Cooling my flashgame botfarm

Hey guys longtime reader of this forum finally subscribing to start some projects, but I have some questions that are very important on how the layout of my build will be and how I approach the situation.

Before you continue keep the following quote in mind:


I have 8 HP DC 7700 Small form factor computers that I recently acquired through a friend for $50. After scavenging on Ebay and Craigslist I was able to get them up to par for the tasks at hand. They now all have Corsair XMS2 8gb ddr2 ramm.

Now with 8 of these things sure have gotten hot in my office.

I decided its time to go the way of water cooling for these like I did my gaming rig.

Before you ask: no I'm not getting rid of these and just going with a few nicer computers I really want to build something fun with these; and while my budget isn't unlimited I'm willing to wait and invest in doing this build right.

First let me go over my goals of what I want to accomplish:

I want to cool these machines to ambient temperature which in my Colorado home stays at around 68-72°F. With summers out here reaching hotter and hotter temperatures can get hot outside but I do run A/C in the summer to maintain some form of humanity.


The machines run various bots used for flash games and are usually at 70-80% load and operate 24/7.


So with all that being said:

What would you recommend I do when approaching cooling all of this?

While aesthetically single loops could be a lot of fun I was interested in possibly approaching a LARGE(did I mention large?) Parrellel loop.

Has anyone done this before?

Recommended Water Block for CPU?

Should I worry about heat from the Ramm
Note: ramm usage varies running windows 7, 64 bit maxing out at about 6-7 gb

Recommended Pump if running parrellel?


While I am not opposed to running multiple loops, I would like to put all 8 on the same, or do 4 loops of 2 computers. Once I figure out some of this I will link into this thread the start of my project log as I make the custom case.


Current Plan(open to constructive and informative criticism do not be afraid to share please!!!!)

I Figure that each cpu will need about 1x360mm rad to cool which would mean I would need about 2880 of rad space, But I'm worried that wouldn't get quit the temperatures I want. I have considered going with a open loop type system with a volenti type cooler or even a water bong(why because I love a challenge).

Parts considered:
4 x Xtreme Nova 1080 Rad
8 x EK Supreme Water Block

I plan on going full copper piper for the build and am interested in recommendations on fittings that would allow me to do this. I do plan on insulating the "cold" lines running back to the machines.
Am I trying to dissipate to much heat?


Thoughts/Questions/Comments/Concerns appreciated.

~AvatarManiac

Two of those 120.9 novas would be more than enough, going up to four would drop your cpu load temps by just a couple of degrees. Watercooling won't change how hot the room gets either, unless you set up the radiators outside, or set them up in such a way that the air running through them vents outside.

A water bong with that many cpus attached to it would have to be outside because humidity inside would max out without being able to handle all of the heat.

And i never watercooled a Pentium d, but q6600, 2700k, and 4670k all ran 30-50° above the water temp for me, depending on overclock and voltage. So getting the chip itself to run at ambient requires water much below ambient which in turn requires insulation for each cpu socket area.

I would probably do two loops of four computers, with a super high flow block like a danger den mc-tdx if you can find them used/cheap. Of the modern blocks I would use the xspc raystorm. On each of the loops I would use one nova rad and an McP-35x2. And I would make sure I could vent the air passing through those radiators outside because 8 of those chips is going to be close on to a thousand watts of heat if they stay at high load.


Devils advocate: a pair of haswell quads would have more raw cpu power and only use 170w. Would cost less than the watercooling project proposed. Would cost less to run by a significant margin. Would take up less space. Etc etc etc.

If you're looking for a challenge maybe this will fit for you.

Mandrake4565 said:

If you're looking for a challenge maybe this will fit for you.

Click to expand...

Hi Mandrake, I have read through that thread thinking it was a good concept and stumbled upon this a few weeks ago:
Geomthermal Loop < this guy is genuis.

Unfortiantly I don't plan on being in my house but for another 3-4 years as 1600sqFt. just isn't enough for me.


I am looking at putting the radiators in my shed right next to my office.

Now just to correct, they are not Pentium D processors but infact E4400 Allendale's.


The applications that I am running can have 5 on one of these machines,(meaning 40 total) versus 28 on a intel i5-4570k(Which I do have 2 of) so yes you are right getting 2 newer machines would certainly be a cheaper/cost effective way to go(but than... where would be the fun, adventure, and science that comes with a project like this?)


BTW thank you both for your replies

Well back to your original idea, I agree with super trucker, 2 of those rads would be plenty. As far as pumping it in a single loop you're going to need a good pump. I have this pump for my benching rig and it puts out 700 gph which should do the trick. The only issue I see is if you have the rads outside when it's really cold you're going to have to insulate against condensation on the lines and the block's.

Ah I just googled the model number and looked at the first one I found. E4400s would be cooler and use less power, if you aren't overclocking them you could run the whole farm off a single nova rad if you have enough pump to push through 8 blocks. Still a bit over 500 watts of heat so I'd still aim to duct or vent it outside, but manageable.

The OP has a problem with room heat. Water cooling the PC's with the radiators won't decrease the room heat one bit. Bongs are fun, they shed humidity, so the room gets humid, and the anti-algae in the bong water isn't the best to breath.

If the OP can move the rad to a different room that would help a lot.

OP: The difference between the hottest and coldest water in a PC radiator loop is typically no more than a few F. So insulating the lines wont help at all.

Good luck! Your best best is a window AC unit, really.

Conumdrum said:

The OP has a problem with room heat. Water cooling the PC's with the radiators won't decrease the room heat one bit. Bongs are fun, they shed humidity, so the room gets humid, and the anti-algae in the bong water isn't the best to breath.

If the OP can move the rad to a different room that would help a lot.

OP: The difference between the hottest and coldest water in a PC radiator loop is typically no more than a few F. So insulating the lines wont help at all.

Good luck! Your best best is a window AC unit, really.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Really not interested in the extra noise from the window AC unit though. After some extensive googling about this subject over the past view days I got some good basework on what I'm going to do to outline my build.

Conumdrum you are right the heat needs to be removed from the space. Being my shed is just about 2 feet out from the office, and down(picture to follow) I think I will setup something similar to this:

Multicooled Rack

Now that I have a basis I'll start working on a build log with extensive pictures to be posted on this forum

~AvatarManiac

Parallel is a BAD call. You can do one (or two) big single (serial) loops...I know some of the DC guys are running those, you might be able to get some advice over on that side of the forum as well. If you setup something outside, you're going to have to worry about freezing.

Here's a thought, since you want crazy ideas: have you considered geothermal? You could go geothermal for the cost of some copper pipe, the blocks, and an iwaki pump.