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Thread: Water cooling explained.

  1. #1
    . Spawn-Inc's Avatar
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    Default Water cooling explained.

    Note:i am slowly revising this now that i have 2 loops under my belt and understand it alot better.

    Water cooling is a great and common way to help keep things cool and quiet. i will start by explaining how it all works.



    Component's

    Necessary
    - Water Block
    - Radiator
    - Pump
    - T-Line or Reservoir
    - Fans
    - Water Additives
    - Tubing
    - Barbs and Clamps

    How Water Cooling Works

    Water Block



    the water flows from the pump into one of the barbs and across all those little metal pins and the water absorbs some of the heat and carrys it through to the other barb. from there it travels to the radiator.
    Water cooling works by conduction and convection mainly. when the CPU produces heat it needs to be removed for safe and faster operation. copper and aluminum are the two main heat sink types when it comes to air cooling. however copper wins for water blocks. the heat transfer to the copper where cool water flows across it at a fast rate. as the water flows across the copper it picks up the heat produced by the cpu. different companys produce different patterns when they machine the copper blocks. the more surface area a water block has the faster and more efficient heat can transfer from the copper to the water.
    Example: here is a good surface vs. a less efficient surface.





    radiator



    the heated water then flows to the radiator and does the opposite from above. fans blow cool air over the fins and as the water flows through the radiator its transfers the heat from the water to the brass tubes (painted black and vertical). which then pass the heat to the tiny little fins (painted black and Horizontal) that discharges the heat into the air.

    Once the water has picked up the heat it travels onto the radiator where it can be expelled. much like the water block working better with more surface area, a radiator will work much the same way. there are two types the radiators most commonly used. a single pass and double pass setup.
    here is a single pass.

    notice it has an in and out on opposite sides. water flows into one header and then flows to the other side and restarts the trip all over again.

    this is a dual pass radiator. water flows into the left or right side and only goes down half of the radiator then back up on the otherside. this is a much more efficient way to use the same sized radiator space. there is also another factor when it comes to choosing radiators. you can select round or flat tubes.

    Flat tubes
    Refer to the image above.

    Round tubes


    they both offer pros and cons.
    Round tubes
    Pros
    - less restriction
    - more pass's (from what i can tell there is about 10 passes in the picture above).
    Cons
    - Less heat transfer due to a dead zone wherr water cannot transfer the heat.

    Flat tubes
    Pros
    - offer better heat transfer since the water is closer to the tubes.
    - more common/availably
    Cons
    - More Restriction

    here is a picture i made of what i think the heat transfer would be like with various tube styles.
    Red = Warmer water, Blue = cooler water.




    Pump



    The water is moved around by a pump which acts like your heart does. there is a impeller similar to a fan but deigned for water that pushs the water around to the various component's. this is what a Swiftech pump looks like when taken apart.



    and here is a better view of the impeller essentially looks like.



    The way it works is by centrifugal force. The water is thrown from the middle out at high speed.

    Tubing Sizes

    there are three common tubing sizes which are all measured by I.D. (Inside Diameter). the three sizes are 1/2", 3/8", and 1/4". as with most things they have there pros and cons. the bigger the I.D. the less restriction there is on the system and more water contained in the system. EDIT: i will add more stuff in a couple of days
    Fill Port

    The fill port is exactly that, a port to fill your water cooling system. they are best placed at the very top of the water cooling loop.



    Fans

    The fan(s) blow the cooler air across the radiator to help expel the heat from it.


    The Reservoir

    A reservoir can be added so no bleeding of the system is required. it also allows more water to be in the loop and therefore better cooling.


    Water Additives

    there are 3 variants of coolant that should be used for different reasons.

    1. performance
    - Use distilled water and a 2 drops of PT nuke PHN. the less stuff in there the better.

    2. looks
    - Use distilled water , dye (i like Feser View UV dye) and PT nuke, not the PHN kind.

    3. anti corrosion
    - when using mixed metals, which is a bad idea to begin with.
    use Distilled water, Anti Freeze, and PT nuke, not the PHN kind.
    CPU: Q6600 G0 3.5GHz@1.4v (4.2GHz max) / 4790k 4.8ghz @1.265v
    GPU: 9800GTX /GTX780 hydrocopper
    Ram: Samsung 4GB /gskill 16gb DDR3 1600
    Mobo: EVGA-NF68-A1 680i (P32) /AsRock Extreme6
    PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850Watt /EVGA 850 G2
    HDD: OCZ 120GB Vertex4, Samsung evo 840 250GB
    LCD: Samsung 32" LN32A450, Samsung 226BW 22" wide
    Sound: Logtiech Z 5500
    CPU & GPU: 3x Swiftech MCR320, 2x MCP655, MCW60 R2, Dtek Fuzion V2, 18 high speed yates @ 5v

  2. #2
    . Spawn-Inc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    Types of Water blocks

    there are many types of water cooled blocks. some are useful and some are not. i will list all the water block types that i know of.

    CPU / Processor
    This is what a CPU water block looks like


    this is what it cools.



    and here is it installed.




    GPU / Video Card
    There are two types of blocks for GPU, a full card block or just the processor. full water blocks have better cooling since everything on the card that produces heat is cooled by water. the draw back they have is they are pricey and can only be used for that video card. water blocks that only cool the processor do a good job but you have to add ram sinks to keep the on board ram cool.

    Full Block

    This block is for a 8800GTX.



    this is what it cools.



    This is the water block installed.



    Processor only

    This block is for a 8800GTX.



    this is what it cools.



    This is the water block installed with ramsinks.



    Chipset

    this is for the Chipset on motherboards.



    which cool these, you can get north bridge and south bridge coolers.



    This is the water block installed.




    RAM / Memory

    this particular water cooler uses a bag to cool the ram.





    This is what it cools.



    This is the water block installed.




    Voltage Regualtor

    This water block cools the voltage regulators which can heat up a lot when overclocking.



    which cool little chips that look like this.



    This is the water block installed.




    Hard Drive

    This particular hard drive cooler again uses a bag stlye cooler.



    This is what it cools.



    This is the water block installed.




    Power Supply

    water cooled power supplies are rare to say the least. this one can be added to a cool loop.



    and this one has its own self contained water cooling loop.




    Motherboard

    this is very rare and i have never seen one used. it uses the bag style of cooling and is placed behind the motherbaord to help cool and prolong the life of the motherboard.



    this concludes my basic water cooling tutorial, thanks for reading and any comments/suggestions are welcome and appreciated. please feel free to pm me if you want anything added.
    CPU: Q6600 G0 3.5GHz@1.4v (4.2GHz max) / 4790k 4.8ghz @1.265v
    GPU: 9800GTX /GTX780 hydrocopper
    Ram: Samsung 4GB /gskill 16gb DDR3 1600
    Mobo: EVGA-NF68-A1 680i (P32) /AsRock Extreme6
    PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850Watt /EVGA 850 G2
    HDD: OCZ 120GB Vertex4, Samsung evo 840 250GB
    LCD: Samsung 32" LN32A450, Samsung 226BW 22" wide
    Sound: Logtiech Z 5500
    CPU & GPU: 3x Swiftech MCR320, 2x MCP655, MCW60 R2, Dtek Fuzion V2, 18 high speed yates @ 5v

  3. #3

    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    Very nice work ^_^, maybe next work on a tutorial on how to hook it all up?

  4. #4
    . Spawn-Inc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    carefully?! haha i will add that to this some time this week its a good idea so +rep. though i'm not sure how good it will be since i've never done water cooling. i will look into it.
    CPU: Q6600 G0 3.5GHz@1.4v (4.2GHz max) / 4790k 4.8ghz @1.265v
    GPU: 9800GTX /GTX780 hydrocopper
    Ram: Samsung 4GB /gskill 16gb DDR3 1600
    Mobo: EVGA-NF68-A1 680i (P32) /AsRock Extreme6
    PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850Watt /EVGA 850 G2
    HDD: OCZ 120GB Vertex4, Samsung evo 840 250GB
    LCD: Samsung 32" LN32A450, Samsung 226BW 22" wide
    Sound: Logtiech Z 5500
    CPU & GPU: 3x Swiftech MCR320, 2x MCP655, MCW60 R2, Dtek Fuzion V2, 18 high speed yates @ 5v

  5. #5
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    Maybe some info about rad/fan mounts (spacer or whatever it is). A run-through of the physics of how and why WC works, reason for distilled water and consequences of using tap water, why it's best to mount the res above all the other parts, why you don't want to mix metal types in the loop, pci power controller cards, use of peltier with WC rigs and danger of condensation, single vs dual pass rads, different tubing material (advantages and disadvantages of each), typical tube inner and outer diameters, dual vs single pump systems (why they need be serial vs parallel, etc...
    Last edited by jdbnsn; 07-03-2007 at 11:00 PM.
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

  6. #6
    . Spawn-Inc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    Quote Originally Posted by jdbnsn View Post
    Maybe some info about rad/fan mounts (spacer or whatever it is). A run-through of the physics of how and why WC works, reason for distilled water and consequences of using tap water, why it's best to mount the res above all the other parts, why you don't want to mix metal types in the loop, pci power controller cards, use of peltier with WC rigs and danger of condensation, single vs dual pass rads, different tubing material (advantages and disadvantages of each), typical tube inner and outer diameters, dual vs single pump systems (why they need be serial vs parallel, etc...
    ok so i knocked off a couple of those suggestions. but not all, some are out of my league so i will have to do some more research until i can safely add it without misleading people.
    CPU: Q6600 G0 3.5GHz@1.4v (4.2GHz max) / 4790k 4.8ghz @1.265v
    GPU: 9800GTX /GTX780 hydrocopper
    Ram: Samsung 4GB /gskill 16gb DDR3 1600
    Mobo: EVGA-NF68-A1 680i (P32) /AsRock Extreme6
    PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850Watt /EVGA 850 G2
    HDD: OCZ 120GB Vertex4, Samsung evo 840 250GB
    LCD: Samsung 32" LN32A450, Samsung 226BW 22" wide
    Sound: Logtiech Z 5500
    CPU & GPU: 3x Swiftech MCR320, 2x MCP655, MCW60 R2, Dtek Fuzion V2, 18 high speed yates @ 5v

  7. #7
    Its not cool till its watercooled. Fuganater's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    Could you maybe post what you use/recommend?

  8. #8
    . Spawn-Inc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    i've never done water cooling before just a bunch of reading on it and felt i knew enough to advise others on the basics. once i get my gaming rig built 2000 left to go i might get water cooling and if i do this is what i will be getting.

    5 x $16.95 = $84.75 Panaflo H1 High Performance 120mm Fan Sleeved
    10' x $1.49 = $13.90 ClearFlex 60 Tubing 1/2" ID 3/4" OD
    1 x $1.99 = $1.99 Swiftech HydrX Coolant
    1 x $79.95 = $79.95 Swiftech MCP655™ 12 VDC Pump
    1 x $42.95 = $42.95 Swiftech Radiator - MCR220 Quiet Power Series Dual 120 mm - Black
    1 x $28.95 = $28.95 Swiftech Radiator - MCR120 Quiet Power Series 120mm Heat Exchanger - Black
    1 x $109.99 = $109.99 Swiftech STEALTH GeForceŽ 8800 series VGA Water-block
    1 x $69.95 = $69.95 Swiftech APOGEE GTX Extreme Performance Universal Water-block
    1 x $19.99 = $19.99 Swiftech MCRES-MICRO™ Reservoir

    sub total = $452.42

    as you can tell i really like swiftech
    CPU: Q6600 G0 3.5GHz@1.4v (4.2GHz max) / 4790k 4.8ghz @1.265v
    GPU: 9800GTX /GTX780 hydrocopper
    Ram: Samsung 4GB /gskill 16gb DDR3 1600
    Mobo: EVGA-NF68-A1 680i (P32) /AsRock Extreme6
    PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850Watt /EVGA 850 G2
    HDD: OCZ 120GB Vertex4, Samsung evo 840 250GB
    LCD: Samsung 32" LN32A450, Samsung 226BW 22" wide
    Sound: Logtiech Z 5500
    CPU & GPU: 3x Swiftech MCR320, 2x MCP655, MCW60 R2, Dtek Fuzion V2, 18 high speed yates @ 5v

  9. #9
    Its not cool till its watercooled. Fuganater's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    Geez.... thats alot of cash to just put into water cooling. Id like to find a kit for around like $200... because $452 is just too much :/

  10. #10
    . Spawn-Inc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Water cooling explained.

    if you just want to water cool the cpu for a first time here is a 200 kit. its hard to get low prices with cooling all that you want to, i picked pretty high end parts though.

    here is a kit to cool just the cpu for 179.

    here is a kit that will cool cpu, gpu, and 1 chipset for 350.
    CPU: Q6600 G0 3.5GHz@1.4v (4.2GHz max) / 4790k 4.8ghz @1.265v
    GPU: 9800GTX /GTX780 hydrocopper
    Ram: Samsung 4GB /gskill 16gb DDR3 1600
    Mobo: EVGA-NF68-A1 680i (P32) /AsRock Extreme6
    PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850Watt /EVGA 850 G2
    HDD: OCZ 120GB Vertex4, Samsung evo 840 250GB
    LCD: Samsung 32" LN32A450, Samsung 226BW 22" wide
    Sound: Logtiech Z 5500
    CPU & GPU: 3x Swiftech MCR320, 2x MCP655, MCW60 R2, Dtek Fuzion V2, 18 high speed yates @ 5v

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