Is watercooling my solution?

[darkmagex]

I'm pondering building a new machine and one of the things I'd like to fix is my current desktop puts out a lot of heat, and in the confines of my desk area it can get quite warm due to the air blowing from the case.

Would a water cooled system mitigate this problem? Or are there any other solutions?

 

[Visaoni]

Unless you do something somewhat exotic, water cooling isn't going to reduce the amount of heat your computer produces in the immediate area.

Now, if you want to mount a radiator in a separate location, that is a different story.

 

[aigomorla]

I'm pondering building a new machine and one of the things I'd like to fix is my current desktop puts out a lot of heat, and in the confines of my desk area it can get quite warm due to the air blowing from the case.

Would a water cooled system mitigate this problem? Or are there any other solutions?

Water only moves heat from one location to another.

If the heat cant escape the desk, water would only make things worse, as its more efficient, and would make your desk hot at a faster rate.

Unless you want to move the radiator OUTSIDE your desk, and have tubing go to your desk, there is no solution besides put a fan under your desk, to circulate air.

 

[smackababy]

Water cooling is the final solution!

 

[superccs]

Water cooling could make for an interesting solution...

Setup up your water cooling system as you lie and then put your radiator in a bucket of water that you keep on the floor by your desk

When you want to game just put some ice in the bucket of water and OC your PC to all hell

That should solve your problem of localized heat build up and provide for some fun in the meanwhile. Just don't put too much ice in the bucket you will freeze up all your bits.

 

[faxon]

if you let the system heat up a lil bit first, then put ice in, that prolly wont be a problem. i would feel more comfortable buying a cheap minifridge and putting a few radiators in that though since i wouldnt have to worry about the water freezing at all. i would probably need to be more worried that i might overwork the compressor on the poor little fridge though!

 

[1sikbITCH]

I had the same problem and watercooling fixed it. In one of my rooms the computer is in a stereo cabinet with zero airflow or openings other than the door. I watch a couple hours of video on a regular basis, and the room itself had no AC at the time. After 30 minutes or so the video would artifact really bad because the card was overheating. When you opened the door to the cabinet it felt like opening an oven.

My solution was to watercool the pc so that I could transfer the heat to the outside of the cabinet. I have a radiator core with two huge fans strapped to it left over from my peltier days, and I just ran the hoses outside of the stereo cabinet. The heat is expelled into the room instead of just circulating inside the cabinet.

Now the pc stays closer to room temps and I have never had the artifacting again.

 

[smackababy]

Water only moves heat from one location to another.

If the heat cant escape the desk, water would only make things worse, as its more efficient, and would make your desk hot at a faster rate.

I wouldn't think that was true. Water has much higher energy requirements to heat and cool than air, or most other things. Therefore, the same amount of heat energy would be transfer, but with less change in temperature. I was under the assumption that is why water cooling set ups are so good, the water transfers the same amount of energy, but results in less heat.

I could be wrong about this.

 

[Schmide]

The heat should be exactly the same plus/minus the power production of whatever components are added to the system.

Although a semiconductor will put out less heat if they run in a cooler environment, mostly due to thermal expansion, this variation is often in the 1-2% change in efficiency; so for a 100w load, you're looking at a watt or two.

Considering a watercooling pump puts out at least 7-20w of heat, you're looking that much more heat entering the area.

 

[aigomorla]

I had the same problem and watercooling fixed it. In one of my rooms the computer is in a stereo cabinet with zero airflow or openings other than the door. I watch a couple hours of video on a regular basis, and the room itself had no AC at the time. After 30 minutes or so the video would artifact really bad because the card was overheating. When you opened the door to the cabinet it felt like opening an oven.
.

Gah... rules of thermodynamics state Energy can not be created nor destroyed, outside nuclear fission.

That means HEAT can not magically disappear.

I wouldn't think that was true. Water has much higher energy requirements to heat and cool than air, or most other things.

No your thinking from the efficency point.

What does water do? it makes your cpu load lower correct?
That means it picks up the extra heat.

Now i just told you, in our universe HEAT can not be destoryed.
So it has to go out.. where does it go? out the radiator and into the ambient space.

Now what happens when you get more heat pulled from your computer and dumped into a closed area?
The area gets hotter FASTER.

The first thing people know when they water is there room gets HOTTER.

You can NOT DESTROY HEAT.

That is what the OP wants.. instead he needs to find a way to increase the circulation in his tight spot, so heat is pulled away.

Considering a watercooling pump puts out at least 7-20w of heat, you're looking that much more heat entering the area.

+1 to schmide.
you have more heat in a h2o system, because u usually have more fans on your radiator, and a pump.
Those are extra heat sources... so they all contribute.

Water is great when you can keep a stable ambient. (doesnt matter if its low or high, the key thing is stable)
its not great when your rad is enclosed in a tight box.

 

[1sikbITCH]

It's not magic, and I didn't make any wild claims about destroying heat. I just pull it out into the room where it can get sucked away by the window fan. I guess that wasn't clear in my original post.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Water cooling allows you to spread the escaping heat over a larger area which makes it easier to disperse.

 

[darkmagex]

So far thanks for all the replies!

On the subject of heat, it seems the best way to go about this is to just reduce the heat generated by the system components. I can think, off the top off my head, possibly an SSD and a lower wattage/higher efficiency PSU would help with this. Any other component's I'm missing? I'm still aiming for a mid-high performance system so knocking down the CPU/GPC to any large degree won't really work.

Also, is the heat dissipating by say, a shuttle case, good enough for a mid-high performance system? I think by having a smaller case it would be easier to have it out in the open and further away from where I'm sitting which, even if it put out alot of heat, would mitigate the problem.

 

[jaydeee]

getting low power components would help you decrease heat production inside your desk but this would also mean less computing power or money out of your pockets. Air circulator may be the cheapest solution.

 

[overclocking101]

bottom line is, no there is no way to remove the heat from your desk area without moving the components from your desk area

 

[aigomorla]

bottom line is, no there is no way to remove the heat from your desk area without moving the components from your desk area

maybe i should of said it this way...

You will move heat from your cpu faster.. into the desk.

Once the heat gets to the desk you still have your same problem.

You need to remove the heat away from your desk as i was saying.