Water cooling help!

[Dmitry G]

Hi, I have a built a water cooling system (this is a first one for me so I am a newbie when it comes to watercooling) and it dont seem to be doing the job. Here is what I have:

Thermaltake Bigwater cooling system

Nvidia 8800GT x2 (both with water blocks on them)

Asus Striker 2 Extreme mainboard

QX9650 CPU

4GB RAM 1066MHz

Problems:

1) Get bubble in one of the pipes leading from the reservoir, I can get them out but they come back after a few days

2) I dont think the pump is strong enough to pump the water around

3) The temp for CPU gets to like 65C when under loud (playing games)

So Im just wondering what could be done to solve this. Thank you

P.S. ill post the pictures in a bit

[gwai lo]

Which Bigwater?

Did you bleed your system before starting it up? If so and you still have bubble problems...I'm thinking there might be a leak somewhere.

If you didn't bleed the system, that will affect performance as well as noise. However, even if it was bleed the Bigwater's not going to have the ability to dissipate that much heat put out by those components.

Wrt to the pump, the Bigwater's have had a reputation for having rather weak pumps...not really sure how you came to the conclusion, but it's probably correct anyhow.

EE Quad plus SLI G80's and you didn't want to spend the money and time on a real loop?

[Dmitry G]

yes I had bled the system, left it over night and that got rid off the bubbles but they do come back after. What can you suggest? A better pump or a complete new system?

Well to be totally honest this is my friend's system and he had it built by someone else and I dont know what they were thinking so I am just trying to sort it out for him. I have never done a water cooling system before in my life! lol

Thanks

[Brodel]

As gwai said, if you bled the loop and keep getting bubbles then there must be a leak somewhere. That could be partly why the temps are high but I'd probably side with it being the quality of the components and the pump. I'd check everything over again and make sure all the blocks are seated correctly and there is the right amount of thermal paste etc etc, you don't want to spend money if you don't have to. That being said, the pump on that system is pretty poor so if the latter doesn't work then I'd invest in something like a Laing DDC and possibly a bigger rad.

Edited July 8, 2008 by Brodel

[Dmitry G]

It seems I only get the bubbles when it comes out from the second reservoir which includes the flow meter. I guess I can try disconnecting it and see how I get on? Also if I do get a better/bigger rad I do need it to be as quite as possible so is it worth going for the Zalman fanless tower thing?

[gwai lo]

Kits generally don't offer very good performance for your money, much less the ability to dissipate the heat that system will put out. I imagine what Brodel was referring to was something along the lines of Thermochill's PA series, Swiftech's MCR's, etc.

Also, for what you're running you're going to want at least two 3?120mm rads.

Is the liquid green? or the tubing? If the coolant is, then try wrapping paper towels or something around certain points and seeing where they turn green.

[Dmitry G]

The coolant stuff is green and so are the pipes.

Yeah I have done that, found out that all the air is getting from the "second" reservoir which has the flow indicator as well. I have take it out just to see and no bubbles now at all but the CPU still gets hot so I rekon I do need a new system reall or at least a bigger rad and pump!

[+shift. MVC]

Off topic, but isn't this a WATER cooled system? How do you have green liquid? Food coloring? Or is it some other form of heat exchange medium.

[Dmitry G]

Its some sort of substance mixed with water.. not drinkable!

[Circaflex]

Off topic, but isn't this a WATER cooled system? How do you have green liquid? Food coloring? Or is it some other form of heat exchange medium.

There are dyes to get certain colors, most of the time the color is added for looks but also because there are additives in there to keep it from building up algae or corrosion with mixing metals.

[+shift. MVC]

Interesting, thanks for clearing that up.