Placing the rad outside...

satandole666 · Feb 6, 2007

I was able to get some ridiculous temperatures a little while ago just by opening the sliding door that is 6 feet from my computer. This allowed me to hit 4ghz with my E6600. Now that it is -18c outside (was around -10 during the day) I got to thinking...could I mount my rad outside instead of indoors?

I'm not worried about creating a seal or anything like that to keep my place warm, I can figure that out on my own. Instead...

Would my current mixture (~20% antifreeze) be enough to keep it from freezing? I would think so...but I'd hate to make that mistake.

Would I need to add another pump? This is my biggest concern...mainly because it is the only thing I would have to spend money on. I know the Storm is pretty restrictive and like high pressure/flow...would adding ~15 feet of tubing destroy my flow completely? I might be adding a GPU block (on a different card) in the near future...so take that into consideration too.

Also, since it would be outside and in the FREEZING cold, could I go fanless on the rad and achieve desirable results? If I have to run electricity to it that's just one more annoying thing to figure out.

I'm sure many of you of tried something like this. Anyone care to give me some pointers before I fry my comp with some dumb mistake?

Thanks.

klingens · Feb 6, 2007

satandole666 said:
I was able to get some ridiculous temperatures a little while ago just by opening the sliding door that is 6 feet from my computer. This allowed me to hit 4ghz with my E6600. Now that it is -18c outside (was around -10 during the day) I got to thinking...could I mount my rad outside instead of indoors?

I'm not worried about creating a seal or anything like that to keep my place warm, I can figure that out on my own. Instead...

Would my current mixture (~20% antifreeze) be enough to keep it from freezing? I would think so...but I'd hate to make that mistake.

Would I need to add another pump? This is my biggest concern...mainly because it is the only thing I would have to spend money on. I know the Storm is pretty restrictive and like high pressure/flow...would adding ~15 feet of tubing destroy my flow completely? I might be adding a GPU block (on a different card) in the near future...so take that into consideration too.

Also, since it would be outside and in the FREEZING cold, could I go fanless on the rad and achieve desirable results? If I have to run electricity to it that's just one more annoying thing to figure out.

I'm sure many of you of tried something like this. Anyone care to give me some pointers before I fry my comp with some dumb mistake?

Thanks.

With current temps it will work fine. most probably even without fans. Since you already have antifreeze in and your CPU will heat up the water plus the water moving due to a pump, I don't think there's any problem of freezing.

The great unkown is the weather however. With current weather patttern, there could be any day where temps are 10° or even 20° outside (in the sun for example). Then it might not work so well anymore, especially with 4GHz OCs. Relying on cold weather for cooling PCs is kinda unreliable imho

dylskee · Feb 6, 2007

This guy thinks it's ok, pretty good idea in my opinion. Just be sure to bring it back in when spring time rolls around.

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4901060&postcount=93

Valk · Feb 6, 2007

this is the beautiful thing about living in the great white north. if you live in winnipeg, you could be enjoying -49c right now for your watercooling pleasure. further north in the territories, its under 10 year round

you will probably wanna bring it inside before the summer time, but im sure you will find an excuse to tear it all appart before then

WonderingSoul · Feb 6, 2007

You'll need a powerfull pump if not two or three if you're going to run a line of 6' to your computer.

skoreanime · Feb 6, 2007

This is exactly what I was planning on doing once my WC stuff comes in (damn CanadaPost...toooooo slow

).

And I do live in Winnipeg, where we get some ridiculous temps during winter.

ATM I have a slightly open window with my tower case open right next to it. I don't even need to have the fans on, the -40c outside is keeping the OC'd E6600 @ 3.4Ghz nice and cool :attn:

.

Pyrotechnic · Feb 7, 2007

I'd probably keep my system as is, but add valves to redirect the water to an additional outside radiator. That way you can have a little overclocking fun but revert back to the normal setup when the weather changes. As long as you arent running ridiculous lengths of tubing, and you still got some water flow, the outside temperatures should be enough to keep things cool.

voigts · Feb 7, 2007

You won't need 3 pumps to do this. A DDC-2 has 20' of head alone. I would probably get an Iwaki to do this with.

The issue you also need to adjust for is that you are going to have to insulate against condensation. At those outside temps, fans would be unnecessary.

Alien1099 · Feb 7, 2007

voigts said:
You won't need 3 pumps to do this. A DDC-2 has 20' of head alone. I would probably get an Iwaki to do this with.

The issue you also need to adjust for is that you are going to have to insulate against condensation. At those outside temps, fans would be unnecessary.

I would agree. Be careful of condensation. You don't want to fry your computer for leet temps. Safeguard it if you're going to do it.

Placing the rad outside...

satandole666

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klingens

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dylskee

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Valk

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WonderingSoul

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skoreanime

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Pyrotechnic

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voigts

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