Sprocket's New Home

[kaiweiler]

not worth it?
I could get the whole kit for 149.99 but that's not worth it?
alright thanks then, glad I didn't get it last week when I was thinking about it
and 30C is a decent temp, but I just dont wanna spend about 200 bucks total on something I can achieve with air cooling...

[clocker]

That was my thinking too, K.
A well implemented air solution can easily duplicate my results, but the complexity ( and expense) is hardly trivial.

I am fortunate that I was given the AquariusII as a gift, so the cost of the system doesn't really have to factor into my assessment.
Being objective however, where the initial expense is an issue, I must conclude that the usable parts of the kit ( the radiator and the pump...noisy as it is) are not worth the price.

[lynx]

Ah, the buzzing pump syndrome.

How annoying that must be.

Just to let you know, the Hydor pumps are almost totally silent.
I have to strain to make sure it is actually working, if it was inside the case I'd have no chance.

[clocker]

How is your setup working for you Lynx?

It looked very cool ( in both senses of the word...).

[lynx]

I'm currently running with temps of 34/26 full [email protected] (approx equal to XP3400).

I've been playing with the thermostat settings, with some unexpected results.

There are three thermostats, 1 for each of the beer lines (which I'm running in series) and one for the refrigeration circuit. I tried setting the refrigeration circuit to a lower temp, but all this seemed to result in was an increase in room temp! I assume that I wasn't providing enough heat from the cpu, so the room was heating the water bath. This made the refrigeration circuit kick in, cooling the water back down but heating the room even more, which warmed the water in the water bath.... Resulting computer temps were 35/31!!!

So I've reversed that move, and even gone a little bit the other way. I suppose that ideally the water bath temp needs to be only slightly lower than the cooling circuit so that I'm not effectively just heating the room. The only problem is that I have to partially dismantle the chiller in order to adjust that temp.

General cooling of the water bath is fairly quiet (about as noisy as a pc on full cooling) but only takes place for a total of about 10 minutes per hour. The stirrers which keep the temps of the beer lines constant are a little noisier, although they only run for about three seconds every couple of minutes. I may try to investigate slower but quieter motors for the stirrers, but first I'll investigate what it is like using only one of the beer lines.

Generally, I'm very happy with the results, and I'm confident that the temps during summer will not be a major problem.

[clocker]

Yes, but does your PC smell like hops now?

[clocker]

Ok...small update.
I tried encasing my pump in foam, as I described earlier, but the results were disappointing.
It did help some, but the noise ( or more precisely, the quality of the noise) was still not acceptable.
Watercooling is now on the back burner again.

So, what to do, what to do?
Well, I decided to go ahead and semi-upgrade the aircooling in the case by swapping out the front 80mm intake fan for a 120mm Sunon that I had laying around and doing the mobo wall fan also.

While I was at it I also relocated my HDD onto the case floor ( the same setup that I've used in previous cases) and also lined almost the entire interior with 1/4" foam as a noise dampener.

I also mounted a fan in the stock exhaust location on the rear casewall, but as yet it is not hooked up.

So far, so good.

Case temp is 25c.
HDD and socket are both at 22c ( remember, they both have dedicated fans blowing over them now).
CPU diode is 40c ( Folding).

The case is almost dead silent...if I really try I can hear the whisper of air, but that's about it.

She's only been running now for just over an hour, so temps could easily change some, but I'm encouraged at this point...

[kaiweiler]

that's quite impressive
are you going to be adding more and more fans, like the old sprocket? or keep it as it is? (I know that's impossible for you )

[lynx]

Originally posted by clocker@21 April 2004 - 18:17
Yes, but does your PC smell like hops now?

I've turned off the thermostat on one cold bank, and set the other at minimum.

There's no smell of hops, but the temps have jumped (37/26).

THis probably means I can reduce the cooling circuit to a single bank, leaving the other free for better purposes. :beerchug:

[clocker]

Originally posted by lynx@21 April 2004 - 15:01


THis probably means I can reduce the cooling circuit to a single bank, leaving the other free for better purposes. :beerchug:

Would that make your comp a "server"?

K,

No, no more fans.
For now.
I was just at MicroCenter and they were unpacking a shipment of Zalman Reserators.
They didn't have one open yet, but the box is HUGE.
Prolly 3' long of so.
Hopefully they'll have one set up soon...