H2O in a rack system

I'm building a home recording studio in my office, and I'm looking at consolidating my machines into a "producers desk" that has a 19" rack on it. In order to cool them without adding a bunch of ambient noise I am thinking of going with a water cooling setup; has anyone done this? I need to do it on a buget, otherwise I would just buy a couple Koolance rackmount cases.

What form factors are you using? If you are using 2-3 RU form factors, I don't think an internally WCd setup will work, just not enough realestate inside the form factor.

If you are using small form factors, you could look at using an external housing for the radiator(s) and Pump(s). And build a rackmountable enclosure.

If you are talking something that is like a 8+ RU, you MIGHT be able to mod the case to do an internal setup.

TO ADD:

A few years ago (maybe even 4 years ago, whenever it was that the Intel Itanium came out) we ordered a compaq machine (cannot recall the model #) that was a dual Itanium, that utilized intel designed water cooling. This was basically two seperate closed loops that consisted of a water block and pump in one housing, and IIRC a crappy 120mm radiator with a low speed fan of some kind on it mounted to the rear of the case.

Other than being decently quiet for your average server, it was nothing special and I don't think it did a terribly wonderful job at cooling.

I'm pretty sure I've seen some of these intell designed closed loop coolers on ebay and possibly Newegg as well.

We no longer have that machine or I'd go crack it open and take a look, but I belive it was a 6RU form factor. If you are looking for noise reduction VS extreme cooling, you could probably put something together similar using a single 120mm sized rad for each processor, a decent but inexpensive small pump (I'm thinking maybe a Hydor L25), and perhaps a Swftech 6000 block. If the form factor is small (say around 4-6RU), you would probably want to opt for 3/8" tubing, just to save some space.

3-4 U's should be able to handle internal WC, by the size. I would propably use a empty 3U - 4U with the rad, pump. Or build my own box to fit in the rackmount.

//Christian

4U will definetly fit an internal watercooling system you just may need to be a little creative with the routing of the tubing. But why do you want to watercool to begin with?

Personlly, I wouldn't want watercooling for rackmounts. Usually those machines contain very important data and you don't want extra worries because of water. I also think maintenance wise it'll be more intensive than normal air coolers. Your pick ofcourse, if that rack is sitting in the same room you are you don't want any extra noise from it..

I'll probably be using 2U cases with a seperate case for the rads and pumps.

SewerBeing said:

4U will definetly fit an internal watercooling system you just may need to be a little creative with the routing of the tubing. But why do you want to watercool to begin with?

Click to expand...

Fans are noisy.

I have bad news for you then water cooling needs fans and it will be only marginally quieter than air cooling...

Oh. I thought the point of cooling with water was to build a silent system; running two low speed 120mm fans instead of 3-4 high speed fans. Guess I was mistaken.

yes you can do that however you can get an aircooled system for less with the same noise. Also you would still need to cool your case and stuff. So you can't get away from all of that also could you link me to the case you are considering so that we can help you even more?

My 2 cents...

I've been running a dual xeon rig water cooled for about 2 years. The sole reason was I use nice condenser mics for voice over work, and the CPU/hard drive fans made that impossible.

So the entire thing (CPUs, GPU, and 8 hard drive coolers) is all on water. Two separate loops, one aluminum for the drives, and one copper for CPUs and GPU, running with large rads with 4 120mm fans running at 5V (two fans per rad). It's quiet (much quieter than my laptop).

I have a raid of 15K drives, and combined, they put out darn near as much heat as the Xeons. Water cooled, they are cool to the touch.

Mort had said "Usually those machines contain very important data", well, one of the boards in this machine cost me $3000 (yes, three thousand). Needless to say, being my first try at water cooling, I pressure tested everything with an air compressor before I filled it, and leak tested everything for two days before applying power.

I once tried to make an air cooled computer quiet, and roasted it. Bigger fans running at lower RPMs don't produce the noise.

Anyway, not trying to talk anyone into watercooling. It was expensive and a lot of work. But, if you take the time, it is quiet and very reliable.

I Second wormwood, My system whent up without a glitch from the very start, just have to take your time to carefully set it up.

apc.com have recently produced a water cooled rack - seems very safe, but probaby very expensive.

Wormwood, I would be interested in hearing how you did your system.