Radiators, Resivors HELP!

Ok, I am going to make my first watercooled system and have done a lot of research. I only have a few quetions:
1. If I use a resevour do i need a radiator?why?
2. How much of a difference in cooling will there be if i go with an aluminum waterblock instead of coppe?(money is an issue)

hola iggy.

if you use a reservoir you would still want some way to get rid of the heat from the water. the reservoir would slightly dissipate heat, but not anything close to what a radiator or bong would do.

so in answer to first question, yes you still need a radiator or some other means of cooling the water back to ambient temp.

second question.

not exactly sure about cooling difference, but i would suggest getting the same thing as your radiator (mostly all are copper). if you have aluminum and copper both mixed, you get corrosion problems. all in all, copper does cool better, but whether it's a noticeable difference or not, i cant say cause i haven't tried aluminum.

You can still mix copper and aluminum, you just need to put in an additive such as redline waterwetter.

On the cheap, a large open reservior, ie. a bucket will work without a radiator. Bong coolers are another cheap, very effecient cooling source.

I would highly recommend a good copper waterblock like the Danger Den products. As the heat load goes up, there is a difference with premium waterblocks. Think of it as an investment in the future. Despite the lower voltage of an XP, at 2 GHz plus, you will be dealing with over 100 watts.

The main reason for having a reservoir is to allow the water to expand / contract and to trap air bubbles, as opposed to a radiator which is used for cooling water.

ok, i was looking through a DIY radiator in the waterclooling section. If i get a copper waterblock i wont have enough money with an aluminum 1 i will even though i know copper is better. What do u think?

oh yeah, right now my AMD duron 800 is at 32C with a FOP32. Will watercooling give me better temps?

I used a large reservoir prior to setting a radiator in my watercooling system. It was about 16 liters, filled with about 12 liters of water. it took about to 12 hours to warm up to it's max temp (about 41 degrees Celsius on an athlon 1200c @1466). So yes you can use a reservoir as long as it is big (the bigger it is the lower temp you will get).

A bong is an easy step up from a reservoir, I was going to convert mine, but the shower head I had bought was too poor quality, so I just decided to put a radiator in. The same water setup on the same processor at the same speed is now running at somewhere between 34 and 35 degrees at load with a radiator installed ( I think I need more air on my radiator, as I only have about 60 CFM running by it at the moment and I've seen similar rads with a recommendation for no less than 100 CFM).

I've heard bongs are even better than radiators, but if you want to take it a LAN party... or move it anywhere for that matter, it's a bit of a hassle.

I think copper blocks are slightly cooler, but if price is an issue get an aluminum, and make sure you have something in the water to stop corrosion (ie waterwetter or antifreeze [antifreeze reduces cooling capacity of coolant]). I'm using a converted aluminum heatsink for my water block. works great, looking forward to making another one.

iggybaseball said:

oh yeah, right now my AMD duron 800 is at 32C with a FOP32. Will watercooling give me better temps?

Click to expand...

so can anyone pleaz answer this question?

Watercooling may bring you a bit closer to the ambient temp of your room. The real advantage you'll see with watercooling is that as that as you overclock it to higher speeds and raise the voltage the temp will remain close to ambient temp, where as with your fop32 you'll notice an increase in temp.

Get a heater core instead of a big old res. They're cheap and work good. With a decent pump and waterblock you'll get very good temps

32C is a good temp already.

thanks for the help