Thanks to f1ss1on, I’m a Watercooling fanatic. He helped me through building my first loop, and walked me through every part and process along the way. I think that more people are interested in Watercooling, but start researching it and give up due to all the different names, terms, and parts used in the process. This mini-guide is specifically for you new folk, who want to enter the wonderful world of drowning your computer components, but just need a little help getting used to the terminology.
I’ll be adding pics to this guide in the future, once I get a good photo taking area and plenty of samples 🙂
- Radiator/Rad – This is part of a loop and it’s purpose is to keep the temperature of your coolant from rising too much. Has an inlet and an outlet, though generally it doesn’t matter which is used for either direction. When you’re looking at a radiator you’ll often see some numbers after it. This generally refers to the fans that the radiator can use, both in size and number. For instance, a 240 can take 2×120 fans, a 420 can take 3×140 fans and so on. This is only referring to one side, so in a push/pull it would actually be 4×240 and 6×140, and so on.
- Reservoir/Res – This refers to the part of the loop that contains the “extra” coolant that currently isn’t in any of the lines, blocks, or rads. Has an inlet and an outlet.
- Pump – This is part of the loop that carries coolant from one place to another- generally from the Res to the CPU Block in a Single Loop system. Usually measured in Liters Per Hour or LPH.
- Pump/Res Combo – Becoming increasingly popular, these are reservoirs with built in pumps, generally saving money and set up time/hassle.
- Waterblock/Block – This refers to the part that attaches to the component you want to cool, IE a CPU Block, a GPU Block, and so on. Has 2 ports, in and out.
- Barb/Fitting – This refers to the piece that you screw into the Pump, Res, and Block that allows you to attach a hose to it. They come in many types, angles, colors diameters. When buying Fittings go by the inner diameter of the hose you’re using. Angled fittings sometimes needed in a Loop for routing or size constraints, and the watercooling market has opened up to provide us with a wide variety of angles. You can get 90º, 30º, 45º etc.
- Loop – You’ve seen this one a few times in this post already and you can probably guess the definition by now. A loop refers to one complete watercooled system, IE, Pump/Res Combo -> CPU Block -> Res -> Back to Pump/Res. That’s a classic Single Loop system when you start adding more pumps, res’s and components to the mix you can get a Dual Loop or Multi Loop.
- Lines/Hose – Fairly self explanatory but comes in many varieties. Measured from both inner diameter and outer diameter (the difference being referred to as the wall thickness). There are many, many arguements on the internet about size is better, but all in all the choice is up to you. A larger diameter might be more difficult to route, but if you’ve got a high LPH pump, might be worth it. The fittings you want might only come in 1/2″. Doesn’t really matter. One thing to keep in mind- if this is your first system, you may want translucent lines so that you can see if there are bubbles!
- Kill Coil – A Kill Coil or Silver Kill Coil is a sliver of silver usually shaped in a coil or helix and left in a line or your res. The purpose is that Silver is naturally anti-microbial and will help keep algae and other microbes from forming in your system. Not needed if you’re using silver Barbs!
- Coolant – I try my hardest not to preach, but say it with me- Distilled Water. Distilled Water. Omning, I promise I will only put Distilled Water into my loop. Thank you. If you absolutely must have it appear a different color, use a little (LITTLE) food coloring dye or some other dye.
- Leak Test – This is done after you’ve hooked up your entire loop, but before you turn on your computer. You’ll need to provide power to the pump, without turning on your PC. The purpose is.. you guessed it, to test for leaks. You’ll want to let it run for several hours, and check around every fitting component of the system.
That’s about it for now! This will be a regularly updated post as more and more people get interested in Watercooling and start asking me “What’s a xyz!” So in essense, you’re helping write this article! If there’s a word being tossed around that you don’t know, or a component of water cooling that you’re not sure of, post a comment here and I’ll add it to the list.