Introduction: The Journey

After deciding to build big or go home, I knew I needed something out of the norm for my high end PC. I needed more than a clear window and some spiffy parts. I wanted... some bling. Well, not really. Ultimately my decision to water-cool (WC) my PC came down to two factors. 1) Over-clocking -herein referred to as OCing- my Q6600 and 2) Because I can. I'll be the first to admit, I knew nothing of water-cooling at the time other than it was complicated, expensive, impractical and all for show - it appealed to me immediately. But, boy, was I wrong.

I immediately set off to do the first thing I do whenever I plan on dropping a large sum of money on something. I read. A lot. That's probably why you're reading this. To get the certifiably quick trimmed down version of WCing. Don't worry, I can help.

The Disclaimer:

After days and days of reading about loops, reservoirs, pumps, tygon, blocks, fluid, power, and high-flow; my brain thought it might too need some WCing. Fortunately, I just needed a beer. What I'm going to provide for you in this article is the basics of WCing. I will say right up front (you've read this far, you're interested) that I am not an expert at WCing. I've only ever WCed one system, and that's not been prefect (but at least without damage). The reason I say this is for a few reasons. WCing is a lot of fun, WCing is - relatively - cheap, I'm here to teach - not to sell, to let you learn from my experience, and to give you an unbiased look at the world of WCing from a complete WCing n00b who now runs a Q6600 at 3.6GHz 24/7 at 54*C - not bad (never more than 68*C under load). I'm honest because I don't want e-mails, PMs, TXT messages, phone calls, carrier pigeons or couriers from people asking me details about water-flow, tubing size, heat transfer rate and dissipation etc etc. I simply don't know. I can learn, but for now, I'm going to give you the same knowledge I feel is necessary to start at Ground Zero and build your way in to a working WC system for your beast of a PC.

Getting Started: The Decision

Is WCing right for you? "Oh yes Ruin! It is! I like cool colors, plastic hoses and water in my PC!" Really? While I will humbly admit that my PC is pretty pimp and matches the color of my Corvette quite nicely, I will say WCing is not for everyone! WCing is not even reccommended for the "above average" user, hell, not even the "daily gamer" needs it. WCing is for "Xtreme PCs." This seems like a term thrown loosley around the PC world, but I consider it it's own genre.

First, let's start at the easy part - the cost. Weigh your options. Does the cost of a WC system match up with the cost of my PC? And by this, I don't mean "Yeah! $400 for my PC, $400 for my WC system!" No. Do be very blunt, I dropped $2000 on my tower alone. By that point, $350 for a WC system (CPU/GPU) wasn't much, it was pretty cheap given the benefits. Realize that to have a true WCing system you're going to spend no less than $250 (for cheap - CPU) and as much as $500 (CPU/GPU/SB/RAM) for good. Does your P4 with 1GB of RAM and 7600GT need WCing... probably not.

Now, let's ask "Ruin, why should I WC? It looks bad ass, but does it work?" In my opinion, yes, it works VERY well. Water transfers heat much more effectively than air does. Take a look at Koolance's Article on Basics of Heat Transfer for a short, sweet explanation. As you can see, it's simple science. Water will move heat off of your core parts much more effectively than air does. This is an undeniable fact. So what are some other reasons to, or not to, WC my rig?

Pros:

• Highly Effective Means of Cooling
  
• Low Noise - My system is silent.
  
• Less clutter in your case - looks cleaner and takes the weight off of a big HS/Fan off of your motherboard and PSU.
  
• High/Low Maintenance - Requires A More Rigorous Maintenance Schedule than an Air Cooled system, but Maintenance is fairly Painless
  
• Low Temps = High OCs
  Cons:
  
• Expensive
  
• Water Near Expensive PC Parts can be a Bad Mixture
  
• High Frequency Maintenance Schedule
  

Really WCing is a good thing, if you can afford it and don't mind having water in your case, I've had my fair share of scares.

The last thing I will add is a personal note. I'm not sure if it's a real reason for WCing or not, but it was a large part of my decision to WC. I ordered a pretty high end PC. I'm running some good stuff that I can only afford once. I decided that rather than gamble with heat and air cooling, I'd protect my investment by upgrading my cooling. If you happen upon some extra cash and decide to buy a PC (win the lotto, join the service, rob an old lady, whatever) and it's a one shot deal for you, the extra cooling from the WC system might not be a bad idea for some insurance. Heat wears down components, fast, the cooler they are, the longer they last. My goal when designing this rig was to have a PC that could run 4 cores at 3.6GHz 24/7 over the next 3 years - at least.

Getting Started: The Preparation

So, I've not talked you out of WCing yet? Good. Charlie Mike.

Alright, I hope you're ready for a very crash course in WCing. I'm going to throw out a lot of information and do the best I can to "break it down Barney style." Learning terminology is going to be very important and knowing the parts to the system and understanding their function is key to a good WC loop. Dr. Cox, if you please: "The not-so-hidden message being, of course, that if you screw up today, I'm gonna hit ya hard! I'm gonna hit ya fast!"

First, analyze the parts for your PC. Decide what you've got and what's worth WCing. Remember, each block will cost you anywhere from $45 to $100 for each part. So, the more you cool, the costlier it gets. Also, the more you cool, the larger the system you need, the larger the radiator (rad), the more fans, the more power draw off your PSU. It makes sense: Bigger = Costly = Resource Consuming. For the sheer ease of use, I'm going to use the specs from my build to aid in the process with this write-up.

Asus P5K Deluxe Mobo

Intel Q6600 Quad 2.4GHz stock

4GB G.Skill RAM

EVGA 8800GTX

X-Fi Fatality Soundcard

2x ASUS DVD Burners

3x Seagate HD (totaling 820GB)

880W Hiper PSU

Cooler Master Stacker case

Cool red lights and extra fans

Alright, so based on my parts I see that I need a CPU block and a GPU block. Deciding on the CPU is a personal thing. No sense in ignoring it, and if one of the reasons you WC is for quiet, why leave on that cheap EVGA HS/fan?

Note: Make sure your case is big enough for all of your parts! If you can't fit the rad inside the case, you need external mounting options!

Now, we're going to determine a loop for my system. My case is large enough for everything to mount internally, even if it does present challenges - what's with the hump in the middle of the floor?

To design a loop, you must first learn your parts, so, take notes:

Water-Block: A block is nothing without a WC system, and a WC system is nothing without a block. This is what draws heat away from your CPU/GPU/Whatever. You need one of these for every part you plan to WC. Read up on mounting compatibility before you buy. If you can, buy blocks that are already lapped - for you car guys, lapping a block is like cutting and buffing a clear-coat. You take any machining defects out of the block's base, so that it achieves optimal surface contact. Since this is your first WCing build, I'd recommend NOT lapping a block on your own, let the pros do it.

Pump: D'uh. Need I say more? This is what pushes the water through the tubing, through the blocks, through, well, everything.

Reservoir: A reservoir is optional. Personally, I bought one because it was $20 (Swiftech-MCRES) and looks a lot smoother than a T-Line. Reservoirs hold additional fluid and make filling and emptying a snap.

T-Line: Acts like a res. but is simply tubing that extends from your main loop above it, allowing gravity to do the work. Shaped like a T, makes sense right? You can do this, but you run the risk of restricting water flow with a T-fitting for the T-Line.

Radiator: This is not optional. Without this, you'll get about 10 seconds of life out of your PC before it melts. Get a rad. Rads come in various sizes. I've got a 2 fan Swiftech that works great for my CPU/GPU loop.

Tubing: Also not optional, something has to contain that fluid! You can get basic Masterkleer PVC tubing, or get Tygon. Pay attention to ID/OD (Inner/Outer Diameter) all of your fittings for your other parts need to be the same size so it all fits and there's no leak! I went with the Tygon, why? It flexes better, doesn't fog up as easily, and is a bit thicker. I like it.

Fluid: This is what makes it all worth it. You can use any after-market fluid found on any website. Be weary of claims of non-conductivity, low algae etc. Some guys just clean their parts real good and used colored distilled water. We'll touch on this later.

Fans: Up to you really. You can go cheap, go LED, or go silent. I chose Silent - Scythe 120mm fans on my rad are dead quiet. The only noise coming from my PC (even with two stock case fans - 1x 120mm and 1x 80mm) is from an Apevia red LED fan I bought for the rear exhaust, and the hard-drives when they're spinning. Nothing else makes noise, it's amazing.

Okay, so we're ready to plan our loop.

Because it's a circle, you can start anywhere, but the best place to start, is at the pump. There are only two rules:

1) The pump's inlet must draw from the Rad

2) The pump's outlet must go to a T-Line/Res

Even these rules are flexible depending on your setup, but try to make them happen.

So, the loop for my PC is:

Pump > Res > CPU > GPU > Rad > Pump

Pretty easy right? My original plan was:

Pump > Res > CPU > SB > GPU > Rad > Pump

But the P5K's SB chip already has a HS on it. Ooops. Maybe some day I'll take the HS off and mount the block I bought, who knows.