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Hsnopi

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2003
Location
Maryland
so i had posted in the "about to click buy now" thread. then i spoke with you all and did even MORE research. It looks like the reserator 2 has about a 50% breakdown rate. Mostly due to the pump and secondly leaking. So now i get to start planning all over...:bang head

My current system:
ASUS P5AD2E Premium
2x1gb ddr2 pc2400
Radeon x850xt
4x250gb hd's in RAID10 config
450 watt PS Antec
Antec Sonata Case

Temps:
I installed motherboard monitor and used the fix i foudnint he forums here to get it to work with my mobo.
Load CPU CASE
Idle 47c 38c
Load 59c 40c (playing EVE Online during a battle for 20 mins)

sooooo, yeah that looks like there is room for improvment. I do not overclock.

Concerns:
Fans are bad. they casue issues with the amount of dust we have. we have air filters running 24/7 in a small space but the dog, 2 cats and whatever is generating the dust in the new place we are living is winning out.
noise is really secondary, with the filters running it doesn't even matter (severe allergy to dust).
cheaper is better. willing to spend 300$ US (revised).

I am also willing to build my own radiator. I have about 30 feet of 1/2" or 3/8" (i forget) soft copper tubing at my disposal. so I can put all that money towards a pump. I want a rock solid pump. I know enheims are durable but a little weak on the power side.

I am looking to use the coil of copper to let the heat dissipate. I am considering soldering fins to it. This would let it all be passive which is a goal.

I will be posting thoughts in this thread as i try to figure out what i am doing... maybe a project thread. am I allowed to do that? liek a log?
 
You'd need to spend $300 on a pump just to move the water through that much tubing.

Honestly, you can use a large radiator, with low speed fans, that won't move much, if any dust. The radiaotrs really aren't tough to clean. You would get dust buildup even on a passive radiator, so using fans isn't a big issue.

If you REALLY want to go passive.... and I mean REALLY want to go passive you could use multipel radiators in series. Cheapest way of doing that would be to use Heater cores. the Fedco 302 is a great one to use and is easily found at auto parts stores (77' boneville with Ac heater core). you have ot do some very minor and easy modding to them, but you can pick one up for under $20 You could easily buy 3 for the price of a single 120.3 sized commercially made radiator.

3-4 of htose heater cores woudl be enough to passively cool your system. Your temps won't be all that great, but it would work.
 
If you have a severe allergy to dust, why in the world do you have indoor cats and a dog? No offense, but that doesn't strike me as being logical. I don't have said allergy (if I did I would have died at work a long time ago) and I make the dog stay outside as the amount of hair she sheds is simply incredible. We recently had to have her in for a week due to a knee sprain and I was sweeping hair from every corner of the house.

If you really want to go passive, then a small copper core car rad will give you the surface area to cool passively with no fans. I had a setup using a small car rad for almost a year and it worked very well. I had mine mounted onto the side of my case. If I remember right, some of the earlier model Geo Metro rads are copper core and not that large and lack a transmission cooler. I was able to get an MG Metro rad from Ebay which was perfect, but those are going to be nearly impossible to find.

Trying to make a long run of tubing work well for you, especially if you live in a small place, is going to be a lot of trouble if it works at all.
 
If you really want to go passive, then a small copper core car rad will give you the surface area to cool passively with no fans. I had a setup using a small car rad for almost a year and it worked very well. I had mine mounted onto the side of my case. If I remember right, some of the earlier model Geo Metro rads are copper core and not that large and lack a transmission cooler. I was able to get an MG Metro rad from Ebay which was perfect, but those are going to be nearly impossible to find.

He'll have a hell of a time trying to find a copper core rad that would work. But yeah, that woiul dbe the easiest simplest way to do it. Personally I think a bank of 4 heater cores, and two D5 pumps would do the job. He'd have to get a little creative with the mounting of the heater cores, but, it shoudl work.
 
He'll have a hell of a time trying to find a copper core rad that would work. But yeah, that woiul dbe the easiest simplest way to do it. Personally I think a bank of 4 heater cores, and two D5 pumps would do the job. He'd have to get a little creative with the mounting of the heater cores, but, it shoudl work.

4 cores @ $20ea + $80 for a second D5=$160 and a lot of tubing not to mention a lot of creative mounting...

I would look at a 1993-94 Geo Metro M/T 1.0L radiator. It is about the size that you could mount onto the side of a case. So far the best price I can see on Google is from outlawradiator.com and measures 14" x 14" x 3/4" at $98.55 + shipping (option #2). You would want to call to make sure it is copper core as their site doesn't say. I remember looking at this one in particular because of its size, and the fact that it is should be copper core. Most car rads these days are aluminum core.
 
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Yeah, it aint gonan be cheap.

Are those radiators threaded, or do they have tubes comming off? Just curious how easy it would be ot put fitting on them, or get 1/2" ID tubing on them.
 
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