Water Cooling:your Opinions

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by clocker@2 November 2003 - 19:01
Do you really have fans that only produce 5db? What brand are they, I'd love to get some. Most fans make more noise than that while still in the factory packaging.

I think he means he reduced it by 5db.......


Also, in my opinion you can do alot better than alcohol, if you want to be 'watercooling' seeing as how I know fan setups that can keep CPU temps at that 30C.

Ever though of radiator fluid? I know other people that have used it, but I have to go dig up link, they seemed to be stressing parts of their system that were crucially different *shrugs.

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by Kunal@2 November 2003 - 07:02
off topic, i notice abu is always proved wrong by virtualbody1234

And how exactly was he proved wrong in the last post? I believe I had already stated that he wasnt....

[SciManAl]

First as this is what you find more relevent
The 5 dba fans, i have simply taken some fans have reduced them (the amount of electricity they recieve) to where they are that silent... they are a generic brand... but the do the job...
as for the GPH i have a pump that simply pumps it at 32 GPH, also tou have to consider that most "high performance" water cooling systems run at 200 or more gph.. i guess if it doesn't have time to drop off the heat, then it shouldn't have the time to pic up that much...

Also i that was my goal of the question i was wanting to find a chemical kinda soup that best get the heat gone... i simply thought that alchohol could work, i guess i could get off my ass and resaerch thast myself.. ohh well also i think that it is possible for germs etc to grow could be possible, since i think that the chemicals for cars are a little more toxic than water... Thanks for the reply

no as for mr john, i would like to point out that i have done this without a peltier set up, that in itself would make the cooling in my set up well below zero.. umm i would however like to stray away from things like oil etc... i am using a small pump so i don't want to give it any heavy elements... i wonder if one could add metal??? small dust particles of brass mayby?? or silver?? mayby that could absorb more heat and if concentrated enough could act like a moving metal stream that was cooling as other parts were heating... (i know i am crazy )


by the way if you want to make your fans quiter that are closer to the edge of the case one method is to actually distance them fome the edges... that way the noise vibrations are absorbed... umm ducts, and this duct I use this to distance the fan from the edge of the case... that way it is harder to hear... you could even put sound aborbing pad inside to absorb sound waves... hehehe...

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by SciManAl@2 November 2003 - 21:57
i wonder if one could add metal??? small dust particles of brass mayby?? or silver?? mayby that could absorb more heat and if concentrated enough could act like a moving metal stream that was cooling as other parts were heating... (i know i am crazy )


sound aborbing pad inside to absorb sound waves... hehehe...

-I wouldnt suggest putting anything like that in your water cooling stream, from my understand they end up cloggin up in places, builing up on the CPU Block and preventing heat transfer, among other things.


-In relation to the asorbing pads, I know Newegg has some, but from the customer replies, they smell, ( ), and raise heat inside the case, on typical fan cooled cases I assume, because they trap heat.

[clocker]

SciMan, I don't understand your logic. If you pump the water so quickly that it doesn't have time to absorb/dissipate heat, then what's the point?
I was simply suggesting that playing around with the coolant velocity might reap increased rewards.
I just bought two of those Thermaltake fan ducts today. They look very interesting. The first one is going to be used to cool my video card. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it set up...

Edit: As far as "radiator fluid" goes ( and I assume that you are refering to antifreeze) you don't need it. Unless you live in an igloo you will never encounter the temperature extremes that antifreeze is meant to deal with. Use Water Wetter it is great stuff. Any automotive race shop should have it- it's required in many organizations. I've used it for 15 years, it really does do what they claim.

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by clocker@3 November 2003 - 00:27
SciMan, I don't understand your logic. If you pump the water so quickly that it doesn't have time to absorb/dissipate heat, then what's the point?
I was simply suggesting that playing around with the coolant velocity might reap increased rewards.
I just bought two of those Thermaltake fan ducts today. They look very interesting. The first one is going to be used to cool my video card. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it set up...

Edit: As far as "radiator fluid" goes ( and I assume that you are refering to antifreeze) you don't need it. Unless you live in an igloo you will never encounter the temperature extremes that antifreeze is meant to deal with. Use Water Wetter it is great stuff. Any automotive race shop should have it- it's required in many organizations. I've used it for 15 years, it really does do what they claim.

I was referring to more of a mix of anti freeze, Its rather illogical to use 100% anti freeze.

[scruge]

Sometimes I think the most obvious solutions are the best. If you want a system that runs cool, quite and is cost effective then you should revisit the basics.
1. What produces noise? High rpm fans. So slow them down, either by replacing them with 24vdc or running them on 5vdc.
2. What produces Heat build up? No place to go. Poor ventilation is the biggest problem with cases today. I've seen cases with six fans and all were sucking through a single slot no bigger than my little finger.
The flow of air in a computer case should be from bottom front to top rear.
The size of the inlets and outlets should be a minimum 70% of the area of the fan/s. ex. 80mm fans should have inlet/outlet size of approx 5.5 sq inches or 3500sq.mm. per fan.
If the fan guard perforations in your case don't meet this requirement then get tin snips and cut the shit out and replace with a good wire fan guard for a $1. Another sore spot with me are those idiot case manufactures that perforate with a 1.5mm hole on 5mm centers, this amounts to about 300sq mm, far short of the 3500 you need. Keep in mind, a starved fan will run hot and louder and do nothing to cool your system. For low noise I recommend a single 120mm 24vdc running on 12vdc for front bottom.
Now for the some basic mods to the power supply. First check your power supplies exhaust grill to see if it meets the 70% rule. If not cut the grill out an replace with wire guard. Next if your supply has slots punched in it for ventilation then take needle nose pliers and twist the slots 90 degrees. This alone will increase air flow by over 50%. If your supply doesn't have venting on the large flat (5x6) side, in most instances the side facing the mb. Then take the ps apart and cut a 2.5" hole in the bottom and install a 80mm fan guard for protection.
If you have a case that has a space above the ps of more than an inch or 2 then see if you can't cut an exhaust port out the back side of the case to allow hot air to escape. You can usually find light weight expanded sheet metal at your local electronic surplus store or you can use a couple of 50mm fan guards to cover the slot.
One other tip, use your IDE cables or cut file folders to direct air flow into dead areas, like the top front.
You may not want to perform such task so in those cases I recommend an Antec sx635 or 835 case on sale for $70 or less. I realize there are others as well.
I usually buy the $15 to $20 cases that are made of 24-28ga steel, you can cut them like paper, but they do stiffen up once assembled and they are light weight.

For those of you with the juke box cases, these mods aren't pretty. But they do work for those like myself who don't feel a need to decorate.
One important reminder, after doing all this don't go and stick your computer in a cabinet like so many of the computer desk have. Make sure you place it where the hot air being exhausted can escape and not be picked up by the front inlet.

I'm running a xp 2600 with a volcano 5, yes that's right a FIVE that dates back to a 1.4ghz athlon. I bought 10 of them for $3 a piece and I'm still using them. My cpu runs at 49degrees and i'm seeing a 8 degree rise above ambient on the case exhaust. The hottest spot on the surface of my case is 5 degrees above ambient. All of this is being done with 2 120mm fans running at half voltage, I used one of the 120mm fans to replace the 80mm in power supply.

Noise, I can't hear it.
Note: The air flow is so good that it keeps my Geforce 2 pro running even though its fan crapped out over a year ago.

This wasn't meant to steer the dialog in the wrong direction. Just a reminder that there are more fundamental things that can help keep things cool.

[_John_Lennon_]

Scruge, you reminded me of another thing I have heard of that adds to the sound,

And thats the regular grills that are placed, on say the back of the cases usually. Like you said scruge, they are usually mostly blocked up, but another thing that raises the noise level is that nearly 3k Fan blowing all the air past it, thus creating more noise.

Sure, it doesnt seem like it could make any difference, but I just entirely cut out the back area where I mounted my rear case fan, and although its 2800RPM, I cant hear it right now.

[clocker]

It's always good to be reminded of the basics.