Used Watercooling

M

mhenley

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 21, 2001
Messages
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Looking for a tip on where to go to get quality used watercooling gear. Been wanting to for years, done plenty of research, just don't like the startup price for new rads, pumps, reservoirs, fittings, blocks etc... Does anything like that exist? Or should I throw a hail mary into the FS/FT section?
 
mhenley said:
Looking for a tip on where to go to get quality used watercooling gear. Been wanting to for years, done plenty of research, just don't like the startup price for new rads, pumps, reservoirs, fittings, blocks etc... Does anything like that exist? Or should I throw a hail mary into the FS/FT section?
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i wouldnt buy any used wc stuff unless it was from one of the guys here. so yeah, id hit the fs/t forum, there might even be some in there now...

edit: you can even go "off brand" on amazon to save a ton, thats what i did.
 
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Plenty of good deals to be had on here, just have to bide your time.

Another option is to figure out what you are wanting and then post up a WTB thread. A lot of times there are people like me who have been intending on listing things, but are too lazy or just haven't gotten around to it. So if you throw out what you want and people have it, they could let you know.
 
Solid tips. I knew about my WTB option in our forum but wanted to see if there were others. You know, like Swappa or BackMarket for phones, but for WC. Thank you all.
 
Count me in as one of those people who have a bunch of parts laying around but haven't bothered listing.
 
Yeah, I have hundreds of dollars worth of watercooling stuff that needs to be inventoried and put up for sale someday.
 
mhenley said:
Looking for a tip on where to go to get quality used watercooling gear. Been wanting to for years, done plenty of research, just don't like the startup price for new rads, pumps, reservoirs, fittings, blocks etc... Does anything like that exist? Or should I throw a hail mary into the FS/FT section?
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A good way to refurbish used water cooling gear is to buy new o-ring seals for them. I build custom water cooling PC's for a friend of mine and he hands me down all his old rads / pumps / blocks. Sometimes a new o-ring wasn't really needed, but I replace them anyway. MCP 35X2 pumps have replacement O-rings you can buy from TitanRig. G 1/4 fitting O-rings are a standard size from Home depot.
 
One more thing, I would avoid rotary fittings. I've seen brand new ones leak during a leak test. They would have caused a huge catastrophe if I didn't run a leak test.
It was one of these that rotate right at the split line in the middle. Avoid using these if possible.

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MooCow said:
One more thing, I would avoid rotary fittings. I've seen brand new ones leak during a leak test. They would have caused a huge catastrophe if I didn't run a leak test.
It was one of these that rotate right at the split line in the middle. Avoid using these if possible.

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You probably just had a dud. I've used rotary fittings quite a bit in my past 3-4 builds, no issues whatsoever. What brand were you using? I've pretty much just stuck with Barrow, been fantastic for me. 45, 90, and 180 degree rotarys, all good, never leaked.
 
Only rotaries that leaked on me were a handful out of a bunch I bought on ebay for cheap.

Nowadays I just use barbs and clamps. Mostly for cheapness.
 
Barrow iirc was also similar to bitspower but for cheaper and I liked how much easier the tube was to get on the fittings. Its been a minute since I've messed with them though.
 
MooCow said:
It was a Bitspower rotary that leaked.
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But they are so convenient. I'm willing to take the chance and run rotary fittings. I've had some Bitspower rotaries going on 10 years and they are still perfect. They look sweet as hell also. I know I can just connect multiple 45s which I do, but the rotaries look better and are easier to setup and use and I can hook around in hard to reach spots without using 90s which look worse imo.
 
In terms of used water cooling parts, a rotary joint is a part that I do not know how to service and I would avoid used rotaries.
 
I had several XSPC rotaries, 45s and 90s, leak on me. The rounded looking ones, I forget the specific part numbers/name other than they were the black nickel color. It was easily reproducible with all but a few. Contacted them about it and they said there were issues with the batch I happened to buy (verified by date). I had like 12 or 14 of them all told so no small issue (really big loop with tight bends). They offered to replace them but I declined, just didn't trust the design at all after all that. Went with EK for the rest of that build and had better luck but still had one come apart in the same way. Have a thread around here somewhere about it iirc.

I've found that if you use rotaries with press fit rotary joints, which is basically all of them (any brand)with soft tubing. It's best practice not to put added tension on the rotary portion if at all possible or the internal pressed seal may separate. Basically set them up, test them out and leave them.

I've used XSPC rotaries in a much smaller build since then and had no issues. So their bad batch claim checked out.

MooCow said:
In terms of used water cooling parts, a rotary joint is a part that I do not know how to service and I would avoid used rotaries.
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Wise choice. Unfortunately, there's no fixing them. Once they start loosening up and get easy to turn, or you can rock the rotary joint back and forth, they are on the way out (the pressed joint should stay super tight and hard to twist). If you ever notice the rotary joint showing any kind of gap no matter how tiny, be prepared to toss it. That's a sure sign that the pressed seal is going. I don't buy used rotaries either, altho I was given a bunch of Alphacool rotary compressions, they were scraped all up and looked raggedy but they were all solid as could be.
 
I was able to avoid tight turns by going from Pump output -> Underneath video card input flow -> video card top output flow -> Radiator in -> Radiator Out -> CPU in -> CPU out -> Pump in

I used to go from Pump output -> CPU input -> CPU output -> GPU input (this is usually where the sharp bend in tubing occurs). The order of operations in a water loop usually doesn't matter. This is a big case, but I have a case that's half the size and I run the same loop order to avoid having to use a short and tight tube run from CPU to GPU. Putting the radiator in between the GPU and the CPU should allow you to avoid having to use an angled G1/4 adapter.
1714105260734.png
 
MooCow said:
I was able to avoid tight turns by going from Pump output -> Underneath video card input flow -> video card top output flow -> Radiator in -> Radiator Out -> CPU in -> CPU out -> Pump in

I used to go from Pump output -> CPU input -> CPU output -> GPU input (this is usually where the sharp bend in tubing occurs). The order of operations in a water loop usually doesn't matter. This is a big case, but I have a case that's half the size and I run the same loop order to avoid having to use a short and tight tube run from CPU to GPU. Putting the radiator in between the GPU and the CPU should allow you to avoid having to use an angled G1/4 adapter.
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How many rads do you have? It's a lot trickier with 4 rads. Without a lot of turns in the fittings the case could turn into the spaghetti 🍝 factory pretty quickly when it comes to soft tubbing. The more angles fittings the nicer the runs look with soft tubbing. I use tons of angled fittings and rotaries and 90s because I kinda need to.
By the way your external rad is awesome haha you pulled that off.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
Post a pic? Let's see how careless your rig really is? 🤪 Lol
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Nothing to show atm :D I stripped it all down into a new case with no liquid cooling, just ain't got the time to do it or even game on it. Strapped an air cooler on the cpu and put the original fans back on the gpu.

One of these days.....
 
xDiVolatilX said:
How many rads do you have? It's a lot trickier with 4 rads. Without a lot of turns in the fittings the case could turn into the spaghetti 🍝 factory pretty quickly when it comes to soft tubbing. The more angles fittings the nicer the runs look with soft tubbing. I use tons of angled fittings and rotaries and 90s because I kinda need to.
By the way your external rad is awesome haha you pulled that off.
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A single Quad 140mm, but I sometimes use a single Quad 120mm. Soon I want to switch to Two Dual 120mm radiators and move the radiators inside a case. That Quad Radiator is being held up by a Koolance Radiator quick disconnect system, but they only made it for 120mm radiators, so I modified it using a 120mm to 140mm adapter. Been holding up for several years now! So the radiator hoses are quick disconnectable, and the radiator can quickly disconnect, so it can be taken outside for cleaning out the dust. The radiator quick disconnect bracket has been re-used for several water cooling builds over the last 10 years.
 
MooCow said:
I was able to avoid tight turns by going from Pump output -> Underneath video card input flow -> video card top output flow -> Radiator in -> Radiator Out -> CPU in -> CPU out -> Pump in

I used to go from Pump output -> CPU input -> CPU output -> GPU input (this is usually where the sharp bend in tubing occurs). The order of operations in a water loop usually doesn't matter. This is a big case, but I have a case that's half the size and I run the same loop order to avoid having to use a short and tight tube run from CPU to GPU. Putting the radiator in between the GPU and the CPU should allow you to avoid having to use an angled G1/4 adapter.
View attachment 650171
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It depends on the block design and to a lesser extent radiator design. The micro-pin array with top nozzle generally used in CPU blocks almost always benefit from proper flow direction. GPU blocks are generally not affected by flow direction, and GPU blocks generally have connections such that inlet and outlet can be on either side of the card.l. Most radiators don't have an optimal flow direction but a few, like HWLabs GTX radiators, do.

I've been using Bitspower and Monsoon 45 and 90 rotary adapters without issues for years. I think the ones that are most prone to leaking are the snake ones with an additional rotation in the middle.

That is a very neat setup. I have an Azza Genesis 9000 utilizing a 480 radiator up top and 280 on the bottom.

If you want to switch to 240 radiators, I have a bunch of 240 Alphacool Monstas sitting around that I acquired from work.
 
NightReaver said:
Idk, at some point it's easy to stop caring how it looks. Just park it under a desk and let it cool :D
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I get a lot of hate critique for the loop that I installed for my friend. People are soooo against soft original Tygon tubing, like it HAS TO BE HARDLINE with colored clogging dye's. And most of the people who have something to say don't even match the same hardware. They'll judge my builds negatively while running 4070 all decked out on water when its not even the flagship GPU. Have fun having to work with hardline just to make any changes to your build. I even got this lil bish judging my radiator being ugly because it was outside the case. I'm like... the whole benefit of watercooling is the ability to transfer heat outside of the case. I was like, this Quad 140mm rad can run the GPU at 28C over-clocked under full load, what temps are you getting? LOL.
Tsumi said:
If you want to switch to 240 radiators, I have a bunch of 240 Alphacool Monstas sitting around that I acquired from work.
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I'll keep you in mind. Do you need any Quad 140 Black Ice extremes?? I have a Swiftech triple 120 as well.

I am 3d printing my own thermal camera cases and water cooled PC's are real fun to view under thermal:
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This is what I'm running on an AMD 5600X + 2080Ti. The radiator, CPU and GPU water blocks, dual swiftech MCP 35X2 pump are used watercooling from my friend's previous builds I did for him. The only new parts are tubing, and some Koolance quick disconnects. The male Koolance Quick Disconnects are always good for reuse, but its the female ends that get jammed up over time and I recommend getting brand new Female Koolance QD's.
1714341769328.png

 
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MooCow said:
I get a lot of hate critique for the loop that I installed for my friend. People are soooo against soft original Tygon tubing, like it HAS TO BE HARDLINE with colored clogging dye's. And most of the people who have something to say don't even match the same hardware. They'll judge my builds negatively while running 4070 all decked out on water when its not even the flagship GPU. Have fun having to work with hardline just to make any changes to your build....

I'll keep you in mind. Do you need any Quad 140 Black Ice extremes??
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Those rads sound sexy. Upload a pic of em :D

I'll shamelessly admit I'm a hwlabs fanboy. The GTRs can't be matched.
 
Oh my god those Alphacool radiators, why are they so thick? That looks like TWICE the thickness of HW Labs 140 rads. I do have an EK dual 120 radiator and its got low fin density for quiet performance, not actual cooling performance.
 
MooCow said:
Oh my god those Alphacool radiators, why are they so thick? That looks like TWICE the thickness of HW Labs 140 rads. I do have an EK dual 120 radiator and its got low fin density for quiet performance, not actual cooling performance.
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Alphacool relies on bulk. HWlabs uses better design to get better cooling, especially if you ramp up the rpm.

The old gtx line, and nowadays gtr scale like no other the more airflow you toss at them.
 
MooCow said:
I get a lot of hate critique for the loop that I installed for my friend. People are soooo against soft original Tygon tubing, like it HAS TO BE HARDLINE with colored clogging dye's. And most of the people who have something to say don't even match the same hardware. They'll judge my builds negatively while running 4070 all decked out on water when its not even the flagship GPU. Have fun having to work with hardline just to make any changes to your build. I even got this lil bish judging my radiator being ugly because it was outside the case. I'm like... the whole benefit of watercooling is the ability to transfer heat outside of the case. I was like, this Quad 140mm rad can run the GPU at 28C over-clocked under full load, what temps are you getting? LOL.

I'll keep you in mind. Do you need any Quad 140 Black Ice extremes?? I have a Swiftech triple 120 as well.

I am 3d printing my own thermal camera cases and water cooled PC's are real fun to view under thermal:
View attachment 650668View attachment 650670
This is what I'm running on an AMD 5600X + 2080Ti. The radiator, CPU and GPU water blocks, dual swiftech MCP 35X2 pump are used watercooling from my friend's previous builds I did for him. The only new parts are tubing, and some Koolance quick disconnects. The male Koolance Quick Disconnects are always good for reuse, but its the female ends that get jammed up over time and I recommend getting brand new Female Koolance QD's.
View attachment 650671
View attachment 650672
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That's pretty awesome.

The Monsta radiators are stupidly thick. So thick that despite the low fin density, they don't scale well with fan speed until you hit 1800+ RPM as I recall. That said, they do kick butt at low fan speeds, provided you can fit them in.

Would have to get a new case for the 560 radiators. Would love to get them but not so sure about changing cases at the moment. Mine is maxed out with 480 and 280 radiators (trying to keep everything internal).
 
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