Aren’t "Water Coolers" really "Air Coolers" of a different Breed?

Aren’t "Water Coolers" really "Air Coolers" of a different Breed?

I consider myself a “water cooler.” I love everything about it; planning the setup, searching for and comparing parts, installing the loop, and pushing my computer processors to the new limits allowed by lower temps. However, even though the water provides for lower processor temps there is still a need for fans to push/pull air over the radiator coils to cool the water. Even a passive radiator needs relatively cool air around it to properly dissipate heat. The addition of fans of various sizes and speeds as well as shrouds to improve airflow over the radiator coils further proves that “water coolers” are really “air coolers” of a different breed.

well, not really, as water is the medium used for intitial cooling of the heatsource.you do not neccesarily need to maintain water temps using air cooling. You can also use a pelt to chill the water back down. If there was an easier and cost effective solution to Gas then let me know.

well pretty much any cooling that you do is eventually going to have excess heat dumped into the air. its just the way it works. i mean eventually that heat radiates out into space too. so through a couple degrees of separation, we use the same method NASA does. lol

Exactly. Everything is ultimately "air-cooled" - including fission nuclear reactors.

What changes/distinguishes one cooling solution from another are the mechanisms used for the transferral of heat into the air.

watercooling is like using 1 massive heatpipe cooler

Ground field heat exchanger, no air needed.

Condenser, fan cooled phase change.

I appreciate all of the responses. Thorilan you brought out some interesting info in that link to one of your previous post. But all that talk about the Rads and how they are cooled, in my mind, further proves to me that ultimately we still rely on air as the last exchanger of heat. The water is cooled by air and if there were no air to cool it than the processor would get just as hot as it would if there were no cooling mechanism at all.

When a pelt is added it is cooled by water. And that water is also cooled by air. I think water and pelts are cool, but as I sit and look out the window at the clouds slowly changing shape I cant help but think that water coolers are just air coolers of a different breed.

jenkx,

I think you are right. Take the water out of your cooling loop and let us know what happens.

jenkx said:

I appreciate all of the responses. Thorilan you brought out some interesting info in that link to one of your previous post. But all that talk about the Rads and how they are cooled, in my mind, further proves to me that ultimately we still rely on air as the last exchanger of heat. The water is cooled by air and if there were no air to cool it than the processor would get just as hot as it would if there were no cooling mechanism at all.

When a pelt is added it is cooled by water. And that water is also cooled by air. I think water and pelts are cool, but as I sit and look out the window at the clouds slowly changing shape I cant help but think that water coolers are just air coolers of a different breed.

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Almost all forms of cooling we use will eventually dump heat into the air. It's no secret... no ground-breaking revelation... and it's definately not something to get philosophical about... seriously, what's your point?

squeakygeek said:

Almost all forms of cooling we use will eventually dump heat into the air. It's no secret... no ground-breaking revelation... and it's definately not something to get philosophical about... seriously, what's your point?

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What’s my point? Conversation, dialog, discussion, different points of view, that’s all. Info such as that which the first replier provided, that’s what I’m looking for. Isn’t that why we’re on this forum? Or is it just to look at pictures of various setups? I just thought we could talk about it for a day or two.

of course it's ultimately into the air....the thing is water is able to take heat and give off heat very fast and effectively, so it performs better(and is quiet )

SOShootME said:

jenkx,

I think you are right. Take the water out of your cooling loop and let us know what happens.

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lol then again water is aka h2o and so oxygen and hydrogen....... but ya i just noticed every thing is cooled by air lol i didnt even notice...great link on top....

The water moves the heat to the heatercore/radiator, which has a much larger surface area in the fins than the average heatsink/fan combo inside of a computer. Could that mean that a heatercore would make a hellacious heatsink if you found a way to strap it directly onto the CPU?

CaelStar1 said:

The water moves the heat to the heatercore/radiator, which has a much larger surface area in the fins than the average heatsink/fan combo inside of a computer. Could that mean that a heatercore would make a hellacious heatsink if you found a way to strap it directly onto the CPU?

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Not really. The heat would still have to transfer from the source to the far reaches of the heatercore.

Exactly, water delivers heat exactly where we want to, and we've got as big radiators as we want, without heat spreading concerns. Big difference. And we can place our radiators in a more efficient manner...

agree w/ squeakygeek... the efficiency of radiators comes from their surface area, yes. But it has more to do with the fact that the thermal medium (the heated water) is piped all through it. the fins are arranged around these channels and are very thin, which helps the thermal resistance and airflow. cooling is all about spreading the heat out to have more contact with the cooling medium. it all starts with the cpu wb, which is bigger than the die. turbulence in a wb and higher flowrates increase the surface area of water, and the radiator finally increases the surface area to the air. it might work, i guess. but not any better than a regular heatsink.

oh and on the topic too, "cooling" can be a decieving word in some ways. many people fail to realize that it is impossible to make something cold without making something else hot, with most conventional heating methods. come to think of it, there are a lot of endothermic reactions that absorb heat. hmmm lol. laser cooling does heat the laser itself, but not as a direct result of the cooling process (you could turn on just one laser and it would still get hot). i would like to revise my previous opinion....all conventional and commercially available cooling eventually dumps heat into the air, and subsequently into space.

jungle

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