Custom water cooling

[Burgerman]

2.5 years later. Still working perfectly, still absolutely perfectly clean, zero corrosion or dirt. And no leak or other problems at all.

I am posting this as some said it was all too much maintainance. I changed coolant once, and that literally took 15 mins. As I fitted a drain, and a fill connection when building the loop. Corrosion inhibitor works. Currently using EK Cryofuel Clear with inhibitor built in. Its Glycol based. And you can do it without even turning it off! Looks as clean as the day I built it.

Completelely silent at idle, and very low noise when working hard (270W, 32 thread 30% CPU overclock, 500 watts Nvidia 3090 overclock). Never gets more than 5 to 8 degrees above room temperature thanks to a huge 2 inch thick front radiator (3 x 140mm fans) and a 2x 140mm fan radiator on the top. And liquid metal on GPU and CPU. Yes I am brave! And a powerful pump. This makes it both super powerful, and silent pretty much even with a crazy overclock. This runs at a miserable 110 watts at idle and near 800 watts when benchmarking and working hard. It runs 24/7 with a dark screen as my house server. With complete reliability on LTSC and crap loads of "free" top of range software.

Would I do it again? Definitely! Way better than any all in 1 cooler. Allows silly overclocks with almost no heat. or noise that isnt possible any other way.

Heres a pic in full multi colour changing rainbow horror! It lights my room at night. I sometimes turn that off. Or have constant colour (green)...

[martin007]

What do you use to hold the (flexible) tubes of the circuit?
Clamps?

[Burgerman]

Nuts and O rings, on nickel plated fittings. There are no flexible tubes.

All the tubes were solid perspex. These are all cut to length and bent with heat (a hot air gun) to join all the radiators, distribution blocks, pump, GPU and CPU and VRM heat sinks.

Fittings:
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/quantum/torque-fittings

A bunch of crystal clear solid perspex bent pipes...

[Burgerman]

Lots of these. 1/2 pipe thread x 14mm solid tube connectors.

To fit this perspex 14mm tube:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/corsair- ... 1u-cs.html

Comes in 1 meter lengths. You heat it, bend it around a mandrel that prevents it kinking. Then cool it. It goes into the fittings with a rubber O ring and a nut. As above.

2989632-a.jpg (26.83 KiB) Viewed 96 times

[martin007]

OK.
I thought transparent tubes were flexible.

[Burgerman]

No solid. But no problem, I was a plumber!

[Burgerman]

Those tubes are actually a kind of very hard perspex / Acrylic. I prefer those to any other types as they are super crystal clear and they stay that way.
The problem is that the majority of people are a bit scared of those types of tube as they are quite hard and brittle and so hard to bend and need a very precise and quite high temperature. Takes a little more skill to get perfect bends and theres zero "give" or flex. So if its a tiny bit wrong it cant be fitted... 5 degrees too hot and the tube bubbles and blisters. 5 degrees too cool and it is too fard to get perfect bends. Once made it lasts and keeps its shape and stays super crystal clear.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/sourcing-map-A ... B0B9G41KFS

Most people use a plastic tube called PETG instead. It is still "rigid" (mostly) but it is more like a softer plastic. It bends at a lower temperature and over a wide range of temperatures. So its easy to bend and get correct curves and no tube damage. But... Its not as clear. It looks sort of slightly "milky" in comparison. And it absorbs the coolant so becomes more and more discoloured over time. So it doesent last as well. And when the computer or weather gets pretty warm the bends you put in tend to try and straighten out a little so the once perfect fit becomes less so... So its easier but its not as good. Better to spend some time practising! And use the acrylic/perspex tube.
Esy tube https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eboxer-1000mm- ... B07GWW6THS


Theres also flexible tube used mostly by those that cannot face or do solid tubes and want water cooling for its ability to cool but dont really care how it looks. Theres a lot more of those sold. But they dont look cool! They work fine.
Any colour, but this is clear
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bewinner-Unive ... B07SQ2ZDZC

[martin007]

Do you have a heat gun with a temperature regulator?
How do you prevent the curves from turning inward when they are hot?

[Burgerman]

You mean how do I stop the tube kinking (flattening) when I bend it?

I use a mandrel...
Externally.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bewinner-Bendi ... B07SM7THPH
These cool the tube, you gotta work fast!

Or

Internally - rubber gos inside the tube with soapy water. These keep it too hot so opposite problem. All floppy!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Annadue-Silico ... B0B29DTHRD

I use a hot air heat gun meant for stripping off paint. WITH GREAT CARE and practice! Remember I am a plumber! Pipes are easy to me. I can look, bend things in the right places and it pretty much fits first time. Good job as you only get 1 go! Used 2 meters of tube in that PC and threw away about 6 inches.

Hard bit isnt bending tubes. Its planning everything, the layout. So it looks cool and vents air out naturally and drains fully.

[Burgerman]

I use one of these. Its got 2 settings. Low and melt everything.

I use melt everything as low is too slow. I really needed an in between setting. Just hold it further away, rotate pipe as you heat it. You "feel" it get flexible suddenly. So stop heating and bend fast!

Its about 1000 and 2000 watts. One or the other. You really need about 1400.

[martin007]

Externally.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bewinner-Bendi ... B07SM7THPH

Or

Internally
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Annadue-Silico ... B0B29DTHRD

Excellent complements.

I was referring to the inner part.
I once saw a video in which they made the Harley-Davidson motorcycle frame.
To avoid deformations that would close the tube to the inside, they used high-pressure water.
The iron tubes supported high-pressure water while taking the desired shape...

[Burgerman]

Used to bend oron pipes with dry sand inside, 2 wood plugs, and an oxy acetlene torch. Same sort of thing. I prefer the mandrels or no aid at all on smaller bends. You can do this by heating the outside of the bend more than the inside. So the inner and the sides are only a little soft, and the outside is very soft and stretches easily. Works for up to 45 degrees. Practice!

[martin007]

During the manufacture of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle frame, the iron pipes were not heated.
They just used force.
Perhaps it is more convenient, clean and faster to fill the tubes with water (at high pressure) than to use sand.

[Burgerman]

Yes.