safe watercooling with aluminum?

[Dr0din]

I am planning my own custom water cooling loop for 2014, and I think I will be going against everyone's advice and using an aluminum radiator. The reasons for this are that I would like to ideally mount a radiator to the top of my case, but there aren't a lot of options for radiators that will fit on the top of my case (the Antec 1200). Most of the videos and pics I've seen online of people with radiators mounted to the top of their Antec 1200 cases had to do at least some slight modding, like take off the top of their case, take out the top intake fan, and drill some holes. I don't want to do any modding to my case if I can avoid it. So I'm looking at this radiator, made by Antec specifically to be mounted into the top of my case:

http://store.antec.com/Product/acces...5-75210-7.aspx

To begin with, I'm just going to have a simple loop with a radiator, CPU block (EK Supremacy or XSPC Raystorm), and drive bay pump/res (looking at Swiftech Maelstrom). When Intel's 14nm processors come out I will get a Maximus Formula board and hook that up the loop as well, and maybe add another radiator (maybe Alphacool ST30 or XSPC EX120) mounted onto the rear exhaust fans in a pull-only configuration. Maybe even a GPU block when I get a new graphics card, if I have enough radiators for that.

So, back to the main point, I am going to start out with just the CPU block, pump/res, and Antec Aluminum radiator for a while to make sure my install goes ok and everything is working. I am concerned about galvanic corrosion due to the presence of Aluminum and Copper in the same loop, but I've been looking at fluids with anti-corrosive properties. Here are some of the coolants I've been looking at:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/feonecoflpub.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thec6noncoco1.html
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...oducts_id=4372
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=37153
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swhypm2coh.html

Has anyone used a loop with copper and aluminum so they can verify which fluids are safe for that condition? How effective are those so called "corrosion inhibitors", really?

[WiSK]

Here's someone who asked a similar question. Some good answers in there: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...rrosion-expert

[GliderHR]

One question, why do you want the Aluminum (Al) radiator?
The Phobya 200/ Alphacool 180 are made out of cooper and brass, they don't have the corrosion problem.
I don't understand why Antec builds this cheap piece of scrap. It is like the cheap Al car air-condition systems - produced for destruction / replacement after some years.
I had years ago two GTX8800 waterblocks made out of Al and they started to get holes. The Al(OH)3 filled step by step my cooling blocks.
Same with an Al reservoir.

[bds71]

One question, why do you want the Aluminum (Al) radiator?

The reasons for this are that I would like to ideally mount a radiator to the top of my case, but there aren't a lot of options for radiators that will fit on the top of my case (the Antec 1200). ...I don't want to do any modding to my case if I can avoid it. So I'm looking at this radiator, made by Antec specifically to be mounted into the top of my case:

he says others don't fit - only this one fits without having to mod the case....if that's true or not, i don't know...

[Sparky]

I'd make a brass/copper radiator fit long before mixing metals. Not worth playing with fire.

But I do say this as someone who relocated the power supply and cut a big hole in the top of my case to make room for a triple radiator, so...

BTW, I used an Antec 1200 for a water cooling build for someone, and we used a 3x120mm radiator in the front right behind the stock LED fans. We still had two full 5.25" bays to put his bay devices in. Worked out great. I found some 5.25" bay radiator mounting brackets on PPCS that were perfect for this. You have a massive case with all those bays up front that you're never going to fill with devices (unless you plan on some insane 10 hard drive setup), so why not use them for a normal radiator instead?

[Dr0din]

One question, why do you want the Aluminum (Al) radiator?
The Phobya 200/ Alphacool 180 are made out of cooper and brass, they don't have the corrosion problem.

he says others don't fit - only this one fits without having to mod the case....if that's true or not, i don't know...

I have not verified that this is the only radiator that will fit on the top of my case, it's just that all of the things I've seen so far on the internet of people mounting radiators at the top of an Antec 1200 involve mounting a 120.2 or a 120.3 radiator by disassembling and modding the case. Like I said, I really want to avoid modding my case (because I am not that brave, because I would have to buy new tools, because I could make mistakes, pick your reason). I will definitely look into other similar size radiators to the Aluminum Antec one, like the Phobya 200/Alphacool 180. I will have to do some research to see if they can be mounted into the top of my case without modding (if anyone could speed up the process by letting me know if they know for sure whether or not one of these radiators can be mounted to the top of my case, that would be very much appreciated).

BTW, I used an Antec 1200 for a water cooling build for someone, and we used a 3x120mm radiator in the front right behind the stock LED fans. We still had two full 5.25" bays to put his bay devices in. Worked out great. I found some 5.25" bay radiator mounting brackets on PPCS that were perfect for this. You have a massive case with all those bays up front that you're never going to fill with devices (unless you plan on some insane 10 hard drive setup), so why not use them for a normal radiator instead?

This is also a great idea. I have seen youtube videos of people with radiators mounted onto the back of their drive bays, and I always see that and think, "I wonder how they do that. That would be a great solution for me." I didn't know about the bay radiator mounting brackets, but I think that might be exactly what I need. However, I don't think I'll be able to fit a 120.3 radiator since I already have 2 optical drives and a card reader installed in my drive bays, plus 2 SSD's and a mechanical drive, and I'm looking to put in a bay reservoir as well. So if I mount one behind the drive bays, I'll probably go for a 120.2. Actually, I just counted my drive bays, and if i did that I would probably have to donate one of my optical drives to my brother's computer and it would be a tight squeeze but I could do it. That would be ok for just cooling the CPU, but if I added the VRM and a graphics card to the loop I would probably still want another radiator on the top of the case.

[GliderHR]

OK, in case you need information about the Phobya or the Alphacool radiator I can give you data (I owe both). The Phobya cools like a average 3*120 radiator ( at low fan speed).