Custom PC - UK (2021-09)

You’ll need to tread carefully when you first
enter the world of water cooling, as it can go
wrong. Thankfully, in many instances leaks
won’t actually harm your hardware, especially
if you’re using a low-conductivity coolant.
Of course, if you douse your CPU socket
or VRMs in any water-based coolant, you’re
likely to fry your hardware if it’s powered on.
However, modern water-cooling components
are designed not to leak, with plenty of fail-
safes and elaborate ways to identify leaks
before they happen too.
There are only a handful of key components
in any water-cooling loop, and these include
the waterblocks for your CPU and graphics
card, as well as the radiators to cool the
coolant. You’ll also need tubing to connect all
the parts together, and fittings to secure the
tubing to your components.
Pumps, radiators, reservoirs and
waterblocks all have the same-size (G1/4in)
threads, and so do the fittings, so you won’t
find any compatibility issues here. The only
differences of which you need to be aware are
the different tube sizes and tube materials.
Tube sizes are stated in metric or
imperial diameters, which are usually given

WATER COOLING

WHAT SIZE OF PC?
Before we start, we need to talk about size.
Whether you’re spray-painting, cutting,
engraving, etching or paying someone to
modify your case, it’s going to be easier and
cheaper to deal with a small case.
You might not have considered a mini-ITX
PC until now, but if you just have a graphics
card and one or two hard disks with no other
PCI-E devices, mini-ITX systems are ideal for

modding. You’ll need less paint, a smaller work

area, fewer water-cooling components as

well as less tubing. This is one of the best tips

we can give for building a fully customised PC,

especially for the first time.

While mini-ITX has many benefits, though,

you’ll need to weigh up other priorities, such as

how many radiators you need and fan noise,

as it’s not always possible to get low noise and

good cooling in a small case.

with a smaller and larger measurement,

representing the inner and outer diameters

of the tubing. That’s important, as the various

types of fittings have locking rings, barbs or

combinations of both, so you need to match

the tube size – whether it’s flexible or rigid

tubing – to the size of the fittings.

You need to match the fittings to the type

of tubing as well. Fittings for rigid tubing don’t

have barbs, just locking rings with O-rings

that clamp down from the outside. Fittings

for flexible tubing have barbs that sit inside

the tube and usually have a locking ring on

the outside too. They can look very similar, so

make sure you get the right types of fittings for

your chosen tubing.

It’s simple to deal with flexible tubing, as

it just needs to be cut to length with no need

for bending or precise measuring. It’s also far

cheaper than rigid tubing.

Rigid tubing can’t be bent without heating

it first, which requires special tools. You also

need to be incredibly precise when it comes to

bending and cutting to length as, unlike flexible

tubing, there’s no slack.

There are some tricks to avoid having to

bend the tubing, though, such as using angled

fittings, so you just need straight runs of tubing

between each component. This can actually

look neater than bent tubing too, but whether

or not you like that appearance is down to your

own tastes.

As much as real customisation can add

unique qualities to your PC, water-cooling it

with rigid tubing and using coloured coolant

is still one of the best ways to make your PC

look fantastic. The order of your components

doesn’t matter, unless you’re using a separate

pump and reservoir. This is even true when

linking waterblocks, as coolant is moving so

quickly that it doesn’t actually absorb that

much heat with each pass.

If you’re using a separate pump and

reservoir, you’ll want to position the reservoir

before the pump, in order to aid bleeding the

loop of air and preventing your pump from

running dry.

PICK YOUR HARDWARE

CAREFULLY

Building your Dream PC should obviously

involve some seriously capable hardware,

but you shouldn’t pick top-end components

for the sake of it. In fact, this might be a really

bad idea, as hotter-running components

will demand more cooling and space, and

could limit your case choice and modding

options too.

We’re using a distro plate in our water-cooling loop,

rather than a standard reservoir/pump unit

You can use angled fittings to avoid having

to bend your rigid tubing at certain angles