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Page 6 of 9
Case Installation and Tube Circuit
Configuration
Now that the motherboard is prepped and final, we will move onto
installing the board into our Cooler Master CM-Stacker case. Prior to our
installation we surmised the pros & cons of how we wanted to route our water
tube circuits and we came up with this configuration to suite our needs.
 
Flipping our Stacker case on its side, we are now going to fasten
the motherboard securely to the case. Aligning the motherboard into position we
proceeded to lock down the motherboard. BAM! Done deal!
 
Taking a breather, we step back to asses the tube
configuration and figure out if our pre-conceived tube configuration will
in-deed support our installation theory. The outlet spigot from the water block
is in great position for the outlet to connect to the radiator, so this is a
good sign.
 
We figured the pump should go in this position so that we can
either add a second radiator to the bay area or a Stacker add-in module to
facilitate the expansion of other devices. We wanted the Bay area free of
obstructions to allow future upgrading without having to move the pump at a
later time. However once we have the drive bay area configured the way we like,
its very possible we will move the pump to a more concealed area.
 
Now that the pump is in place we are getting a
better idea of how the tube configuration is going to be routed. The pump sets
over a metal grate that allows cool air to rise upwards giving us the idea, this
will have to be a better place for the pump than next to very hot SATA drives in
the bay area of the case.
 
We will proceed to cut and splice in the radiator
return tube from the CPU outlet spigot and fasten it to the pass-thru connectors
we modified earlier in the installation process. Inserting a "worm clamp" on the
tube prior to connection allows for a first time go and allows us to
secure the tube instantly.
 
With the MCP350 pump and the Swiftech pass-thru connector secured
in place to the CPU outlet spigot, we now have the reservoir to attend to.
Our Stacker case uses a sliding rail system that allows us to attach the rails
to the reservoir and this allows us to slide the reservoir out for
maintenance and lock back in place when finished.
 
With the reservoir installed and secured in our 5.25 bay area, we make the
final tube connections. Securing the tubes will consist of using plastic tie
wraps at the reservoir barbs and metal worm clamps at the pass-thru connection.
Hint:
Tube routing: Installation procedures for water tubes are just general
guidelines, however on our H20-120REV.3 we are going to follow the most common
single CPU cooler tube routing guideline as presented in the manual. Swiftech
recommends the following order of tube routing for this kit:
Reservoir discharge to pump inlet, pump discharge to CPU cooler inlet, CPU
cooler discharge inlet to radiator inlet, radiator discharge to reservoir inlet.
LOOP COMPLETE!
Now that we have secured the tubes we will go over the entire assembly and
double check the circuits at each attachment point. Thus you will want to go
over the entire installation and then once you are confident the installation is
a done deal, re-tighten the clamps and re-snug the reservoir barbs before
trimming the tie wrap and then you are virtually done!
 
You are now looking at a fully configured and
installed Swiftech liquid cooling kit. With the circuit tubes in place and all
attachment points secured we can move on to adding the liquid coolant to the
vessels and tubing of our kit. We allowed about four inches of tube slack to
allow us to almost remove the reservoir from our sliding rail 5.25 drive bay
area to facilitate system coolant charging and maintenance.
Coolant Preparations:
The kit comes with a 2oz (60ml) bottle of Switftech's HydrX a hi-performance
concentrated coolant. Use one bottle to one liter (33 fl oz) of distilled
water. For easy system charging, mix in a one gallon plastic milk jug.
 
You can fill the reservoir while it is inside the drive bay area.
For best results use a normal household funnel to assist in charging the cooling
system. The minimum fluid level is at the mold line and of course the maximum
fluid level would be tapped off to the rim. We noticed a great deal splashing
and water noise turbulence while adding coolant to the proper operational level.
However once we tapped off the reservoir, it was smooth sailing with almost
silent operation.
Things to remember:
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The best way to test system for water leakage is us a +12v
rail 20-pin PSU jumper to allow PSU unit to send power to +12v rails to
allow a test and water integrity check. Another way is to use a PSU tester
to force power on and use a +12v rail.
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NEVER run the pump without coolant. Make sure
the system is charged with as much coolant as possible before powering up the
pump. THIS IS A MUST or SERIOUS DAMAGE COULD RESULT!
-
We ran our system for 48 hours before powering up the
entire system after of which we have a perfectly sealed water-cooling
system.
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Other configurations are possible and encouraged. But for best
results Swiftech recommends their instructions as general guidelines and those
should be followed for best results.
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Hand tools like, sharp scissors, Philips head and or flat head
screw drivers, tape, drills and drill bits are just some of the tools you can
use to aid in the installation of this kit. They are not necessary but could
help out. We found that sharp Fiskar scissors make an almost perfect cut in the
vinyl tubing.
-
Our installation was slightly "modded" to suite our
configuration.
Now on to the technical feed back and benchmarking phase...
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EVGA 9600GT (SC) PCIe 512MB - Rev 01
