Tales of leet ghetto cooling

[ComradeBadger]

Thus begins my log on completely silencing my PC, and watercooling every componant possible Thus begins my mission statement - to watercool at least the CPU, Northbridge and VGA card, by any means nessesary, preferrably cheap as possible! No fans in the case other than those on radiators/heatercores. A new case is allowed. But no 'all in one systems', that's cheating

Here's a photo of my compy in an Antec PlusView steel server tower -

~ clicky ~

And it's fan-filled innards -

~ clicky ~

First off, I bought ThermalTake's Big Water watercooling system for the CPU, fairly straightforward you'd think then? Well, ThermalTake use 8mm fittings for their waterblocks, and the Danger Den waterblock I fancied for the Northbridge works on a 1/2" hose-barb principle. This is not going to work straight out. I also have a Swiftech VGA block for my GeForce 6600GT (which I plan to use in a separate loop with perhaps RAM and HDD coolers too) .

Secondly - the Antec case had to go (I plan to build a fanless firewall/file server in this case, so it won't go to waste ) so I purchased a cool, light ThermalTake Tsunami Dream case. Here it is, along with other bits of kit, and my work area -

~ clicky ~

Here is a better photo of all the bits I'd assembled at that point, for approximately £200

~ clicky ~

Now, you can't see in those photos very well the differing sizes of the fittings, so I'll just have to explain what I did next :E
A friend of mine who works at a hardware store and I had a chat about how to convert 6mm vinyl tubing to 1/2" vinyl tubing. This ended with him half-iching 4 copper adapters (8mm to 15mm) designed for plumbing applications and 1/2m of 1/2" outer diameter vinyl tubing from his work (I know stealing is wrong, but he gave them to me before he told me how they'd come into his possesion, and let's be honest, we all nick stuff from work :angel: ) now this vinyl tubing's internal diameter is approximately 10mm, which is too small to fit over the Danger Den Northbridge block, but fine to fit into the Swiftech VGA block. However, the copper fitting's 15mm end is too large, and the approximately 12" outer diameter piping will not sit properly in it. Here is a photo of the assembled componants so far -

~ clicky ~

Now right now all I have available to me for a while is:

The componants l listed
Hemp
Sealant
Duct tape
Copper piping (15" outer diameter)
11mm metal pipe-ends
Jubilee clips


My plan? Heat up the vinyl tubing with a lighter to expand it, shove the pipe end inside, expanding the diameter by a few mm, then padding around the outside with hemp, until the outer diameter is around 15mm shoving it into the copper reducer and sealing it. Instead of using the 1/2" barbs on the Northbridge block, I plan to put the 8mm outer diameter tubes inside, but using hemp to pad again

~thanks for reading, and wish meh luck

 

[Asus]

What I do know about watercooling is you really want to go with 1/2" tubing. Anything less and it will be a waterwarming instead of watercooling. =p
I guess you are just going for fanless so it might work for ya.

If you don't get it fitting just right it might become leaky leaky though. Granted the stuff isn't conductive but it can still make your parts rust etc.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

It sounds like an inspired plan that only a true genious of the 21st century could conceive of.





(good luck with that one!)

 

[duffers20]

That case looks good, so does the watercooling kit. Good luck with all teh modifcations

 

[ComradeBadger]

Back with an update:

I decided to set up the CPU-only loop today, the actively cooled one.. I got an old 250W power supply from work, and instead of plugging it into a motherboard or anything, I just shorted it :E

Here's a shot of my hackjob, the black wire connecting pins 13 and 14 (GND and power supply on) and my setup area again -

``clicky``

Here's a photo of the system before it was filled/bled -

``clicky``

``clicky``

And then, once the system was up and running, I tested the UV-reactiveness of the system with 2 cold cathodes -

``clicky``



``clicky``


Been running since I left for the pub at around 7, and 5 hours later, no leaks

 

[Asus]

Awesome!

 

[ComradeBadger]

Right - bit of a kick in the teeth this one, my second loop (VGA and chipset) is going to cost me another £140 :| but hey, I don't mind

Going for an entirely passive system.. Wet and Chilly Chips resovior (adds to cooling.. can be used in a non-overclocked system by itself with no radiator/heatercore + fan ), Swiftech 2 pass 80mm Radiator and a quiet Swiftech pump

Been testing the hell outta the CPU loop today, it held up perfectly, bleeds fast too

 

[15357]

Your tale makes me sad as my CPU is 65 C idle and has a really loud fan that goes at 4500 RPM.

 

[gweedodogg69]

my CPU is on the 1/2" tube and my video is on the smaller one. My 7800 (OCed to 495MHz) never goes above 37C even after a few hours of gaming.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

Niiiiice. Looks good badge I have to admit.

 

[duffers20]

my CPU is on the 1/2" tube and my video is on the smaller one. My 7800 (OCed to 495MHz) never goes above 37C even after a few hours of gaming.

That exos watercooling is so effective but expensive!

 

[ComradeBadger]

Yea my custom solution is rather expensive too ;( such a shame :| I'm looking for ways of cheapening the deal :| but not much luck ;(

 

[Maxi]

Mine was expensive too But now my pump is failing

 

[Cole]

How much is water cooling?

 

[Revisedsoul]

how good is it for moving around. ive been concidering watercooling when i get a new system but i move it back and forth alot. does the water stay fine or would i have to drain it.

 

[ray_MAN]

My computer sweats and screams. :|

 

[ComradeBadger]

how good is it for moving around. ive been concidering watercooling when i get a new system but i move it back and forth alot. does the water stay fine or would i have to drain it.

All depends on how securely it's done

My CPU loop is standing up nicely to being carried up and down stairs

Watercooling can cost anything from £60 to £500

 

[15357]

By the way, I have a 3.4ghz Intel processor. It keeps going to 65 idle. Is that normal?

My giant CPU fan spins too fast and makes too much noise, too.

 

[Asus]

By the way, I have a 3.4ghz Intel processor. It keeps going to 65 idle. Is that normal? My giant CPU fan spins too fast and makes too much noise, too.

If it's a precott CPU with the round finned heatsink right then yes. Generally 50-65C is where those sit. You'd just have to get cooler intake air or swap out the cooler.

 

[15357]

If it's a precott CPU with the round finned heatsink right then yes. Generally 50-65C is where those sit. You'd just have to get cooler intake air or swap out the cooler.

Yes its a round huge fan. :|

It makes too much noise, though.

I need to get some more fans, I only have the CPU, Graphics, and PSU fans.

 

[Asus]

Ouch...Yeah get some case fans (intake and exhaust).

 

[15357]

Ouch...Yeah get some case fans (intake and exhaust).

Its survivng by having a fan blow into it, but I'll get 2 more.

 

[duffers20]

Its survivng by having a fan blow into it, but I'll get 2 more.

If you just get a fan to blow air out the back of your pc then it will improve alot, also you could add another intake to make sure you are getting plenty of cool air to cool the componants.

 

[15357]

btw, how much do fans cost?

 

[duffers20]

You can pick up fans for pretty cheap, and you can normally get ones that are either pretty quiet or ones that shift a massive amount of air but are noisy. Just make sure you have the available fan headers for them, or if they come with a converter to allow you to change the connection to a normal 4 pin connection that you can plug straight into your powersupply cables.

 

[15357]

You can pick up fans for pretty cheap, and you can normally get ones that are either pretty quiet or ones that shift a massive amount of air but are noisy. Just make sure you have the available fan headers for them, or if they come with a converter to allow you to change the connection to a normal 4 pin connection that you can plug straight into your powersupply cables.

ohhhhhhhhhhhh


Thx.

 

[ComradeBadger]

If it's a precott CPU with the round finned heatsink right then yes. Generally 50-65C is where those sit. You'd just have to get cooler intake air or swap out the cooler.

Mine is presently at load only going up to 45 degrees C


Hope to push the mofo further once I've got the waterblocks installed

CPU loop shall be using ThermalTake non-conductive D) coolant, and the VGA loop, I haven't quite decided yet :E

 

[15357]

btw, I've heard that a CPU can go up to 125C and still survive. Is that true?

 

[Asus]

Not really, most CPUs would die if they hit that high for much longer than a quick second.

 

[duffers20]

btw, I've heard that a CPU can go up to 125C and still survive. Is that true?

Surely the system would automatically shut down before it could get to a temp like that?

 

[ComradeBadger]

You can turn auto-shutdown off.

:|

 

[Ev!lP!e]

£8 desk fan to win

Good work, looks slick and the mprovisation is great. nice1 :cheers:

 

[15357]

Found out that AMD proccessors have the maximum temperatures coded on them.


One of them withstands up to 100C. :|

 

[Asus]

Found out that AMD proccessors have the maximum temperatures coded on them.


One of them withstands up to 100C. :|

Yeah, a lot of AMDs are around 85c-90c.

 

[15357]

Yeah, a lot of AMDs are around 85c-90c.

So thats why some guy call AMD processors 'boilers'.

 

[Asus]

So thats why some guy call AMD processors 'boilers'.

hehe
Well the old Athlon's used to run hot similar to the Prescotts today. I don't think they call them boilers because of the max. temps they can handle.

 

[duffers20]

hehe
Well the old Athlon's used to run hot similar to the Prescotts today. I don't think they call them boilers because of the max. temps they can handle.

My old athlon xp 2600+ used to run at 45 to 50 at idle. Think they did run quite hot, but I could have probably got it cooler with a new heatsink and fan and maybe better case cooling. Totally loving my 3500+ Newcastle though, nice and cool at 25 idle and 40 flat out!