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Hydro quick-start guide

Custom water-cooled workstations and servers for dense multi-GPU builds. From unboxing to a verified first boot.

Applies to: Hydro XW, Hydro TR2, Hydro TR7, Hydro DE, Hydro DX, Hydro DX6, Hydro Node X8, Hydro Node E8

Safety first. Never open a power supply or work on mains wiring; use a licensed electrician. If you see coolant or smell burning, power off and unplug immediately. Your components’ manufacturer documentation takes precedence over this general guide.

01Unbox and inspect

  1. Inspect the shipping carton before you open it. If it is crushed, punctured or wet, photograph it first.
  2. Unpack on a clean, dry surface and keep all packaging. You may need it to ship a part back under the manufacturer’s warranty.
  3. Check the system for visible damage: dents, loose parts rattling inside, or bent connectors.
  4. Report shipping damage to [email protected] right away, with photos. Do not power on a system that looks damaged.
  5. Let the system reach room temperature before you power it on if it arrived cold, so no condensation forms inside.

02Check the cooling loop before first power-on

  1. With the system unplugged, inspect every fitting, tube, block, the pump and the radiator for drips, residue or loose connections. Feel around fittings with a dry paper towel.
  2. Check the coolant level in the reservoir if your system has a sight window. Never run the pump dry.
  3. Keep the system upright. Transport and tilting can move air into the loop; a little gurgling on first start is normal and settles within minutes.
  4. If you find any leak or damage, do not power on. Report it to [email protected] with photos.

03Placement

  1. Lift with two people. Water-cooled systems are heavy.
  2. Leave the radiator’s fans free space to move air: at least 15 cm (6 in), more on the radiator side.
  3. For the first 24 hours, place a dry towel or paper under the system so any drip is easy to spot.

04Power

  1. Dense multi-GPU builds can draw 2,000–4,000 W or more. Check the rated power of your configuration and plan a dedicated 20 A circuit or 200–240 V supply.
  2. Plug each power supply into its own outlet or PDU socket, not a shared power strip. Never use extension cords for a GPU system.
  3. If you are not sure a circuit can carry the load, have a licensed electrician check it. Don’t modify circuits, outlets or breakers yourself, and never open a power supply.

05First power-on

  1. Power on and listen for the pump and fans starting. Watch the loop and fittings for the first few minutes.
  2. Check coolant and component temperatures in the BIOS or monitoring software. They should settle and stay steady under load.
  3. Leak warning: if you see coolant at any time, power off and unplug the system immediately, before doing anything else.

06First boot and software

  1. Your system ships with the operating system and software you chose on your quote, for example Ubuntu with the NVIDIA driver, CUDA, PyTorch and vLLM, or Windows.
  2. On first boot, create your user account, connect to the network and install updates: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. Reboot afterwards.
  3. Kernel updates can need a matching NVIDIA driver. If nvidia-smi stops working after an update, reinstall the recommended driver with sudo ubuntu-drivers install and reboot.
  4. Keep work in Python virtual environments or containers so system packages and the driver stay stable.

07Verify the system

  1. Run nvidia-smi. Every GPU you ordered should be listed with its full memory size and no errors.
  2. Check the CPU and memory with lscpu and free -h, and storage with lsblk.
  3. Confirm PyTorch sees the GPUs: python3 -c "import torch; print(torch.cuda.is_available(), torch.cuda.device_count())".
  4. Run a 15–30 minute load test of your real workload while you watch temperatures with nvidia-smi -l 5. GPUs should hold steady well below their throttle point.
  5. Write down the serial numbers of the system and its GPUs (nvidia-smi -q | grep -i serial). You need them for any warranty claim.

08Ongoing care

  1. Check the loop for residue and the coolant level every month or two.
  2. Keep radiator fins and fan filters free of dust.
  3. Follow the cooling component manufacturers’ guidance for coolant replacement intervals.

09Getting help

  1. For setup, configuration, performance and troubleshooting questions, use the AI technical assistant in the chat (bottom right of any page). Paste exact error messages and command output for the best answers. It is best-effort, so verify before acting.
  2. Hardware faults (a dead part, failing memory, a GPU missing after basic checks) are covered by the component manufacturer’s warranty. The assistant can help you identify the failing part and its serial number.
  3. Warranty terms: see our quote and order terms at /terms/.