walkitiki
28th March 2007, 17:27
Introduction:
As some of you may have seen in other posts, I had some trouble with my first attempt at watercooling. First a broken pump, then once I seemed to have things working okay I had a slow leak which leaked onto the AGP slot taking the motherboard and graphics card. To make things even worse, I seemed to have a huge problem with deposits and/or other growths. In this thread I will attempt to successfully replace all the hardware, clean all loop components, install watercooling components, and configure my rig and recover all old data. My purpose in writing this is that hopefully I can receive some help on the way and teach a few people some of the do's and don't of installing watercooling.
I'm not exactly sure, but I believe my old leak came from my radiator which was mounted on top of my case. I was using push-fit connections which may have had a bad seal. I think the water dripped down the tubing to where it bent to go into the CPU waterblock; from there it leaked down onto the card. For this reason I will be using the compression fittings, I feel a lot more comfortable with them than with the push-fits.
This mistake could have been prevented by properly leak-testing the system before hand. Before, I hooked it all up, gave the pump a start and sort of shrugged my shoulders and though i was good to go.
I will also be changing the coolant being used. I used some store bought distilled water with the Alphacool coolant, which I either used not enough of or is a very poor water additive. I have a lot of green buildups on almost every component which I will have to remove, now onto that process:
Cleaning the Blocks:
I did a bit of research and quickly looked up how to clean a waterblock online and came to the conclusion that you should add a bit of ketchup to a disassembled block and then using a toothbrush and a mix of water and vinegar scrub the block to get rid of any residue.
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG1.JPG
tools of the trade
I opened my NexXxos XP and saw that a lot of the holes and pins were clogged with green build-up! So I added a bit of ketchup and began scrubbing:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG2.JPG
a bit messy
After letting the ketchup sit a bit, I scrubbed and rinsed my toothbrush in my vinegar-water mix. When I was done, I rinsed the whole block in the mix. Here's the result:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG3.JPG
A cleaner block
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG4.JPG
and a dirty, nasty, smelly bowl.
The Case:
This is the case I'll be using. It's one of Mnpctech's old SC195. I modified it by adding two 120mm blow holes on top and attatching a radiator. I'm actually begining to regret this, I think a single 120mm rad would be better located up front with an aquatube or fass-o-matic up top. But se la vie,
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG5.JPG
I had to change my motherboard to a DFI Ultra Infinity because of the issues I had with the Abit NF7-S. It's the exact same as the lan-party edition, just sans UV reactive everything. It's also been volt-modded so if I get this setup running correctly, hopefully there can be some overclocking!
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG6.JPG
With the CPU socket located where it is, routing might be a little more difficult but shouldn't be too bad. I haven't completely decided on a route yet, but i think it will go pump > gpu > cpu > rad > res > pump, any thoughts?
The Next Step?
When I looked at the bottom of my CPU block, there was a whole mess of stuff still stuck on there. Using Isopropyl alcohol, ketchup, and vinegar, I still couldn't get it off. Here's a picture, you can kind of make out what I'm talking about. It's just very splotchy stuff around the edges. I think that I will try and lap the heatsink, and hopefully it will take it off, but I dont know if lapping it with this stuff still stuck on there is a good idea, thoughts?
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG7.JPG
As some of you may have seen in other posts, I had some trouble with my first attempt at watercooling. First a broken pump, then once I seemed to have things working okay I had a slow leak which leaked onto the AGP slot taking the motherboard and graphics card. To make things even worse, I seemed to have a huge problem with deposits and/or other growths. In this thread I will attempt to successfully replace all the hardware, clean all loop components, install watercooling components, and configure my rig and recover all old data. My purpose in writing this is that hopefully I can receive some help on the way and teach a few people some of the do's and don't of installing watercooling.
I'm not exactly sure, but I believe my old leak came from my radiator which was mounted on top of my case. I was using push-fit connections which may have had a bad seal. I think the water dripped down the tubing to where it bent to go into the CPU waterblock; from there it leaked down onto the card. For this reason I will be using the compression fittings, I feel a lot more comfortable with them than with the push-fits.
This mistake could have been prevented by properly leak-testing the system before hand. Before, I hooked it all up, gave the pump a start and sort of shrugged my shoulders and though i was good to go.
I will also be changing the coolant being used. I used some store bought distilled water with the Alphacool coolant, which I either used not enough of or is a very poor water additive. I have a lot of green buildups on almost every component which I will have to remove, now onto that process:
Cleaning the Blocks:
I did a bit of research and quickly looked up how to clean a waterblock online and came to the conclusion that you should add a bit of ketchup to a disassembled block and then using a toothbrush and a mix of water and vinegar scrub the block to get rid of any residue.
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG1.JPG
tools of the trade
I opened my NexXxos XP and saw that a lot of the holes and pins were clogged with green build-up! So I added a bit of ketchup and began scrubbing:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG2.JPG
a bit messy
After letting the ketchup sit a bit, I scrubbed and rinsed my toothbrush in my vinegar-water mix. When I was done, I rinsed the whole block in the mix. Here's the result:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG3.JPG
A cleaner block
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG4.JPG
and a dirty, nasty, smelly bowl.
The Case:
This is the case I'll be using. It's one of Mnpctech's old SC195. I modified it by adding two 120mm blow holes on top and attatching a radiator. I'm actually begining to regret this, I think a single 120mm rad would be better located up front with an aquatube or fass-o-matic up top. But se la vie,
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG5.JPG
I had to change my motherboard to a DFI Ultra Infinity because of the issues I had with the Abit NF7-S. It's the exact same as the lan-party edition, just sans UV reactive everything. It's also been volt-modded so if I get this setup running correctly, hopefully there can be some overclocking!
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG6.JPG
With the CPU socket located where it is, routing might be a little more difficult but shouldn't be too bad. I haven't completely decided on a route yet, but i think it will go pump > gpu > cpu > rad > res > pump, any thoughts?
The Next Step?
When I looked at the bottom of my CPU block, there was a whole mess of stuff still stuck on there. Using Isopropyl alcohol, ketchup, and vinegar, I still couldn't get it off. Here's a picture, you can kind of make out what I'm talking about. It's just very splotchy stuff around the edges. I think that I will try and lap the heatsink, and hopefully it will take it off, but I dont know if lapping it with this stuff still stuck on there is a good idea, thoughts?
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jrcline/img/CMP_IMG7.JPG