Slashdot Mirror
Integrated Water-Cooled Case
man_ls writes "Tom's Hardware has a review of a new Koolance water-cooled case. It has a built in watercooling system, to save people into overclocking the trouble of building their own. Unfortunately, it only works with Athlon, Duron, and Pentium IIIs. The P4 socket isn't compatible with it. "
I wonder if this unit can be filled with alcohol or ethanol.
Perhaps using aluminum dust in the water would help, as well.
Knunov
Why do users with IDs under 100,000 or over 700,000 usually have the most worthwhile comments?
Always, ALWAYS use distilled water... first, it doesn't end up putting deposits in your pump, and second, if it does leak, nothing bad will happen to your CPU/components, since distilled water is an insulator (not a good one, but it won't conduct)...
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
The P4 is very different from the Athlon and the P3. I don't know how the new P4 (socket 478?) looks like exactly, but the older one (socket423) was definitely larger than the Athlon or the P3 socket. Probably it is not cost effective to produce such a case for the P4, since the differences in design and manufacturing would have added to a significant price.
Also, I haven't seen or heard of any people o/c-ing their P4s (correct me if I'm wrong). So that market share is pretty slim to begin with. If you're not into o/c-ing, such a case is definitely an overkill. Unless you appreciate the quietness of a water cooled system.
So it does not seem very surprising that this case does not support the P4. Maybe later on, they will add the support, but right now they're catering to the AMD o/c-ers, who are far more numerous than on the Intel platform.
Is it really worth the risk?
I mean, you are putting tubes full of running water right next to your expensive circuitry. This is a recipe for disaster. I know many people who have experimented with water cooling for overclocking, only to ruin their motherboard and processor when either:
a. Something in the cooling system fails and stops cooling the hardware, frying it in the process.
OR...
b. Something in the cooling system fails, causing massive coolant leakage right onto the motherboard, processor, and sometimes even expansion cards. Disaster is an understatement.
Considering that there is nearly nothing on the market these days that would financially justify overclocking as opposed to just buying a faster processor, I would hardly consider buying a water cooling system due to the risk involved.
Is your company running tools written by ma
Since overclocking can only give you a 10-20% performance increase (best-case scenario), I think it's more about adrenaline than performance. If so, using a koolance water-based system is like bungie jumping with a parachute.
The Raven
The Raven
The real problem with water cooling is getting the H2O cooled fast enough to deliver cold water to the processor. I haven't read the article, but I was never a fan of water cooling, instead I use a refrigerator.
Explanation-
What is overclocking good for? Really? What I've seen is that people OC their computer to save that all important dollar, but find out that the cost for upgrading the cooling system is more expensive than just dishing out the cash and buying the faster processor (EXCEPT for the case of the P4 1.9Ghz and 2 Ghz). What I did when I OC'ed my computer was just for the hell of it, whereas my roomate in college (and at camp) did it just to show that you could. What did we do? We went down to the local Salvation Army, bought one of those little chest freezers, cut a couple of holes for the cables, put some caulk around those holes for a seal, and there we had it, a frozen computer. I tell you, nothing impresses the girls more that reaching into the freezer to put in a music cd. In the freezer, we also put a whole slew of those silica gel packets just to make sure that there was no water to damage our computer if there was a period of time when the power cable was knocked out. This was really a non-issue though, because we kept the freezer below freezing, so all the H2O vapor was frozen (except for the subliminating water, but that really doesn't matter. This was just a show off machine, and in the end, we ruined the computer when we spilled a bottle of vodka over the processor (the vodka was "coolant", and Joe was getting rid of the excess stuff)
If you think about it for a second, most J6P's would not consider this and neither would most hardcore overclockers either.
:) }
J6P would not do this, ever. Hardcore or Extreem OC'rs either, because they would build their own quite frankly.
This kit kind of hits the sweet spot (i.e. the "rest of us", perhaps) who are neither newbies nor extreemists.
Some of the highlights that caught my attention:
350W power supply is more than adequate, but considering that it is powering the board, chip, and pumps, it makes me take pause.
This is not including high end grfx hardware, several drives and god knows what else...350 might not cut it for very long.
The heat exchanger (radiator, essentially) is placed on top..good thermodynmics, but I did not see a lot of ventilation on the bottom of the unit in the pictures (think convection of the G4 cube)...not bad, per se, but *needed* I would think. (am I the only one who saw the Heat Exchanger and thought "they should have stuffed a few dead bugs and moths in it?" because it looks like a car radiator and what do they usually have in them?)
The rear of the unit does have a fan grate and extra air holes, but not the bottom.
Seeing as the fans on top "suck" the air...you have air "rushing" into the case from the back side and up and maybe from the front bottom and up but not from the bottom up.
You have to keep the MB and chipsets and cards cool as well, correct?
Overall it looks to be a very good value for the DIY crowd that does not have a machine shop handy but wants the "extra performance" without the "extra cost + time".
{I wonder if the water tanks also come in "ruby"
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
Lian Li PC-78 case + Koolance watercooling system = impossible?
Pricey, but I'd love to see Koolance come out with something to cool dual proc systems.
- dforce
SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE A_WINNER = "YUO";
Many moons ago, computers were huge blocks that had to be kept in hermatically sealed, air conditioned rooms.
Today computers are small blocks that people want to put in mini-fridges.
Shouldn't we be concentrating on making chips run cooler WITHOUT adding extra fans/heat-sinks/water coolers/dusky maidens with palm leaves?
Terry
(probably talking nonsence again)
If a square is really a rhombus, why aren't all triangles purple?
In case anyone wants to read a little more on the actual case used for this, here is a link to the actual manufacture of the case Click here it is made by Future Power, and I have to say, they do make a excellant case. (being a distributor for them I am a little biased though) I have this exact same case without the watercooling. Nice setup from them and a nice case. Think they did i great job
"No A Zaphod, didn't you hear we come in 6 Packs Now"
One can't help but wonder if Nitrous Oxide Injection, headers and gas filled shocks are coming soon. Bikini Clad models posed provocatively with the box, racing stripes, and GT models. Now that I think about it why not?
With all the case mods, like colored lights, windows, aluminum cases, superfans, heat sinks, and rounded cables, and now watercooled cases. It seems like it is already on the way. (bedsides we could use a few more bikinis in computer ads.) And how about 0% financing...and rebates, yeah that's the ticket, rebates....
Colors to match automobile colors (remember Malibu Blue?) Designer cases! Versace, Donna Loren, Tommy, Calvin Klein, Wow the possibilites are endless. Perhaps less time spent on getting them to work better, and more time on the superficial looks we could actually get people interested in our computing. Apple has already proven it doesn't have to be a bub (Big Ugly Box). Time to take it to the next step.
you should check out ocmod and virtual hideout. Both have good tutorial sections, plus lots of info on water cooling (and all of the other alternatives). But if you really want to overclock, your most important source of info is the users manual that came with your mother board. It will tell you where all the jumpers (or bios settings) are for voltage, clock multiplier, and front-side bus.
do not read this line twice.