Watercooling...

Seraph · #1 11-09-2005, 10:43 PM

How well do they work? Yeah on computers. I have a HTPC that is running on 3ghz P4. I know it's an overkill but that's the only resonable thing I have. 1Ghz VIA for my car is going to be too slow.

To get to the point, I put in fanless powersupply. Holy noise reducer!!! I need to cool the damn thing down a lot more. It's already in a decent case (silverstone LC-06). I don't want to change the case. I want to cool it down. I fried a 300GB drive due to heat over the weekend.

#2 11-10-2005, 03:24 AM

Yeah, I know the feeling. My PC here at home is running hot, and I'm getting all the danger signals that my HD is about to go boom

. I've been looking into getting a water-cooling kit 'cause I'm too lazy to build my own. Was thinking of maybe picking up a kit in Toronto when I'm back for Christmas. Have pretty much decided on 3/8" tubing instead of 1/2" mainly due to space considerations. Don't know yet whether to go fanless, but I think I'll probably stick with a 120mm fan.

Something like this would be good enough probably:

see review: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/223

Though I might splurge and get me one of these:

this kit is from Innovatek, see http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant2...tercoolingKits
you can get single or dual 120mm fan setup, or go for a fanless convection rad.
more info also available on this site through links

Hope this helps

mohrds · #3 11-10-2005, 06:33 AM

Fanless power supplies are designed to have air flowing through it from the system fan. If you go water cooled, your power supply will suffer.

Some other parts are designed to have air flow through the case. Memory, Hard Drive, chipset, video card, HD Tuner card, etc. If you remove air flow, you will have to cool all of those things. If you have the room behind the case, remove the power supply and mount it to the back of the case so it gets convection air. As for the water cooling, it works well but they really gouge you on the prices. To save money I used a heater core from a car for the convection radiator. Works better than what they sell (bigger) and costs less.

Doug

Mr. Pockets · #4 11-10-2005, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seraph

I fried a 300GB drive due to heat over the weekend.

Big deal. Have you ever had a hard drive actually start on fire?

Back in 'the day' I had three SCSI Seagate Barracudas stacked on top of eachother in my frankenstein machine. I had a 120V fan bolted to the front of the case to cool them, but it stopped working one day. So the drives overheated and one caught fire.

mohrds · #5 11-10-2005, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

Big deal. Have you ever had a hard drive actually start on fire?

Yes, actually I have.

Irrelevant story deleted.

Doug

Mr. Pockets · #6 11-10-2005, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mohrds

Yes, actually I have.

I didn't ask you, so your story is null and void.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll delete it because I am a fricken putz

I also dress in women's clothing and hang around in bars

Earthworm · #7 11-10-2005, 01:16 PM

Uh-oh, I think someone is abusing his power

#8 11-10-2005, 02:57 PM

nexus_7 · #9 11-10-2005, 07:42 PM

I have done it all.

I am now back to air.

It is almost silent, I have a nice OC, and my dual core 4400+ A64 and it stays around 41 under full dual core load.

Large slow 120mm fans, case with good air movement, and a big ass Zalmon cpu cooler.

1/3 the price of a quality water kit, and is fantastic.

Greg

Seraph · #10 11-10-2005, 07:45 PM

How big is the case. The case makes a big difference too. My dual core A64 is in a nice windy case (like the Apple G5 case).

I am working with this:

Seraph · #11 11-10-2005, 07:47 PM

I just got 2 blower fans. With a big ass 120mm fan on the cpu, silent powersupply and 2 blower fans, the heat is around 45-50 deg. C. Which is ok for me. Yesterday without the blower fans, it went up to around 80+.

Also replaced the 200gb drive with SATA300. That should speed things up a little bit.