What I have learned this time ... general WCing building ideas
So somethings that I hope will stick with me from this build (990X) & the prevous (920) & listed in no particular order;
1) the plastic tubing I use is the cheapest 1/2" ID stuff that I can find. The logic is that it will need to be changed out in 1 to 2 years. That may not necessarily be true. But I buy an extra several feet of it anyway as it helps to lay things out & play around with bendy--ness ... how tight of bend is too tight? That leads to the next learned issue.
2) Anti-kink coils ... to use or not to use is the question. Added to with, "how much?" Answer to the 1st part is definitely "yes" use the coils as they definitely allow the tubing to be bent much tighter (to a point) than possilble without. The coils also provide a certain dress up to the system. I will admit to looking for black coils. Many coil colors exist in several different brands ... again I bought the cheapest black to contrast against my beige case (chagrin).
A special note about the coils, it is possible to put them on too close. This makes the tubing overly stiff & that translates to the tubing & fitting connection. This is what caused the problem I had with this (990X) build with the weepy fittings connections. The tubing + coils and my choice of using Tye-wraps on barb fittings == leaks. My solution was tighter & additional Tye-wraps to eliminate the leaks as I did not realize at that moment that I had wound excessive number of "winds" of the anti-kink coils on the tubing.
3) I am liking push-pull fans with "thick" radiators. The thick one is the Black Ice used in this build. Push-pull fans kind of guarantee good air flow thru the radiator. The 920 build used the thinner Switech radiator and I added a couple of the uber thick tfc triebwerk fans to it today. It did not change the idle temp but the under load temp dropped 10 degrees!!! Yaaay
4) In fact I highly recommend these
tfc triebwerk fans for any radiator application. Yes they are hugely thick at 55 mm but that is really what it takes to force (or pull in this case) air thru the thicker radiators. These particular fans are low speed & therfore very quiet. Push-pull wouldn't really be necessary with these fans, but I already had the pushers ... so ... I kept 'em. I'll suggest a google search of "tfc triebwerk review" which will provide a number of reviews and youtubes.
5) fan filters ... doh! and duh! I just put
these filters on every fan I own. I decided to try these versus foam. No solid reason as to why other than I wanted to try something between the foam and screen wire. I have pets
& lets just say that animal fur becomes infused in all things involved in cooling a PC.
These particular filters come with 4 M4 X some unknown length screws ... perfect for the Black Ice but too big for the Switech radiator (in the 920 build). These tidbits would be great to be mentioned as I don't find them on any seller's web sites.
Perhaps this could be another unique to techgage review series? That would be evaluating fan filters. As an 'ngineer I think about all kinds of impossible tests ... air flow restriction being at the top of the list. Effectiveness being next, but I cannot think of a simple test for that ... maybe later.
There might be a few more thoughts, but this should be good for those thinking about a WC build.