Hey folks.

Just wondering if anyone is water colling their system these days?

I havn't used it for a while... not since my OC'd P4 HT days (man that was a hot chip!)

Basically my thoughts were to stick a 360mm radiator in the top of my Antec P180 case (by cutting a hole in the top and using a radiator/fan guard) then using a Danger Den DD-CPX1 pump and a reservoir that fits into the rear 120mm fan hole (which I would have been blocking up any way).

There will be two water blocks for the time being... one on the Q6600 G0 stepping and one on the 8800GTX card. I won't be doing any overclocking and my reasons for water are becasue the system is often on for extended periods throughout the day and often chugging away at converting videos and playing games and because it looks cool!

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Phil

That's one hell of a radiator Phil

Well my pc has got some serious watts to dissipate!

I have changed the spec list slightly though. I was going to go for a Black Ice stealth radiator that is just 25mm thick but after doing some reading it has quite a high fin density which means its not ideal for low rpm fans so I will be going for a XSPC 35mm thick radiator with a lower fin density to help my low rpm fans to push air through it.

Just been planning how to cut through the plastic and metal in the top of the case and how to mount the grill and screw the fans and rad to it.

Guess nobody else does water cool on here then... oh well will keep you posted!

Will be after next month though as that's when we'll have finished piling money onto the credit card with the trip to Australia on!

Phil

Have done, but to be fair I've not found it needed of late.

Well havn't had a real need for it for a while but I want to concentrate the cooling a bit more and get rid of some hot spots... namely around the cpu and graphics card as these are just blowing their hot air straight into the case and with water cooling I will be able to remove most of the heat straight out of the case and still have some fresh air flowing round the case to cool all the other components and do all this with low rpm fans.

And... it's cool!

Phil

Thought about ducting or heat pipe based radiators before going back to liquid cooling?

Yup! Have heat pipe based coolers all round and have tried ducting (many different configurations) but without any real success.

I think I am pretty much set on doing water cooling it's just a matter of fine tuning the parts bins to get it right.

It's more of a project tbh too... it's been a while since I've tinckered with the PC and I'm getting itchy fingers! hehe

People I know that have tried it say it's not worth the cost and agro.

A few extra, and better fans cost a lot less and give better results.

But I don't want more fans :thumbdwn:

Depends really what you're expecting from a WC setup and for me it's a bit of a project really and to just tart the pc up abit.

Like I say I have water cooled before and really like it. I like the characterisitcs of a WC setup too in that you the CPU etc is loaded the temperature slowly rises so if you were only doing something for a short time that worked the CPU the temp wouldn't shoot right up straight away.

They are also better for prolonged cooling say while gaming etc.

Phil

Water cooling is THE way forwards on high end systems when pushing them to the max. If you think logically and methodically, air cooling passes air from the room through the case, over the hot component(s), then passes through more of the case before exiting it. This maintains a high system temperature.

Water cooling allows you to focus on the core components and dissipate heat quicker without heating up other components. It can also be quieter, but the main reason for it is to remove heat more effectively than anything else.

I've got a water cooled setup but I cheated. Its a Dell XPS 720 H2C and from the factory the Intel Pentium Extreme QX6850 3.0GHz chip is overclocked to 3.66GHz. I run it at 3.85GHz and have got it up to 3.95GHz but it starts to get unstable while playing games and its very noisy at that speed.

Try achieving that with air cooling and it will be VERY difficult. Not impossible, but very difficult.

I haven't so far, will be upgrading my processor and graphics card to the maximum my motherboard (AM2+) will handle at the end of the year. Then next year I will look to overclock and watercool to push things along a little.

I know you can get really good results, and obviously there's benefits in ending up with a quiet system too. But the thought of mixing water and electricity just fills me with dread

Steve

Well what can I say steve... I like to live life dangerously!

Hehe... As long as all your connections are uber tight and check them regularly then there isn't too much of a danger. If the system is maintained properly and it isn't moved or bashed about too much then it should be fine.

Was doing some testing with the compression fittings I have left over from last time... If I do them up with a spanner nice and tight I struggle to even pull the pipe out so no chance of it slipping out!

Phil

You can easily over tighten fittings, and cause a leak that way! Especially if plastic or brass.

Trust me

If you have a fan cooled system, with fat enough, and correctly positioned fans, air speed will cool the incoming air lower than ambient temps

Remember as well if the pump fails, you'll loose the system for a while. Fan route you could afford to loose a few before you need to worry (assuming 2 or more fans - pref 3-4 min)

Compared to 10 years ago (When I last tried it) it's a doddle. Many more products out there to make it easier, cheaper and more sucessful.

However, unless your pushing things in your system (Which these days there is less and less need for... do you really need the extra 200 3d Marks to beat your mate?) I wouldn't bother and if I needed it quiet I would go for a zalman system or an intergated water tower. If I was flush I would have an air conditioned case

I'd never really seriously thought about using a Zalman reserator tower cooler before. I wanted something self contained but actually now that I think about it I wouldn't be bothered and it would be really nice and quite. I would have it cooling the CPU and GPU then have 1 fan pushing or pulling some air through the case then.

Anyone happen to know the cooling capacity of the Reserator 1 V2?

I reckon I would need to run it with the little fan that sits on the top to get decent load temps.

Phil

Well I've just ordered a Zalman Reserator 1 V2 from Kustom PC.

Grand total of £163 inc. shipping which is less than the parts bin I had for the other set up before shipping and new quieter fans had come into the equation.

Should be nice and quiet and if the PC is going to be on undr load for long periods of time I will just rig up a fan somewhere on a switch to get some air flow round it.

Will keep you posted.

This also means that I have the spare parts left from my cheapo water cooling kit that I could potentially fit to the HTPC and cool that HOT 3.0GHz P4 HT down a bit! lol

Phil

I've got oil cooling on my graphics card, It works really well

I've got oil cooling on my graphics card, It works really well

Oil cooling?

The only oil cooling I have seen is whole pc's submerged in a non-conductive mineral oil!

small oil pipe coming off the gpu leading to another heatsink where there is a fan, which I've never connected.

Cool... literally I presume! lol

Phil

Got my Reserator through last week and installed everything along with a full cover waterblock for the 8800GTX and a 'twin tower' heatpipe cooler that Quiet PC had going for £6.

The temps are pretty good with a 120mm fan cliped to the back of the reserator but must admit the 8800GTX doesn't half expell some heat and the Q6600 isn't the coolest chip in the world rated at 95 watts I think and at leat 120 watts of heat from the gfx card!

I may also be getting a second reserator without a pump to use as just a radiator from another member which should bring the temps down considerately... it will also mean there will be over 5 litres of coolant running round the system!

Will get some piccies up tomorrow hopefully in case anyone is remotely interested!

Phil

Keep the updates coming Phil

Steve

Well here we are:

The set up as a whole... Might do some moving around of desks etc so that I can put the Reserator to the right of the pc along with the second one when I get that :

Here is the fan that is literally 'clipped' onto the Reserator... the best way I could think to do it neatly:

Some inside shots... Still working on some of the cable management but getting there. Also not sure what to do with the rear exhaust hole. Will probably just stick a fan guard there and leave it open for the air to flow out of:

One of the back. Some of the cable routing wasn't possible without my trusty tin snips to hand!:

Will update with more when the second beast arrives...

Thanks for looking.

Phil

Edited 29 June, 200917 yr by philje123

I tried watercooling years ago when I was trying to get a old (new at the time) Palamino cored AMD Athlon chip past 2Ghz which was apparently not possible. With the aid of my bodged watercooling and lots of very noisey fans I got to 2.08Ghz but it didn't end well.

There was a leak and then a small fire but it put itself out when the fire burnt through the water pipes and dumped all the water all over the hard droves and motherboard.... I shan't be trying that again, think I'll try liquid carbon dioxide next.