Sprocket Gets Wet

[clocker]

Well, I hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday season so far.
I certainly have.

I have had family staying with me since Tuesday evening (they leave in two more days...*sigh*) and it's been a pleasure talking to my two nieces ( aged 20 & 17). I'm not sure that the pleasure was mutual, I probably bored them to death rambling on about my new obsession- computers.
And my plans to water cool my baby, Sprocket.

So much so in fact, that (probably to shut me up) while out shopping today they saw a H2O kit on sale at CompUSA and in a moment of sheer generousity they bought it for good ole Unka Clocker.
When they came back and gave it to me I was speechless....for two reasons.

Firstly, I thought it was incredibly sweet that they thought enough of me to get it and secondly, because it is the most reviled and despised water cooling kit on Earth...the infamous Thermaltake Aquarius II.
What's an old man to do?
Not wanting to kick a gift horse in the mouth, I grinned and thanked them and tucked it away, planning on trying to return it on Wednesday.
But noooo....
"Aren't you going to put it in? We wanna see it!"
" We're going out to see Mona Lisa Smile ( which neither hell nor high water could convince ME to see ), why don't you put it in while we're gone?"
Weeeellll, okay.
So much for returning it.

So I'm now a part of the watercooled elite.
The kit is definately low end...small radiator, low-flow pump ( take note Abu- the pump reservoir has a blue LED in it&#33 and cheesy waterblock, but it all was relatively easy to fit. TT wants you to mount all the components (pump, reservoir and radiator) using high-strength magnets, which I simply could not force myself to do, so I had to improvise a bit.
Fortunately I'm a very clever boy and she's up and running as I type( obviously).
I need to run her in some and cycle the thermal paste a few times, but initial results are fairly amazing.
After 1 1/2 hours of Folding (100%) temps are stable at 31c.
I realize that these aren't trustworthy stats after such a short time, but I'm still surprised- I expected much worse.
Makes me want to find out what a real set up will do.

I have a family dinner coming up and probably won't do much more tonight ( well, at least for a hour or two) so I'll post pics tomorrow AM.

[abu_has_the_power]

bout time ur finally getting a wc system. time to toss those fans and ducts and stuff. btw, if u don't want them, u can send a few to me. i'm being serious. i could really use a good case fan, or better yet, save me $30 by sending me ur hsf, that u won't be using cuz u have wc now

[Virtualbody1234]

Well that's quite interesting there, clocker. I'm looking forward to seeing those pics.

Is it really quiet?





@abu, that post just sounded bad (begging).




Sprocket.

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/Aquari.../aquariusII.htm

[abu_has_the_power]

Originally posted by Virtualbody1234@28 December 2003 - 22:42
Well that's quite interesting there, clocker. I'm looking forward to seeing those pics.

Is it really quiet?





@abu, that post just sounded bad (begging).




Sprocket.

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/Aquari.../aquariusII.htm

well, if's he's throwing them away...

[bigdawgfoxx]

Um...Clocker, why are you so made about getting a watercooling system?? lol...arent those things like $200?

Nvm...looked on newegg, its $100. Got pretty bad reviews too lol. But 31...thats niceee.

You should have told them that it would take you at least 2 weeks to install it man! lolol

[sparsely]

groovy...and nice temps too.

also, now your computer can double as a bong!

you'll perch on your mushroom-shaped chair, blowing pink and green rings of sureallism on the lost & bewildered in techo-wonderland.



A E I O U

[bigdawgfoxx]

my temps are 31 when im just on the forum, listening to music, and talking on aim at the same time...impressive i think..lol

[bigdawgfoxx]

Damn this whole forum shuts down at the same time haha

[bob_the_alien]

Not completely shut down, I'm still here, lol.

That's really nice of them too do, and hey 31c isn't bad, hell that's a good temp, by no means the best I've seen from wc systems, but better than fan cooled systems.
You could possibly still take it back though, it is the holiday season, after Christmas most places will take back almost anything, opened up or not, as long as you have the receipt. You could try.
Of course I always refuse to shop at CompUSA, to damn expensive, so I can't really say how their return policy is.

[clocker]

Morning all.
I was very interested to see how Sprocket was running after her first night of Folding.
Not too shabby...

This is after nearly 11 hrs. of 100% CPU usage.
I can really see some great side benefits to this water cooling business.
I guess I hadn't realized what a giant heat source the old HS was, my case ambient and HDD/mobo temps have fallen dramatically (yes! the sidepanels are installed&#33 and my chip temp has dropped...don't know why, I've read that Arctic Silver has to normalize over time, but I would imagine that it would take longer.

Oh well, I'm not complaining.
I have come up with some ideas to improve my installation, but I need to go to the hardware store and it's only 5:15AM so I must sit tight for a few hours.
Fortunately the nieces, being teenagers, don't get up till round 11, so I'll have some time to work before social obligations intrude.
Pics posted when possible.