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Benefits of external water..?

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trueplaya4ever8

Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Location
Saint Cloud, FL
Im considering goin water sometime soon, just wondering what would be the cons of having all the water parts in my old case, then running it into my stacker?

Pros, Cons... Is it a bad idea.

Thanks
 
The benefit, assuming your case already has somewhere to pass your tubing in through, is that you don't have to empty out your case to cut the holes needed to mount your radiator.
Other than that I don't see any specific advantages.
 
A D5 could handle it depending on how many and how restrictive your blocks are. The CM stacker is a spacious case so I would just say go all internal...not many pros in my eyes.
 
crfracer290 said:
A D5 could handle it depending on how many and how restrictive your blocks are. The CM stacker is a spacious case so I would just say go all internal...not many pros in my eyes.

830 is kinda cluttered in my opinion. But i could pry cut a hole (Not goin to happen) in the bottom of the case, but i dont it to clean my floor. :bang head

But id pry have a storm cpu block, and something relitively inexpensive for the gto. I intend on a thermochill 120.3 w/ 6 yate loons.
 
I'm not to good at taking pictures, but heres the inside of my stacker without the fan door.









Honestly i like the idea of having all the other stuff in a different case though.
 
It is great having the rad and pump out side the case it frees up room so simple mods are painless and lowers the temp inside the case making it easer to get good temps on the other components. Yes you can make mods to your case and have the air blow out but this rarly is as effective as unrestricted flow. The CPU and GPU are not the only thing that like good temps.
 
trueplaya4ever8 said:
So you think a single D5 could handle such a job?
Easily. With some experimenting I've found one MCP655 running solo manages to cool my system even going through 15+' of tubing, the other MCP655 (turned off), plus what see in my sig - and it doesn't even have to be turned up all the way ...
 
Captain Slug said:
The benefit, assuming your case already has somewhere to pass your tubing in through, is that you don't have to empty out your case to cut the holes needed to mount your radiator.
Other than that I don't see any specific advantages.
IMO, the only situation in which an external setup would make sense is if the w/c components could be located in a much cooler location than the PC itself.

My desk sits right next to a window and I've seriously considered moving at least the rad to the outside of the house and letting Nature have her way with it.
Just as a proof-of-concept test, a few weeks ago I pulled off the sidepanel and moved the case right next to the open window...
lowtemp-1.jpg


(note: the third Seagate HDD is in an external enclosure and the nVidia temp sensor seems to start at 31C...I've never seen it go lower...)

I suspect that with such an arrangement the rad could be run passively (at least through the winter) although the percentage of antifreeze would probably have to be raised to prevent outright freezing of the loop.
Also, I'm not sure at what point condensation may become a factor but all in all, I find the concept intriguing.

The loss of easy portability is also an issue (which could be somewhat ameliorated by using suitable quick-connect/cutoff fittings), so I'm still waffling about really giving it a shot.

This said, without the compelling results that the (really!) "external" w/c loop would provide, I don't see the point.
If the only reason you want to go external is to make an easy setup then I'd just get a bigger case.
 
I have my main WC stuff external attached with some quick connects.

That was mainly because I couldn't fit a pair of heatercores into an Aspire Q-Pack though. Quickconnects are great BTW. Not too sure how much restriction they add.
 
Dang, trueplaya4ever8...resize much? Not everyone has a cable modem, nor was anyone expecting 1.1M in pics in the middle of a thread.

Anyway, I love an external system and won't ever go back to attempting to shoe-horn decent cooling into a case.
I can use a larger radiator and pump, plus more fannage than even an empty case could hold.
I can move said setup away from my desk and get the best of both worlds--cool and quiet both, despite the 4 large SD 120's.
I can lose a litre of coolant and it won't bother my system or fry it, making maintenence an annual event.
I can get better temps with my rad in a cool room.

I don't game, and thus don't LAN, so portability isn't a problem for me. If I did wish to compute somewhere else, I have a small ITX to go along for that ride.
 
ya sorry man. I game alot just dont have many lans around here so im not too worried about that. But i guess im deciding for this, gonna start saving for it this weekend. Thanks for the input guys.
 
:thup: Nice setup though.

Oh one more good point to add, bleeding and filling an external system is a breeze--no spills on the electronics.
Don't forget to add a drain port (everybody does though :) )
 
My system is an external one. My case is a full tower, however it is narrow and not overly deep. I have had my system mounted internally before as well. I kind of like having my system external as there is less chance of a leak inside the case, and it is easier to work with. I've attached a pic of my setup. I am using the Eheim 1250 now though, instead of the Via Aqua 1300.

attachment.php
 
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