INSTALLATION TIPS
It’s a good idea to assemble your wa-
ter-cooling kit outside your case and
test it for leaks before installing it. To
do this, attach the pump to your PSU,
then short these pins to send power
to the pump.Installing a water-cooling kit can be very
scary, especially if you don’t have an expe-
rienced helper to be the wind beneath your
water wings. Let us be that wind.
First, it’s not a bad idea to do a dry run
outside of your case to make sure none of
the fi ttings are leaking (you’ll need a PSU to
do this, so you might want to do the dry run
next to your PC). Place the block(s), radia-
tor, pump, and reservoir in a circular pat-
tern, and connect them with the provided
tubing in the order dictated by the manual.
Secure each fi tting with a hose clamp, and
then fi ll the reservoir until it’s full. Next, lift
and tilt the reservoir above the rest of the
parts to fi ll the tubes with water.
When you have fi lled the reservoir with
as much water as possible, prepare to send
power to the pump. You do this by turning
off and unplugging the PSU, and unplugging
the large 20/24-pin ATX power connector
from your mobo, and shorting pins number
three and four on the row adjacent to the clip(the green and black pins shown), using a
paper clip. Then connect a power cable to
the pump, and plug in and turn on the PSU.
Water should begin to circulate, which will
empty the reservoir, so fi ll it as needed. Let
the whole system run for a few hours. If there
are no leaks, you’re good to go. If there are
leaks, investigate the affected area and fi x
the problem.
Once you are sure everything is work-
ing as it should, drain the kit and prepare
to install it inside your case. Install the
water blocks fi rst, then the radiator, then
the pump, and fi nally the reservoir. Each
kit is a little different, so you should look
in the manual for kit-specifi c instructions.
Though it varies on a kit-by-kit basis, we
recommend you run the pump outlet to the
radiator inlet, the radiator outlet to the CPU
block inlet, the CPU block outlet to any
other block inlets. Then direct the water to
your reservoir’s inlet and close the loop by
running a hose from the reservoir outlet to
the pump’s inlet. When the tubing is con-
nected, fi ll the reservoir, then tilt your PCuntil you get water into the lowest points of
the circuit. Connect the pump and hit the
juice to push water through the circuit, and
keep adding more coolant as necessary.
Once your rig’s full of water, remove the
hot-wiring pin, plug the ATX connector back
into your motherboard, and fi re up your rig
for real. When it’s all working, you can giveFirst things fi rst: Do not, under any cir-
cumstances, use tap water! It contains
hard minerals that will gunk up your radi-
ator, pump, and reservoir. Instead, you
should use distilled water, mixed with an
additive to prevent corrosion and algae
growth. You need this additive because
the water block in a typical kit is made of
copper, and the radiator is made of alu-
minum. These dissimilar metals create a
pseudo battery upon contact with water,
and will cause corrosion.
Swiftech’s neon-green Hydrx
coolant is a great additive, (it’s also
UV reactive) and costs just $3 online.
Premixed, nonconductive coolants such
as Fluid XP and MCT-5 from Danger
Den are excellent as well, but they’re
signifi cantly more expensive.COOLANT
These additives
will protect your
water-cooling
gear from cor-
rosion, which
can happen
even if you use
distilled water
in your loop.Evaporation should be almost a
non-issue, but it’s still smart to
keep an eye on your coolant level.Once your kit is up and running, you can
forget about routine maintenance for the
fi rst year or so, as long as you use the
correct ratio of distilled water to anti-
corrosion additive. There’s nothing to
monitor on a day-to-day basis, but most
manufacturers recommend you give
your kit a thorough inspection every six
to 12 months. That thorough inspection
includes a basic checkup to ensure that
the kit continues to run at its maximum
level of performance.
The fi rst thing to check is the water
level in the reservoir. Because all water-
cooling loops are closed circuits, evapo-
ration shouldn’t be a problem, but you
will lose small amounts of your cool-
ant over time. Checking the water
level is as easy as eye-balling your
reservoir. If it’s not absolutely fi lled
to the brim, top it off. In fact, if your
reservoir is low you’ll probably hear
it before you see it, as the water will
slosh around more and make annoy-
ing gurgling noises. External kits
that sit on top of your case typically
include a reservoir window, so you
can check the fl uid level at a glance.
Next, check the water blocks for
signs of corrosion or blockage. This isvery easy to do on a water block with an
acrylic top, such as those from Danger
Den, Koolance, and Asetek. On models
with an opaque cover, your only option is
to remove the water block and unscrew
the cover, which can be time-consuming.
However, as we said before, if you are
using the correct ratio of distilled water
to anti-corrosion additives (or the manu-
facturer-recommended bottle of coolant),
there shouldn’t be any corrosion or algae.
Finally, check the fans and radia-
tor for dust and lint buildup. Blowing
compressed air through the radiator and
fan will exorcise its dust bunny demons
quickly and easily.ROUTINE MAINTENANCE
58 MA XIMUMPC SEPTEMBER 2006