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Off-The-Rack Liquid-Cooled PC Case
hummer357 writes: "A Korean company is making a computer case with a nifty liquid-cooling system (for psu, video and processor) that doesn't use any fans or motors. The CalmPC. Here's a review. Maybe this is the thing we have been waiting for ... finally silence on the desktop. Too bad the supplied case is extremely ugly"
I don't - I want to run a 2 CPU athalon system as a server for my website, and knowing that it's not going to croak like that one on Tom's Hardware is very important to me. I may just have to get one of these.
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." - Jed Babbin
Entering inside a server room and the only thing you can hear is "gloup".
--- Bouh !!! ---
If you want something for the higher-end CPUs, Koolance has had a pre-built waterblock tower case for a few months now. Try one of those.
RW
Koolance have been doing this for the past year or so. Their cases look *alright*, but not great :( They have two models, the 'silent' model and the overclockers model. Both are at least "pretty decent." [H]ard OCP have a review of the first one, and I think the overclockers model too.
ok...but still, OEMs need to put quiet hard drives in them to make this a truly silent PC.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
But can it keep my beer cold like thouse refrigerator cases? I think not.
a couple of days ago.
:o)
I didn't have a problem with the max. of a 1Ghz PIII processor,- this puppy is going in my AV rack, so all I care about is noise. (or lack of)
However, it is but-ugly, and since I saw the same enclosure for sale in the non-Calm-PC version, I had hoped that I could rip out the cooling system and place it in an other enclosure.
Well, it seems to be possible,- the PS has normal dimensions. The rest of the cooling system isn't all that crazy either. BUT, the cooling elements are mounted on the side panel of the enclosure. The thing is that this is a customized side panel. It's about twice as thick as the original one.
This got me a little worried about heat distribution if I mounted the elements on a surface that does not have the same 'body' as this panel. So now I'm thinking, maybe I'll keep the original construction, cut off some of it, and fit the entire thing in an other enclosure.
I had hoped to creat a horizontal enclosure, but I'm worried that cooling system might not work if the elements aren't mounted in the right orientation.
Anyways, waiting for my solid-state disk and CPU to arrive so I can start playing around with it. I'll post my findings.
Early glimpses of the plan suggested a system in which water is replaced by a fluid that evaporates over the hot parts of the pc, is then moved by convection to a radiator where it cools, condenses and is returned by gravity to the start of the cycle. Sadly the idea remained vaporware for a long time.
Sounds like it still is?
"And like that
You do realize that noise, even if you've grown used to it and are not consciously bothered by it, has been shown to have an adverse effect on you? A constant background noise above 40 dB causes stress thus increasing your blood pressure and affects your concentration. On the long term the stress becomes harmful.
Combine noisy computers with work related stress, too much caffeine and listening to music at work no wonder the young coders burn out.
Although conventional wisdom has it at the top so that the heat gets sucked out the top. Which raises a whole question of air circulation in the design that is troubling.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
How are you suppose to impress non-techies with your server room, when it sounds nothing like a 747 preparing to take off?
If I could just figure out a way to let it dump it's excess heat into the cold water line that feeds my water heater, the case would pay for itself! But why stop there? We could run pipes all over the house (to the refridgerator, the Air Conditioner, etc) and dump their excess heat into the cold water line...we may not need a hot water heater at all.
Ok, it's a loony idea, but I have to find some reason to justify a water cooled PC to my wife.
Kind thoughts do not change the world
Looking through the DigiKey catalog, I've noticed that small fans cost anywhere from $10 to $50. Instead of paying extra money for a water-cooled case, why not just buy fans with better bearings, closer tolerances, and whatnot to make them more quiet? I'm sure there are very quiet fans available.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
Price delivered ~$202 each. Cost of balls of toilet paper stuffed into each ear so I don't have to hear my noisy case: free if I steal it from a public restroom. Plus I would really miss the feeling of hot air blowing on me as I sit next to my computer. Yeah my components would last longer, but what excuse would I have to upgrade if they didn't burn up now and then?????
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
The future started in 1998 when the iMacs were relesed with *gasp* no fans, Just a heatsink. Followed shortly thereafter by G4 towers with no fans (except a small one in the power supply). Besides, as someone here already said, the harddrive contributes noise, as well as the CD ROM.
'sides, I'm still not sure if having liquid running through my PC would be the best thing for it should it be ruptured.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Here's one made in the United States and is highly regarded by many OCers and it looks better IMO.
http://www.koolance.com/
You can have a -4C vapochill case
Didn't the PowerMac G4 Cube run silently? Haven't all of the latest iMacs come without fans?
Hmmm....
And don't the new iMacs have a variable speed fan, that comes on when you need it, and rests when you don't?
You guys should try a new Mac to find out what a quiet machine can be like...
Most laptops are pretty tightly packed, though, so it would be difficult to modify this for an existing laptop, but it would be nice if a laptop manufacturer built liquid cooling into one of its models.
I bought a dual AMD for a while ago. I thought I could make it silent enough, but I'll probably have to sell it now. The noise, although only moderate due to the slowly rotating fans, is still too much even for a daytime working. The hum of two Miprocool CPU fans (80 mm, 1300-3000 rpm and huge heat sink) and a power source was too much even after I padded the case with carpet and soft foam.
The problem is the huge 60+ W power consumption of the processor. Intel's new Tualatin PIII line has only is rated at only 27 W and I've been thinking about building a new machine based on those and Zalman's passive heat sinks. If the passive cooling isn't enough, I'll get a large, slow and silent fan to move the air around a bit.
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
Well, being able to wake up to the noise of a normal alarm clock (instead of an extra loud one) when you're 40 seems to beat that.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
can't handle one of those fancy new processors we all want
Well, not all of us. I don't care if my office and high-end gaming machine makes a lot of noise. Some of us want a DVD and MP3 machine in the bedroom or AV room where noise matters and CPU speed doesn't.
Could the guy possibly be more obnoxious about posting his name all over the review?
What you're seeing in those JPEGs is part of a copyright notice. Give the fellow a break; would you want credit if somebody else used JPEG images that you created in his own review?
Will I retire or break 10K?
So, what about having boxes with two slow, but very large fans (one on a side to inject air, another one on the other side to reject it)? It would probably be cheap and quiet.
{{.sig}}
Early glimpses of the plan suggested a system in which water is replaced by a fluid that evaporates over the hot parts of the pc, is then moved by convection to a radiator where it cools, condenses and is returned by gravity to the start of the cycle. Sadly the idea remained vaporware for a long time.
Sounds like it still is?
Looks like you made a pun too: cuz that's how a still works!
Mmm, moonshine.
Can't they just put an enormous heat sink on the CPU and then put vents in the top of the machine? Like a Mac, or even a TV, or stereo?
Even if it still needs a fan why not point the damn thing up??
It seems to me the equivalant of trying to make toilets flush to the right instead of down.
Too bad the supplied case is extremely ugly
You think the case is ugly?? Did you see the bright tangerine background on the review page? Now THAT'S UGLY!
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
They overlooked something that might be life saving, and that's the installation of a GFCI outlet. It's very easy to do, I built one for my watercooled machine on a extension cord. Without one, a (rare) but possible failure of the pump could mean that current decides to return to ground through you. Ouch.
For what it's worth, I run a custom watercooled setup that I managed to get squeezed completely inside a standard PC case. It works great, no problems. I still need intake/exhaust fans, though, and until I put an intelligent controller in it isn't that much quiter than a normal setup in a good case. It works a lot better though :).
..don't panic
In Graffenwhor in Germany, they started shooting artillery in 1912 and other than 4 hours on sundays, all of Christmas and New Years day, and four days when Patten took it over as WWII ended, the artilery firing is constant. When I got home, after three years there, I had nightmares for two weeks until I got used to not hearing constant explosions in the background.
You would be amazed at what kind of noise you can get used to when sleeping, it's usualy the change that bothers you the most.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
But it's just SCREAMING for case modding... I can see some groovy blue graphical LCD/LED displays in the top dome spelling out heat, power consumption, cooling efficiency, etc... Carve some holes in the side for a black light, then color the coolant with any flourescent dyes (or antifreeze if that can flouresce), then mod the top to look like some kind of a head with the display as a visor, and, and...
Jeeze, this is like the Denis Leary joke about smoking pot to avoid going into carpentry...
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!