# Irony's HAF Water Cooling



## Irony (Mar 15, 2013)

I decided to give water cooling a go. I've been wanting to since about the third time I saw a water loop. lol. The first couple times I thought it was the stupidest idea ever; water in your beloved computer?! Then eventually I saw some awesome rig water cooled and I was like, I WANT...

So then I just had to find out what I wanted exactly, and then get money. So here's what I came up with after some suggestions and stuff in my other thread:

EK Supremacy CPU block
Alphacool xt45
Swiftech maelstrom pump/res
Primochill red tubing 1/2ID 3/4OD
Monsoon fittings 1/2ID 3/4OD 
Corsair SP120 fans


Bought everything on Tuesday, and received some of the parts today, namely CPU block, Fittings and Tubing. The rest should be coming tomorrow, hopefully. I'll have pics up in a minute. 

Edit: I wanted to add that this is a project log. Forgot to put it in the name;


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## Irony (Mar 15, 2013)

Heres what came today in their boxes. Sorry if pics aren't great, using my tablet. I'm also horrible with taking pictures





First the pretty Monsoon fittings




Some moar




And mooaaar





CPU Block box




Didn't take it out of its plastic yet. just made sure everything was there





I'm slightly annoyed with the tubing its not RED red. It's a little orangish, compared to the red on the Monsoon fittings. Doesn't look that bad in the picture though 




Looks really good in the picture actually; maybe its just me



Packaging from Frozencpu was great about 4-5 inches of brown paper covering everything. 






Edit: I guess you probly want to see my case now. Here's a picture a couple days ago with my loop plan






I should be back tomorrow with more, UPS says it'll be delivered tomorrow.

(Lol, my internet is so slow I oiled a par of boots while I was waiting for these to upload)


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 15, 2013)

cant wait for progress.


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## MT Alex (Mar 15, 2013)

Irony said:


> (Lol, my internet is so slow I oiled a par of boots while I was waiting for these to upload)



I wear these everyday, all day, always.  When I wear them out I buy a new pair, roughly every other year. I'm hard on boots, some make them last 5 years or longer.  I use Obenauf's, now, I used to use Montana Pitch Blend.  When I was a kid I remember the smell of the mink oil my Dad used to use, then he'd put them by the wood stove so the oil would penetrate.


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## Irony (Mar 15, 2013)

Ya, I like to use mink oil. My boots get light tan from wear after a month or two and I rub mink oil in them, gets em dark brown again. My favorite work boots are shmidt, good heavy steel toe boots. I also have some steel toe ariat pull on boots, alot lighter than the shmidts.


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## HammerON (Mar 15, 2013)

Sub'd for more pics and final build


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## Irony (Mar 15, 2013)

I'm so excited, everything came today while I was at work. PerformancePC packaged averything very nicely with styrofoam peanuts, and then that covered in bubble wrap.




Heres what came today, Radiator, Fans and Pump/Reservoir




Pump/Res




Very clean and looks like excellent build quality




Radiator. More bubbles




Plastic plugs for transport




The copper foil sticker is crooked on both sides




It's also really dirty on the outside, covered with dust. And it makes a clinking sound when I turn it, like theres bits of metal inside or something. Will have to rinse it out and see. Didn't get any distilled water yet so I'll wait on that




Here are it's copper plated screws and plugs




And here's everything all together.


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## HammerON (Mar 15, 2013)

Suprised that the rad is dirty
Shouldn't be any clunking going on either:shadedshu


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## Irony (Mar 15, 2013)

Ya thats what I thought too. The outside of the box is shiny clean, so it was dirty when it was packaged. Not sure if I should try and complain or not. As long as it doesn't leak I think I'll be fine.

Is it alright to rinse it with tap water and then later when I get some distilled water rinse it out with that before installation?


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## HammerON (Mar 16, 2013)

I would wait until you get distilled water to rinse...


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 17, 2013)

Now that im on an actual computer rather then looking on my phone and can barely see the pictures they are so huge. Parts look good Irony. Get it put together.....................this next week(end)!?


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## Irony (Mar 17, 2013)

Bloody internet died since friday night, just bumped a coax cable going into the modem and it started working just now. I'll try and get pictures up in a bit, have the parts installed almost ready for a leak test


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## Irony (Mar 18, 2013)

Heres a shot of the radiator before installation. There was some minor corrosion inside so I rinsed it first with distilled water, got some gravelly looking stuff out of it and helped with the clinking. 




Case with everything pulled ready for install




Here's the pretty block




Back side




Beautiful copper...




Inside of the block with default jetplate. I wasn't sure which jetplate to use because it doesn't specifically say that one is for AMD, so I put the one that said optimized for LGA2011 on it. Has a bigger hole, hence more flow. Idk if there is really even much performance difference at all between them




Here it is installed




Pleliminary hose connections, making sure f lengths and whatnot




Back side of res




Here it is all hooked up with fittings. Those things were a massive pain to install, I would highly recommend thinner wall tubing, like maybe 1/16" to anyone planning on using monsoon fittings. They look good tho




Another shot




Reservoir, all topped off with water after running a couple hours





My only problem so far is bubbles. I've gotten then out of the system fairly well I think, took the rad out while it was running and turned it around letting the bubbles flow out, but the turbulence in the res blows air bubbles into the inlet. I think I need to slow the pump speed down a bit, but plugging it into the 4-pin CPU fan header on my mobo it doesn't change the speed. I've tried setting it to run slower in BIOS and it doesn't seem to make a difference. 

Anybody have any ideas as far as PWM control?

Edit: nevermind about PWM, I fugured it out in bios. Speed is good now, isn't sucking any bubbles anymore, can't see any in the lines either. I think most of the air is bled out now. Now for temps, before with IBT on high it got over 70c, Here's a pic from today, same setting and speed it got to only 35c, (test crashed after 8 passes but I'll deal with that later) I'd say a 35c+ temerature drop is pretty dang awesome! Right now I'm pretty happy with this






Edit: It's running good now, seems like the bubbles are worked out. This res isn't the greatest as far as flow inside, the water that comes back, if there is any air at all it blows it into the pump intake. Have to run the pump slow to keep it from sucking bubbles if theres any air in the res


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 19, 2013)

Looks good dude, and that temp drop is massive jesus!

Should be able to push that chip pretty high if you wanted too.

EDIT: And my paint job on the case still looks prime!


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## JousteR (Mar 19, 2013)

Shouldn't that block have the exit at the top..?
Would it only be getting half filled before returning..?


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## MT Alex (Mar 19, 2013)

Irony said:


> This res isn't the greatest as far as flow inside, the water that comes back, if there is any air at all it blows it into the pump intake. Have to run the pump slow to keep it from sucking bubbles if theres any air in the res



Is it filled to the "Max" line?  I don't have any cavitation troubles with mine, even at 4500 rpm.  I have a lot more components in my loop, so I'm sure that helps.  I used to with my old Rev 2 integrated res, so I know what you are referring to.


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## Irony (Mar 19, 2013)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Looks good dude, and that temp drop is massive jesus!
> 
> Should be able to push that chip pretty high if you wanted too.
> 
> EDIT: And my paint job on the case still looks prime!



Thanks. Yeah, I might be able to try for 5ghz, I hope. Temps were my biggest concern before



JousteR said:


> Shouldn't that block have the exit at the top..?
> Would it only be getting half filled before returning..?



I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. You mean you think it might be half filled with air?



MT Alex said:


> Is it filled to the "Max" line?  I don't have any cavitation troubles with mine, even at 4500 rpm.  I have a lot more components in my loop, so I'm sure that helps.  I used to with my old Rev 2 integrated res, so I know what you are referring to.



Lol at that video. The whole thing turned into a spinning vortex. With this res, at top speed if theres much air in it, in front of the inlet there will be a whirling vortex of air that gets pulled straight across into the pump, even through the piece of foam and mesh. Right now I have it filled above the max line, so theres only a little air at the very top. What kindof reservoir do you currently have?

Also, earlier it was getting kindof foamy, so I drained it and refilled again with pure distilled water and its all clear. Mustve had a bit of something in it. That also helped a little with the bubbles. Can't hear them at all now


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 19, 2013)

Irony said:


> Thanks. Yeah, I might be able to try for 5ghz, I hope. Temps were my biggest concern before
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Im not sure either, but don't worry about it. Your stuff is fine. Except are you not running 3 fans on the rad?

EDIT: nevermind see it in your close up picture.


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## Irony (Mar 19, 2013)

Yeah in the one picture I left that fan off so I could get to the fittings. Hadn't installed them yet


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## MT Alex (Mar 19, 2013)

Irony said:


> What kindof reservoir do you currently have?



A Maelstrom.


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## Irony (Mar 19, 2013)

Here's my CPUz at 5000mhz. 
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2737011

Couldn't get it stable, even with 1.63v. Didn't wanna go higher. But all the way up to 4.9 I can get reasonably stable, so I'm happy in that regard as well. 

Here are some finished shots. Cleaned the cables up some, and dusted it out a bit. This tablet camera makes everything look dusty.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 19, 2013)

Irony said:


> Here's my CPUz at 5000mhz.
> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2737011
> 
> Couldn't get it stable, even with 1.63v. Didn't wanna go higher. But all the way up to 4.9 I can get reasonably stable, so I'm happy in that regard as well.
> ...



Christ, the thing is probably dusty. look at all the fans you have! the 4 on the side panel lol!


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## Irony (Mar 19, 2013)

Ya I know lol. I need to get some filters for those or something. I did blow it out a little. Need to take it out to my shop and use a real compressor


Edit: check this out: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2868338&postcount=1285


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 19, 2013)

Irony said:


> Ya I know lol. I need to get some filters for those or something. I did blow it out a little. Need to take it out to my shop and use a real compressor



just take off all 4 of those fans. I don't think you really need them now.

It'll make the system a bit quieter too since a ton of air isn't rush through the honey comb grills. Honey comb is so loud!


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## Irony (Mar 19, 2013)

Ya that stupid mesh is loud. Hence the controller and resistors. Makes it very quiet. I've thought about putting spacers behind the fans, getting them a little higher off the mesh. But like you said they're not so important now. But I already have all the fans, don't have anything else to do with them. Unless I mod my little silverstone SG02B for 120mm...lol. Oh also, I took the optical drive out thats in the pictures. I use it so rarely I'll probably just sell it and get an external.


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## n0tiert (Apr 23, 2013)

nice build m8 !

how are those fittings and rad fans  ?

i´m missing some sleeves


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## Irony (Apr 23, 2013)

Fittings are great, haven't had any sort of leak at all, and they look pretty nice too. Fans keep it cool, and fairly quiet. I like how corsair fans look.I accidently dropped one when I was taking em off for something and now it sometimes makes a grinding noise when it starts up It's wierd though, after about 3 or 4 minutes it stops making the noise completely. I looked at it, nothing is touching that I can see so it must be inside the motor. I might try taking it apart.


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