Watercooling pc parts.

[kunthakenthe]

So to start this off would water cooling a i7 4960x and a gtx 770 be good. Secondly why do people watercool Mb north bridges,south bridge,etc and ram. Is it neccesary what are the drawbacks.

 

[exban224]

Yes, if you want to overclock those two components to a high degree.
Some custom loops cover the nb and vrms as well in order to allow even further overclocking, as these control the power moving to the cpu. WCing these will potentially allow high voltages to be set on the cpu.

Just asking, are you going for a custom setup or a self contained unit? (ex: cm seidon 120m)

 

[kunthakenthe]

custom loop. im trying to do a dual rad 360mm over my 4960x/gtx 770 and was thinking about watercooling the vrms/mosfets,bridges and ram.

 

[exban224]

Put the mosfets, vrm and ram in series with the cpu loop, as they are closer, and less heat is emitted by each component (GPUs emit stupid levels of heat *cough*R9 290X*cough*).
Be aware that this setup will be hugely complex, so plan carefully and make sure your case will fit those radiators.
Dont cool the southbridge though, that only controls more legacy based connections, and connecting that up is a bit of a waste, as detrimental to the GPU, since due to positioning, the SB and GPU would have to share a loop.
I've only worked with dual 240mm rads with cpu, cpu, mosfet and vrm cooling before, so I cant give any ideas on how WCing the RAM and NB will affect overclocking performance and thermals.
Good luck!

 

[toolmaker_03]

Well as for water cooling your hardware like the CPU and GPU's, of curse it is a good idea.
As for water cooling the rest of the hardware, no it is not necessary.
If you enjoy this sort of stuff, it is a lot of fun, to find good ways, to water cool as much as possible.
https://imageshack.com/i/j6j1srj
https://imageshack.com/i/0fleehj

 

[kunthakenthe]

so how often do you guys plan to clear the loop i want to clear the loop. like i want to do it 1-2 a year.

 

[exban224]

every 3-4 months is good, though every 6 should be adequate.

 

[kunthakenthe]

ok i'll do every 6 months. so what happens if you never clean out your loop and have a silver coil.

 

[exban224]

Usually a loss in performance, as the coolant becomes less pure over time (due to materials absorbed from the air, metal salts from the heat transfer plates, etc), and this can hinder its thermal performance.
Top up the coolant every so often as well, as some evaporation can occur, further reducing performance.

 

[4Ryan6]

So to start this off would water cooling a i7 4960x and a gtx 770 be good.

Be good for What?
Your wallet? No!
Overclocking? Yes!
System longevity without overclocking? Possibly, but there are no guarantees!

Secondly why do people watercool Mb north bridges,south bridge,etc and ram. Is it neccesary what are the drawbacks.

Some do it out of sheer ignorance because they simply do not know it is not necessary!
Some do it because they want to water cool every component foregoing air cooling, however water cooling is still using ambient air on the radiators, so you still have cooling fans!
Then with older motherboards that actually sported a North Bridge chipset sometimes very high overclocks required boosting N/B voltage and that increased the N/B heat.
Generally if the motherboard does not come with it's own water cooling blocks pre-installed, it doesn't need it.
Even memory modules that come with air coolers really only need good case airflow to remain cool.

If you're considering water cooling at least read this first and there are good water cooling links at the bottom for you to further your education.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2196038/air-cooling-water-cooling-things.html

 

[toolmaker_03]

That is why I got into water cooling was for the hope of getting some system longevity out of the deal.
My first water cooled system was a 266Mhz system CPU only had it about two year.
Then the 500Mhz system CPU only had it about three years.
Then the 1.7Ghz system CPU and Video card Ti4600 had that system about three years.
Then the 2.6Ghz system CPU and Video card Ultra GTX6800 had that system for 8 years this is where I can say that water cooling truly gave me a since of longevity.
Present system 3.2Ghz system CPU and 2 Video cards GTX580's been running a little over a year now. I can hope that I will get some longevity out of this system, but that has more to do with how technology advances, than the water cooling attached to it.

 

[rubix_1011]

A lot of questions being asked are also covered in the watercooling sticky:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky

 

[kunthakenthe]

A lot of questions being asked are also covered in the watercooling sticky:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky

thanks rubix and all for help do any of you experience water coolers have any advice for a watercooling newb outside of testing the loop,and other standard things.

 

[kunthakenthe]

Should i do a dual loop for one for my gpu and one for a cpu and maybe a third one with a 120mm rad for the ram,nb, and all those extras.

 

[Ellis_D]

It's really not necessary to do a dual loop. Just make sure you put a radiator in between the CPU and GPU to allow the temperatures to equalize.

 

[rubix_1011]

You could do a dual loop or a single with enough flow. Either way, you should probably consider 2 pumps for either scenario if you are absolutely set on running MB and RAM blocks as well as CPU and GPU.

No overclocking:
CPU+MB+RAM loop on a good 240 rad with good fans
GPU loop on good 240 rad with good fans

Overclocking:
CPU+MB+RAM loop on 360 rad (or thick 240, or standard 280)
GPU loop on 360 rad (or thick 240, or standard 280)

 

[kunthakenthe]

yeah i think i'll do a cheap 300$ dual loop with a xspc dual bay res, 2 d5 switchfetch pump and some orange//blue uv coolant with uv blue/orange tubing with uv lights. No cooling the ram or mobo i'll just do the gpu and cpu.

 

[toolmaker_03]

Please Do Not Use A Dye In Your Loop! [Ahhhhh]
There is no Dye that will not cause build up in the loop.
I did this 10 years ago, and I did this 6 months ago, the results are still the same, a gooey mess that had to cleaned out of the system, they can not make a dye, that will not harm your loop.

 

[Ellis_D]

Please Do Not Use A Dye In Your Loop! [Ahhhhh]
There is no Dye that will not cause build up in the loop.
I did this 10 years ago, and I did this 6 months ago, the results are still the same, a gooey mess that had to cleaned out of the system, they can not make a dye, that will not harm your loop.

Are there any alternatives to getting colored water such as nano fluids or pre-mixed solutions? When I get my loop up and running, I'm dead set on having red liquid pumping through my machine.

 

[rubix_1011]

Food coloring or dye. I would suggest dyes over coolants; dyes typically are a form of concentrated color only. Coolants often are a solution of glycols or other components. Coolants can separate after repeated or long-term high-load usage, depending on actual coolant. Not all coolants are prone to this and this is typically only seen with lesser quality coolants or at very extreme load temps for long periods of time. In theory, if your loop is correctly configured for adequate delta-T, this should never happen.

Also, distilled water is a better heat conductor and exchanger than coolants. When you start adding other solutes into water, this lowers the cooling efficiency of pure distilled water. Dyes obviously will offer less in the way of issues over a colored coolant. Obviously, most will agree that distilled water alone, is best. Color can be achieved by colored tubing. Almost everyone will also recommend some sort of anti-microbial growth drops to prevent and deter algae or other gunk growth inside your loop. I've run a loop on distilled and anti-microbial drops for about 2 years and never had an issue when not draining, cleaning and filling a loop in this time. If you use coolants or dyes, I would easily recommend a loop drain/clean/fill every 6-9 months just to ensure you don't encounter buildup of any broken down additives.

 

[Ellis_D]

I've run a loop on distilled and anti-microbial drops for about 2 years and never had an issue when not draining, cleaning and filling a loop in this time. If you use coolants or dyes, I would easily recommend a loop drain/clean/fill every 6-9 months just to ensure you don't encounter buildup of any broken down additives.

I've read that you should still flush your system every few months because Distilled Water will become ionized from contact with metals.

 

[toolmaker_03]

I have red stuff running through my rig
https://imageshack.com/i/j6air001j
it's antifreeze though, and you have to build your loop to withstand this stuff, but IMO it is lazy people like me, that do not want to clean there loop.

 

[kunthakenthe]

wait wouldnt a silver coil keep alge from growing also i think i will use some dye. would uv dye be good or just distilled water/uv tubing.

 

[toolmaker_03]

UV tubing and distilled water is fine I would not use UV dye I just did this and had to clean the system out because the Dye turned to a paste after being in the system for 3 months, I tried flushing it out like normal, but it took a bit more to get read of the left over dye. Most people have to remove the blocks, and take them all apart, to clean this stuff out of there system.

 

[kunthakenthe]

man nothing ever comes close to pure water i want my loop to look cool while maintaining the great cooling properties so i think distilled water and uv tubing with uv lights should do good.