Is a radiator all the important?

[Burning Phoenix]

Well here it is a saturday night and i'm bored. So if people respond to this fast enough maybe i'll do it. I've had a truck heater core i was going to put inline with my watercooling but just never did it. It takes the 5 gallons of water in the bucket hours to warm up so would it benefit me to install this heater core to keep the temps lower? Won't the water still eventually warm up anyways with the heater core?

[Thelemac]

Yes, it will definately benefit you, as you are then actively cooling the water (assuming you stick some fans on there) as opposed to not really cooling it at all. Even if you don't put any fans on for some passive cooling of the water you'll find that it stays cooler. :)

[ButcherUK]

Well the bucket is doing evap cooling same principle as a bong, hence the slow warm up. The main advantage would be you could factor out the bucket then you wouldn't have to top up much and could run additives such as anti-freeze or water-wetter in your system.

[Burning Phoenix]

It is the same old water with water wetter in it from last years setup. I haven't added water to it in a year. For 6 months it just sat behind my desk. When i set it up for the one system last year ;a P3 700 @1022 (-13 C idle) ; I drilled 3 holes in the top , placed gommets in them and put the power wire and the 2 hoses through them. Maybe thats why nothing evaparated. But i guess i'll try putting in the heater core and maybe the temps will stay down after hours of use. I usually get about 4C increase at idle after 2 hours+ into being actively using the computer.

[The Overclocker]

a thing worth considering with that ammount of water, a leak could go on for ever, if u use a heater core with no res you would ge better temps becuase most of the water in the system would be in the heater core and if you go a leak it would finish quickly

[ButcherUK]

Ah I had assumed it was an open topped bucket not a sealed system, that would mean you;re not doing evap cooling. In which case yeah a rad would help.