Author Topic: Zalman liquid cooling  (Read 1084 times)

Offline Ghastly

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Re: Zalman liquid cooling
« Reply #15 on: December 07, 2009, 07:02:50 AM »
I at one point used some VapoChill units for servers that needed to run 24/7 in space that was not cooled over the weekends in the summer (and would get to an ambient of between 130 and 140 F. on some days).  Condensation is a huge problem with lower than room temperature cooling methods, and really really tough to deal with effectively on a system that's going to run for more than a few hours at a time, under all conditions. Whatever you do, make sure that you do adequate testing when the relative humidity and environmental temperatures are near whatever the peak is for your your area (probably 100% at around 90-95 F. unless you live in Arizona or the Arctic circle) - rather than assuming that if it's fine on whatever random day(s) you test, it will always be fine.

What you could easily find is that a solution that might work great at 25% RH when the outdoor temperatures are in the 40's fares poorly at 100% in the 90's- and it only takes a single drop of water in the wrong place to make a MAJOR mess of things. Unless you're planning to do some extreme overclocking (in which case you don't care how long things last - and what you've described would be insufficient for anyway) or are forced to deal with some extreme environments (as I was) - I'd urge against using phase change devices for computer cooling.  On the risk reward curve, you're just not likely to gain much over more proven methods, yet both cost and risks are relatively high.

Having said all that, if I understand what you're describing, it's is going to be less likely to have condensation issues if properly sealed than what I had to deal with, so ... it's your parts.  I mostly wanted to point out that you should make sure you do the testing when both the relative humidity and ambient temperatures are high (unlikely now, as we roll into the winter months), to avoid the nasty surprises when they are high later and the air is heavily burdened with water vapor. 

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Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Zalman liquid cooling
« Reply #16 on: December 07, 2009, 08:10:55 AM »
Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get the house styrefoam panel and use that to line the inside the cabinet cut as close to fit as you can then caulk it and use foam on the door panel and you should have a good mini fridge there.  I would run it fora day or two before starting the system but the system in place and see if you get condensation.

TD

The condensation happens when warm air meets a cool surface so the outside of the case could start 'sweating' and leaving a pool on the floor. Inside the case it shouldn't happen at all. So the outside insulation would well solve the problem.
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Offline Dragon

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Re: Zalman liquid cooling
« Reply #17 on: December 07, 2009, 03:55:10 PM »
You were planning on putting in a beer drawer below the computer, right?  A few holes to allow some of the colder air through could also help if a puddle were to form in the computer section, if your beer were to become wet, it'll warn you to check your system. 
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Offline Chalenge

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Re: Zalman liquid cooling
« Reply #18 on: December 07, 2009, 05:45:42 PM »
Thanks for the suggestion Dragon I will add a lower 'Beer Tray.'  :aok
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