So yesterday Dex came over to mine and we installed his old w/c kit in my PC. After much swearing, some Alan Partridge impressions, cooler cannibalisations, and lots of motherboard standoffs, we finally got it going.









I am using Innovatek Protect IP anti-corrosive/coolant with some blue UV dye, blue Innovatek tubing, an Innovatek XX-Flow v2 waterblock (mounting system (c) Dex), a dual 120mm radiator with two fans mounted and an acrylic XSPC reservoir.

I am fairly pleased with it so far, however....

1) At the moment I am getting load and idle temperatures that are only about 3-4c cooler than with my old air cooler, a Tuniq Tower. I am getting idle temps in the mid thirties and load temps in the high sixties. Can I improve on this without too much expenditure? The waterblock is not properly mounted because I have no mounting hardware for it, so we had to bodge some together. I have the correct stuff on order from Germany but it will take at least a week to get here and is costing 30 pounds. Would I be better off simply buying a new block - like this one? Swiftech Apogee GTX Waterblock (Socket LGA775)

Or could it be that the pump is not quite powerful enough to run a loop with a res in it?

2) I keep experiencing airlocks which seem to be something to do with air getting trapped under the lip on the reservoir outlet that goes to the pump. Or they might be because the pump has air in the top of it? Would adding more coolant help? As you can see from the photo above, the res is only about a half full.

Any suggestions/input appreciated

For a new block i would go for a D-tek Fusion, it seems to be the best.

I was pretty disappointed with the performance too, considering it kept my E4300 @ 3.2Ghz idling about 1/2c above ambient, and loading around 28-30c. Mind you that was with vcore around 1.365v, where as Daves quad is at 1.5v. Is that just too much vcore to expect good temps?

The only things I can think of is that 1.5v through four Core 2s at 3.5Ghz is just too hot to come down any further, or that the poor little pump is a bit lacking on the throughput because of the approximate 1 1/2ft of extra tubing to the bay res.

However, watching the res, it was obvious that the flow was pretty good. It wasn't a trickle, but neither was it shooting out...

My bodge job mounting solution worked fine for me, but since its solely putting pressure down on the center of the block, maybe the correct fittings will improve it somewhat.

Im a total w/c n00b despte owning two kits, so id also be very grateful if a w/c guru could shed some light on what might be causing temps hardly better than high end air, because this kit rocked on my system.

Just had to fiddle with the tubing again as another airlock threatened to kill my CPU

It always happens when you switch the system on as far as I can see. Once the coolant is flowing you don't get any more airlocks.

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OK, scrap all that. Basically the pump is leaking and the whole thing is a bit dodgy, so instead of using this second hand kit I'm going to go for some new stuff.

What does everyone think of the following?

-Swiftech Apogee GTX Waterblock (Socket LGA775)

-XSPC 3/8" High Flexibility PVC Tubing - 1m

-Feser One UV Reactive Coolant 1 Litre (Blue)

-D-Tek DB-1 (DD-CPX1) 12VDC Pump

-Swiftech MCR220-QP Dual 120mm Radiator

I'm not looking to spend much but will these components be enough to cool my overvolted/overclocked quaddie?

And what fittings will I need to use this reservoir? Do these parts come with fittings? I ordered my bayres from another retailer and the cheeky gits didn't supply the fittings and LED that were supposed to come with it!

Well it's taken me four days, but the new setup is finally in place.

I couldn't get hold of jubilee clips when I placed my original parts order, so I got some plastic clips to secure the hosing over the barbs. Except plastic clips are cack and don't stop leakage. So today I finally got hold of the aforementioned jubilee clips and the radiator is no longer haemorrhaging coolant all over my desk. The second issue was a massive recirculating airlock, but I solved this by propping the PC up a little and letting the air escape.

So here we have it, ladies and gentlemen. D-Tek Fuzion CPU block, Swiftech radiator, D-Tek pump and XSPC single 5.25'' bay reservoir. Filled with some dark purple coolant that glows blue under UV. It sounds like a fish tank but it looks teh awesome.

Lookin' good bro
I'm sooo looking forward to the joys of installing my first w/c loop
Ah well, I gotta get the bracket made up first for my ext dualbay res. Plus I gotta get me some tubing/rad(s)/pump/fans still so It'll wait! haha I keep putting it off I sware

Great job you two!

Looks nice man, I noticed on MSN that you had "my pc sounds like a fish tank" after your name. What are the temps like now?

Awesome! Welcome to the club Hope that you got everything sorted out and the temps are a little lower now.

Quote: Originally Posted by MRMOBEUS Lookin' good bro I'm sooo looking forward to the joys of installing my first w/c loop Ah well, I gotta get the bracket made up first for my ext dualbay res. Plus I gotta get me some tubing/rad(s)/pump/fans still so It'll wait! haha I keep putting it off I sware Great job you two!

Let me or Dex know if you need any help. This was a real crash course in bodging but it seems ok now and I am very pleased with it. Make sure you buy jubilee clips for the hosing, and have a bucket and some toilet paper at hand to clear up leaks.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan Looks nice man, I noticed on MSN that you had "my pc sounds like a fish tank" after your name. What are the temps like now?

Yeah, I hadn't filled the bayres enough and it was gurgling away because the flow was so turbulent, but I filled it up a bit and now the whole PC is silent as the grave. Except when I play COD4 and the graphics card's fans spin up Not gonna watercool them yet though!

Quote: Originally Posted by JessAlba452 Awesome! Welcome to the club Hope that you got everything sorted out and the temps are a little lower now.

Cheeers Temps are difficult to tell because I am running the rig at stock. I don't have a spare header for my ram/northbridge cooling fan so they keep overheating. I'll get it sorted next week.

can we see some pics under UV lighting?

Hmmm, rebuilt the loop since then with green Feser One...done it properly, no more leaks and no stupid messy tubing arrangements. I'll see if I can dig out my camera charger and take some pics in the next few days.

Idles at around 40c, and loads at 60c.

That look similar to my case, and I think when I got it you said you had one

Gigabyte aurora 3d right?

I affirmed my dual rad to the top fan with a nifty plastic fan shroud and some zip ties.....

But my coolant and tubing is all clear, I'm not a fan of color, My first loop was "yellow" that turned green then clearish green/yellow before completely ruining my tubing. Plus I moved to mostly rubbing alcohol for fluid, and My case only has the grid grill type window.

Wouldn't mind seeing some updated pics though....