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63 Comments
- bobak2000, on 10/10/2007, -0/+21Watercooling does have fans.
- ratherbeinvegas, on 10/10/2007, -3/+22Water cooling always seemed interesting, but something about water and electricity makes me feel uncomfortable.
- Scruffydan, on 10/10/2007, -2/+18condensation can be a bitch
- drewjoh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15They have water cooling for video cards also.
- chubbybubba, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14I remember when cooling was the 'in' thing, when everyone and their grandmother were overclocking cpu's and crap. But now with multiple cores there's not really that killer app that can utilize the current gen PC power. Maybe when Crysis and the like CPU/gpu intensive games come again extreme cooling will be necessary. Then again maybe never. Water cooling is Cool but right now an unnecessary risk.
- vfrex, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Mini fridges aren't designed to handle the heat output of a modern day pc. I'm pretty sure you will kill the fridge. Although condensation could kill the computer first. Its a race!
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10I really thought this article was going to be an instructional guide on how to start meaningful conversations at the office watercooler.
- Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6things like video processing benifit from a faster CPU no matter what.
- zeromancer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5i just learned more about water cooling than i care to know.
good read if you have a thing for water cooling. - Tippis, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7...unless you go for fanless watercooling.
- Arcnite, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6move your computer
- DeadSkinMask, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Cool.
Good Read. - Azuroth, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Although currently out of stock.... viola! http://www.koolance.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=79&products_id=387
A water cooled PSU - polyGone, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Wow, I guess everyone's mean, today.
- Neem, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7yeah is paker the last person still useing Fahrenheits to measure temp in the overclocking world ?
- 711groove, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4There's an entire sub community of overclockers that build and use vapor phase change cooling units. Two notable manufacturers of PC phase change units are VapoChill and Prometeia, producing units that get as cold as -50C without load. Units typically cost around $800-1000 new. For more on capor phase change cpu and gpu cooling, read seom threads on http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/
And to say LN2 cooling is unavailable to the general public... many universities will rent out dewars and sell you LN2 at a reasonable price (just a few dollars per liter) and from there, all you you need is essentially a copper pipe to fix to your CPU. - Kronos6948, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I wonder if someone could design a system using a refrigerant instead of water...I know I've seen systems using liquid nitrogen, but as of right now using a system like that is unattainable and overkill for the general public. Not only that, using a refrigerant like R-14 is easily accessible. You can buy it at any auto shop.
- scottybowl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3fire hazard?
- rusty0101, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Well, so long as you don't mind the noise of a compressor, are comfortable with setting up high pressure and low pressure piping, and so on, I imagine it would work fine.
For that matter, you could set up the mini-fridge that has been described earlier, fill the bottom of the fridge with silica gel, and tape the door closed. I'm not sure that the solution would be 'better', but it would work. Additionally you could put lots of fans on things that needed specific cooling (cpu, video gpu, hard drives, bios chips, etc. and the noise associated with them would be handled by the insulation of the fridge.
Not a panacea of course, but it would work. - jun2san, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Holy crap, click on the WMD picture at the end of the article. That Mod is Incredible!
- nirav72, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Who says there isn't a killer app to use all that PC power? Have you ever tried playing Supreme Commander on the lan with unit caps bumped up to 500+ units ???
- Tsen, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Though not for the PSU. For obvious reasons. (Though I suppose Flourinert or something similar couldn't hurt, still you'll have one fan. Other than the radiator.)
Oh...and you're all *****. So...uh, hah! Yeah. *****. Witty, eh? - Kitsune818, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Just want to point out, pure water is not a conductor. Its the minerals in it that conduct electricity. (That said, it's difficult to keep it very pure for long.)
- Tippis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I went for a Zalman Reserator myself, back in the days. Worked like a charm :)
Rock solid cooling and not a whisper. - shiftless, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I like watercooling, but I'll only put it in a gaming PC. If something goes wrong, it is just a pain to drain, move the tubes etc.
It is pretty fun and very effective. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The reality is there is nothing on the market which will do the cooling job on a conventional computer case efficiently. The only way you will get efficient cooling is to build your own case; very expensive. Ventilation starts with selecting the right case for the motherboard. A small air conditioner is better than water cooling. You can try a peltier cooler http://www.heatsink-guide.com/peltier.htm Heatpipes are the most efficient. The problem is that you need to remove the heat from the case. The biggest killer of computers is dust. Computer cases are not dust proof. The dust sucked into the case gets lodged in the heatsink fins. That reduces your cooling. A small compressor and blow out the dust every three months. If you are really keen try building a heat pipe refrigerator.
- TypeEE, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I think so when most motherboards report temperature in Cecilius
- Burner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That's why there is PC Ice (and other non conductive coolants, I'm sure). http://www.thinkcomputers.org/v2/index.php?x=reviews&id=281
- Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2underneath?
you realise cold travels down right - Burner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I just set up a swiftech system not too long ago, and I used something called PC Ice. It's not water, it's a non conductive coolant, so if it leaks you won't short out the system and risk frying your 8800. Definitely good insurance for only $20. (only used about half the bottle to fill my loop).
- SteveMax, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It will work for you, just be careful with the water: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56924
- paker, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Water cooling is great, until a water block cracks.. I know. I've been using heatpipe cooling since and the CPU stays at 96F at idle.
- jackal42, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4build your computer inside a mini fridge
- FullOnChubby, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1minor niggle - 100GBP is more like 200USD...
- x414353, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Cold air travels down. By placing the tray underneath, the case will cool through a process called heat conduction. I believe they invented it around the time they invented gravity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_conduction - gwolf, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Using distilled water greatly reduces risk. Change every 6 months, you should be fine.
- p51d007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I've been running a water cooler since 2004, no leaks, no issues. Processor runs pretty stable at 90-105 degrees.
I like the idea of water cooling for one reason. The processor temperature is STABLE. When idle, most CPU's are
"cool", then when you stress them, they get "hot", cool, hot, cool, hot. That has to have some effect on the CPU.
Keeping the CPU at a more stable temperature, idle or full load has to be better in the long run.
This is an old P4 HT processor, and they run hot anyway. - COLDshiver, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1oh! It matters oh so much!
/sarcasm - Amebic, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's not a direct conversion, it's the equivalent you can get parts for in the US.
- UnstableMind, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Although you don't have as many fans, you still need one on the radiator. I put mine on the back of my case. It's the Thermaltake BigWater SE and it is quiet.
- Kitsune818, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I used to run my Prescott 505 with water cooling and it would run an easy 4 Ghz, but even my 805 seems to run rings around it. As others have said, watercooling really isn't that tough to do, but unless your overclocking or trying to make a perfectly silent computer, it's mostly unnecessary these days.
- Antebios, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I've been running watercooling since 2001 with the same hardware, water block, pump, radiator and fan (wow, 6 years!). I've only had one mishap that was in my favor. A few years later as I was changing a tube and putting fresh water I didn't seal a tube properly to the CPU block, and water leaked around it and fried the mobo and cpu. Good news for me since I could finally convince my wife that I needed to upgrade, yippie!! Since then I still have the same PC using it as a MythTV and File server. It's working like a CHAMP!!!!!!
- directsun, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I agree.
http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2006/05/22/wmd_part2_g-gnome_case_mod/1 - hokie47, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I used to be big in cooling and over clocking but, but today I don't notice that much of a difference. And really I don't care if you can play games at 150FPS, because after 50FPS you can't notice the difference.
- kohan69, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=70
Best watercooling guide on the internet, period. - zeixahna, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1simply using an aluminium tank as the reservoir does the trick. if the tank is big enough the side of the tank can radiate the heat quicker than the processors can generate it. i've seen this done on a water cooled tig welder. the guy replaced the noisy fan cooled radiator with an 400x400x400mm ally tank and he could weld all day long without any problems.
- zeixahna, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1how about oil cooling instead. you don't even need pumps and tubing, just immerse your motherboard in oil.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/09/strip_out_the_fans/ - drachemorder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How do you deal with the condensation?
- UnstableMind, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Actually it's not usually water, most kits use ethyl/glycol. Also, water is not the conductor, it's the impurities in the water that make it act like a conductor.
- cannarymburns, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0maybe when heatsinks where a block of aluminum with a fan on top, water cooling was worth it. now, with heatpipe heatsinks, water cooling is way too expensive for minimal gain. a good water cooling loop for the cpu will be around 200 bucks, my heatsink cost me 50 bucks. i don't think i'll see 4x the performance.
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