WC the DIY way!

[Elfen]

Hi all,

First post here,

I wanna go water cooling for real cheap.
We sell submersible pumps where I work. I could probably get two pumps (both for safety and increased flow), tubes and fittings for about no money. If I use a huge reservoir, well hidden behind my desk (a reservoir much like in this projet: http://www.overclockers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3885&catid=52:cooling&Itemid=4257)
there would be enough water to compensate heat, so no need for radiator, right?

Then I would only need 2 waterblocks, one for cpu and one for northbridge. My mobo is a P5L-MX (socket 775), so which waterblocks? (there is so much models and stuff here, I’m a bit lost). I want em cheap yet very effective and leak free.

I plan on using prestone, but maibe Water Wetter is better?

Can I add uv dye to prestone or water wetter? (saw this question here and there, but saw no answer to it yet).

Going this way, I would keep only an exhaust fan and, since the pumps would be under water, there wouldn’t be much noise, which over all is a good thing for a audio recording studio!

Anyways,

Thanks for your time.

[gocartman2]

eventually your large reservoir would heat up and not cool efficiently anymore, maybe research a bong cooling setup, although it is a rather big project.
heater cores as radiators seem to be the budget method of choice

[FireMogle]

The amount of water is not what you want to worry about but rather the surface area of the res and how well it conducts.

[Rickpatbrown]

How often do we have to dissuade someone from water cooling without a radiator. It is obvious that people don't search much before asking questions.

Not trying to be rude. Just think it is funny how the same questions get asked. We need a sticky that says "Huge reservoirs are not efficient cooling devices."

Anyway, gocartman2 replied correctly about the issue. You would need a very large reservoir to handle a prolonged heat load, ie a couple of hours. The big problem is the cool down period. It will take longer for the water to cool down than it will for it to heat up.

[Ric2L]

Welcome to the forums, this is a great place to learn, ask questions, and research.

Wow, first off there is really no such thing as "Water Cooling For Real Cheap", as FireMogle said the amount of water is not the key, rather the amount of heat the water flowing through your system can dispurse through surface area of a radiator, or heater core.

A really large reservoir will make no more difference with cooling effect than running a "T" line unless its in your refrigiator or really huge! Its basically just a vessel to hold extra fluid to keep pump from running dry, though some do help in the bleeding process.

Two pumps in series won't give any more flow rate (or very little) than a quality single pump, you'll only achieve redundancy, (less chance of failure).

As far as coolant, the prefered choice is plain old distilled water with some type of biocide, Don't think too many people use prestone or any other automotive antifreeze these days, but I guess it would work, not really sure.

You can achieve a really quiet quality system for $300.00 or so, Which blocks you choose depends on the monies you want to spend, lots of options out there, but if you want quality go D-Tek Fuzion, Swiftec GTZ, or EK Supreme

Hopefull someone else will chime in here to help you out better.

[boorishid]

using a heatercore is not cheap anymore.

Napa/autozone/kragen - bonnie core now 37-39 bucks
Home depot - 2 barbs 5 bucks, sheet metal for shroud 4 bucks
peta/jab - 2 hi speed fans at least 15 each

Total price for dual bonnie - 69 dollars

If you need a kit to sweat copper with a tourch and solider and flux thats another 20 at the depot. coming to 89 total.

I think the price has raised even martins links to 20 dollar heater cores are are like 39 when you click on them. Petra has swiftech 320 rads wich perform slightly better with hi speed fans and alot better than heater cores with low speed for 65 including your choice of yates.

Do yourself a favor and dont even consider heater cores unless your just doing the project becuase you want your set up diy.

As for passive cooling 200 watts of heat will load that huge res down in less than 8 hours.

[UBERCOOL]

Like everyone else said, cooling with a res only is a little iffy any with a closed loop like the guy in the link it is nearly impossible. If you left the top off you might be able to get evaporation to help you out but you would be constantly refilling and you would be exposed to a number of contaminants. I am a heatercore fan, and they can be much cheaper than a rad if you have the right resources/equipment.

As far as double pumps go, you will not see an increase in flow rates, but you will see a big increase in pressure and the redundancy is kind of nice. If you have access to two pumps for cheap I would definitely go for it.

Also, if you are running a closed loop pure distilled water appears is a good coolant, no additives needed. But if it is open you probably need some anti-microbial additives.

[Ben333]

Heater cores are still plenty cheap... I got one at AutoZone the other day for $16, then all I did was use a small lighter to stretch my 1/2 tubing over its stock fittings. When you add in all that extra stuff, anything could sound expensive. A heater core, small fan, sub pump and a used block would make a fine budget setup.

[atomic ferret]

It is not too difficult to piece together a budget set up. I put mine together for about $150 and I had to buy the pump, which was the most expensive part. I think that discouraging people from attempting budget water cooling is unwarranted. Clearly the set up won't work as well as if you had several hundred dollars to throw around, but it can still be fun and effective.

I would say that you could use a large reservoir with a couple submersible pumps (presuming they are free) and use a cheap waterblock like an Apogee GT. You can usually pick one up in the classifieds for around $30 shipped and they perform pretty well. It is pretty necessary to use a radiator, and heater cores are good choices, but only if you don't mind noise. The high fin density dictates that you use high CFM fans, so if you don't mind 30-35 decibels minimum, then you may want to spend the extra money on a Swiftech MCR320.

Depending on your hardware, it might be necessary to run two heater cores, and for that price, an MCR320 would be a better bet because it is only $50. Two heater cores will cost around 40-50$ and require a little more DIY action.

If you can get the pumps and tubing for free, then you can put together a cpu only loop for no more than $100 I'd say if you bought a used water block (or even a new Apogee GT is only $40).

I would say do not give up on water cooling if you don't have too much money. It certainly can be done with a little extra effort, but that is really the most fun part of piecing together a loop.

[Steven-1979]

Is the price the issue or the noise? If you just don't want any more fans (you mentioned it's a recording studio) and thats your reason, you said that your rig will have 1 exhaust fan, you can throw something like this with that exhaust fan: http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=3&cat=5&page=1 just to play it safe. You won't have to add an extra fan but it may help a little with that big reservoir. But I can't see a rubbermaid container having enough heat transfer. It certainly would have a lot of surface area though but the material doesn't seem like it would transfer heat that well.

[boorishid]

Not to thread hijack but how did you guys get your hatercores so cheap?? are you only using a single fan heater core? seriously everywhere ive looked dual size heater cores are 40 buck except danger den sells them pre modded for 35. even if you pay 16 bucks though your at 46 minimal with 120x38mm 100cfm+ fans. Might as well pop another 20 bucks for something quieter with about the same amount of cooling power. Honestly though iwant to know what kind of heater cores you guys are buying for so cheap as i have plenty of fans,barbs, and butane.

[Elfen]

Thanks to all, didn't expect that much interest. Atomic ferret, you have it right. I want to go water cooling for the fun of doing it, ashle free or not. I'll have to reread replies when I have time to, seems to be good info here.

Steven-1979, the issue is both noise and money. I want as less noise as I can (even only one cpu fan set to minimum speed gets me upset, a bong is cheap, but not an option). On the other hand, I plan on getting back to University next year, so I have to save as much money as I can for the next months, but don't want to give up on the wc project. (sorry for this personal story here :santa:)

Ric2L, pumps will be set parrallel. There will be twice the pressure or I'll double tube size, I'll see what works best.

Need to find some rad or heater core now as I understood. I wonder what size of rad is needed to dissipate heat enough so it doesn't need a fan??

[saxile]

just get some yate-loon low speeds and a mcr series rad, you cannot hear it

edit for some links:

http://www.jab-tech.com/Swiftech-MCR-220-Radiator-Black-pr-3199.html
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-Case-Fan-D12SL-12-pr-3009.html

[atomic ferret]

If you realy want silence, you've got to use an MCR320 or a more expensive rad with low speed fans. Heater cores don't take well to low CFM fans at all.

@boorisid
Heater cores are cheap as long as you don't shop at danger den. Do to your local Autozone, Pep Boys etc. and ask for a 1977 Bonneville heater core. It fits two 120mm fans. Then pick up a couple barbs and either sweat them on or just glue 'em like I did with JB Weld and voila. If you want better performance, pick up a 1$ organizational bin at Target and make a shroud with a couple long bolts. If you want cheap fans look on the classies, I picked up 2 Panaflo 114CFM fans for 7$ shipped each.

[UBERCOOL]

Saxile is right, for silence I would say that the best/cheapest thing to is get a Swiftech MCR320 and throw some low speed Yate Loons on there. The whole thing will probably run you just over $70 but you will be a lot happier and save yourself a lot of trouble.

I also think that you will want to run your pumps in series. I am pretty sure that is what most people do because you want increased pressure not flowrate.

[saxile]

yep, series is always better, increased head and flowrate

[nicayotte]

I can honestly say that the li9nk you posted was a wate of time for that guy, eventhough its cheaper it still is a waste of time and look at the processor he ran that with!

[atomic ferret]

If you are going to get a 120.1 rad, you might as well go with a good one like a Switech, Feser, or Thermochill.