ok ive finally narrowed my water setup down to these parts:

heater core: 82-87 chevette
pump: danner mag drive 3
cpu block: DD rbx
gfx block: DD maze4
im planning on using 1/2in tubing, no res(all inline)

before i order this, any last minute tips and suggestions are highly appreciated. thanks in advance

how do you intend to fill this system and get the air out?
also you will need:
hose clamps
fan
mounting hardware for fanz and radiator
distilled water
wetting agent or anticorrosive additive
and some sort of "fill and bleed"
or
reservoir...why no reservoir, anyway?

im with ^^^^ here - you need something, all be it small to fill the system with. i imagine something as small as 3"x3"x3" would be effective, the only down side being the time to fill the system. You need spare water to go round the system - any hot liquid or gas rises to the surface of what eva the surface is be it a gas jar or a kettle - a reservoir would have the same effect - the "warm" water would go to the top of the reservoir, alowing the stationary water to enter the system - much like a cue at a roller coaster ride .

Quote: Originally Posted by nev_payne im with ^^^^ here - you need something, all be it small to fill the system with. i imagine something as small as 3"x3"x3" would be effective, the only down side being the time to fill the system. You need spare water to go round the system - any hot liquid or gas rises to the surface of what eva the surface is be it a gas jar or a kettle - a reservoir would have the same effect - the "warm" water would go to the top of the reservoir, alowing the stationary water to enter the system - much like a cue at a roller coaster ride .

HUH?! we're talking PC water cooling here...ever seen a PC water cooling system before, other than pictures?
The coolant moves entirely to fast to form an inversion even in a 1 gallon reservoir, let alone a 3x3x3 anything. If you have stationary coolant in the system, you better turn on the pump, you're about to fry things.
They are primarily used to bleed the air from the system and give the pump the needed head of coolant so the pump doesnt cavitate, as well as provide a place to fill and drain the system for maintenance...I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's the way it works...in my camp anyway...

Quote: Originally Posted by ZENNZZO HUH?! we're talking PC water cooling here...ever seen a PC water cooling system before, other than pictures? The coolant moves entirely to fast to form an inversion even in a 1 gallon reservoir, let alone a 3x3x3 anything. If you have stationary coolant in the system, you better turn on the pump, you're about to fry things. They are primarily used to bleed the air from the system and give the pump the needed head of coolant so the pump doesnt cavitate, as well as provide a place to fill and drain the system for maintenance...I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's the way it works...in my camp anyway...

Hmm..I can hear brain matter imploding...

One must become one with the water... think like water....BE the water....

Contemplate and reflect

what about a system without a reservoir that has a fill and bleed kit?
http://guides.pcapex.com/water_cooli...ine_system.php

i dont really see the point of having a res if you can do it like that.

Yea, Zennz has it all nailed down. You can get away without a res, most use a "T" adapter and a short length of tubbing, maybe 6 inches, and a plug or cap on the end. Just make sure the "Tail" runs upwards. Then you can fill the system with the tail, and it will even collect the air after awhile. But it is a pain to fill and even worse to bleed.

Swiftech makes a fill-n-bleed kit, you can reverse engineer that one and build your own version as well.

Or you can just get yourself a res, and make life easier all the way around.

EDIT: posting at the same time. You can do that, Putwig did a fine job with that one. But those quick disconnects are not cheap, your still going to spend some bucks on it. It's just a preference, Zennz wasn't saying that you were screwing up not using a res, he was just asking if you had planned for filling and bleeding your system because you would need that if you didn't go with a reservoir

well ive done some research on reservoirs, and i think i will use one. they seem to make things easier, and its not like i dont have the room for it (i love full towers).
anyways, i made a little diagram of how ill set it up, let me know what you think.

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That is a pretty standard way of doing it.

I don't fully agree, but it's very common.

There was a recent topic on component order, what should go where. You can read that if you havn't already. But it isn't like we answered the universal question or anything, just expressed differing views and why.

Quote: Originally Posted by ZENNZZO HUH?! we're talking PC water cooling here...ever seen a PC water cooling system before, other than pictures? The coolant moves entirely to fast to form an inversion even in a 1 gallon reservoir, let alone a 3x3x3 anything. If you have stationary coolant in the system, you better turn on the pump, you're about to fry things. They are primarily used to bleed the air from the system and give the pump the needed head of coolant so the pump doesnt cavitate, as well as provide a place to fill and drain the system for maintenance...I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's the way it works...in my camp anyway...

orite m8 calm down! i was asuming - based on the 5 1/2" CD drive bay cooler that either titan or zalman make. the res in that is pretty tiny.

Quote: Originally Posted by davidkruta well ive done some research on reservoirs, and i think i will use one. they seem to make things easier, and its not like i dont have the room for it (i love full towers). anyways, i made a little diagram of how ill set it up, let me know what you think.

yeh thats good, but turn the fans round so they take heat out of the case, or put them in the case and make them blow air out. Having the PSU there, so long as the mobo connector is on the right hand side of the board, should be fine.

well i meant those would be the fans that cool the rad, and i need cold(er) air for that, i dont want to blow the case air onto the rad. I also plan to have the upper sectiong of the case more or less sealed off from the bottom section, so ill have 2 seperate cooling zones.

Quote: Originally Posted by nev_payne yeh thats good, but turn the fans round so they take heat out of the case, or put them in the case and make them blow air out. Having the PSU there, so long as the mobo connector is on the right hand side of the board, should be fine.

Hmm... I have all my watercooled rigs drawing air outside the case thru my rad into the case, then I have my case fans evacuating the air from the case to the outside. And all is fine with my temps.

BTW, I stopped using a res and started using a "t" line becasue of the ease of routing/cleaner look. Also if you make your "t" line long (mine go from the bottom of my case up to the top) then fill and bleed isn't so bad. And the cost difference is good ($25 vs $1)

Quote: Originally Posted by payne orite m8 calm down! i was asuming - based on the 5 1/2" CD drive bay cooler that either titan or zalman make. the res in that is pretty tiny.

Well maybe if you knew your liquid cooling systems, you'd have known that 1/4"and 3/8" systems are nothing like the 1/2"system, Dave listed in his parts roster. The Mag3 pump alone would have told you that, not to mention the !/2" hose. You seem to have avoided my "key" question though...Have you ever seen a liquid cooling ststem "other" than in pictures?

Quote: Originally Posted by davidkruta well ive done some research on reservoirs, and i think i will use one. they seem to make things easier, and its not like i dont have the room for it (i love full towers). anyways, i made a little diagram of how ill set it up, let me know what you think.

That looks like pretty standard assembalge there. Detail wise, I personally would try to get my reservoir to the higest point.
Depending on how the return is plumbed, it can cause air bubbles in the coolant, a baffle can be used for that inside the reservoir to keep bubbless coolant feeding the pump. Looks good though. You'll get a better feel for things once you get your parts assembled, Good luck with your loop!
Edit: the bold black line is where you'll have to seperate the 2 systems and the grey on the back of the case will have to be vented to allow for air flow, you probably know that but I had to include that in the reworked drawing...

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I am another one of those guys who believes in removing the heat burden and not adding too it. For me, fans exhaust the radiator heat out of the case. You have to realize some things, you have to keep a complete view of what is going on and not focus on the minute. Sure, fresh air is cooler then case air, so it will cool the rad better, lower that an extra degreee or two, and cool the blocks a little better.

But then again, every single bit off heat that was pulled from those blocks by the rad is being pumped right back into the case. Your fighting yourself, and it's very easy to see, you just can't see it from your CPU temp, but everything else will feel it.

Of course, the other way around, if all that heat is going out the rad and exhasuted from the case, then the case air is even cooler then normal, which means it doesn't get that hot at all, and works just fine for cooling the radiator. Duct the radiator for even better performance.

you make a good point, ill find some creative way to duct the rad and get cool air in there.

zennzo: thanks for the tips, theyre definitely useful.

what do you guys thing of bay reservoirs as oppsoed to the "tube" res'?

Quote: Originally Posted by davidkruta you make a good point, ill find some creative way to duct the rad and get cool air in there. zennzo: thanks for the tips, theyre definitely useful. what do you guys thing of bay reservoirs as oppsoed to the "tube" res'?

Bay reservoirs seem expensive for what ya get, the double bay ones, arn't too bad.
Ones like this are simple to build, for less than the cost of the pre-built ones...

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Quote: Originally Posted by lcpiper I am another one of those guys who believes in removing the heat burden and not adding too it. For me, fans exhaust the radiator heat out of the case. You have to realize some things, you have to keep a complete view of what is going on and not focus on the minute. Sure, fresh air is cooler then case air, so it will cool the rad better, lower that an extra degreee or two, and cool the blocks a little better. But then again, every single bit off heat that was pulled from those blocks by the rad is being pumped right back into the case. Your fighting yourself, and it's very easy to see, you just can't see it from your CPU temp, but everything else will feel it. Of course, the other way around, if all that heat is going out the rad and exhasuted from the case, then the case air is even cooler then normal, which means it doesn't get that hot at all, and works just fine for cooling the radiator. Duct the radiator for even better performance.

Have ya tried it both ways? I have, and haven't had any adverse effects and my temp probes fail to indicate a problem with case temps. And with the rad fans pulling air from the case or from the outside, the case ambient temps are always higher than the room ambient temps. Personally I prefer to raise my case temps by 1-3 degrees than pull warmer air across my rads......But that is just me and my attemps to have lower temps than most.......

Soz Zennzo - no i havent seen a real life water cooling setup - im gonna go by photos on this one. Im a brave ol' soul! Yes i realize there are different sizes of pipes and different equipment with which to buy with them. Hey im a beginner really on this, but am more than willing to shot lucky and gain knowledge and trust from others.

I will, before the end of the year have my rig to what i want it to be. Wether that means selling my artheritic leg or getting 3 more jobs, I want to put some shear blodd and guts into this little number.

Quote: Originally Posted by ZENNZZO Bay reservoirs seem expensive for what ya get, the double bay ones, arn't too bad. Ones like this are simple to build, for less than the cost of the pre-built ones...

i actually have a lot of really sturdy, high quality acrylic sheets lying around (8"w x 12"L x 1/4"d), so maybe ill make my own. i just read a great article on how to make them.
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1089/

what should i use to connect the pieces together? anybody have any advice that i might not foresee that might help? thanks