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Considering Watercooling Your PC?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the don't-spring-a-leak dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Thinking of taking the plunge into water cooling your PC? These guys have rounded up three systems ranging from cheap and cheerful, to stylish and pricey."

8 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. What About? by seaniqua · · Score: 4, Interesting

    skipping the pump and hooking directly into a low-flow water line? This would be the most expensive option (water bill), but eliminates the possibility of pump failure, and isn't reliable on ambient roomj temp (my water is quite cold when it comes out of the faucet, regardless of how hot the house is). Of course, if a hose leaks, a self-contained system would stop dripping when the reservoir was empty, while this would flood the whole house! Anyway, something to think about

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    That's right, I read at +2 and post at +1. Not even I care what I have to say.
    1. Re:What About? by Enigma_Man · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We actually heated / cooled our apartment at school like this. We had a Saab radiator I scavenged hooked up to the kitchen sink. We rigged up some cardboard ducting, and strapped a few fans in pusher-configuration behind the radiator blowing outwards. The hot water flowed from the bottom of the radiator to the top, so it remained in the radiator for longer, to throw off as much heat as possible. The water going in was hot hot hot, the water coming out was lukewarm (we'd run it at a trickle to extract as much heat from the water as possible). If we cranked it, we could get the entire apartment up to a balmy 75 degrees. It also worked "ok" to cool the house when it was hot, but much less well than heating the house.

      -Jesse

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      Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
  2. Why use Water?!? by Zarniwoop_Editor · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Why not use something like the 3M product.

    I saw a color tv floating in a tank of this at a trade show years ago, something about a running color tv floating in liquid is just wrong.

    But I'm sure It would be much better than water for many many reason.

    "Fluorinert FC-77, a specialty fluid from 3M, to cool the laser tube. It is a colorless, odorless liquid (just like water) and if you get some of it on your fingers, it is harmless, just wash your hands with clean water (according to 3M).

    Here is the description from 3M web site:

    "Heat Transfer Fluids
    The wide liquid range of Fluorinert liquid FC-77 (-110C to 97C) makes it ideal for use in automated test equipment (ATE) and other semiconductor process equipment. Its high dielectric strength means it will not damage electronic equipment or semiconductor wafers, chips or packages in the event of a leak or other failure. In addition, FC-77 liquid is chemically stable, nonflammable and practically non-toxic".

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    - F1 NEWS
  3. new way of water cooling? by LiquidMind · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A few months ago, i saw this clip which had some folks at Good Morning America showing off a liquid that doesn't get things wet. they had a tank of this stuff and put some (powered) electronics in them (laptop, LCD TV) and they operated just fine underwater. They put a book in this stuff and none of the pages got wet as they pulled it out. Check it out

    anyway, it would be cool to find out if you can just put your whole computer in this stuff. cooling problem solved, right?

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    This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
  4. State of the art CPU cooling by freelunch · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Cray X1 employs Phase Change cooling in one of the more extreme power densities publicly known.

    Check it out in this video.

    Cray's phase change uses Fluorinert, while the average PC uses Freon.

    I went with an XP-90 to air cool my new Athlon 64. The heatpipes arguably make it passive phase change cooling.

  5. Air conditioning in computer room instead by BestNicksRTaken · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Water can only cool to the ambient temperature of the room, and not below as some people seem to think - which is why it is no better than air/fan solutions, except for lower noise.

    You'd be better off cooling your room with AC, and getting the benefit of cooling yourself, not just your processor!

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    #include <sig.h>
  6. Watercooling advantages... by SHiVa0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While most of the poeple using watercooling does so to gain performance (ie overclock) It wasn't why I did it.

    You see, my computer is located inside a closet. While being the quietest computer around, I can dry my clothes with that brand new Prescott 2.8E.

    I needed a way to remove the heat from that closet, So I drilled holes in the walls and installed the pump / radiator in stair room going to the basement.

    I do miss wearing those warm clothes on cold winter days... :(

  7. It works great by Zackbass · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been doing my own water cooling systems for a few years now and have come to the conclusion that if you aren't a complete idiot you'll never have any trouble.

    Here's my first project:
    http://www.overclockers.com/tips1009/index.asp

    I finished my second last September and have been using it since. I built the whole case from stainless steel tubing. One side of the case is pressurized for water distribution and the other side is a reservior. Here's a pic:
    http://members.lycos.co.uk/zackbass1/IMG_0023compr essed.jpg
    The great thing about is that I'm able to run my little 2.4C at over 3.4Ghz (I built it in Sept 2003, so it was a big deal) completely silently. The radiator is large enough that it doesn't need any fans. The only noise that comes from the case is the hard disks spinning.

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