New to Forums, planning first loop, and a few questions.

[xieu_long]

Hi everyone.

John from Winnipeg. I've been building PCs since the first Athlon days and looking to get into water cooling. I have a few questions, hopefully not too annoying.

My plan is to build the first CPU only loop on my spare PC to get my feet wet. Then a CPU + GPU loop later on in the year, when Pascal/Polaris and Zen/whateverIntel sort themselves out; I'd go with what ever's best performing then.

1- I would like to use hard tubes. I've been practising some bends on 16mm OD hard tubes. I think, I'm getting there as far as bending. My question is, has anyone here used hard tube for there first loop? What were your challenges? I suspect bending is only one challenge. Are there any other challenges/pitfalls to look out for?

2- I may also go with soft tubes to make the first loop easy. Are there such thing as plasticizer-free tubes? I looked up Norprene and Tygon 2001, they are plasticizer-free, but I heard were not as flexible; I think I can use a coil, boiling and ice water to make tight turns with them. Has anyone have any experience with these types of tubes? What about Mayhem Ultra Clear? "Do not leach plasticizer", real or just marketing?
-The Feser Company 10 pack barb fittings, are they decent? The barbs looks shallow, but I would think that's easier to work with?

3- I will be using distilled water. DP looks like a good product to use with distilled water. I was wondering if "Mayhems - Non Stain Dye - PINK-RED 15ml SKU: NSPRD1" would be compatible?

4- My first loop will be just a CPU block (Heat Killer iv, man it looks nice), Darkside LP360 rad, and a home made acrylic rez; in a NZXT H440 black/red. I was thinking a D5 pump; it's probably way overkill, but the other available pumps are only $20 less at best. Are there any problems with using such a powerful pump for a small loop?

The system:
3570k
HIS 7950
8GB
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD
Seagate piece of crap 4TB SSHD
PC Power and Cooling Silencer II 750w, it's old, but it's bulletproof so far.

Thanks guys.

[Necrodead]

Hello, to the forums!

Hard tubes are pretty easy actually, no worries for first loop. Just make sure you round the ends so you don't chew up the o-rings, as then they will get stuck in your waterblocks.

If you go soft tubing primochill advanced LRT is plasticiser free, but Daz stopped selling it because sometimes it was too large and wouldn't work with compression fittings. I recently used the Mayhems for about 3 months, can confirm still looks like new, but only 3 months and that was with meyhems pastel.

Any dye should work with DP, but lets get Daz in here as I don't use DP.

No problems with D5 in that loop. Can't wait to see your custom res, I've bought the g1/4 tap and stuff but I'm scared of making something that leaks!

[DazMode]

Cannot say if dye will or will not work. I usually do not recommend mixing liquids from different vendors.

Hard tube is more, work, but look nice. I like my experience so far.

[xieu_long]

Hello, to the forums!

Hard tubes are pretty easy actually, no worries for first loop. Just make sure you round the ends so you don't chew up the o-rings, as then they will get stuck in your waterblocks.

If you go soft tubing primochill advanced LRT is plasticiser free, but Daz stopped selling it because sometimes it was too large and wouldn't work with compression fittings. I recently used the Mayhems for about 3 months, can confirm still looks like new, but only 3 months and that was with meyhems pastel.

Any dye should work with DP, but lets get Daz in here as I don't use DP.

No problems with D5 in that loop. Can't wait to see your custom res, I've bought the g1/4 tap and stuff but I'm scared of making something that leaks!

Thanks man, I'm going to try soft tubes for now (Mayhem Ultra Clear). I'll leave the hard tube for the real build later in the year.
Don't wait too long for the custom res haha, it'll be a box with some ports. I got a set of tap and die, but they're US standard, had to older the g1/4" - 19 BSPP from Amazon.

Cannot say if dye will or will not work. I usually do not recommend mixing liquids from different vendors.

Hard tube is more, work, but look nice. I like my experience so far.

I went ahead and ordered some stuff, hopefully the dye will be ok. Been following your Sentinel build, waiting for the next episode.

[kaito1410]

Thanks man, I'm going to try soft tubes for now (Mayhem Ultra Clear). I'll leave the hard tube for the real build later in the year.
Don't wait too long for the custom res haha, it'll be a box with some ports. I got a set of tap and die, but they're US standard, had to older the g1/4" - 19 BSPP from Amazon.



I went ahead and ordered some stuff, hopefully the dye will be ok. Been following your Sentinel build, waiting for the next episode.

I just bought some Mayhem Ultra Clear and they seem to hold up pretty well. They're very flexible and soft so fittings go on very easily. I'm also using DP with distilled and they don't seem to cloud yet, but it's too early to tell.

Hope you picked up the D5, they're very quiet and super reliable compared to other pumps.

[DazMode]

Protector and any Feser works fine.

[xieu_long]

I just bought some Mayhem Ultra Clear and they seem to hold up pretty well. They're very flexible and soft so fittings go on very easily. I'm also using DP with distilled and they don't seem to cloud yet, but it's too early to tell.

Hope you picked up the D5, they're very quiet and super reliable compared to other pumps.

Yeah, I went ahead and ordered a D5 pump and Mayhem Ultra Clear.

Protector and any Feser works fine.

I went with DP and Feser Red non-UV dye.

[xieu_long]

This box came in the mail last Monday.


So I made a quick loop.


Waiting on my GPU block to do it for real hehe.

[bungwirez]

Very nice for your first time.

no leaks I hope!

[xieu_long]

Very nice for your first time.

no leaks I hope!

No leaks, but I did make a mistake. I I ordered a cross flow rad because I wasn't looking. At least I learned a bit from playing around with it.

[bungwirez]

actually, crossflow rad really works out well in there, specially with the flex tubes.

[xieu_long]

actually, crossflow rad really works out well in there, specially with the flex tubes.

Do you think a 360lp rad is enough for a 3570k and a HD7950? Both are overclocked. The GPU block isn't in yet, so right now it's just the CPU and temp is really low even when fans are at 800rpm.

[nass]

rule of thumb is one unit of heat per 120mm of rad so a triple would work, that being said I use a quad for each source though did have sli vids previously, mine is total overkill...So yes it would work.