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"Active" Radiator?

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Fryguy

Registered
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Location
Massachusetts
Well, I'm in the process of redoing my watercooling setup, and I want to look at some of the more extreme options. Let me start off by saying a couple things in big capital letters:

1. I DON'T WANT TO INSULATE MY MOTHERBOARD/PROC

2. I DON'T WANT TO TAKE APART AN AIR CONDITIONER OR WHATEVER AND THEN PUT IT BACK TOGETHER MODIFIED TO DO WHAT I WANT


Ok, now that that's settled. What are my options to add to my water cooling system for better temps? Ideally I want to be right around ambient under load, following the 2 guidelines above.

Any suggestions?
 
Well, why dont you want to insulate?

Its really isnt that bad.

The thing is, you wont get much better temps without insulating if your already around ambient (which a decent wc setup should be). Depending on the relative humidity in your area, you may only be able to go a few degrees below ambient to avoid condensation.
I would not go more than 5 degrees below ambient without insulation. 5 degrees is not worth the trouble of more than just a rad.

If you break down and isulate, you have many options:
You can to the thermal electric route. (peltiers) These will get about 20 degrees below ambient.

You can modify a fridge (total dissasembly not required)
You can buy a refrigerated water bath on ebay (around $80 shipped)
You can build your own phase change unit (i can tell you wont want to do that)
You can buy a vapochill or prometia for about $500.
 
well I'm in the process of redoing parts of my system, but right now i'm 3/8 maze2, 350gph pump, and I'm 32 system, 46 cpu, with 0 fans running.

Since I have relatively high flow, I'm going to upgrade to 1/2, get a new radiator (probably a dtek procombo), and change from huge submersible system to a close inline system, move everything into the case, and put a fan on the radiator, then see where I'm at. My goal isn't for extreme temps, my goal is speed. I could care less if my system was 0 degrees C, as long as I get a nice overclock on it is all I'm worried about.

Can I get some more info on that cooled water bath units you mentioned on ebay? Seems like it might be what I'm looking for.

And if insulation isn't that bad, then maybe I'd consider it, any guides?
 
Well, I have a refrigerated water bath that will be up and running in my system within the week (part of a massive case mod)

They are 2ft square and 1 ft high with a built in res and a drain. I havnt tested mine with antifreeze water yet, but it makes ice real quick :D

The most common brand ive seen is haake (that is what mine is)
It may take a while of looking to find one suited for the purpose. Look under industrial/lab equipment/heating and cooling.

swiftech has a nice gude with pics somewhere on ther website about insulation. You can get the needed parts at the following places:

Directron.com sells a neoprene bundle for about $10 with several sizes.
Any hardware store will sell you silicone (aka bath sealant) for about $2
Most auto parts stores sell di-electric grease for about $2
Pipe insulation is a available at hardware stores f0r about 99c per 10ft

It basically involves sealing up the socket with silicone and dielectric grease (in the socket holes) and then making a neoprene shim that the water block sits on. Sealing took me about an hour.

The only real downside of this form of insulating is that it takes a while to change out cpus (took me an hour and a half when i switched from an xp1600 to a 2100)

Untill yesterday, i was running a minifridge as a cooler with 11c temps. As compared to standard watercoolign, I got an extra 200 mhz overclock (with my 1600- never ran normal wc on my 2100)
 
Hrmm, so the neoprene acts almost like a coldplate?

Zif socket -> processor -> neoprene -> waterblock? Then I just gunk up the sides around the processor with grease and silicone (obviously not "gunk up", but you know what I mean), for a tight seal?
 
Fryguy said:
Hrmm, so the neoprene acts almost like a coldplate?

Zif socket -> processor -> neoprene -> waterblock? Then I just gunk up the sides around the processor with grease and silicone (obviously not "gunk up", but you know what I mean), for a tight seal?
no the neoprene seals the cold in and the moisture out it inslates it
 
you put the neoprene around the cpu and water block, to make sure not moisture gets in. frost==bad
 
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