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Hard Drive Watercooling opinions/help
- Thread starter wffsoccer
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899 Norway Kroner (assumed based on language) = 136usd
- Joined
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- Bergen, Norway
There are a lot of different HD coolers out there, but finding a 2-in-1 solution isn't that easy. Have seen one other besides the one linked, otherwise it's all single drive solutions.
Might have better luck finding two sets of single drive coolers..
Might have better luck finding two sets of single drive coolers..
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2004
I recommend that you stick with air for the hard drives for two reasons. First off most of those hard drive coolers are aluminum and would only pose a risk of corrosion. Second of all hard drives do not get hot enough to a point where you cannot air cool them. Therefor a hdd water block would only be unnecessary restriction in your loop. I recommend you leave an empty drive bay between em and run a 80mm fan over them.
I have to agree with SB, albeit for different reasons.
Hard drives just aren't manufactured with watercooling in mind.
The sides ( traditionally the heatpath of choice) are not particularly flat so your waterblock won't make very good contact.
I just saw a new CoolerMaster product (called the Turtle for some bizarre reason) that puts the waterblock on the top of the drive...again, not a very good heatpath.
If the casing of a HDD was designed from the beginning to be watercooled (ideally, with channels pre-incorporated) then we might have something.
The addition of aluminum to the loop would be troublesome, but careful use of additives should deal with that.
Till then, air is probably the easiest, most effective way to go.*
*I admit I've never actually tried any of the available water blocks, so I could be very wrong....
Hard drives just aren't manufactured with watercooling in mind.
The sides ( traditionally the heatpath of choice) are not particularly flat so your waterblock won't make very good contact.
I just saw a new CoolerMaster product (called the Turtle for some bizarre reason) that puts the waterblock on the top of the drive...again, not a very good heatpath.
If the casing of a HDD was designed from the beginning to be watercooled (ideally, with channels pre-incorporated) then we might have something.
The addition of aluminum to the loop would be troublesome, but careful use of additives should deal with that.
Till then, air is probably the easiest, most effective way to go.*
*I admit I've never actually tried any of the available water blocks, so I could be very wrong....
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2005
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- Kenosha, WI.
A nice way to help keep HDDs cool is to mount them in 5.25 bays instead of 3.5 bays or HDD racks. More area aroud the HDD for air to circulate around it.
As said before, use air. HDD don't put out enough heat for it to pose a serious risk due to lack of cooling. Even the high-end 15,000 rpm drives might need a fan. Another waterblock (or in your case, 2 more blocks) would take away from your system (i.e. cpu, gpu, w/e). Sure, it would look badass, but it would probably hurt your system more than it would help it. Until rpms on hdd's are under ~15k, then air cooling will be sufficient. When hdd become more advanced, they will be ready to adapt to water cooling and then it would be useful. Your trying to use technology before it's fully developed. I'm not trying to flame or anything, I just think it's not necessary.
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- Tucson, AZ
I have 8 Koolance HD blocks in my main computer, all on a seperate loop. I use a large transmission cooler (aluminum) as a radiator for them. I run 15K drives on a dual channel U-320 controller (wicked seek times, wicked data thruput!).
Anyway, the blocks were actually pretty cheap from NewEgg (I think I paid like $30 apiece, or so). I got them on sale a couple years ago.
You could mount two drives per block if needed, I didn't because cabling would have been a nightmare.
For regular modern 7200 rpm drives, I would just mount 'em in a 5 1/4" bay that is near ventalation, or at most, put a 80mm low speed fan to cool both drives.
Anyway, the blocks were actually pretty cheap from NewEgg (I think I paid like $30 apiece, or so). I got them on sale a couple years ago.
You could mount two drives per block if needed, I didn't because cabling would have been a nightmare.
For regular modern 7200 rpm drives, I would just mount 'em in a 5 1/4" bay that is near ventalation, or at most, put a 80mm low speed fan to cool both drives.
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- Aug 21, 2004
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- New York State
If you really want to w/c your harddrives, you may want to take a look at "cold plates" @ http://www.mcmaster.com. (Just search for "coldplates")
They have a copper tube with an aluminum plate.
Perhaps you could mount a number of harddrives to a drive cage, suspend the cage for silence, and then put the coldplate(s) on the drive cage. However, a problem will be how well the heat transfers from case, to drive cage, to cold plate.
They have a copper tube with an aluminum plate.
Perhaps you could mount a number of harddrives to a drive cage, suspend the cage for silence, and then put the coldplate(s) on the drive cage. However, a problem will be how well the heat transfers from case, to drive cage, to cold plate.
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- Tucson, AZ
p3wt said:
Yes, it is... To make things a bit less chaotic, most everything on that loop is 1/4" ID, as it takes up a lot less room.
It's amazing how cool they run, and how long they've lasted (I torment them. I have regular drives that last forever, but I have always managed to kill video raids. Keeping them cool must be keeping them happy, I guess).
I haven't had to do anything to that computer yet, asside from replace the monitors (god, I love duel wides!) and replace a calcomp with a wacom. Nothing involving taking off the case, though.
When I first set up, I did kill off a couple pumps (a swiftech and a MaxiJet 1000, both on the CPU/CPU/GPU loop). But this MaxiJet 900 has been great, and it was cheap (I think it was $15-$20 from Marine Depot). I still run a Swiftech 12V pump on the drive side. Neither pump failure was the pumps fault, just me doing stupid stuff... Live and learn.
