Water cooling with no air flow

[Romax]

OK, let's clear out my goals first... I want a totally silent computer. I already have my computer lined with sound-absorbing foam, and I use large fans in preferance of small ones.

In short I have a quiet computer. But I want a totally silent one, with as much oomph as possible. I make music, which is a heck of a lot more pleasurable when you don't have a sreaming box under the table. Basically this means water cooling.

I've been thinking of "conventional" water cooling a lot, but I've come to the conclusion that even if I manage to build a silent water cooler for my processor I'm still needing other silent components, like a silent power supply, which is damn expensive.


So here follows my idea, I'd love some feedback!


I'm planning a water cooled system with no air-flow into and out of the case. That way I can build a big box with lot's of sound isolation, and forget about silent components :]

Problem is that air tends to get hot, and very hot if you don't circulate it. So I need to cool the air inside of the case.

I think this could be done with a peltier-based solution. Basically I plan to cool the air using a peltier cooled "coldsink" in addition to the usual waterblock-based processor cooling. I'd then use fans inside the box to circulate the peltier-cooled air.

In order to make the case silent I plan a big honk of a radiator (something like 20 inches wide) outside of the case, without fans. Using fans on the radiator would defy the purpose of going through all that trouble making the box silent, so a passive solution with a big radiator would have to do.

In summary I'd have:

1 big radiator cooling 1 waterblock and one peltier "coldsink".


My question is: do you think it would work? I have yet to actually build a watercooling setup, so that's why I'm asking :]


.: Romax

[joshiieeii]

Well I am in the process of building a water cooled system and it appears that any way you look at it there has to be something getting rid of the heat building up inside. I plan on using the radiator cube from Dangerden, its small enough to fit in my case and I plan on hooking up a nice 120mm fan to it. I have researched water cooling quite a bit. The only thing I have seen that might be a bit more quite than a radiator system is a system that uses evaporative cooling. Meaning that you just have lots of water in the system and it doesn't give the CPU a chance at heating all that water. That is the only way I can think that you can have a Stealth Computer.

[cjtune]

Originally posted by joshiieeii
Well I am in the process of building a water cooled system and it appears that any way you look at it there has to be something getting rid of the heat building up inside. I plan on using the radiator cube from Dangerden, its small enough to fit in my case and I plan on hooking up a nice 120mm fan to it. I have researched water cooling quite a bit. The only thing I have seen that might be a bit more quite than a radiator system is a system that uses evaporative cooling. Meaning that you just have lots of water in the system and it doesn't give the CPU a chance at heating all that water. That is the only way I can think that you can have a Stealth Computer.

Lots and lots of water won't actually cool the PC but will instead storing the heat until it becomes saturated -sort of like a heat capacitor. But if you think about the surface area a large body of water has that is bordering the container that holds it, and the air... you have a large area to throw heat as well. IF you want to go for passive cooling (w/o fans), you'll need a really large radiator or hook up your WC to some fish pond (a kind of passive evaporative cooler). Most evaporative coolers (bongs) need forced airflow to romove the moist water to ensure continuous evaporation -of course, you'll need much larger areas if you are not relying on fans. No matter how you'll still need a pump -water is very viscous and expands very little when at higher temps compared to air.

[joshiieeii]

OMG, I just saw an article on another website's forum where this guy buried a huge water heater looking tank in a hole 8 Feet Deep!! This was hooked up to his water cooling system inside the house where he had a pump, resevoir, and cooling block all inline. He called the system "Stealth Cooling." Well I don't know if you want to go to this extreme, but I guess it is possible to get your "Stealth" cooling. BTW I didn't see any radiator of any kind, so air is not needed for this system, I assume the cooler temps at 8 feet below ground are sufficent enough to cool the 30+ gallons of water this guy used *shrugs*. Still the most extreme mod I have read about. Good god.

[RedDeathDrinker]

There is another option.

Locate your resevoir away from the case, and connect it with long hoses(8+feet long?) In another room, outside, wherever. But you should still have airflow in the case. Even just one fan in, one fan out, to keep everything else cool. A closed case with a pelt will create moisture (Bzzzzt kaput....)

[Romax]

Thanks for the ideas so far guys.

A stealth type solution would be cool, but I live in a rented appartment, so I can't really mod anything else than the coputer.

And my GF would object to placing the whole thing in another room.


Condensation won't be a problem, since there is a finite amount of water in the air enclosed in the case. That water will only condensate on the cool parts, which will be the coldsink. The coldsink can then be placed at a safe distance from all the other components, and the water collected if necessary.

The case itself is planned as a huge cube, about the size of 2 midi towers side by side. That way space shouldn't be a problem.


And before someone hints me to place the computer somewhere else... can't. My ten channel soundcard (M-Audio Delta 1010, if anyone cares;) needs a short enough cable to the comp.

.:Romax

[cjtune]

Originally posted by joshiieeii
OMG, I just saw an article on another website's forum where this guy buried a huge water heater looking tank in a hole 8 Feet Deep!! This was hooked up to his water cooling system inside the house where he had a pump, resevoir, and cooling block all inline. He called the system "Stealth Cooling." Well I don't know if you want to go to this extreme, but I guess it is possible to get your "Stealth" cooling. BTW I didn't see any radiator of any kind, so air is not needed for this system, I assume the cooler temps at 8 feet below ground are sufficent enough to cool the 30+ gallons of water this guy used *shrugs*. Still the most extreme mod I have read about. Good god.

30+ gallons???? Yipes! I think his CPU will not reach max temps for days on end, esp. with the surrounding soil providing additional heat storage. Still, you need some other fluid to carry away the heat if you're looking for a WC that will operate 24/7. Must have some monster of a pump as he not only needs to pump the water up 8ft, but also to 'fight' the 2ft or so head in resistance from the pipes, joints, and waterblock. More like 'Nuclear shelter' cooling to me.

[Owenator]

What about putting a submersible pump in your toilet tanl? It would heat up but it get's flushed pretty regularly. You could also put an elevated (gravity fed) reservoir above the toilet tank and use it for your reservoir and then let in drain into the toilet tank as it refils with the fresh cold water that would go into the tank going into the reservoir? Around my house the toilet get's flushed enough (wife and two kids) and if I wanted some extra cool water I could give it a quick flush too. I'm not a plumber but I have fixe toilets so it seems easy enough. What do my fellow overclockers think?