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Do-it-yourself CPU Water Cooler
Foss writes "This article on EIMod.com shows a (very) cheap and effective way of getting that usually-expensive water cooling system that many of us have thought about. There are some pretty pictures too :)"
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just cover your hardware in saran wrap and dump ice in the box. works like a charm to keep it cool.
I got a water cooling sytem. OCed my 2 gig to 2400.
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
This looks reliable!
http://www.eimod.com/overclocking/rob/wc_2_ok/p
Also, look how dusty the case is. This guy must live in a barn!
These are the sorts of instructions I don't like to see in a mod! At least it doesn't mention chewing gum...
Believe nothing -- Buddha
Sure, for the ten minutes that the article mentions that the pump runs before overheating.
a way to get that AthlonXP to overclock. I wouldn't pay for one of those alrady made jobs. I would rather do it myself. At least someone has given a direction.
Next stop, fried CPU....
...but the rubber bands on the tubes just scares the hell out of me. Did this guy graduate from the Russian Navy or something? I think the shrink tubing would have worked if he'd have gotten the kind with the mastick (glue type substance) in it. That would have sealed it off great and it's still inexpensive enough not to break him.
quod me nutrit me destruit
I like the rubber bands and string holding the thing together. And the 10 minute pump :) I guess testing stability of you overclocked processor will be easier if you only have 10 minutes. I have seen a bunch of water cooling kits linked from hardocp.com which were much nicer, and well much more expensive. I guess you get what you pay for.
was at the London Smackdown tournament that I went to. This guy had to carry around an extra cooling pouch with all the stuff built into it. There are 3 pics of it here, here, and here. The third pic is the best view of the pouch and the first two show you the in'erds on the computer.
Why go to all this trouble? This is obviously the way of the future.
The words 'cheap', 'water' and 'computer' used in close proximity do not inspire confidence or an incentive to try this mod out.
Then I read about the cotton...!
"Information wants to be paid"
My CPU's always wanted a place to stop and chat while getting a cool drink.
Hopefully it will increase productivity.
Ohhh...water cooling for CPU's? My bad.
If I weren't nailed to the penis, I'd be pushing up the daisies!
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Does anyone else think it would have been infinitely cooler
if he had used dental floss to hold the heatsink on instead of plain ol' string?
C-X C-S
Cool, he was actually able to get +50 MHz over traditional methods after all of that string and H2O.
Simply Amazing!!
Does anyone else think this is a bit of an effort for a novelty system that's more likely to ruin your computer than provide an efficient cooling technique...and it doesn't even look sexy :(
I could overclock my C64 to 2MHZ, yeah
I'm waiting for the DIY liquid nitrogen version...
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Okay, so his water pump is only designed to run for a max of 10 minutes before overheating. Since overclocked CPUs generate heat, an underclocked CPU must be able to absorb heat, right? RIGHT? Why not slap an old 286 onto the pump, underclock it to run at, oh, say, 2 Hz (not mHz, but plain ol' Hz) and the 286 will absorb all the excess heat off the pump! Voila! :-)
:-P
Or should he just get a water cooler to put on the pump, which would in turn need a water cooler for ITS pump, which would need a water cooler for ITS pump, which would . . . oh, wait, this is infinite nesting, isn't it?
I have to screen all the computers I buy with my wife. If it doesn't fit with the decoration, it's not coming in.
Yeah, but if you get a water leak, your screwed 'cause your parents are sure gonna miss that cooler and defintely gonna miss that computer!
No longer will I be forced to move to talk with coworkers around the water cooler. They will come to me, bwahaha.
With the money he spent on this "cheap" water-cooler, he couldv'e PURCHASED A 1GHZ CPU!
Oh, and it'd work for more than 10 minutes too!
The things a guy will do...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
I guess the next amazing hack on the site will be the imfamous 'remote monitor' a 17" monitor and a telescope.
First off IANAP but this guy should talk to one.
He should take a look at some aquariums as well. That would take care of finding a pump that can run continually w/out overheating. I would think it has to be much cheaper than pumps built for remote controled submarines.
Some small compression fittings would take care of the tube problem. Maybe some o-rings instead of rubberbands on the outside. I can think of a few ideas that would involve more than just pressure on the outside of the tubing. (That's why he had such a tough time stopping the leaks- he tried to tackle it all from the outside)
Very nice box- a little tweaking and it would be very applicable for anyone.
.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
And not that I don't trust this guy, but homemade is a bit scary. Maybe it is just me, but leaking is a HUGE issue, and I would want to be about 200% sure for something I am making myself.
Still, these designs look good, and with a better pump, I would love to see some long term tests with this.
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
Water conducts electrisity. Well, pure water doesn't, but pure water will eat metal until it does conduct. That means you have to keep your water carefully sererate from everything else.
By contrast, oil doesn't conduct, doesn't disolve metal. Fill your case with oil, and you have better cooling than air, and much easier to deal with. (Note, oil isn't as good as water for heat capacity, but it is still better than air and has all the other advantages)
Why water? Why not mineral oil or something that's certain not to conduct electricity? It might not take heat away quite as fast as water does but it should still be a lot better than air.
I wonder whether liquid nitrogen is feasible. That would be a great cooling system for a Beowulf cluster: remove the cases, hard disks etc and just stack motherboards really close together in a big bathtub filled with cold liquid.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Duct tape and bubble gum a cool mod does not maketh.
String and water a cool mod do maketh?
I beg to differ kind sir.
Did anyone else read the part that the thing only runs for 10 minutes? Oh what a bargain. Buy all the watercooling stuff and have it work for 10 minutes at 1ghz. Woohoo.
Water cooling requires that the water, passing nearby a heat source, absorbs the heat and carries in on to a place where it can be safely transferred into the surrounding environment. The old Second Law, Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, etc etc.
So why would we opt for water, which would be a less than optimal coolant? Because hot water makes *coffee*. Imagine! You could have a water-cooled server *and a coffee machine* all in the same rackmount!
The possibilities are endless.
That is the MacGyver Case Mod. It is used for heat transfer. Leaks are sealed up with Chocolate and you hold the whole thing together with duct tape (of course).
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
In my experience rubber bands get weak, especially in warm places, and eventually break. I would not like to have a computer running when the "insulation" breaks and drowns the motherboard. Then again, this thing is supposed to take the heat out so maybe it's cool enough.
Dude, that is WAY hardcore. I like the design. It would have been nice had they taken a picture of the innards of that little black bag. What kind of speed did he get with that thing?
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
As someone who has built his own homemade watercooler, this setup is very jury-rigged and definately not recommended for any sort of serious long term cooling. The copper-tube inlets need to be replaced w/ brass fittings to avoid leakage, and the rubber bands should be replaced with cheap and much more effective band clamps. This waterblock design is not effective water-distrobution wise either as the water is not forced to flow through out the entire design. This would let the side furthest the inlets get hot due to poor water flow. An open chamber is only good for small waterblocks. Lastly, using thread to attach a waterblock to the cpu is ghetto as hell. Either quickly engineer a heatsink clamp yourself, or just look up a guide on the net for this, its pretty simple. Watercooling is one of those things that can be done many different ways, but this particular method is a little more 'amature' than is recommended to put on any piece of equipment that you value. If you are going to take the time to make your own watercooling, also take the time to make sure its engineered right.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
So this poses the question - where can one find links to professionally built water cooling kits? I have been interested in getting one for my computer, but exhaustive google searches have only turned up a few. What is really out there.
For that matter, how about some links to some good overclocking sites with some solid information?
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
http://www.crazypc.com/articles/watercool.htm
:))
I prefer this one!
Fabio - Sumare/Sao Paulo/Brazil/South America/Earth/Solar System/Milky Way/Universe
http://www.morroida.com.br
http://www.overclockers.com/tips653/
Fabio - Sumare/Sao Paulo/Brazil/South America/Earth/Solar System/Milky Way/Universe
http://www.morroida.com.br
Man, I had the idea of these modders building nice boxes full of colours and lights, or setting up some clever Peltier systems for overclocking.
There is no review on the articles on that site?
This guy has some entertaining mods that you may enjoy!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
HOLY SHIT:
e x.shtml
http://www.eimod.com/overclocking/rob/veg_oil/ind
Fabio - Sumare/Sao Paulo/Brazil/South America/Earth/Solar System/Milky Way/Universe
http://www.morroida.com.br
with link now: http://www.overclockers.com/tips653/
Fabio - Sumare/Sao Paulo/Brazil/South America/Earth/Solar System/Milky Way/Universe
http://www.morroida.com.br
I run a watercooled machine as my primary work box. It's great, and the noise savings were incredible. No more whirrrrrr. Fits snugly into a standard mid tower case.
I have a page up with all the details of contsruction for you who are interested. I've been running it for a few months, 24/7, and there have been no problems whatsoever. I took a few additional precautions, but the system as been moved around several times without any difficulties whatsoever and I highly recommend it to others who are interested.
..don't panic
SO your a jew????
at least leave me blood parasites
my friend had me mill one for him for a science experiment. actually , ended up about 5 of them. he bought 2x2x1" aluminum blocks. i milled two holes through (one end to the other), side by side. he tapped them, and attached plumbing devices to the newly threaded areas. The other method was to bore four holes - two holes one one side that went 80% through, and 2 holes on the adjacent side that also went 80% through. tapped, and attached appropriate connectors. no leaks to patch. since the tops were flat, he also took the old heat sink + fan, removed the fan, and used that to dissipate evem more heat.
i never got the results back, but if anyone's interested, i can get the data to you, along with pics and more details.
moox. for a new generation.
http://www.crazypc.com/articles/watercool.htm
Fabio - Sumare/Sao Paulo/Brazil/South America/Earth/Solar System/Milky Way/Universe
http://www.morroida.com.br
Rubber bands? Cotton thread? Please.. this is just lame.
Will all the memory chips huddle around it on Monday mornings discussing Sunday night's episode of Sienfeld?
Sorry, I'll just stop now.
KMSMA (WWBD?)
to go from .950GHz to 1GHz. Why not just blow $38.00 and buy a 1GHz CPU? Geez, and what a bodge!! The damn pump would only run for 10 minutes.
this is as bad as reicer cars that have stickers and scoops to 'boost' horsepower.
I want 2D games back.
This on definately wins the whisky tango (white trash) award. If only he would have shocked himself to death, he'd be up for a darwin.
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
Rubber bands? You gotta be kidding!
A much better way to mate the hose to the copper tubing is to use a hose clamp. These can be obtained from any DIY or auto parts store, and cost less than a dollar each.
The problems with this system are numerous.
1. The pump will only work for 10 minutes at a time. Great if you power up once a day to check email and then power down again.
2. The surface of the cooling block is absurd. If you don't have good contact, you're out of luck.
3. The cotton thread will stretch and contract, and eventually the "double knot" will break or become worthless. Savage an old CPU fan connection bracket if you must, but don't do THIS. Please.
4. The leaks would be horrendous and fast. The rubberbands are susceptible to the heat of the block, and will break immediately.
I'm not trying to be a jerk. I did try this unsuccessfully a few months ago, and then sucked it up and shelled out $90 at Fry's for some moderately good quality parts - a block, some real pipe fittings, and a good eHeim pump. It's been running 24-7 for some months now, with absolute perfection. It's quiet, fast, and the tests I run (every month) when I shut down the pump just to see what would happen, result in a nice, quick shutdown upon CPU core overheat (takes about 5 minutes). Distilled, clean water thrown on a running motherboard had no effect, so I've used that. No oil, no antifreeze, no water wetter. It's all worked out great.
Just shell out the $90 or $100, spend some time, and do it right.
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
I own a manufactured liquid cooled case. The performance is excellent and at 350 wtih powersupply, was really fairly reasonable. If you're interested in liquid cooling the case has performed in a superb manner. (keeping the 2000+ sitting it it at around 120f. When I get the new 200w cooling unit I expect it to drop even lower, as the fluid temp is still only 10f above room temp.
In answer to the obvious question, no I'm not planning on overclocking, because unlocking the palamino clock is too much trouble. for those interested in the case I purchased it can be found at Koolance I got the 602 which is a modded antec case, that antec claims is a soho fileserver case.
a bit more about me http://www.advogato.org/person/trelane/ or my private page http://trelane.net
Why in the world was this article posted? Did I miss something?
This "31337 m0d" runs for approximately 10 minutes before the pump overheats. That's really useful if you're only interested in watching your boot sequence.
And anyway, all watercooling systems are DIY mods. That's the whole fucking point. This was truly a waste of time and bandwidth.
visit the hwky website for a lyrical genius infusion.
picture a warm overclocked pc sitting next to a fishtank that needs a heater to keep the temperature up.
there's a couple of options...
run the pumped filter water from the tank to the cpu radiator
or
somehow (there's the catch) mount a heatsink to the side of the tank with the fins going into the tank and the cpu mounted to the dry outside
sik
Ahh. I forget that some people accually like to drink that stuff known as coffee. Since I cannot stand the stuff, the corrolation never occured to me.
First of all, a great idea on a CPU that is overclocked, sowing string, I am sure it will last forever. When looking at the pictures it becomes clear why noone uses it.
Second, I'd never show my face in shop where I can buy sowing string.
Third, the usage of that string seems more to because of limitation of skills than a 1337 idea.
if you turn the thing on with a cool reservoir, the CPU temp stays below 76F. but after being on for 10 hours, the reservoir temperature raises to about 113F due to my lack of money to buy a real radiator. so my equilibrium CPU temp with an Athlon XP 1600 is 123F, when the fan it came with ran it at 145F.
you can see pictures and stuff here.
granted, copper slugs and machining equipment and "free" swagelock (and peltiers!) is not something everyone has, but use what you got, right?
hope someone finds it useful or interesting.
muerte
SO your a jew????
Your use of "your" is incorrect here. Perhaps you meant to use "you're" -- a contraction of "you are" -- instead.
The revised sentence reads:
SO you're a jew????
Thank you,
Spelling & Grammar Nazi
In fact, he would probably hunt them down and beat them senseless with a huge copper tubing.
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
After trying many different Peltier solutions, I became frustrated at how cumbersome they are and how painful they are to install.
Finally I came up with a water cooling solution that was easy, simple, and , best of all, completely free!
The picture isn't so good (it's a little hard to make out the details of the PC), but I'm sure everyone can do this mod too!
I'm not touching any computer mod that has me using thread to secure a heatsink to a processor...
I don't see how this is newsworthy? sure it worked..for ten minutes. If you're going to post a watercooling article can't you at least find one that is a semi-permenant solution?
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
I'm pretty sure one could use a "Celestial Seasonings" tin can and a healthy dollop of silicone sealant to replace the copper box.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
"1 - 3 grams of solder should be enough, but it's always best to buy excessive amount just to cover yourself."
Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't covering yourself with solder hurt like hell?
End of lesson. You may press the button.
I find this mod really pathetic, mainly due to how he attached the cooling system to the processor.
:)
And how is there a benefit? My Celeron-2 600 sits at 36 degrees celcius and it is only cooled by a fan on the processor and two fans in the case. If attaching a water cooling system like his to mine only causes a 10 degrees difference in temperature, why should I care? Unless it got to the point of being 15 or 20 degrees cooler, I can give a rat's ass about it.
Yet putting my system in liquid freon would be an option. How does a non-conductive cold liquid sound for cooling a system?
Besides the "it's cool!" factor (which it really isn't anymore, since everyone's been there and done that by now), why on earth would anyone water-cool their system nowadays? The difference between an Athlong XP 1500 and an Athlon XP 1800 is $14, and even the fastest Pentium 4 CPUs are reasonably affordable (to say nothing of the absolute cheap asking price for the fastest Athlons.)
I guess what I'm getting at is this: why bother with any of this overclocking nonsense anymore? What on earth can it possibly buy you nowadays, other than a voided warranty and a fried CPU?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
use a normal fan to cool down your CPU and issolate the air-stream and connect it to a water-cooling-system-stuff-or-something, the issolating will reduce the noice, and because you can move the air-stream to any place u like, the water-cooler can be put away from the electronics and create a save system.
So, who's going to patent this? this technique will be called überfan(TM), and will be copyrighted by aww.. forget it.
If at first you don't succeed, then sky diving definitely isn't for you.
This is interesting. BUT. when you consider the cost of the materials, the tools needed, the time it will take to complete this the guy could have done a small contract job for some joblo company and made the money needed for a better system.
Water is the optimal coolant, when only physical properties are considered. It's reasonably low viscosity (easy to pump), and has an extremely high heat capacity. The only problems are that it is rather corrosive and electrically conductive, so leaks are really bad news, but the heat capacity is so much higher than most non-conductive fluids that engineers will often pick it anyhow. Other choices: Oil will take a stronger pump, thicker tubing, and bigger radiator, because you have to move more fluid at higher viscosity. Certain chloroflourocarbons are good enough at cooling and entirely safe to spill on live electronics, but they're also pretty much illegal nowadays. And distilled water is much cheaper than any alternative fluid...
He didn't really mention how many different pieces of hardware he ruined during this experiment, or what happens to his system at 11 minutes (when the cooling system fails), or my favorite question of all -- WHY? There are several water-cooling solutions on the market now, plus dozens of any other kind of cooling solution (Peltier, massive fans, etc). I understand the need to tinker and constantly tweak the equipment, but this guy must be really obsessive... Already noted here several times, but any cooling solution that works only for ten minutes at a time doesn't seem that great/newsworthy. BTW, won't cotton thread burn, create a lot of smoke, catch fire, and melt the entire lot of hardware -- oh, yeah -- it is water cooled, so you also have an internal fire-suppressant system.... Now I understand -- kewl!!
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
The way it's currently implemented there is really no point. Good air heat sinks remain close to room temperature so they'll cool just as well as this water cooler. To actually improve the cooling you need so either cool the water or utilize a peltor with the water cooler to drop the temp below room temperature.
Willy
...to shed heat from the coolant. Just run the water coming from the cpu to a shower head (or similar) suspended above an open reservior. The water is dispersed by the shower head (increasing surface area) and cooled by the air as it falls into the container below.
Granted, this approach requires an open reservoir outside of the case, but it's simple, effective, and cheap.
Bonus: it can also replace those stupid "Sounds of Nature" tapes that people use for background noise at bedtime.
I take drugs seriously.
This might be a silly idea, but ... Why not buy a mini fridge, large enought to hold a computer, and a few choise beverages. Cut some holes for cables. And you are good to go.
1.) Don't heat the solder. heat the metal (with a small blowtorch). Maybe some acid flux first.
2.) Use caulk to seal the hose to the piping.
3.) Look around (larger Chinese groceries are good) for pre-formed metal trays, some of which have mtal lids that could be caulked shut.
I've been running a Koolance PC2-601 case for a month now and love it. It's an Antec SX1030 with a fully-integrated watercool system. No milk jugs and aquarium pumps here, and a full-size radiator that can handle anything, and a CLOSED water system.
I'm oc'ing an Athlon 1800 XP to 2100 and it's holding 36c at the lowest fan speed. It's also cooling the MB chip, Nvidia chip, and two hard drives. Amazing. The Koolance is so madly overbuilt it's hilarious. Two pumps for backup, a sweet control panel, and no ungainly hoses sticking out of the case.
Best of all, the system itself is almost silent! I can't hear the pumps at all, and the top fans spin so slow as to be a whisper. The power supply fan drowns out the whole thing.
Tired of messing with crazy hoses and, uh, cotton string? Pony up the whopping $275. Given that a regular SX1030 is almost half that, it's a hell of a deal. The smaller version is even cheaper. I'm sick of hearing that pro watercooling is expensive or difficult. I finally have a fast machine that doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner, and it's not like I broke the bank.
This story actually teaches a lot about how not to build a water-cooling system for a CPU.
Some specific observations:
- The low delta T (temperature difference) for the water going through the system is a sure indication of low efficiency. The most likely culprit is poor contact between the block and the CPU. Thin sheeting was used, and ripples are clearly visible in the pictures. The block is probably only touching in a few places and there is no mention of using thermal grease. A stiffer bottom plate was clearly called for.
- As mentioned elsewhere, hose clamps should have been used. (String? Let's not go there...)
- There is no radiator to dump the heat back to the environment. The heat transfer from the surface of the tank is probably not sufficient to keep the temperatures low. The radiator should be after the pump, to dump the heat from the pump also.
Perhaps the story should have been posted with the "laugh, it's funny" icon.BTW, I prefer Indium foil as the thermal gasket between the CPU and heat sink, not thermal grease. Unfortunately, Indium is usually as expensive as gold.
Irony: See above post.
Fluorinert liquids are a family of clear, odourless perfluorinated fluids that were developed to meet the demanding and diversified requirements of direct contact electronic applications.
Fluorinert liquids have a number of important properties:
Very high dielectric strength
Wide range of boiling points
Thermally and chemically stable
Compatible with sensitive materials
Very low toxicity
Non-flammable
Zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP)
It's really cool stuff, and it's starting to find applications all over the place. For example, it turns out that fluorocarbons absorb oxygen really well, so a colloid of fluorinert is used as an artificial blood. It really is the ideal solution for the problem of processor cooling, but I can't for the life of me figure out from the web how to get some and how much it would cost. There shouldn't be any problems with overclockers getting their hands on it, since with the non-toxicity and inertness, it's not particularly hazardous stuff.
Instead of wasting some much time on the rubber tubing to copper pipe connection, why not just extend the copper pipes to such a distance (would be very far espially with some bends in them) that any leak wouldn't have damaged the system anyway? True this would have to be fixed in order for a long term solution, but this was very much just a test anyway.
Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. -Commissioner Lal
Just a question, but has anyone who has ever used this type of cooling ever experienced any types of condensation problems on the outside of their cooling equipment? I would think with the variations in temperature that there would be some moisture buildup.
using dual AMD's and for cooling I am planning on using water blocks on the CPU and the system board chips.
:) A large diameter fan that moves slow will circulate air throught the radiator.
I will custom build my own blocks, use at least 4 medium sized pumps with any two having enough capacity for the system to work and a radiator with the top resevoir being a waterfall like the old Crays.
Between 2 and 4 feet of water pressure will allow the water to naturally flow through the water blocks then down to the lower resevoir where the pumps force the water up through the radiator and out over the waterfall.
A thick plate of copper will be used as the base and a box very much like the main part of the heat sink being reviewed here as the top of the block. Although I am thinking that I can use a slightly thicker copper and hammer it out into the top so that there are no corner copper joints. There will be internal fins to help conduct heat and direct the water flow optimally. I want to scavenge the mounting clips from old fans from a salvage shop I know. They have stacks of old CPU heat sinks.
Compression fittings will be used on the blocks and every where else where a plastic fitting meets a copper fitting. The copper tubing will all be soldered.
The only fans will be on the 10 fans on the heat sinks inside the closed case, so they shouldn't be too loud. Plus the half rack is going to be out in the garage. I am wondering if I can mount a larger diameter fan to the power supplies and remove the too small noisy fan from the inside of the power supplies.
Finally I am going to put a large slow moving fan on the top of the half rack. It's a totally enclosed rack with front and back glass doors, so it's nice. An air filter in the bottom will keep out the dust.
When all is said and done I will have a beowulf cluster of 10 dual AMD's. I also intend to install Mosix on all the boxes too. I will be able to achieve quite high frame rates on video rendering, which is the main reason I am going to be doing this. There will also be dual 80GB hard drives on each box for a total of 1.6TB of journalled file space. Most of this will be used in a fun project I have that to calculate primes.
Getting the CPU down to freezing might allow you to overclock a bit more - at the cost of a bag of ice a day.
Prosit? Did you sneeze?
I had a friend that had a watercooling system set up. He ran a tube from his toilet water reservoir which provided nice cool water running through the copper heatsink. His one mistake was taking bathroom usage into account... whenever someone flushed his computer crashed.
G..H..E..T..T..O...
I just don't know what else to say...
I'd love to seen this run for any real length of time.
How did this wind up on Slashdot anyway? I thought we posted mods done by people with some technical skill. This is as bad as the guy with the spray foam case, or the linux server Chrismas tree.
The guy's got the right idea, there's no reason his basic idea isn't good (I was considering doing the same thing myself) but it looks like it was implemented by Bob Vila - totally hacked together without even any real attempt to think of the best way to do it. It looks like he walked into a hardware store and grabbed the first thing that looked like it might work.
Right now I don't have many water cooling needs, but in about 6 months, I will. I'm getting a high-performance computer, such as an Athlon XP 2000+, and intend to overclock it to the max. To do this, I need as much cooling powazz as I can get... Here's the scoop on how I would do this:
My idea to cool my next CPU involves a water cooling block [say...swiftek] and a couple of hoses running through a fishtank pump. I also had a brilliant idea of placing the water reservoir inside my mini-freezer and running the hoses into the freezer to get some really cold water through the system. This will be done by making a couple of holes through the freezer's door seal and porting the hoses through those holes, using a bit of caulking to seal everything nice and tight. The water reservoir will be something small enough to fit in the door of the freezer (like a 2-liter bottle of coke, a small ice cream container, a tupperware, etc...). The hoses will go in opposite ends of the freezing water tank, to maximize cooling, rather than one next to each other. I'll also make sure that the computer is placed close enough to the freezer box in order for the water from the freezer to get to the water block cold enough for it to have the best posible cooling effect. I'll probably use some pricey isolated hose to get the water to the block as cold as possible, and use a regular cheap rubber hose for the returning water. Replacing the water in the reservoir will be mandatory, at least once a month, once I build the system. I was thinking about using distilled water to minimize mineral buildup in the water cooling system, thus giving it more effectiveness and a longer service life.
The reason why I picked a fishtank pump in this project is because I've had a cheap fishtank pump in my fish aquarium for over three years, without problems, it runs 24/7, and makes very little noise!
I hope this cooling idea helps anybody who has a mini-freezer, or is buying one for their room. I'm almost positive that this way of cooling the CPU will increase cooling performance by a considerable amount, as the water entering the block is near frezing! with this said, just imagine what you can do to your AMD T-bird / Duron / XP / MP.
Happy cooling,
Syrcam
Dry Ice + Alcohol Works Great!
Add Dry Ice to 90% Pure Alcohol untill it stops sublimating, & you'll end up with a cheap liquid around -78.5C (-109.3F).
A Nice alternative to Liquid Nitrogen, pretty much the best Temp for your $$..
For now fine. Consider the future, will it fit in my Dick Tracy watch? How am I going to lug around a 40 gallon water heater on my wrist?
-- Each tock of the Planck clock is a new world and here we are still life. --
the -pump- only lasts 10 minutes because it overheats after that. what he should do then, obviously, is to make a second waterblock to water-cool the pump.
Actually Gold is significantly worse than copper in thermal conductivity (it's a better electrical conductor) you can see a cpu cooler review here discussing this. silver however is marginally better.
Where did you find the aluminum blocks and how much did they cost?
This might work well in a desert, but the majority of live close to water, hence the ice balls in the no-defrost fridge. So, when you reach for that beer the air gets in and sees the cool bits of your PC. "Ahh," says the air, "that just what I wanted," as it cools off and looses its water. When those little beads of condensation hit your traces, or your 120V power supply, snap crackle pop goes your computer. Chances are you can dry it out and start again, but that's not the kind of chance I like to take. Beer in fridge, good. PC in fridge, bad.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.