The Neophyte's Custom Liquid Cooling Guide: How To, Why To, What To Expect
by Dustin Sklavos on September 30, 2013 12:01 AM ESTBefore you start assembling your loop, you'll really want a clear idea of how everything is going to route together. It will help to physically draw a diagram, even a hastily scribbled one, so you have some idea of how everything will connect. For the Corsair Carbide Air 540, I knew the cubby next to the power supply was where I wanted to put the reservoir and pump assembly. That meant that two lines were going to be routing back behind the motherboard: the line that flowed into the reservoir, and the line exiting the pump.
Below is the sequence I used for my loop, and it shouldn't be too hard to use it as a basic blueprint. This is undoubtedly going to create contention; I spent hours and hours reading posts on different watercooling forums before concluding that the simplest layout would be the best and easiest.
- Reservoir and pump assembly.
- Top radiator (240mm).
- Motherboard voltage circuitry.
- CPU waterblock (Apogee HD).
- First GeForce GTX 780 (KOMODO-NV).
- Second GeForce GTX 780 (KOMODO-NV).
- Front radiator (360mm).
- ...and back to the reservoir and pump assembly.
I spent a lot of time playing Tetris with the radiators, attaching and detaching the fans, trying to figure out exactly how everything would fit into the case and how everything would get connected. While the entire assembly probably could've taken only a couple of hours, my work on it went on over the course of three nights. Clearance issues reared their ugly heads a couple of times, necessitating the use of 45 degree and 90 degree adapters, sometimes even in sequence.
Compression in the foreground, worm clamp in the background.
At this point I'm also going to admit the one thing I was most worried and ignorant about when I started this project specifically for those of you out there who are wondering about it, because I couldn't find any instructions in any of the tutorials I read for how to assemble a loop: how to actually connect the tubing to the individual blocks, radiators, reservoir, and pump.
The reservoir, waterblocks, radiators, and pump all have ports which fittings screw into (and screwing in those fittings is what you need the wrenches for). There are essentially two types of fittings I had to worry about: barbs and compressions. Barbs are the conical ports I mentioned earlier; the end of the tubing fits around the barb (typically pretty snugly and requiring a healthy amount of force), and then you use either a nylon clamp or a worm clamp. The nylon clamp snaps around the tubing and should be tightened with a pair of pliers, and is...adequate. The worm clamp needs to be loose and around the tubing before you affix it to the barb, and it's a royal pain to completely tighten because they all use flathead screws, but once it's on secure it's not going anywhere.
Compression fittings start with a barb you have to fit the tubing around, but before that there's a circular piece that goes around the tubing similar to the way you start with a worm clamp. The difference is that there's a set of threads below the barb, and the circular piece screws on to those. The lip in the circular piece squeezes the tubing, compressing it into place and sealing it. These can be extremely difficult to apply if you don't have a good grip and decent forearm strength, but they're tight, much easier to remove than worm clamps, and comparatively easy to connect.
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bojaka - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
And right about THERE I lost my interest in water cooling - Thanks :) I actually believed water cooling would be a viable solution to make my computer silent, but apparently not. Thanks for a great article!!utnorris - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
You can make a near dead silent water cooled system that allows you to overclock. Unfortunately, the fans you are using in the article, while good, are not the best, regardless what marketing says. I have built probably 40 to 50 systems over the last 5 years using water cooling and noise was never an issue. If you are not overclocking then a full blown water cooling setup is not worth it, but for the added performance, it's well worth it. Also, there is no need for additives like the Hydrx, distilled water with a silver coil or some anti algae drops from your local pet store is all you need and would be less toxic. Last, as already mentioned, delidding would have seen about 10c drop on the processor and if you are going to water cool, you might as well delid your chip.Aikouka - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
You REALLY shouldn't take a SINGLE article on water cooling as the end all, be all on whether water cooling can provide a silent build. Dustin was NOT pushing for a silent build, but rather just a build with whatever parts he was provided. I have a custom loop with an i7-4770k and two GTX 680s, and it isn't noisy at all. It is going to be a bit noisier at idle because of having significantly more fans (I have 7 120mm fans just on the radiators), but it doesn't get any noisier at load! I also use a fan controller that lets me set the fans to the speed -- and consequently, the noise level -- that I find acceptable.piroroadkill - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Yeah, some people think this, but since you're shifting water at the same time as pushing air, there are simply more moving parts involved. Just get a giant tower heatsink and run those fans sloooowly, and choose a GPU with a really good factory heatsink.tim851 - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Depends. There are much better, i.e. quieter, pumps available. The best one imo is the Aquastream by AquaComputer. Even then, a single Cpu-single Gpu system is quieter on air. A Thermalright HR-02 and an Accelero Xtreme will take care of it. Once you go SLI, however, you're running into space and heat evacuation problems. Watercooling is your only chance of acceptable noise at load now.piroroadkill - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Yeah, multi-GPU rigs are a different beast. At that point a custom water loop is probably your best bet.But for single CPU/single GPU rigs, water is basically a vanity project, not one that will actually give you lower noise.
piklar - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Great article Dustin! It just so happens I have been considering a watercooling project this summer (new Zealand time) using the Corsair Air540 with 4770K and SLI GTX 780s. Ironicly it appears The Raven RV03 is doing just as good if not better job of the cooling with Corsair H80 and reference card cooling. You have shown how luck of the draw Haswell can be since the 4770Ks Ive come across all do 4.6ghz on 2.8- 3.0v no probs. Still your article was very useful and much appreciated.Death666Angel - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
2.8V to 3.0V? That's not right. :PRazorbak86 - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
LOL. My thought exactly. I'm sure he meant 1.28-1.30V. ;-Ppiklar - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
soz was half asleep, thanks for clarifying that I meant meant 1.280 - 1.30V for 4.6ghz with 4770K with H80.