6 MA XIMUMPC MAY 2005
10 Water-Cooling
Pitfalls—and
How to Avoid
Them
We endured 10 “D’oh!” moments,
so you wouldn’t have to1. RTFM (read the freakin’
manual)
How we learned this: The instructions
for these kits aren’t printed out just for your
amusement—they are absolutely crucial
to the kit’s successful implementation.
Building one of these kits is equivalent to
designing a circuit, and every portion, from
the radiator to the pump to the water block,
must be correctly installed or there’s a
good chance the kit will either not function
at all or won’t function at its full capacity.
There were numerous times during testing
where we experienced issues with certain
kits, and we always traced the problem
back to a missed step, an incomplete
step ( typically due to a murky instruction)
or something similar. The point is clear:
Follow the instructions as if your PC’s life
depended on it!- Don’t Get Kinky
How we learned this: We didn’t
experience any severe kinking problems
with any of these kits, but we came to
the conclusion that the “cool-sleeves”
tubing offered with the Corsair and
Swiftech kits do an excellent job of
preventing circulation-plugging kinks
anywhere in the lines. - Read Ahead
How we learned this: When installing
the Corsair kit, we performed each step in
the process as we read it. One of these
steps read “remove one of the [adhesive]
pad’s protective sheets...” so we did. And
then the very next step in the manual
said, “do not peel off the protective sticker
on the adhesive surface....” Whoops.- Make a Plan
How we learned this: We built each of
these kits with the water traveling from the
radiator to the CPU water block, and had no
problems at all; but it would be interesting
to experiment with different confi gurations,
such as connecting the water pump to the
CPU, to see which works the best. - Have a Lifeline
How we learned this: One of the kits
wasn’t booting, and we were convinced we
had installed it correctly. We fi nally asked
for help from a co-worker, who walked us
through the process from step one all over
again. As it turns out, we just needed to
look at the directions a bit more closely:
For one step, we had been following the
directions for installing the kit on what
the manual had labeled a “P4.” When we
turned to the next page, we found a set of
very different directions for installing the kit
on an “LGA775” CPU, which is also a P4.
The previous directions were for a Socket
478 P4. - Call Tech Support
How we learned this: We were seeing
unusually high temperature readings
with the Corsair kit, so we contacted the
company and asked about it. As it turns
out, we had the water block installed
correctly, but the retention plate was
upside down. In our defense, the plate
looks perfectly symmetrical at a glance,
and there was nothing in the manual
explaining that the plate had to be
mounted a certain way. We would never
have fi gured this out on our own, but a
quick call to tech support fi xed the problem
quickly and effectively. - Measure Twice, Cut Once
How we learned this : One of the kits
requires a few inches of slack in the line to
the reservoir, so we cut it long. This was
perfect when the reservoir was pulled out,
but when we pushed it back into the case,
the line kinked and we had to re-cut it.
Cutting the tubing too short would have
been an even bigger hassle. - Do a Dry Run
How we learned this : None of the kits
recommend doing a dry run, but we
think it’s a good idea. We recommend
assembling the entire kit and running it
until the circuit is full of water before you
power up your PC. This is a good way to
test for leaks! Simply attach just the pump
to the power supply, short-out pins 13
and 14 with a paper clip, and turn it on.
Water should begin pumping through the
system immediately. Once it’s full, and no
leaks are found, connect the PSU to the
motherboard and fi re it up.- Watch for Capacitors
How we learned this: Even though
there’s a “no build” zone around the
processor area, the water blocks are
so large they can nudge up against a
capacitor and still feel solidly mounted to
the CPU. This happened to us while testing
the BigWater kit, and we couldn’t fi gure
out why the CPU was running at 100º C. We
fi nally removed the block, wiggled it a bit
to make sure it was making good contact
with the CPU heat spreader, and reattached
it. Problem solved. - Mount the Pump Last
How we learned this: Corsair’s
instructions taught us this trick by telling
us to not mount the pump until the very
last stage of installation. It’s very diffi cult to
bleed the lines if you can’t vertically orient
the pump’s ports. ■
To run your cooling circuit without
endangering any components, hook it
up to the PSU, short these pins, and
then turn on the sucker.A gnarly kink showed up on the
tube coming out of the CPU
water block. This forced us to
remove and re-cut the tubing.See all those capacitors sitting directly
below the water block? If just one of
them is making contact with the block,
temperatures could rise more than 20º.13 14