Watercooling working!!! Slight problem, though

[Boy914]

WOOOOHOOOO!!!

After reading this site for many months, I finally got my watercooling rig together. I probably took more trips to Home Depot than the number of parts in my rig, but at least it's running. My full load temps have dropped from 51 C to 38 C.

Ok, enough gloating, here's the question: My radiator fan is the 120mm 125cfm YS Tech monster. At full blast, this thing is loud! I put it on the same rheostat mentioned in the "Tips and Tricks" section here, and I'm able to get it practically silent with only a 4 degree increase in load temps. The problem is, the resistor gets HOT. Not burning-thumb hot, but certainly uncomforatble. I'm afaid if I leave it on 24/7, bad things will happen, but I'm not sure what.

The packaging on the rheostat says 3W, but the RadioShack site says 1.2W (part #271-265B). Do I need a higher-rated rheostat? What wattage do you suggest? Is it ok to just let the resistor get hot? How hot is too hot? What about Ohms (mine is rated 25, which seems to be the perfect amount)?

Once again, I've written a novel.

Thanks.
Rick

[Neco]

I don't use a Rheostat thingamabob, I just changed my Molex around to run my fan at 7v.

But might I suggest trying one with a higher wattage rating, and also if that seems to not solve the problem - might I suggest you get a small fan... those real small ones.. like maybe something they would use on a northbridge chipset, and position it to blow over the Rheostat and see if that helps keep it cool ?

-Neco.

[Boy914]

Thanks for the tip. I went to RadioShack.com and ordered a 20 Ohm version rated at 5W. They didn't have anything with higher wattage that was around 20 Ohms.

In the meantime, I'd like to try the 7v thing. This noise is giving me a headache. How exactly does one change around the molex?

Thanks.

[Neco]

http://www.hardware-pacers.com/cgi/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=003617

**READ ME FIRST**

ok here is the deal.. you need some kind of pass through cable, that has the mobo header thing on it, and allows you to connect to the MOLEX while having another MOLEX on the other end.


JUST like in the first picute on that post - after that.. study the picutres carefully - you want to switch one black wire with one read wire (the black wire with the 2 blacks soldered together)

There are clips on the MOLEX pins themselves, you need some needle nose pliers or somethign really thin to bend them inward (do it with a flashlight if you can't see)

Remember to pull the clips back outwards some so they catch when you put the wire back into the MOLEX.

I figured it out just by looking at the pics carefully - if your even 1 bit unsure - go look at the pic again and everything will be fine.

Make sure and turn your comp off ! heh...might wanna unplug it too, just incase

-Neco.

[mcrites]

Yeah, you should get at least 5 watts on a rheostat. I believe Panaflos take 5.1 or so, that amount of heat dissaption is no good for a 3 watt, and will kill that 1.3 W hehe.

[combatmedic]

Or, you could warecool your Rheostat.

Just a thought.

-Mike

[Boy914]

I read in a post here that the molex thing can be hard on the "regulators." Not sure what that means. Any translations?

Rick

[Neco]

Interesting..

I'd like to hear about this as well.


-Neco.

[ButcherUK]

Originally posted by Boy914
I read in a post here that the molex thing can be hard on the "regulators." Not sure what that means. Any translations?

Rick

The regulators are the components in the PSU that keep the voltage lines at the right voltage. There is also a set on the motherboard to regulate the CPU core voltage. As for it being hard on them I find this somewhat unlikely as CPU power supples only regulate the 3.3V line. The 5V and 12V lines are just based off this without proper regulation, this is why on a lot of PSUs the 5V and 12V change with load but the 3.3V doesn't.