TYGON® Silver Antimicrobial Tubing
4. Reservoir - Swiftech MCRES-MICRO
5. GPU Block - Swiftech MCW60 VGA Cooling
6. Radiator - Black Ice® Xtreme 2
7. Pump Top - Petra'sTech DDCT-01s Custom Delrin DDC Pump Top
8. Hose Clamps - Stainless Steel Worm-Drive Hose Clamp
9. Bactericide - Antifreeze
10. Fans - YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan - D12SL-12

***Disclaimer***
These is only what is in my system, some people may suggest other components but that is completely up to the system builder, this is intended only as a guide as to how to setup such a system

Initial Pre-Setup

Here is the tools you'll need

1. A way to cut pipe. Scissors, Box Cutter or any Blade works
2. A Phillips Screw Driver
3. Something to hold your screws
4. Your Coolant of Choice



The old mantra measure twice cut once is key here.

Your best bet is to attach the components without tubing and place everything in your system. Try to visualize the bends and where you might place tubing.

Consider things like filling and bleeding when you decide.

There is a myth out there that the order of your loop is important. Its not true. Assemble your loop in the order that uses the least amount of tubing.

Assembly

Attaching the CPU Waterblock to the Motherboard

This will differ from block to block. But mainly its attach the bolts to the motherboard and slide the waterblock on. Then tighten the bolts in an X pattern

Attaching the GPU Waterblock to the Video Card

First remove your stock cooling. Be careful to not damage the card. Using at least 70% Isoproprol Alcohol and Q-Tips wipe off the stock thermal grease and apply your thermal grease of choice.

If should look like the picture below



Then mount the card. It should look like this


Installing the Reservoir
Depending on the reservoir, some mount in the 5.25 bay, other just screw to the side. Others decide to use a T Line, which is just a vertical piece of tubing that you use to fill the loop.

Installing the Radiator

Attach the Barbs and your good to go.

Installing the Pump

Attach the barbs and your good to go. Make sure that you never run the pump dry.

Below is a picture of the pump and reservoir installed

Finishing the Loop

Attaching the Tubing

Simple, just push on the tubing. Some times tubing can be hard to get on, sometimes warm water helps to stretch the tubing

Attaching the Hose Clamps

I use plastic clamps some people use worm drive clamps. If you use the worm drive clamps be careful not to overtighten, it can cut the tubing

Filling and Leak Testing

Always fill and leak test outside of the case. Most people have a cheap 250W PSU on hand to do this. connect everything together, and place it in the sink, just in case it leaks, to catch the water. With the PSU and all the wires in a dry spot, jump the PSU with a PSU tester or a wire. Let it run for a good 10minutes. Check for leaks and fix if needed.

Bleeding

You want to get all the air out of the loop. Air is bad, it hinders cooling

As in the picture you want to get all these little bubbles out




What you don't want to Happen

Kinks

These are bad and restrict flow and cause bubbles to accumulate. Thats not good.



Your Finished!

You know how a fully finished and working watercooled system. Enjoy the Temps!

It's all done people comment away.

so what are the before and after temps ;)

didn't see this before. well done. Yeah i'm also curious what your temps were before/after. Also Didn't you just sell all of these parts? lol.

Yeah I did this all before I sold everything, temps dropped by 2C. At that point I was like yeah, I put way too much money in this computer. So I sold the stuff. Still looking for a damn Wii though

I may be dense but where's the radiator?

Great job Beeker

Skippman wrote:I may be dense but where's the radiator?

the tubing is passed through the PCI bracket, and then connected to the radiator, then the tubing is thick enough with water in it to support the weight of the dual 120mm fan radiator

u are a god? i been waiting for 1 of these.

odie2190 wrote:u are a god? i been waiting for 1 of these.

Nope not a god, just a muppet/admin

that surprises me that it only dropped your temps by 2C. ehh i personally dont like the idea of watercooling, it seems like a hassle, but great tutorial. If i ever decide to go with water cooling, Ill check back here

that was referring to the change in tubing.

dicecca112 wrote:that was referring to the change in tubing.

going from what to what? 2C isn't bad at all just for changing tubing.

ClearFlex to Silver Tygon. The Clearflex was kinking

dicecca112 wrote:ClearFlex to Silver Tygon. The Clearflex was kinking

Hmm... I'll keep that in mind

nice tut, im thinking about water cooling. is installing a north bride block any different from this? for my new rig i want to have the cpu and north bridge on the loop, for uber insane fsb overclocks. im just worried about the rest of the things attached to my nb heatsink on my p5k premium. i dont want to leave them without any cooling btw i can sell you my wii... for the right price