Water Cooling Need Help

[DodgeViper]

I decided I am going to try water-cooling. I just purchase an Antec SX1040. With all the room in this case I want to install a radiator in the top but concealed from view. I will not be able to use the top 5 ¼” slot but that’s ok.

I plan to use the current case fans, but will change the fans out to a quieter fan. The three fans that will cool the radiator are going to be 92mm Panaflo fans. With a total of 170.7 CFM moving over the radiator.

The plan is to pull the air from inside the case, as my case temps are the same as my ambient temps within my computer room. I have included a drawing and would like any input that members may have.

[FrozenInHI]

looks like it will work pretty good, i'm a little concerned about the supply air though, looks like those 92mm fans will be pullin air pretty good, and the two 80mm(i assume) at the back of the case will also pull air out, you only have 2 80's(again, i assume)pulling air into the case, which means you'll be pulling air into all the cracks and crevices of the case, which will get it a little dirty and also restrict the amount of supply air the radiator fans have for use, a recommendation i might give is (assuming the diagram is indicating 3x92mm fans) turning one of the 80's in the back and have it blow into the case, you might get a circular air circuit this way though, another option would be to just flip them both around and have 4x 80mm sucking into the case and the 3x92's pulling it out, this would work well, especially if the 80's put together will pull more air into the case than the 92's can pull out, giving you a moderate positive pressure inside, which is what you want really. I also assume your psu will have an 80mm fan pulling air out, this is another source of air supply restriction, but i'd leave that one like it is, don't want the warm psu air getting in there. just a few things to think about is all, but overall it looks like it's gonna be a great setup.

[Diggrr]

Ditto. That extra flow in from the back would help the radiator alot.

[Wicked Klown]

Why not do like the Koolance case and have two of the fans on the rad blowing in and the other blowing out. The only other thing I would say is have your set-up go pump/res-rad-block-pump/res.

[DodgeViper]

I made some changes to the drawing. Rear & Front fans are now supplying airflow to the case. I also changed the direction the water is to flow. After looking at the first drawing I think it would be better for the warm water that just went through the water block to dump into the reservoir to mix with the volume water then get pre cooled before going to the water block.

I have a friend who has a louver machine and can put louvers across the top 5¼" wide x 11" deep.

[tyshy]

in looking at the drawing.....i see that the water goes thru the cpu first before the radiator. I thought the radiator cooled the water off and then went into the cpu. Am i confused or should it be going in thru the radiator and then thru the cpu? I always thought rad...then cpu....then pump.....and back thru again.

[Diggrr]

Now that looks better DV.
Your water is coolest leaving the radiator (good choice)
And you got lots of air for the radiator. (another good choice)

Now if only we could make 'em look as clean and simple as the drawing makes it look..:p

Happy cooling!

*louver machines are nice, I had to bondo a floor register vent to get louvers on my old case.*

[DodgeViper]

My only concern is the P/S exhaust. My computer desk has a slot where the tower fits into. The two rear fans may pickup the hot air coming out of the P/S. I may need to place a hole in the desk to exhaust the P/S outside of the desk.

[FrozenInHI]

yes, you might wanna do that, or better yet, remove the entire covering in the back of the "cubby" where the computer sits. for optimum cooling, you don't wanna shack your system into there, air restrictions will be a pain that way.

[Strangelove]

Just one or two things...
If you intend to use a res. (asuming that P/R = pump/res) You might what to consider placing the res at the highest point, that way if you get air in to the system it will just stay in the res. The way it's set up right now, it will end in the rad, which will reduce performace of the rad greatly :(!!! Other thing you say your case is placed in your desk, make sure that you have space above the case so that the hot air you are pumping out of the system has a way of getting away from the computer.

[JFettig]

better arangement of fans!!! have the fans sucking the air thru instead of blowing the air thru the rad! its suposed to have better airflow, and it sounds more rite because the air is directed more ware its going or have 3 of them sucking off it and 3blowing onto it! that would give you supreme airflow! because radiators obstruct airflow. expecially heatercores if thats what your using....

i slightly modified your drawing, hope you dont mind!!!!

[Wicked Klown]

Thats the way I'll have mine with the fans on top of the rad. I just ordered two 120mm fans for it.

[DodgeViper]

Maskedgeek, thanks. It would work better for me as well. I would be able to bolt the fans with guards and place the radiator below using a shroud.

This rad looks more like a car type rad. I am bothered by by the fact it may not move water because of it's design. The tubes are flat and small. The rad below should move water through the rad faster. Some where there has to be a sweet spot where you get the best performance with water flow/heat transfer.

Being new to water cooling I would think it would be best to be able to control the flow and watch the cpu temps and find this sweet spot....

[DodgeViper]

This rad should move more water with less restriction to air flow. Again it's about finding the sweet spot.

Any ideas? I want to use a low profile rad so its not hanging down into the case....

[FrozenInHI]

that would be the fusion II radiator from OCH (cpufx as well), and i use it personally, and it works pretty good, flow restriction is very low, and it cools very well, and i only use 1x120mm fan on it instead of 2. I'd imagine with 2 it would do an even better job at it. pick one of those two last ones if you can't go for a heater core or a black ice, i know the prices are insanely high for those so i understand. as a matter of fact i'm saving up for a black ice extreme or a black ice II right now, prolly have it in the next week or so if i can hide some more money from my fiance.

[JFettig]

actually a lot of airflow restriction could be good, because that means that the air is getting pulled by the rad! and there is more surface area
heatercores cool better than them rads and thats because they have more surface area to get cooled

[JFettig]

what a heater core looks like in detail....


i cut mine apart to adapt it amd make it smaller and this is about what it looks like....
chek my drawing!

[nikhsub1]

That looks good to me, the only thing I would do different is change the flow of 1 fan, (closest to the front) so it blows down thru the radiator, cause the other 2 will be pulling hotter air from the case, this fan will push cooler fresh air from the room.

[CMangano]

Great thread everyone, lot's of good ideas. I really like Viper's proposed setup and will probably do something similar to mine. One thing I did want to do was to watercool my GPU and MPU also. So after it goes through the radiator have it go to a splitter that redirects the water 3 different ways (CPU, GPU and MPU). Are there any drawbacks from doing this? Will this affect the cooling in any way? Also, what kind of pump will I need to get the water to flow through all 3 spots?

[Strangelove]

The problem with splitting the water pathway is that water always flows through the tube with the least resistance, that way you may get a problem with most of the water running through only one of the blocks and not equally through all. I have not tried it yet (as I have not gotten my own H2O cooling set up yet) but I don't think you will have any problems running them all "in-line" as long as you have a good enough rad. The delta T is not going to be all that big between entrance and exit of your WB and so the water should be able to absorb the heat from all the blocks with out problems (please correct me if I'm wrong).

[DodgeViper]

So the black radiator with the mounting panels on each side is what I should use? Would it be to my advantage to strip the paint and bring it back to brass/copper?

I think this is a great thread as well, it's bringing the thinkers out of the wood works.

I decided I am not going to have a reservoir but instead put a T in the input line to fill the system and then cap it off.

[CMangano]

Strangelove,

Are you saying go from the CPU, to MPU, to GPU, rather than have a split from the radiator going to each one? My fear about doing this is the temp of the water getting warmer as it hits each component, thus by the time it hits the GPU (assuming that is last) it is at its maximum heat. Any thoughts?

Viper,

I am not clear on what the T would do for you instead of the resevoir.

[DodgeViper]

By placing a T inline will allow me to fill the system. If you fill the system above the T and you purge the system then there is no way air can be introduce to the water flow.

[Strangelove]

Originally posted by CMangano
Strangelove,

Are you saying go from the CPU, to MPU, to GPU, rather than have a split from the radiator going to each one? My fear about doing this is the temp of the water getting warmer as it hits each component, thus by the time it hits the GPU (assuming that is last) it is at its maximum heat. Any thoughts?


As I wrote I have no hard data to support my theory but I don't think the water temp would rise all that much when passing through a WB.
Has anybody measured the temp difference between input and output of their WB? I whish I could do it my self but I'm not fully up and running yet.

[DodgeViper]

Because of the trouble of locating a COPPER radiator to fit in the top with the limited space, I have decided to go a different path. I have decided to place a Aqua Cool in the bottom using push/pull Panaflo 89 CFM fans. Now at the top I thought of using a transmission type cooler to pre cool the water before the water enters the Aqua Cool. I will use Panaflo fans at this location as well. Should have about 250 CFM of air coming into the case and about 210 CFM leaving the case. Open for comments.

[Phugbox]

this looks like an amazing setup, I have to agree with that. I think I'll add that IMHO, setting it up all in series is probably better for cooling the various components mostly due to resistance to the flow, if you think about it, your graphics card and the other probably aren't going to get AS hot as your pro is likely to. but you should also consider which one you care more about.

Another thing that I'd be interested in finding out is how much noise this sucker will be putting out with all these fans, and if it turns out to be too much, what are you planning on doing to fix that, or if you'll just keep it as isand tough it out.

anyway, nice rig

[FrozenInHI]

series cooling is not going to give you the best cpu temps at all, doesn't anyone see how thermal addition works? if you don't want to put that many hoses and fittings in there, go series, but if you want the maximum cooling effect, parallel circuits will work better.

I don't think the water temp would rise all that much when passing through a WB.


yes it will, what is the waterblock for anyway? it's a vehicle to transfer heat from the source and the water, so obviously it will warm up.

Has anybody measured the temp difference between input and output of their WB?

yes, gpu before: 27c after: 36c
cpu before: 27c after: 38c

The problem with splitting the water pathway is that water always flows through the tube with the least resistance, that way you may get a problem with most of the water running through only one of the blocks and not equally through all. I have not tried it yet

it's not really a problem if you have a decent pump that puts out enough flow to cover both loops. if you really want to calculate this into your setup, use 1/2 inch fittings for the cpu, and use 3/8 for the gpu and mobo blocks(personally cooling the mobo is a waste of time to me). I use more than one pump, and the total amount of flow i would have without any fittings on there is about 600gph, but with fittings, the pressure drops and i net about 400gph total. either way will work fine though, same size fittings on both will just split the flow, and yes it'll be a little uneven, but it will be fine, since the cpu waterblock should be the lesser resistance line and you'll get your extra flow there where you want it anyhow. these things are kinda like current in a electrical circuit, in series, the voltage (temp) is additive, each one has a bit of a voltage drop(heats up water), in a parallel, the voltage (flow) divides into each leg and the current(heat absorbing ability) divides between each leg, the leg with the least resistance gets more current. the trick is to keep from putting too large a resistance on one leg, and the video waterblock won't do that, the video + mobo chipset might give you some trouble, but shouldn't be too bad so long as it's got decent pass through in the blocks. but like i said, the mobo is a waste of time as the chipset doesn't get so hot that no fan could cool it properly and quietly. i'd get a nice chipset aircooler for the motherboard myself, i saw no gains by watercooling mine.

[res0r9lm]

yes flow follows the path of least resistance. seems like alot of trouble to cool a chipset. it would be robbing flow from cpu waterblock so then your cpu would increase in temps unless you increased pump size. IMHO it just isn't worth the extra money and another thing heat exchanger would do alot better job mounted to the back of the case while still being out of site

[DodgeViper]

I am cooling the CPU ONLY. No video or motherboard is being cooled. Currently I have 5-50 CFM 80mm 40.5 dba each Sunon fans which I am air cooling the case and cpu. My plan is to replace these fans which are really not that loud with the list below.

Panaflo 4-120x38 (Low Noise)
12V, 120x38mm, 4.08W, .45A, 86.5CFM, 35.5 dba.

Panaflo 3-80x25
3450 RPM, 12v, 4.32 watts, .36 amps, 47 CFM, 38.2 dba.

I will have a total of 227 cfm going into the case and a total of 214 cfm being pulled from the case. Keeping a positive pressure in the case. The total of the 4-120mm fans are nearly 25 dba lower than my current system. With the additional 3-47cfm fans which will be running 6.6 dba below my current system.

By pre-cooling the water before it enters the Aqua Cool Rad will help with case temps with the air moving through the Aqua Cool and going out the top.

I removed one of my Sunon 50 CFM fans from the front to make room for the setup I am going to put into the case. Below is my current idle temps. 75F/96F or 24C/36C