Taking the "plunge"

[m00dawg]

Well I finally decided that my linux workstation is too damn loud. So I've ordered some parts from DangerDen (go there, it's awesome) which include a new waterblock, a Maze3; and a BlackIce MicroII radiator.

I had a cheapo watercooling setup before for 'practice' on my Pentium120 box (which is now, thankfully, in my closet and has been repalced by a Dell...I know...but hey it was free and does a good job as my mail/web/BBS server). On that one I just had a MAZE1 and used a 1 gallon tank as my 'radiator'. I thought about using the MAZE1 for my 1800+ but though I should upgrade.

Here's my dilemna though. I'm trying to figure out if I want to put a reservoir (that is the hardest damn word to spell ) inside the case or leave it outside and was wondering how people have fared. I'm using a kinda cheapo pump I got from Pet's Mart so I need a reservoir that will house a pump, at least until I can afford an inline pump and cooler reservoir (which I can't since I blew that all on the radiator and waterblock ).

I found something I can make work from The Container Store - the container with the top is actually too high because the video card gets in the way. However I think I can get a peice of clear acrylic or lexan from a hobby shore and affix it with sealent. However, I could avoid this if I just left the reservoir external and have it, say, sitting on my desk.

So, in a nutshell, for the water cooling specialists out there, what are the pros and cons of each? One con I can see already from an external tank is my cat might screw it up because she likes to get behind my computer from time to time. I am also worried the tubing might be too long for my pump to move water fast enough. Lastly, I'm worried about kinked hoses and movablility, etc. Of course the plug is that it might look cooler and keeps airflow in my case better - plus I can add a UV additive and put a light below my reservoir (a 1 gallon fishtank )

Anyways, any ideas?

 

[s2kpacifist]

Seems like you're in a similar position I was in last summer.

I finally decided that the radiator and fan should be on the outside of the case, screwed on and ziptied to the back. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who carries their computer to every LAN party there is (and there are a lot). I found out that a radiator sticking out in the back is potentially dangerous to both the fan and radiator. In fact, I ended up damaging some wiring to the fan, but it's nothing too serious.

I'm planning to make everything internal because:
1) it makes it a lot easier wiring stuff on the back of my case since there's nothing jutting out
2) lower noise
3) it would be a lot safer to transport the case with everything fully internalized
4) Peace of mind (like it falling off or getting knocked over by something)

Also, about the UV, don't do the same thing I did and get some cheap UV water dye and add too much. It ended up yellowing the tubes a heck of a lot, so I'm replacing those as well (as well as putting tubes all at right angles to be neat)

If any of those things might be a problem, I suggest you internalize it as well. I was also afraid of my dog going at the tubes in the back of my case, so going internal is definately going to ease my mind.

Those are my 2 cents.

 

[m00dawg]

Yeah, ideally I want everything inside too, though sealing things is going to be hard with a submersable pump. I think what I may do for now is put a reservoir under my case by building a stand for it. This will allow me to use a large area for a reservoir, improving performance, while keeping it close to the computer so I don't have to worry about loosing efficiency. My solution won't be very portable though. Although with some tinkering I could device a hose system which might be easy to connect/disconnect on occasion. Additionally I could attach the stand to the and then attach the radiator to it but that might be a bit much.

Eventualyl when I get an inline I am probably going to get one of those cylindrical reservoirs from dangerden which you can pretty easily mount to the top of most cases (I think...if you have a blowhole fan mount).

Thanks for the input though, you brought up some good issues I didn't think about (specifically mobility for LANs).

 

[m00dawg]

Finally got my water-cooling setup working for the most part. Needs an additional fan for the rad and I am going to seal up the reservoir better with some silicone sealent. For now, however, here are some pictures:

http://www.moocowproductions.org/hardware.html

Click on the picture of M00Dawg to see all the pictures.

Enjoy!

 

[nageov3t]

your computer is looking pretty nice

how are the noise levels?

 

[m00dawg]

Originally posted by: loki8481
your computer is looking pretty nice

how are the noise levels?

Thanks It's still not done. I would like to paint the stand and need to find a permanent place for the hoses (the hole in the top left corner of the stand you can see in the pictures is where one hose was supposed to go but the hole isn't big enough - I also kinda want them in the back but the screws might get in the way). The radiator is in a foul spot too so I am going to move things around this weekend....and the rad needs a second fan.

As far as noise, it still has a whoosh sound from my Video Card and 120mm front-load fan. I have a GF3 and am finding it hard to track the temps of it so the next upgrade is to just water cool it too The 120mm can probably be sped down quite a bit once I start tracking my HDD temps more closely.

In a nutshell, sound-wise it's going to take some tweaking. But now I've removed the high-pitched monster I was having a heck of a time finding a low-speed setting for it without topping my temps out so this is MUCH better.

Highly recomended if you don't mind some creative engineering and water close to your components

 

[m00dawg]

Ok I bought a new fan and did some fan rearranging so the radiator can have 2. This helped immensely and since the setup is probably going to stay this way for a while (though one change is going to be adding vent-holes to the front of the stand) I thought I would post temps.

Idle Load
CPU 29C 32C
Sys 28C 28C
Ambient ~22C (Reading that off a crappy thermometer)

The temps given are peak reads - the overage for CPU was around 28.5 idle and 31C at load. Sometimes I noticed the CPU even drop below System I'm sure it is partly due to the inaccuracies of the thermisters, however. Still with my old cooper heatsink CPU would often be 10C over Sys, so even with possible inaccurate readings I'm satisfied Load was created by running burnK7 at a -20 priority for 15 minutes causing a the system load to peak at 7.8. Temps and load were read from gkrellm. For more info just visit the link posted in one of the previous posts.

Next step? Overclocking