# Your First LC System



## CyberDruid (Feb 28, 2009)

*Post Your First LC System*

Share pics, stories, vids of your very first Aqua Adventure.

I'll Start.






I did my first LC build early in 2005 and this was a big radiator way back then 





So I decided to do it myself with a universal transmission cooler and some dryer ducting I found at Home Depot.





That's the result...but I never actually set up the loop...and I managed to  pierce the little rad and never actually used it 





I did have one of the very first production Storm Waterblock by Swiftech right after Cathar leased the IP to them. I still have this block 





Luckily I got some sage advice on how to set up the LCS better





And there it is my very first Liquid Cooled PC.

A P4 3.0e that ran 4 ghz no sweat 24/7 100% load for SETI and then for Folding@Home. THat rig ran 2 years virtually non stop OUTSIDE on the porch Winter/Summer/Rain/Snow lol...it was a beast. What great rig. The Asus P4 800SE was outstanding.

So let's see some "My First"s from the waterheads on this Forum


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## Hybrid_theory (Mar 2, 2009)

Very nice, I like the picture with the kid drawing the hardware.  I don't know If I'll ever go with WC. I'm nervous about leaks.


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## Disparia (Mar 2, 2009)

First LC... 1996? 97 maybe? Had just read about someone water cooling their machine, so I went downstairs to see if I had enough parts to throw one together. Didn't find much, but I had a pvc cap like this and when you cut off the top, the square would fit right over a Pentium chip.

Not having any pumps or anything else around I believe I just filled it with water and ice and ran it until it burned up  No, I guess it doesn't really count, but I do have plans to LC my daughters box when I have some more money to play with.


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## CyberDruid (Mar 3, 2009)

Ha that's a great story. I've seen a thread about a guy doing something similar with a mountain dew can and Dry Ice


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## DOM (Mar 3, 2009)

may 07


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## CyberDruid (Mar 3, 2009)

That's a very accomplished "first time"


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 3, 2009)

Two weeks ago... 











I never had an interest in water cooling until recently. Air cooling was always the best solution IMO until I realized how hot quad cores get/got. H20 all the way from now on.


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## DrPepper (Mar 3, 2009)

I wish I could have got that wc kit from danish devil  I would have used fanta fruit twist as the coolent for shits and giggles.


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## AddSub (Mar 3, 2009)

My old liquid cooled AMD machine from many years ago. (3 years ago I think?) Single core AMD Athlon 64 4000+ and a Sapphire Radeon X850XT, both of which were liquid cooled. This is one of the several photos I could dig up. They are all poor quality and this is the best of em. (I know, blinding camera flash, eh?!)

I'm pretty sure I got some better photos somewhere. I'll try to find them. Until then this will have to do: (Also in the photo there is an EVGA nForce4 X16 motherboard, two Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II chipset coolers, and some Corsair RAM.)


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## CyberDruid (Mar 3, 2009)

Cool stuff guys.


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## DOM (Mar 3, 2009)

CyberDruid said:


> That's a very accomplished "first time"



yeah had some spills on the test runs but still have everything but the case i caned it lol 

my rig now has less blks but still alot of tubing lol


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## Thrackan (Mar 4, 2009)

I'll keep you updated on my first LC setup... which is still in the works


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## CyberDruid (Mar 4, 2009)

All right. Looking forward to it


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## Thrackan (Mar 8, 2009)

My first test loop, I've just drained it


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## CyberDruid (Mar 8, 2009)

Safety First!


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## Cold Storm (Mar 8, 2009)

Here is my first:






Something my father and I did when I had a 4 day weekend!  God I hated going back and forth to try and find the fittings for the compression... One side was at one Home Depot, the second was on the other side of West Palm Beach...


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## CyberDruid (Mar 8, 2009)

That's the best...working on a cool PC with your Dad.


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## Cold Storm (Mar 8, 2009)

CyberDruid said:


> That's the best...working on a cool PC with your Dad.



That it is sir! I bet your son loves to do the same with you! 

Now, I just gotta talk them out of an Apple computer (I do like their laptops ONLY) so when I see him this summer we can build a system together!


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## Thrackan (Mar 8, 2009)

Get him a Hackintosh  Best of both worlds.

Btw I got my first loop running. Pics will follow.


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## Thrackan (Mar 9, 2009)

My first loop! Please note included funnel was a ghetto mod made from an old rounded IDE cable


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## CyberDruid (Mar 9, 2009)

Love the funnel :rocker:

Nice clean install. Temps?


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## Thrackan (Mar 9, 2009)

30ish idle, max 66c load with the i7 on 3.66Ghz plus Turbo plus Hyperthreading.

Definately going to shorten the loop though, I can mount the res a lot higher if I want to. Saves me a lot of tubing and some pressure most likely.


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## CyberDruid (Mar 9, 2009)

i7 runs hot for sure. Mine is at 65C load air stock.


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## Thrackan (Mar 9, 2009)

Had about the same on air. Disabling HT gets you about 10C off though


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## erocker (Mar 9, 2009)

I did my first water cooling back in July.  The tech station still lives, though the water cooling parts have been cannibolized into other systems.


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## RevengE (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm starting my first WC setup in a week.


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 9, 2009)

this was my first build after the phenom, but really looked pretty much the same, just the rad was different.


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 9, 2009)

xRevengEx said:


> I'm starting my first WC setup in a week.



  keep us posted.


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## Thrackan (Mar 9, 2009)

xRevengEx said:


> I'm starting my first WC setup in a week.



Look out, it's addictive!  I love it already, and I've had my first loop going since sunday


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## DanishDevil (Mar 9, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> I wish I could have got that wc kit from danish devil  I would have used fanta fruit twist as the coolent for shits and giggles.



I'll have a fairly similar one up and running soon (I hope).

I'm gonna have to dig up pics of my first time one


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## RevengE (Mar 9, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> keep us posted.



I will man, you & binge are going to be my two main men as I'm new to intel.. And really want to Oc the i7 as high as I can!


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## DrPepper (Mar 9, 2009)

DanishDevil said:


> I'll have a fairly similar one up and running soon (I hope).
> 
> I'm gonna have to dig up pics of my first time one



 Use something crazy as a coolant


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## DanishDevil (Mar 9, 2009)

I don't want to ruin my rig man!


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 9, 2009)

xRevengEx said:


> I will man, you & binge are going to be my two main men as I'm new to intel.. And really want to Oc the i7 as high as I can!




woot woot!!!! 


DanishDevil said:


> I don't want to ruin my rig man!



Tom's Hardware used beer on one of their coolant tests


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## DrPepper (Mar 9, 2009)

DanishDevil said:


> I don't want to ruin my rig man!



 I'l do it for tpu if I get a wc setup. 

also my dad is a central heating engineer and I'm going to get him to get my a high power pump and make my own wc cooler if its possible.


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## Conflict0s (Mar 9, 2009)

My first setup 
















Arh! Sorry for double post.


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## Conflict0s (Mar 9, 2009)

My first setup 

http://www.techpowerup.org/uploaded.php?file=090309/IMGP0438.jpg

http://www.techpowerup.org/uploaded.php?file=090309/IMGP0442.jpg

http://www.techpowerup.org/uploaded.php?file=090309/IMGP0439.jpg


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## Maju (Mar 9, 2009)

Well seeing as you asked, here is my first Water setup






tube into top of res connects to fill port in top of case.
left tube/bottom gfx card => quick release mounted on rear of case for easy draining of system.

Of stories to share I can only recommend using a non conductive liquid.
As my computer is in my living room noise was a factor so the radiator fans are rigged to a controller and when turned low they are barely audible, which is not so different to when the fans aren't working......which is what happened
After returning in the morning after an all night download checked the temp to find it running at 83*C !

The moral of the story - make sure that you check & double check ALL tube clamps twice.

It is an absolutely gutting feeling to see your cooling fluid pooled on the circuit board of your expensive graphics card, and several months on there is still a dried splodge of purple residue.
I can only think that where the tubing had heated up so much that it let by on one if the two jubilee clips in the system.
A lucky escape and a lesson well learnt !

Thankfully everything still works and under load with SLI 8800GTX @720/1100 and AMD 6000 @ 3.2, all on one loop it tops out at about 39*c. (idle 32*c)


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 10, 2009)

*@ Maju*

looks very good.  Cosmos right?


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## RevengE (Mar 10, 2009)

woah..a purple cosmos neat!


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## sneekypeet (Mar 10, 2009)

A bit of older DFI love with my first go at it.


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## Cold Storm (Mar 10, 2009)

I gotta say Sneeky, that blue in the tubing is sweet! Or is it blue? lol.. Looks cromeish blue to me.. Or, is that just my eyes... Do wish they made those style boards again.. Loved seeing the ram above the chip!


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## Sasqui (Mar 10, 2009)

Koolance grear... Circa 2002-2003,  Cooling retired last month, working on a new system in a CM Haf case...






oHHHH, Pretty lights!!!!!!!!!!!


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## sneekypeet (Mar 10, 2009)

Cold Storm said:


> I gotta say Sneeky, that blue in the tubing is sweet! Or is it blue? lol.. Looks cromeish blue to me.. Or, is that just my eyes... Do wish they made those style boards again.. Loved seeing the ram above the chip!



Thats the Steel Blue PC ICE. just didnt seem to get as blue in the loop as it was in the bottle or the res.


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## Cold Storm (Mar 10, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> Thats the Steel Blue PC ICE. just didnt seem to get as blue in the loop as it was in the bottle or the res.



To me, I think it looks pretty nice like that.. Having a "true blue" looking loop, the way you have it, wouldn't of seemed right.  But the Steel Blue goes "hand and hand" with the case. Sets the loop apart from everything else.


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## CyberDruid (Mar 10, 2009)

Sasqui said:


> Koolance grear... Circa 2002-2003,  Cooling retired last month, working on a new system in a CM Haf case...



You got me beat there man...that's seriously vintage cooling...with Quick Disconnects and everything  

Thanks to everyone for posting your first LC builds and stories. Those stories can help the next guy.


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## Sasqui (Mar 10, 2009)

CyberDruid said:


> You got me beat there man...that's seriously vintage cooling...with Quick Disconnects and everything




No way, you totally got me beat - yours was homebuilt, looks great and sounds like a performer.  That Koolance with 1/4" tubes wasn't much better than good air.

I got 1/2" quick disconnects for the new system, was routing tubing/coiling last night.  More to come on that build...  it's looking good.


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## Bl4ck (Mar 10, 2009)

@ work atm so no pics,  

last year had my first LC, 

Laing DCC 1T 
Swiftech 2x120 Rad 
Swiftech Apogee GT (Oring mod)
Feser One Black
Swiftech Res mini (acrylic)

loved that setup,  but came back to Air Cooling, b/c its cheaper and my Wolfdale didn't need the "extra" power of LC.


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## CyberDruid (Mar 10, 2009)

Post those pics when you get home please. Thanks.


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## Sasqui (Mar 10, 2009)

Conflict0s said:


> My first setup
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sweet!  I fixed the 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 links - you need to scroll down to the bottom of the page when you upload pics here to copy the right URL.


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## Conflict0s (Mar 10, 2009)

Arh right thanks 
And Sasqui did you water cool your xBox with them blocks by any chance? (It's just that many people use them blocks as they are nice and thin)


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## Sasqui (Mar 11, 2009)

Conflict0s said:


> Arh right thanks
> And Sasqui did you water cool your xBox with them blocks by any chance? (It's just that many people use them blocks as they are nice and thin)



No never heard of that - the CPU block is supposedly good for 200w and is quite low-profile.

I'm going to offer them up when I get my new build done and all the extra parts together (got nozzles, fittings, radiator, etc.).


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## Whilhelm (Mar 11, 2009)

My first setup





What it looks now


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## AUTOgod (Mar 11, 2009)

my first setup (just after christmas):




antec 900 and a thermaltake big water 745

now:




same, only with a cosmos and new tubes, with springs.

and a little something i made:








made with an old case fan, the back of a calculator, and a cd case. simply hooks on to the stock heatsink. awesomely effective and silent .


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 11, 2009)

*@ Whilhelm*

is the one with the black tubing the same build?  Regardless, looks great


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## Whilhelm (Mar 12, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> *@ Whilhelm*
> 
> is the one with the black tubing the same build?  Regardless, looks great



Thanks for the comment. The first pic is when I first got my LC loop going in my TJ07 and the last pic is the third rebuild of the same system with dual loops. Quite a big evolution from what it started out as.


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 12, 2009)

Whilhelm said:


> Thanks for the comment. The first pic is when I first got my LC loop going in my TJ07 and the last pic is the third rebuild of the same system with dual loops. Quite a big evolution from what it started out as.



noticed, looks really good, especially for a first build.  Is that black Tygon?


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## Th0rn0 (Mar 15, 2009)

I'm looking for a watercooling system to start my first project. Can anybody recommend one for a NZXT tempest?


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## Thrackan (Mar 16, 2009)

If you can handle a screwdriver, I'd say don't invest in premade systems.
Setting up a loop was damn easy.

On a complete sidenote, AquaTuning.de decided to open a shop in the Netherlands as well! Pwn!


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