Cheaper pumps like Rio pumps are small, cheap, perform well, and, release little heat into the water. Unfortunately, they are submersible, low quality, and not very powerful. Eheim pumps are very powerful, have great performance, high quality, and release little heat into the water because it is inline. Because it can run inline doesn’t mean it can't also run submersible.

Now, let’s talk about what all this stuff means. When I say perform well, I mean it has a high GPH. The GPH states how many gallons per hour the pump pumps. You want a minimum of 100 GPH running through your system. In reality the pump won’t actually pump that much water. That rating is in open water. When pumps pump water through pipes, radiators, waterblocks, and small connecters, the water is slowed down. This is why you always want a big pump. I recommend at least 200 GPH. Finally, the amount of heat produced by the pump is also a big factor. If your pump is run inline, a lot of the heat is transferred into the air. If your pump is in a reservoir, then all of the heat from the pump will be transferred into the water so you’ll want to keep the amount of watts a pump produces to a minimum.

Pumps to look for include Via Aqua 1300, Eheim 1048 (small systems), Eheim 1250 (bigger systems), and Danner pumps. As long as the pump gets about 200 GPH you can’t go wrong. Also remember that different pumps are louder than others. Eheims are the quietest pumps I’ve ever heard, but with a few modifications any pump can be modded to become quiet. These modifications can be found with a quick google search.

Update: The pumps head, or the height a pump can pump vertically, is important to look at because this tells you how powerful the pump is. As the water is pumped away from the pump it slows down with a little help from gravity. A pump that can produce 211 GPH may only produce 40 GPH at 6 feet. Even if you aren't pumping vertically, a pump's head is important because it shows the power of the pump. The higher the head, the more blocks and tubing the pump can pump through.

There are a lot of tubing choices and you’re probably wondering about the difference between them. Nylon is a popular choice because it is cheap, easily attainable, and transparent. Unfortunately, as the tubing gets older, it starts to take on the color of the liquid flowing through it. It also begins to dry up and crack. But the main reason nylon tubing isn’t very popular is because it kinks. Kinking is when you make too great of an angled turn so that the tube bends and collapses therefore decreasing water flow. There is also a tubing with metal or thread braided in it that prevents kinking, although it makes the tubing very inflexible. Silicon tubing is popular because it is very flexible and not very prone to kink. Unfortunately, it also shares the trait of taking on the color of the liquid flowing through it, is not transparent, and is more opaque. A very popular tubing is Tygon tubing which encompasses the best of all worlds. It is flexible, almost impossible to kink, transparent, and doesn’t take on the color of the liquid. There is, of course, a catch to this wonderful tubing; cost. This stuff is expensive, almost $2.50 a foot. So if you can afford it, get it. If not, silicon is probably your best bet. There are other types of tubing out there. These are just the three main types in my opinion.

There are a lot of different hose clamps to choose from. The most popular ones are the screw kind where as you screw a bolt in, the clamp gets tighter. They are cheap and easily attainable. A better, but harder to find solution, are the overlapping spring clamps. (See below) These clamps spread the pressure around the hose evenly making a tighter seal.

The liquid in a Watercooling system can mean the difference between a clear flowing liquid or, having corrosion and algae in your system. A major problem in Watercooling is when enthusiasts mix copper radiators with aluminum waterblocks or vice versa. In short, when this happens, the metal gets eaten away and you have a lot of bad stuff in your water. Substances such as radiator fluid and Water Wetter can slow down the process and also improve the cooling process. Always run all one metal, either all copper or all aluminum. When not mixing metals, Water Wetter also improves performance up to a few degrees cooler. I use a 1:32 ounce ratio of Water Wetter to distilled water. You’ll want to use distilled water to keep all the biological life out of your system.

When you feel you have done enough research and are confident enough to put your Watercooling system together, there are a few last minute things you should think of. Before cutting any tubing imagine where the parts of system will go, then cut the appropriate lengths. When the system is together, leak test it. I like to run the system in the bathroom away from the computer for at least 24 hours before putting it in my computer. Put clamps on everything to make sure it won’t leak in the future. Installing a waterblock is different for every block but always use some sort of thermal paste such as Arctic Silver. Also, make sure the block is mounted securely and making good contact with the CPU. You can do this by putting on the block like you usually would, before you’re going to start it up, and, then taking it off and checking if the artic silver is spread evenly over the CPU. Once you’ve double-checked every possible thing, turn it on, go into your BIOS and check your temps. If they seem high, the block is most likely not making good contact. If they're fine, you’ll have smooth sailing from then on. You should change your coolant about every 6 months to keep things clean.

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