thexcodec
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Best coolant out there for water cooling
Friday, August 10, 2012 5:50 PM
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Currently for my water loop all I use is distilled water. It works, but I wonder:
1) Is there a coolant out there that will help drop temps? What is the best one?
2) Is there a coolant out there that does not conduct electricity that also helps drop temps? What is the best one?
3) If I empty my system and replace with a coolant; Will the water I can't get out be a problem in any way, beause it will be near impossible to get out 100% of the water even if I let try for 24 hours after a full water dump.
Thanks!!!
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CAxVIPER
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Friday, August 10, 2012 6:20 PM
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You will see very little difference in temps and it is definitely not worth it for the price. As soon as it is exposed to dust it will become conductive. A little water wont matter
Personally my favorite was ice dragon
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Halo_003
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Friday, August 10, 2012 6:39 PM
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Distilled water is the best IMO with a silver coil.
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direraptor22
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Friday, August 10, 2012 8:39 PM
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Stay with distilled water and silver kill coil. Coolants are for cars! 
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jalvarez21
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Friday, August 10, 2012 11:51 PM
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rmorse27
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Saturday, August 11, 2012 5:03 AM
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+1 for distilled water around $1.00 a gallon cant beat that.
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flasher4q
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Saturday, August 11, 2012 1:09 PM
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+3 for distilled water and silver coil..
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thexcodec
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Saturday, August 11, 2012 1:51 PM
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I Guess I am going with the water.
Really dish soap? Would you not get bubbles?
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hatchetrunner
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Saturday, August 11, 2012 1:54 PM
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thexcodec
I Guess I am going with the water.
Really dish soap? Would you not get bubbles?
Just a little bit. This will break the surface tension of water
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EliteGeek91
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Saturday, August 11, 2012 1:57 PM
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Right. Yeah, you will get soapy bubbles, but leave the fill-port open (With your funnel attached), and every hour or so, you might can add a tiny amount of water, and eventually after 24 hours or so, all the bubbles will work out, but the water will still be "soapy", and it'll really keep everything lubed and quiet. You will lose all that "gushing" sound in the pump and in the blocks, where the jets are.
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direraptor22
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Saturday, August 11, 2012 8:43 PM
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I'm gonna try the dish soap thing. My X2O 750 has recently become very loud. Need to "lube it up" 
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direraptor22
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Saturday, August 11, 2012 10:12 PM
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Hmmmm... will anti-bacterial hand soap work?
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“The fascination of flight can't be expressed with words. But it really lies beyond the capabilities of human endeavor. Once you've experienced it, you'll never be able to forget it.” - Friedrich Oblessor
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EVGATech_DaveB
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Sunday, August 12, 2012 7:43 AM
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@OP
+5 for Distilled water and a Silver Coil.
In regards to the bubbles, I'm sure you would, but that's just how EliteGeek rolls, he likes having bubbles blowing out of his case :D In all seriousness, it will do the job of "water wetter" which effects the water in such a way that will break surface tension, but also will allow water to draw a bit more heat off. In this instance I doubt it would be THAT handy for temps, but possibly a degree, however it will function as a minor lubricant, which can quiet the pump.
@DireRaptor
I would think your basic hand soap would be fine, just don't use anything with microbeeds, no scrubbing agents is obvious (ie don't use fast Orange or Lava), as things like Microbeeds will ruin the bearings in the pump.
Also, if your pump is now getting noisy, and continuing to get worse, that may be a sign of your pump starting to have issues, or a substantial amount of air in your loop will do that as well, but you would see it.
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direraptor22
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Sunday, August 12, 2012 9:29 AM
( permalink)
EVGATech_DaveB
@DireRaptor
I would think your basic hand soap would be fine, just don't use anything with microbeeds, no scrubbing agents is obvious (ie don't use fast Orange or Lava), as things like Microbeeds will ruin the bearings in the pump.
Also, if your pump is now getting noisy, and continuing to get worse, that may be a sign of your pump starting to have issues, or a substantial amount of air in your loop will do that as well, but you would see it.
Yeah I used to not be able to hear my pump running... now I can hear it from where I sit. I just hope it doesn't fail on me while my GTX 580 is folding. That could turn out DISASTROUS  No air bubbles since I know what the pump sounds like when pushing air bubbles at initial fill up  Gonna put a drop or two of hand soap in when I get home from work tonight and see how much it helps. No scrubbing agents of course lol 
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“The fascination of flight can't be expressed with words. But it really lies beyond the capabilities of human endeavor. Once you've experienced it, you'll never be able to forget it.” - Friedrich Oblessor
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EVGATech_DaveB
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Monday, August 13, 2012 6:22 AM
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Direraptor, you had a chance to test yet? Pump getting any quieter?
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feniks
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Monday, August 13, 2012 8:39 AM
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I stick to pure distilled water from local grocery/pharmacy store around the corner and silver kill coil only.
interesting about 2 drops of dish soap ... never tried, probably never will either he he.
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KMcCrackan
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Monday, August 13, 2012 7:46 PM
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but having taken apart quite a few pumps the bearings are not exposed to the coolant. Therefor adding any lubricant isn't doing anything for the bearings. Maybe you all are using a pump that I've never seen?
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direraptor22
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Monday, August 13, 2012 9:19 PM
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EVGATech_DaveB
Direraptor, you had a chance to test yet? Pump getting any quieter?
Haven't gotten the chance... as I'm too lazy to haul my giant HAF X rig across the room and take out stuff to open up my reservoir (I have a BD-ROM on top of my reservoir). I'm currently working on my microATX build I'll get back to my main rig when I get the chance.
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“The fascination of flight can't be expressed with words. But it really lies beyond the capabilities of human endeavor. Once you've experienced it, you'll never be able to forget it.” - Friedrich Oblessor
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Rudster816
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 6:57 AM
( permalink)
Distilled (aka pure) water has the best thermal conductivity and capacity of virtually all substances that are liquid at room temp. Adding anything to it will just lower it's performance.
As far as anti bacterials\lubricants, I don't see any evidence that they're needed. I run straight 100% H20 and don't have any issues. No PT Nuke, silver coil, soap, etc should be needed. Between the turbulence, lack of sunlight, copper\brass\nickel in the loop, and the fact that it's a closed loop, no microbes should be able to grow.
As far as lubrication, I don't see what the soap would lubricate that would help. AFAIK all the pump noise is caused by the vibrations, and that is painfully obvious when you set a running pump on a very unstable surface. The difference is further shown if you hold the pump in the air while it runs (you'll hear less noise then if it's sitting on something).
Unless something is squeaking, I don't see the need for any lubricant.
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feniks
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 7:40 AM
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just a side note, you cannot avoid sunlight totally unless your case sits in the dark basement ... there is some daylight around your computer, no? ... plus people using UV cold cathodes will have a constant UV light inside the case (so the tubes/coolant shines) and that equals pretty much same effect as direct sunlight (minus the most of visible spectrum and no temperature rise effect) ... I would use at least a Silver Kill Coil OR PT Nuke and nothing else just to be safe in a long run ... given some stories of internal loop component staining with colored/dyed coolants, I'd stick to distilled water...
<message edited by feniks on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 1:32 PM>
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EVGATech_DaveB
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 8:15 AM
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I have personally seen algae growth in brand new Tygon surgical grade tubing with straight distilled water. Its not like it is impossible to get dust or some other microbe into the loop during assembly.
Also, the effective difference between a straight distilled water loop and one with a silvercoil, some PT nuke and maybe even a couple drops of a corrosion inhibitor is almost nothing. Technically it is true that the temps are impacted, however, it is by a VERY small margin, 1-2 degrees. I personally have had all of the above in my loop and idled at 2c above ambient and full loaded in upper 50's.
And Feniks is right, unless it is in a windowless basement, sunlight will hit it at some point.
Distilled water and a Silvercoil is my vote.
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Gratuitous
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Re:Best coolant out there for water cooling
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 1:08 PM
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+1 on the dish soap. I have a LARGE loop. it always used to take days for the pumps to quiet down after a component change. now i get most of the air out and 1 drop of soap and its all quiet within 5 minutes. if you have a lot of air pockets in the system when you add the drop, it will foam, so try to take all the air pockets out before adding it.
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