Guide to ensuring a painless water cooling setup

[ipaine]

That was an excellent guide.

It sure has made me want to start my own water cooled rig, and I know I will be coming back here when that happens.

[Mibs]

Thanks everybody! I'm glad this generated so much positive response. ipaine, I'm glad it inspired you, you won't regret it. Thanks for the sticky!

[Dashock]

Good job on the setup and good guide for people new to watercooling and PLUS ONE on the Noctua Nf-p12s lol ahhh im such a fan boy cant wait for their next P model hopefully more air with still extremely low dba.

[Infiniti]

Great guide, Mibs!

I'd definitely refer to this once I get all my water cooling gear here.. As for the part talking about you setting a budget then went over, I doubt I'll be doing that.. My budget is over $1000 here for my water cooling, though I'm still getting pretty low-end parts..

[omgwtf]

over 1k and getting low end parts?..i just think that you're being modest..Yeah, nice guide..but to tell you the truth, watercooling gives me the creeps..i'll just stick to airflow xD

[miggs78]

This had to be stickied, this is the best and simplest guide I've seen anywhere. Its kept short and very easy to understand. Great Job Mibs, I am currently planning on doing a setup and it really answered alot of questions, thanks alot .

Just one question, you said Machine screws are useless to mount fans to a rad, now was that meant for the Thermochill rad or for any rad out there. Reason I ask is because I have a Black Ice Pro 2, and I had lost the screws of it, I got suggestions to go to any hardware store and get the 6-32 1-1/4" screws, all Home Depot had in that size were machine screws, that is why I wonder.

Sorry last one, I've seen this many places, what does "Self Tapping Screws" really mean.. Sorry for the dumb one

[Infiniti]

Originally Posted by omgwtf

over 1k and getting low end parts?..i just think that you're being modest..Yeah, nice guide..but to tell you the truth, watercooling gives me the creeps..i'll just stick to airflow xD

Its not over 1k. Its just $700. But the parts aren't that low end (Now). I originally planned to get the swiftech ULTRA water cooling kit. I then planned to replace the rad with something else, and all the fans, barbs, etc. All that added up to $700. Now though, I'm getting the V2s of D-TEK Customs for my system. Not cheap here now.

[Mibs]

Originally Posted by miggs78

This had to be stickied, this is the best and simplest guide I've seen anywhere. Its kept short and very easy to understand. Great Job Mibs, I am currently planning on doing a setup and it really answered alot of questions, thanks alot .

Just one question, you said Machine screws are useless to mount fans to a rad, now was that meant for the Thermochill rad or for any rad out there. Reason I ask is because I have a Black Ice Pro 2, and I had lost the screws of it, I got suggestions to go to any hardware store and get the 6-32 1-1/4" screws, all Home Depot had in that size were machine screws, that is why I wonder.

Sorry last one, I've seen this many places, what does "Self Tapping Screws" really mean.. Sorry for the dumb one

Thanks miggs! I appreciate the compliments!

Self-tapping screws are just screws that will make their own thread in the material they are being screwed into, vs machine bolts which require that a thread already exists for them to lock into. I've never actually used a Black Ice Pro 2 or any rad other than the Thermochill for that matter, but based on the pictures I've seen of it I imagine mounting works in much the same way for both these rads. I'm willing to bet the holes in the rad for mounting do not have threads in them already. Same goes for the fans, a machine bolt will just slide right through the hole in the fan. Actually I had trouble finding these screws at Home Depot myself. I found mine at Kent, but that store is in Atlantic Canada only.

[miggs78]

Originally Posted by Mibs

Thanks miggs! I appreciate the compliments!

Self-tapping screws are just screws that will make their own thread in the material they are being screwed into, vs machine bolts which require that a thread already exists for them to lock into. I've never actually used a Black Ice Pro 2 or any rad other than the Thermochill for that matter, but based on the pictures I've seen of it I imagine mounting works in much the same way for both these rads. I'm willing to bet the holes in the rad for mounting do not have threads in them already. Same goes for the fans, a machine bolt will just slide right through the hole in the fan. Actually I had trouble finding these screws at Home Depot myself. I found mine at Kent, but that store is in Atlantic Canada only.

Your welcome Mibs, I just said words that are deserved.

Umm.. I get you now, and your right machine screws I bought actually slide through the fans, and as for the thread on the rad, not too sure since the holes were there, and this rad doesn't have that much space between the fins and the hole as the Thermochill rads. Well as far I know, I am getting a little concerned even though I mounted a fan with a grill in the rad with those machine screws and they went in fine, also tightened, however I might use a washer or a lock nut of some sort. I had sent HW Labs an email but that was weeks ago, I still haven't heard anything.

edit: Mibs I just found out that the rad I have is a Black Ice GT Stealth 240 and it does have m4 threaded screw holes, apparently on danger den website they say 6-32 screws also work.
Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but thanks :)

[3.0charlie]

M4 (4mm / 0.157") screws cannot be swapped with #6 screws (0.138") - not the same diameter. The -32 are the quantity of threads per inch, 32 in this case.