Why would I want liquid cooling?

Before we get into the detail of exactly what liquid cooling provides, let consider why we would even want to do it. You may be surprised that it’s not just the enthusiast overclocker that might benefit. Simply liquid cooling can do the following:

• Reduce the noise of your system
• Reduce temperatures of the components
• Increase performance headroom
• Add a customised feel to your machine
• Even make it glow in the dark (Seriously!)

So there are a number of people that can benefit from liquid cooling:

• The Overclocker / Enthusiast - the most obvious user and the increased performance headroom that high-end water cooling offers can make all the difference in your 3dMark / PCMark benchmarks!
• The Musician - water cooling, when designed with quietness in mind, can reduce the need for virtually any fans in your case which can lead to the ultimate home built recording studio.
• The Multimedia Nut - when running a media pc to stream content to your home cinema setup the last thing you want is a whizzing fan in the background - water cooling can help.
• Any Australian – We all know how hot it can get in Summer. Water Cooling can help keep your PC running at full performance all year long.

If you are not sure it’s right for you or simply want advice then please 'contact us'

What benefits does liquid cooling give?

Since the first computer components were created, there has always been a balance between performance (i.e. speed) and power usage (i.e. heat production). In the early years of performance computing this balance could be maintained by the use of simple cooling solutions such as a small heatsink. As performance has sky rocketed so has the power usage and hence heat produced by the key components of our systems has dramatically increased. This change has not been linear as advances in technology have lead to smaller micron counts used in the production of the chips we use today, and this in turn typically reduces power usage. If we compare an original Pentium chip (which is not from the distant past by any means!) and the quad core chips of today, we still see a considerable increase in power usage.

So having said all that - why water cool my system? Essentially we can go back to basic physics. The most common PC cooling solution is air (i.e. a fan pushing air over a heatsink) and water is 25 times more thermally conductive than air, therefore this is the main reason we use water cooling.

To be accurate we call this 'liquid cooling' rather than 'water cooling', as there are several types of liquid that can be included in the cooling loop. However, the usual set up involves basic distilled water and an additive to prevent corrosion and/or bacterial growth in the tubing. The temperatures on the chips can get close to “ambient”, but the most impressive part is the control over load temperatures. With air cooling, temperatures within the component can become very high while the chip is being stressed, but with water cooling, the load temps are kept under control, which then allows you to push the chip even further or if you prefer reduce the overall noise of your system while maintaining the same temperatures as air cooling.

The basic liquid cooling setup usually contains the following:

• water blocks of your choice, e.g. CPU, GPU, chipset, hard drive etc
• a pump
• a radiator
• fans
• a reservoir
• high quality PVC tubing

Water blocks

The water block is a component made out of some sort of metal. Its purpose is to remove heat from the heat source and put said heat into the water. The most common and best material for water blocks is copper due to its resistance to corrosion, though some lower budget blocks are made from aluminium. Water flows through the block without touching the actual computer component, for the most part. Water blocks can be made for any type of heat source, such as CPU's, GPU's, Power regulators, RAM, Hard Drives, chipset, etc. Typically though we would focus on the CPU and GPU initially plus possibly the chipset for some of the more recent Nvidia boards (as they run very hot), but the other blocks can be added if the purchaser has a particular requirements to cool those components.

Pumps

The pump is used to provide flow through the water cooling system. When choosing a pump two main attributes to be concerned with are Flow (GPH/LPH) and Head Pressure. The flow is how fast the pump can move water with absolutely no restriction on the intake or output. Head Pressure is how high the pump is able to push water at 0 gallons per minute. You will also often see graphs against water blocks indicating how they affect these figures in the system, i.e. the pressure drop they cause for a given flow.

We offer a range of pumps to suit most needs, for the system with a smaller number of blocks we would recommend either the XSPC 400 or D-Tek DB1 pump. However for the enthusiast looking for big overclocks or a larger number of blocks the Swiftech MCP350 is small and powerful or the D-Tek D5 Vario offers a great controllable level of flow.

Radiators

The purpose of the radiator is to remove heat from the water and out into the open air. Purpose built computer radiators are generally the choice of most due to their ease of fan mounting, aesthetics, and easier to manage size.

We offer a range of radiators to suit all tastes and needs, ranging from UV blue 120mm singles to sleek black 120m triples. To decide on a radiator, you again have to consider the rest of your system. How many blocks are you going to add, what pump are you using and what tubing size? Check out the example setups at the end of this document for some options, or alternatively drop us a line for advice.

An option with your radiator is the addition of a shroud. This essentially moves the fan further out from the radiator surface, helping to avoid the deadzone of the fan and spread airflow evenly over the radiator. Again you should consider whether this is a requirement for your setup, in general though it can only help performance of the radiator.

Fans

Although we are using water to cool the actual components, the heat from the system still needs to be passed into the atmosphere from the radiator. To that end, it is usual to assist the radiator in this process by adding fans to move air through its core. All of our radiators accept 120mm fans for this purpose, which are typically considerably quieter than smaller sizes for the same air flow. When selecting a fan, you should balance your need for performance with how much noise you will accept. We have selected fans that provide great air flow while remaining quiet in use to help with that decision, but again 'contact us' if you want advice as to what is best for your setup.

Reservoir

A reservoir is just a tank in the system in which air is caught. As we have already discussed water is a better cooler than air, therefore it makes sense that we want to remove as much air as possible from our cooling loop. A reservoir also allows you to add additional coolant to your system which can reduce the need to top up the system as regularly. We offer a range or reservoirs, some designed to be installed in drive bays, with others primarily designed to be added to the outside of your case for a striking effect! Our external radiators even feature cooling fins and the option for additional fans, to further help with cool the liquid coolant.

Tubing

Tubing is available in all manner of sizes, but the key is to note both the ID (internal diameter) and the OD (outer diameter). There has been a large amount of research done on the varying tubing diameters and how they affect performance - but essentially there is no definitive answer as it various dramatically depending on the other components in the system. What is clear though is that the different manufacturers do offer benefits to the consumer. We stock tubing by 3 manufacturers:

Clearflex - highly regarded in the water cooling scene as offering great performance without a ridiculous price (unlike Tygon). Has very good kink resistance while still being very flexible.
XSPC - as provided in our XSPC kits. Great tubing that offers good kink resistance for small diameter tubing and is usable with most European blocks such as Asetek waterchill.
D-Tek High Grade - this is budget tubing that performs well in most situations. If you are starting out and are on a budget - this is the best place to start.

Tubing comes in 3 common sizes

• 3/8in ID with 1/2in OD
• 1/2in ID and 3/4in OD
• 8mm ID and 10mm OD

As indicated earlier recent research has shown that the temperature differences in the cooling loop differ by 1 or 2 degrees Celsius when purely changing the tubing size. So in most cases you should just choose what appeals to you or is most suitable for your case. As always 'contact us' for further advice.

When installing tubing, it can occasionally be difficult to get tubing over the barbs, a couple of tips to help if this is the case:

• Heat water and dip the tubing into it.
• Use pliers to temporarily stretch the tubing a bit.
• Use a heat gun / blow drier to temporarily heat the tubing.
• Use soap / coolant to lubricate the inside of the tubing and the outside of the barbs.

Heating the tubing makes it more pliable, and lubricating the tubing makes it slider onto the barbs more easily.

Coolant

Coolant is an essential part of a good liquid cooling loop, as it can prevent corrosion and / or help to stop algae from growing within the loop. You should never use straight tap water in the loop, as a minimum you should combine distilled water with an additive to prevent corrosion / algae formation. Our Pentosin G11 orSwiftech Hyrdx are good choices here if you want to add some colour too!

However as most people are aware water and electricity don't go together! When using a water based coolant, you must fully leak test the system before applying power to any of the actual components (we can offer advice on how to do this). There is an alternative though, we stock a coolant called 'Fluid XP Ultra', this is a non-conductive synthetic coolant, that is to say it virtually eliminates the risk of damaging your components if some of it drips on to them - however this is still not an excuse not to leak test - but can add some piece of mind.

Some Setup Recommendations

So we have explained what water cooling is and why you would want it. In this section we will give 3 setups that we think cover the budget, mid and high end setups. All of these are available in the kit section of our store (though only the budget one is a packaged product with instructions). We have not as yet been able to test all of these setups ourselves - but hope in the future to be able to compare the 3 to show what kind of performance differences you might expect.

Budget Setup

This is for people who are on a very strict budget but still want the effectiveness of water cooling.

This is an easy one, the XSPC kit has regularly performed well in hardware site reviews. It comes configured for just cooling the CPU but you can easily add a GPU / Chipset block. For someone looking for great cooling, a fully packaged product with full installation instructions and a great price - this is hard to ignore!

Mid-Range Setup

Here is your average, very effective setup that won’t require re-financing of your home.

This will be a good performing setup, that won't break your bank. If you want to add a GPU block to this setup, we would suggest the Swiftech MCW60 (due to its low flow drop).

High-End Setup

This is the system that you will provide great performance and upgradability - recommended for Quad core + 8800 / R600  graphics.

If you are running a high end system this system will not let you down and should allow the overclocks you have always wanted - with looks to dye(!) for! :-)

We hope this has been of use to you! We must however add a disclaimer indicating that we take no responsibility for damage caused by following any advice from this guide.