Author Topic: Liquid cooling for CPU. (Read 387 times)

Krusty · « **on:** August 21, 2005, 12:23:43 AM »

Liquid cooling for CPU. How do you do this? I realize you buy the parts, and put the heat collector on your CPU in place of your heatsink/fan. I'm guessing you still use some thermal paste to transfer heat properly. The liquid cycles back to the radiator, is cooled and goes back.

Questions: The water cools better, but doesn't it also store heat more? Does the heat from the radiator fins/fan heat the case up too?

What if you have no ROOM for a water pump? My case has literally enough room for my ATX mobo and on top of that it's almost touching my PSU and in front of it my drive bays are in the way. I might have some room behind the front panel, but how do you mount it, how do you get air circulating past it well enough, and how large are pumps, usually?

How do you regulate cooling if temperatures get higher? Circulate the pump faster? Is this even an issue, or does the pump work so well that temps rarely get high?

I want to do it when I can afford it. For now I think I have my P4 cooled well enough with a large copper cored heatsink and fan (stock) and 2x 80mm fans. But I'd like a more silent cooling unit and a more efficient one.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #1 on:** August 21, 2005, 01:24:28 AM »

My radiator, pump and reservoir are external.

Silat · « **Reply #2 on:** August 21, 2005, 01:54:09 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by DAVENRINO
My radiator, pump and reservoir are external.

'

Links to your stuff?

flakbait · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2005, 03:35:58 AM »

Check Newegg for a HydroCool 200 or a Zalman Cooling tower. Both are completely external, with hoses running through a back plate similar to any PCI card. The HydroCool has some wiring that needs to be connected (emergency shut-down, thermal leads) too. For those that want something which doesn't appear to be a simple black box, Thermaltake has a really nice water cooler that looks like a modded out rice burner.

The basics are: cold line comes in through a PCI-type bracket, hits the cooling brick on the CPU, and becomes the hot line. That line runs back out through the PCI bracket, to the unit. From there it gets pumped through a radiator to dump heat, and back it goes through the cold line. No different than any car radiator, really. BTW, with these units you need distilled water and a glycol/anti-bacterial bottle that comes with the cooler. Tap water is seriously bad ju-ju!

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Flakbait [Delta6]

eagl · « **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2005, 06:06:08 AM »

Go to http://www.hardocp.com and search their old articles for watercooling reviews. There is an external unit that sits on top of the computer that they seem to like. It's expensive, but any watercooling is going to be expensive.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2005, 03:39:53 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Silat
'

Links to your stuff?

They sell some nice fully assembled external kits as mentioned in another post above.

I assembled mine -
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=103

Similar to-
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=249

Dual shrouds and 120 fans-
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=107

Connected through a relay when PSU powered-
http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?productid=38&cat=4&bestseller

My cpu block is outdated but both of the above sites have good ones. I built a box to house it all.

also check here for info-
http://forums.pcper.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

and here-
http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=91

stantond · « **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2005, 05:34:05 PM »

The added complexity and cost of a liquid cooled system gives better performance. The maintenance and component costs are increased, but a well designed liquid cooling system will cool more effectively than an air cooled one. Also, the liquid CPU cooler can operate much quieter than an air cooled unit because it can have a bigger radiator which uses a lower speed fan (or perhaps no fan at all). The coolant transfer lines will also dissipate heat.

Fundamentally, all the heat from the CPU must go into the room. An air cooled CPU relies on moving air, which requires a lot of air or large surface areas during higher heat loads. Water cooling takes advantage of the cooling capacity of water (4 times that of air) and the higher mass of water (1000 times that of air). This allows water cooling to remove more heat at the CPU by moving the parts which exchange heat from the room outside the case.

To regulate temperatures, the temperature of the coolant can be varied, the flow rate varied, or some combination depending on the system. Personally, I buy cases designed for good ventilation and large fan copper CPU heat sinks for simplicity.

Regards,

Malta

Krusty · « **Reply #7 on:** August 21, 2005, 06:23:11 PM »

Thats the thing... "for simplicity". However the way the future is looking is that nobody will be able to even have standard home PCs without liquid cooling. I wonder if cases will get larger to store the materials internally instead of externally?

No matter, but the way CPUs have been going, and now add to that dual core (the newest trend) we're going to see smaller, faster, chips with multiple cores and LOTS of heat. Unless you want 5 PC fans in one case (I know a guy with an AMD that has this amount, plus a CPU fan) and/or wants to have their case sound like a hurricane, somehow people will be making the jump to water cooling.

So I'm at the "for simplicity" stage, like you, and am using air cooling. Having said that, I will move on to water. Someday. When I'm more confident and can afford it.

stantond · « **Reply #8 on:** August 21, 2005, 06:59:50 PM »

I have to think the persons who first put liquid cooling in aircraft engines thought the same.

Regards,

Malta

Silat · « **Reply #9 on:** August 21, 2005, 10:35:17 PM »

Thanks guys.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #10 on:** August 21, 2005, 10:36:35 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by stantond
I have to think the persons who first put liquid cooling in aircraft engines thought the same.

Regards,

Malta

Modern jets still use fuel to cool oil and hydraulics.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #11 on:** August 21, 2005, 10:50:53 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Krusty
I wonder if cases will get larger to store the materials internally instead of externally?

I initially had everything inside my Antec tower until my acrylic bay reservoir developed a leak (no damage). I also wanted a bigger radiator (basically a car heater core) and the Quiet slow turning 120 mm fans. My tower sits in a closed bay of my desk, so the radiator now sits in front of an open window with a nice ocean breeze. I rarely use aircon in my theatre/office/game room. Spending some $ on water cooling allowed me to buy a $90 2500 Barton when the 3200 was over $400 and it has been running perfectly stable at 3200 speeds for over 2 years. In fact this has been the most trouble-free puter I have ever owned and it is almost silent. The next box I build will also have a water block for the vid card.