Water Cooling Newbie Advice much Appriciated

Sheshonk · 06-13-2009, 12:54 AM

Hi, I just installed my first water cooling kit, the 3D Galaxy II, and am a bit dissapointed with the results. At first things seemed to be going great, CPU running at 40c (previous 50c), but after only an hour of running my computer it ramps up to 50c (previous 55c). I found these numbers using speedfan, and ran a computer game for an hour (computer not idle). I was really hoping to be able to overclock my processor by buying this kit, but it doesn't seem like I'm going to be able to pull that off. I was hoping I was doing something wrong and you all could lend your expertise in answering a few questions, or better yet, giving recomendations...

1) Whenever I was installing the waterblock I was having issues holding it in place and I'm unsure if I lost my good thermal paste coat. Is it safe to re-apply the thermal gel without draining the kit? I don't have a second supply of coolant to fill the kit with.

2) The radiator lies matched up with the exhaust fan on the back of my case. Is pushing hot air into the radiator something I want to be doing? Should I be removing that exhaust fan?

3) How important is room temperature for liquid cooling? Unfortunately my computer is situated in the hottest room in the house. I'd prefer not to move it, but definitely will if it will improve performance by a considerable amount.

I'm sure at this point you guys are wondering what my spec's are, so without further wait...

Gigabyte Triton 180 Case
AMD Phenom4 9950be CPU
nForce 720a Motherboard
GeForce GTX 260 GPU
Corsair ATX12V 520w Power Source
4 Kingston HyperX 1GB 240-pin DDR SDRAM DDR2 800

What can I do? I can't return the kit so I need to make best with what I got. Should I be looking into getting a case with better air flow? Should I upgrade the radiator? The only thing I need to be looking for is a copper radiator if I so wished to do that right? Anything that I'm not aware of?

Any help would be greatly appriciated, I'm rather new to this...

**manic** · 06-13-2009, 10:05 AM

Corsair makes a very good psu. But I think your underpowered with
that one. I would be running a 750watt corsair. If the specs Ive read
on your 520 watt are accurate, you have 3 12volt rails @18amps
which is enough power, but figure in the efficency, and age of the
unit, you are pressing it. That can cause overheating. You may get
by with the 650watt, but for a few bucks more go for the 750.

If your careful you can remove the cooling block without draining the
system, clean both surfaces with alcohol, then reapply making sure to
do it correctly, to much grease is not good.
The radiator should not be getting smacked by hot air escaping from
your machine. The fluid can only stay as cool as its surroundings. If the
radiator gets hot, the fluid gets hot. Might have to do some creative
management for the radiator. Are you sure there are no air pockets in the
line?
Never a big fan of water cooling,,,

collaboration · 06-30-2009, 03:40 AM

im kind of new to water cooling as well. i use the bigwater 760 from thermaltake. It's a good start to get into water cooling, i haven't had any problems with heating. i have an ati 4870x2 with liquid coolant running through it. low at 40 C and high at 50-55 C. maybe coolant is not circulating as much. or you might need another radiator to cool down liquid while circulation occurs. the power supply is a bit low. i have a pp800 and its effecting my performance, so i am currently saving for a 750 corsair with 90% efficiency.

06-13-2009, 12:54 AM	#1 (permalink)
Sheshonk Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1 OS: xp	Water Cooling Newbie Advice much Appriciated Hi, I just installed my first water cooling kit, the 3D Galaxy II, and am a bit dissapointed with the results. At first things seemed to be going great, CPU running at 40c (previous 50c), but after only an hour of running my computer it ramps up to 50c (previous 55c). I found these numbers using speedfan, and ran a computer game for an hour (computer not idle). I was really hoping to be able to overclock my processor by buying this kit, but it doesn't seem like I'm going to be able to pull that off. I was hoping I was doing something wrong and you all could lend your expertise in answering a few questions, or better yet, giving recomendations... 1) Whenever I was installing the waterblock I was having issues holding it in place and I'm unsure if I lost my good thermal paste coat. Is it safe to re-apply the thermal gel without draining the kit? I don't have a second supply of coolant to fill the kit with. 2) The radiator lies matched up with the exhaust fan on the back of my case. Is pushing hot air into the radiator something I want to be doing? Should I be removing that exhaust fan? 3) How important is room temperature for liquid cooling? Unfortunately my computer is situated in the hottest room in the house. I'd prefer not to move it, but definitely will if it will improve performance by a considerable amount. I'm sure at this point you guys are wondering what my spec's are, so without further wait... Gigabyte Triton 180 Case AMD Phenom4 9950be CPU nForce 720a Motherboard GeForce GTX 260 GPU Corsair ATX12V 520w Power Source 4 Kingston HyperX 1GB 240-pin DDR SDRAM DDR2 800 What can I do? I can't return the kit so I need to make best with what I got. Should I be looking into getting a case with better air flow? Should I upgrade the radiator? The only thing I need to be looking for is a copper radiator if I so wished to do that right? Anything that I'm not aware of? Any help would be greatly appriciated, I'm rather new to this...

06-13-2009, 10:05 AM	#2 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,195 OS: xp	Re: Water Cooling Newbie Advice much Appriciated Corsair makes a very good psu. But I think your underpowered with that one. I would be running a 750watt corsair. If the specs Ive read on your 520 watt are accurate, you have 3 12volt rails @18amps which is enough power, but figure in the efficency, and age of the unit, you are pressing it. That can cause overheating. You may get by with the 650watt, but for a few bucks more go for the 750. If your careful you can remove the cooling block without draining the system, clean both surfaces with alcohol, then reapply making sure to do it correctly, to much grease is not good. The radiator should not be getting smacked by hot air escaping from your machine. The fluid can only stay as cool as its surroundings. If the radiator gets hot, the fluid gets hot. Might have to do some creative management for the radiator. Are you sure there are no air pockets in the line? Never a big fan of water cooling,,, __________________

06-30-2009, 03:40 AM	#3 (permalink)
collaboration Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 13 OS: Windows xp Proffesional sp3	Re: Water Cooling Newbie Advice much Appriciated im kind of new to water cooling as well. i use the bigwater 760 from thermaltake. It's a good start to get into water cooling, i haven't had any problems with heating. i have an ati 4870x2 with liquid coolant running through it. low at 40 C and high at 50-55 C. maybe coolant is not circulating as much. or you might need another radiator to cool down liquid while circulation occurs. the power supply is a bit low. i have a pp800 and its effecting my performance, so i am currently saving for a 750 corsair with 90% efficiency.