Watercooling setup?

[CDC Mail Guy]

My watercooling setup. NOTHING at all fancy, just basic to CPU only. The "problem" I have is this...The water going back into the bucket is not being cooled enough by the radiator. Temps hover on an average of 36-40C, and that's not under load of any kind. Getting better cooling with air, but it's not as neat as this is , and it's a LOT louder.

I keep the distilled water/antifreeze solution in the freezer till I start the PC, and the first day I saw temp of 17C when I took my first screenshot.

P4 Prescott OC'd 15% to 4.15 from 3.6 Suggestions? Besides going back to and sticking with stock CPU speed? I am running half inch ID tube through the entire system, and I think the reason the rad isn't working, is because it is going through it too fast. Should I drop the tubing size down coming out of the radiator? Or would that be a bad thing because it would slow everything down including the water from the res to the CPU?

Pics of setup are below...

http://star.walagata.com/w/gonzo69/032907500.jpg
http://star.walagata.com/w/gonzo69/032907501.jpg
http://star.walagata.com/w/gonzo69/032907502.jpg

 

[SparkyJJO]

Here are the problems I see.

1) You need to close off the huge gaps between the fans and the rad in pic 1. You need all the air of the fans to blow through the rad, with those big openings there most of the air I'm sure is not going through the rad.
2) There is a kink in your tubing near the bottom fitting of the rad in pic 3. That will kill flow which hurts temps as well.

Fix those two problems and your temps should improve. BTW, you can't have water going through your rad too fast, it won't happen.

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Here are the problems I see.

1) You need to close off the huge gaps between the fans and the rad in pic 1. You need all the air of the fans to blow through the rad, with those big openings there most of the air I'm sure is not going through the rad.
2) There is a kink in your tubing near the bottom fitting of the rad in pic 3. That will kill flow which hurts temps as well.

Fix those two problems and your temps should improve. BTW, you can't have water going through your rad too fast, it won't happen.

Fans are set u to PULL air through not push it. Seems to be quite a big debate on push vs pull, so I went with pull, and most of the places say that there should be an inch or so gap to avoid dead spots. I fixed the kink as suggested. So from that, I gather I SOULDN'T restrict the flow out of the rad as it will slow down everything.

 

[SparkyJJO]

OK I couldn't tell which way the fans were. And you are right, a gap can be a good thing, but it needs to be walled off. It looks like the fans are stood off an inch, with a wall on each side but the ends are open. That needs to be closed off, so the fans don't pull air through there (which is easier for them) rather than through the rad.

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Lol...It DOES look like the ends are open, but they're closed. Problem with pic angle I guess. So that's it then. Temps dropped a couple degrees just from taking the kink out.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Oh OK I couldn't tell, it looked open

Good to know temps dropped after doing that. Other things that can impact is if the rad is airflow restrictive (looks like it might be) you need more powerful fans to pull the air through it, the waterblock you are using can affect it, even just the mount. Over at xtremesystems there have been cases where just simply taking the block off the CPU and remounting it has dropped temps up to 5 degrees C. Guess they can be a pain to mount sometimes.

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Yeah, I'm using an Swiftech Apogee something or other, and I actually warped/bent my mobo by tightening it too hard. Oops, good thing it (the motherboard) didn't break, and yes installation was a royal pain cause it had to be removed. All I know about the rad is that it's a dual pass heater core, but that's about it.

I agree about getting better fans with more cfm's, but also concerned about noise.

 

[SparkyJJO]

From reading over at XS, heatercores and quiet don't go together too well. It works, just not as well as a rad built for a PC, like a swiftech MCR220.

 

[Wheezer]

how is your flow? It looks to me like it is going pump>cpu>rad>pump.

It should be pump>rad>cpu>pump.

Remember that pump is going to generate some heat and pass it along to the CPU, and you want that water as cool as possible when it hits that CPU block. I would also suggest you find an enclosed container instead of an open bucket. The reason is that contaminants can get in there can cause growth which can inhibit your water flow. I just took my system apart after a year because temps were too high and my apogee block had some crap in it that was restricting the flow...once that was cleaned lout my temps dropped quickly.

Also it looks like there is a slight kink in one of the hoses leading into the rad.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: Wheezer
how is your flow? It looks to me like it is going pump>cpu>rad>pump.

It should be pump>rad>cpu>pump.

Remember that pump is going to generate some heat and pass it along to the CPU, and you want that water as cool as possible when it hits that CPU block. I would also suggest you find an enclosed container instead of an open bucket. The reason is that contaminants can get in there can cause growth which can inhibit your water flow. I just took my system apart after a year because temps were too high and my apogee block had some crap in it that was restricting the flow...once that was cleaned lout my temps dropped quickly.

Also it looks like there is a slight kink in one of the hoses leading into the rad.

Not only that, but you want the radiator right after the pump to get maximum pressure, and therefore flow, through the radiator. The radiator creates the highest pressure drop in the entire loop.

Edit: I'm probably going to sell my 3 x 120mm radiator soon. Black Ice Pro.

 

[aigomorla]

1. your using a subersible power head. These drop heat into your system

2. your running a kink in your system. Your overall flow got shot.

3. water should be running though your rad really quickly. If it didnt, then you would have a problem.



fix the kink for now. Get an inline pump with a reservoir.

Whats your cpu block?

Also push vs pull = squat. Pulling has shown to be quieter, while pushing will give u the extra .5C WOW...

But sparky is correct, YOUR PULLING the air around the radiator and not though

Stick your fans directly on the rad so it pulls the air though the fins. Not Around it.


Also the reason why your temps were awesome at start was because it took that long for your coolant to heat up. Your not in a sealed loop so your losing a conciderable amount of water. The evap;d h2o will then leave the antifreeze inside concentrated.

Antifreeze is an aweful heat exchanger. Its only point is to be a germacide, and help with corrosion. Other then that it serves no real point in your loop. ie. your not on a chiller.



IF you insist with a external layout like that. Your best option would be to BONG it.

NO IM NOT KIDDING EITHER. YES ITS CALLED A BONG COOLER its neat, and i was actually interested in setting it up. Your already almost there to go. Just add the BONG on top of your bucket, and it should blow that radiator out of the sky in performance.

HOWEVER!! bongs will evap A LOT more quickly, yet cool even the highest demanding TEC systems.

Just to let you know... a TEC system can draw as much as 4x the heat a regular system dishes. So you need either a REALLY hugh radiator, or BONG to cool it.



and who says bongs were only ment to smoke out of

Wiki to a bong cooler

Heres a bong guide i was looking at a while back.

however i suggest you do a lot of research. This area is still new to a lot of people on water. I myself havent gotten into it, but i heard that the performance is unmatchable. Even by thermochill.

 

[naughty001]

stick your fans directly on the rad so it pulls the air though the fins. Not Around it.

havent you guys ever heard of a shroud - a properly designed and executed shroud will be more efficient than just sticking your fans onto the rad IMHO - im not going to go into the reasons - its been discussed to death everywhere where people discuss watercooling - and ive tried both ways - the shroud works well for me

other than that you make many good points - and i dont really like bongs because they are too ghetto - but yeah it might work in his case - there are many ways to fabricate some sort of extension to make an external setup like that be far neater - id use a smaller container as a reservoir instead of a bucket - in fact the pump i used in my previous setup fitted into a container that was around 20cm cubed and was still fully submerged - i drilled in a pair of holes at one of the sides towards the top - and basically dropped in the tubing - and siliconed the gaps between the tubing and the hole edges - it really worked a treat - gonna probably land up using that old watercooling setup in my spare rig when i get the time to work on it - ive got spare blocks and basically enough spare parts to do two complete watercooling setups including chipset and graphics blocks and graphics card ramsinks

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

http://star.walagata.com/w/gonzo69/033107002.JPG

My temps now! My system is now radiator free, stuck inside a small refrigerator. I'll post the pics of my mess later.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: CDC Mail Guy
http://star.walagata.com/w/gonzo69/033107002.JPG

My temps now! My system is now radiator free, stuck inside a small refrigerator. I'll post the pics of my mess later.

AHHHHHHHHH tons of people did this.

Be prepared to replace your fridge in about 6 months. They werent ment to be on full power all the time

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Yeah...but I think it'll be sooner than 6 months. The left upper rear side is very warm, and the compressor is as hot as a pistol.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: CDC Mail Guy
Yeah...but I think it'll be sooner than 6 months. The left upper rear side is very warm, and the compressor is as hot as a pistol.

AC compressor FTW!

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Fridge getting waaayyyy too hot, so I got rid of it. Damn...now what? I ran from pump to rad to block and back to "res" for now. Tomorrow to Home Depot for some 4" pipe for the bong! Woo Hoo Only 2 feet or so under my desk though, will that be tall enough? Worried about noise though, but will sacrifice for coldness.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: CDC Mail Guy
Fridge getting waaayyyy too hot, so I got rid of it. Damn...now what? I ran from pump to rad to block and back to "res" for now. Tomorrow to Home Depot for some 4" pipe for the bong! Woo Hoo Only 2 feet or so under my desk though, will that be tall enough? Worried about noise though, but will sacrifice for coldness.

O M G eyehaychoo!!! i wanna bong too. ahahahha


just make sure you goto a sports shop and pick up some ping pong balls. The water hitting them increases surface area and also muffles the noise alot.

You can also insulate the bong with some foam. Remember all you really need is that one side duct with a fan to help air circulate inside. And most importantly!!

PICTURES!!! LOTS AND LOTS OF THEM!! if your bong works well, i wanna amend my sticky with a bong in the rad section.

 

[bwatson283]

I can wait for that radiator to fall in the pool of coolant! Put a cover on the bucket, it will keep dust out too!

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

LOL @ eyehaychoo, although it took me a minute to figure out...kinda like the personal license plates ppl make. Or the ones ppl HAVE rather...inmates in prison MAKE them! Anyway I'll try the ping pong bong balls as well for the noise muffling. Will I need a radiator as well as the bong...or just the bong by itself. I didn't see one in any of the pages I went to.

 

[Rogodin2]

I'd say it's your pump-or the viscosity of the fluid.

Rogo

 

[aigomorla]

u drop a rad in there, your gonna hurt your performance.

Id just leave the bong as it is. Your not super coolign anything. You shouldnt get anywhere near stressing it out.


However, you'll noice a lot of water being evap'd under extreme loads.

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Originally posted by: bwatson283
I can wait for that radiator to fall in the pool of coolant! Put a cover on the bucket, it will keep dust out too!

I tried a cover over the bucket, and other than keeping the dust and cats out of it all it did was raise my water temps.

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
u drop a rad in there, your gonna hurt your performance.

Id just leave the bong as it is. Your not super coolign anything. You shouldnt get anywhere near stressing it out.


However, you'll noice a lot of water being evap'd under extreme loads.

Cool, should also help with the noise level with no rad.

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Next thing to do is get rid of the anti-freeze. I'll just go with plain ol' distilled water