[section_title title=”Installation & Loop”]
Installation & Loop
Unlike with closed loop AIO CPU coolers and even air coolers, there is generally only 1 or 2 ways in which you can install them onto your motherboard; something which revokes aesthetical control over how a system looks, but water cooling doesn’t play by the same rules. One of the most fundamental parts of installing and setting up a water cooling loop is planning and patience; you need to get the loop flowing properly with as much efficiency for cooling performance as possible. That is of course depending on the aim of your loop, looks or performance. Of course a balance of both is quintessential in my opinion, but I wouldn’t sacrifice too much on actual performance.
The first part of installing a custom loop and usually the most important is the CPU block. The reason that this is important is very easy to explain and understand; a bad mount will essentially equate to bad temperatures and that is something you don’t want.
The rest of the loop was pretty straight forward when using the Dimastech Easy V3 test bench as… well it’s open and easy to navigate around, especially when compared to a closed case. Alphacool include 3m of their HF 13/10mm PVC clear tubing to get you going and unlike PETG or rigid tubing, the PVC kind is very forgiving in terms of installation; the compression fittings help and generally if they are installed correctly, they will never leak, or so is the premise. Also included is 1 litre of Alphacool CKC Kelvin Catcher clear cooling fluid which is very important and although it looks basic, this is a basic starter kit to get you going. There are many fluids available on the market for you to choose from if you of course want to customise your loop.
Also included is an ATX bridging plug which connects to the 24pin cable on the power supply. This tricks the PSU into thinking that it’s plugged into a motherboard and when the unit is turned on, automatically provides power. This is very handy for leak testing as it doesn’t actually provide power to other components and reduces the risk of shorts and hardware death when filling. It’s also perfect for use when bleeding air and ridding your loop of bubbles; easier to do as when tipping your system up, you could potentially cause a leak if you haven’t looped up properly.
Test Setup
CPU – Intel Core i7 6700k
Memory – Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666MHz 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4
Motherboard – MSI Z170 Gaming M7
PSU – Cooler Master V1200 1200w
SSD – Plextor 128GB M.2Â
GPU – XFX R9 380 4GB
Case – Dimastech Easy V3.0
Cooling –Â Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer 240 D5/ST
