Water Cooling Concept - need someones opinion.

Intel Atom N330 + Nvidia Ion ITX Water Cooling!

NEW THREAD!

Hello Everyone!

It's been a while since I've posted anything though, I am back now with a new idea and was wondering if anyone here would be willing to give me a little bit of feed back on what they think. I've been running the following ITX setup for a while now with much issues:

Zotac Ion ITX A
Intel Atom N330 1.60GHz @ 2.0GHz
Ion Chipset (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M)
(more info: Link)

Crucial Ballistix
4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz (2 x 2048MB) (Link)

Seagate Momentus
2.5" 7200rpm 16mb cache 250GB HD

All this currently resides in an ITX case that is approximately the 3" wide x 7" high x 9" deep, the slim drive bay was removed and I moded the side panel a bit to add a 100mm x 100mm x 10mm fan @ 800 RPM. It's held up rather well for moderate to light gaming and 1080p playback but I am thinking of pushing it a bit farther. The Zotac Board has a 90Watt PSU and I have a spare 60Watt PSU which came with the case that I decided not to use at first but now I can put it to good use!

Here are pictures of the current setup:















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New Parts!
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Aluminipc UX1
http://www.aluminipc.com/model-ux1

* pictures farther in this thread ***

I will be placing the pump & res between the hard drive bay which whould have normally fit a 3.5" Drive. The 3.5" Drive Bay will be modified to fit two 2.5" Laptop Hard Drives. A dual 120mm Rad will be fit on top of the case with dual slim 10-12mm Fan's Blowing inwards if space allow's it I will do Push/Pull.

I am trying to keep the case as postable/silent as possible and not to bulk.


NL-Zotack ION ITX A CPU/GPU Water Block (Link)
Currently the only Zotac Ion waterblock available that I know of.

Swiftech MCP355™ 12 VDC Pump(Link)
I would have used a small pump if I was using a single 120MM Rad solution.

Black Ice Pro II Compact Radiator (Link)
133mm x 277mm x 25mm

Bitspower BP-DDCT2-CL DDC Mini Water Tank (Link)


Seagate Momentus
2.5" 7200rpm 16mb cache 250GB HD (Total of two in system)

Decently expensive though sometimes it's fun to change things around a bit. Secondly I haven't seen anything like this done yet out there so it should be an interesting thing to do. After it's all done I am more then willing to run any test that forum members would like me to do.

August 31st 2010!
Case Ordered! - Arrived

that pump is bull, koolance pumps are generally just a no-go. Check out the mcp355/ddc3.2, it's a much more solid pump and is quite small.

That pump isn't bull. It's different. It is just about enough for the loop.

OP, question for you. Is that block made for that board for the CPU and GPU chip? Never mind, I went the extra mile and used Google translate. It IS for the CPU and GPU. Looking at the close up pic, it's a very low restriction block, and that pump MIGHT be enough. Kinda big though. And I wory about it's flow rate etc once installed.

This one is $15 more, but a tried and true PROVEN pump. AND less wattage. And I assure you plenty for your loop and something else down the road. Proven pump, not like the other one. It's also low profile and has 3/8 ID barbs, your hose size should be 3/8" ID for the tight area your working in. Barbs and the space they take can kill a pump placement in a millisecond.........

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...ge=product_info&cPath=59_201&products_id=2539

I suppose conum is thinking of this here pump http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...e=product_info&cPath=59_201&products_id=20655
a ddc355
They also have a ddc350 for about $10 less

Also since your useing the atomcpu you might be able to use a rad in the 80mm size like this here one http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...oduct_info&cPath=59_457_336&products_id=28458
but let someone more experienced than me comment on that rad and size

I noted down the pump you suggested, if it's done its trails then it's fine with me. As for the rad I was thinking of using a single 80MM Rad, it really depends on how much size I have to play with, chances are I will be mounting everything on the side panel or something.

I still want to keep the case fairly quiet and am thinking of using a noctua 80mm Fan.

by the way, the water block looks huge in the picture though it really isn't that bag when you see the size of the current heatsink in person. You have to remember that this is all ITX stuff, so the actual space is rather limited.

I don't think a double 80mm Rad would fit into the new case.

A 120mm rad on the top of the case? Nuff room below? Get out the hole cutter......

a 120mm Rad on top the case would work, I could put a double if I really wanted to though I much rather try and cram as many things in the back of the case as possible rather then start stacking it high wise.

There isn't enough room bellow the case to fit the 120mm rad. Since I don't have the case with met yet (was shipped out this morning) it's a little hard to get the dimensions right though if I got it right then there should be no issues sitting the 120mm Rad on the outside just bellow the back panel and have a 120MM x 25MM Fan placed in the inside of the case pulling air in and cooling the Rad.


I am assuming that keeping the loop as compact as possible would be the most efficient thing to do.


I am thinking of using Black Ice® GT Stealth 120 XFlow (Link) as my rad of choice for the moment. As for the tubing, 3/8" ID & 5/8" OD is what I should be using right?

The Stealth rad is old, needs loud high CFM fans, poor liquid flow rates. But, in your case it might be just fine. You'll need at last 1800 RPM good pressure fan for it, but you have very little heat to remove so maybe a lesser fan might work. Look at the dimensions of it vs a MCR120. I'd go MCR over the stealth, but the stealth is skinnier.

I guess I could try the stealth and if it preforms poorly then I can swap it out with a MCR120 or look around, might seem like a waste of money though, we can see.

The ion CPU works as a 9400M so it's like cooling a 9400 Chip + the Intel Atom CPU. The other thing I was thinking is finding out what heatsink the Corsair H50 Uses and get my hands on something similar as it's able to cool down much higher temps and the loop wouldn't be much bigger then this one. Since its iGPU I don't need to worry about memory heating up that much as it uses my system memory, the core is default clocked at 450 and shader at 1000mhz. Both are manually adjustable VIA the bio, same goes for the CPU. I don't intend to push it past 2070MHZ as they say 2.1 makes it unstable and unable to boot, no one has played around with the video card speed's so far so it should be interesting

An MCR120 is cheap. Deeper though. Did you know Bobby BH made an awesome sticky up top that lists the dimensions for each rad? Hopefully that can steer you right once you get the case and take measurements.

I will certainly read up on that!

I think it's just coming down to which rad to use and sizes. I am going with 3/8" ID (1/2" OD) Tubing and G1/4 3/8 ID Barb's. I chose to got with the Swiftech ddc350 pump over the 355. Mainly for lower DBA also because I think it should be an ample amount of flow to keep things cool (will change to ddc355 if I got with a bigger rad).

CANT WAIT FOR MY STUFF TO ARRIVE!

Update!

Before I put the project on hold I had ordered the case and it arrived in the mail today from hong kong, needless to say I was slightly dissapointed. The case is smaller then I had anticipated and mounting a 92mm or 120mm Rad on the back is simply impossible. The case can barely fit a 92mm fan and drilling would be impossible.

The upside to things is that the case can't really stand upright anways because the case is to high, so unless it was crammed between two other things... well it would probably simply risk toppling over. Though I now see this as as something to take advantage of and will most likely change my plans on where the rad's are going to be placed! Meaning I am open to a stronger pump and a 2x120mm rad setup.

Pictures should be up tommorow at some point during the day.

Thats too bad, we was hoping. Ideas and pics are a welcome sight.

Hello Once Again!

So as promised, here are the pictures of the case etc... (Yes the case is anodized pink, I thought I'd give it a change from silver or black for once)


This is the 60Watt PSU that will be used to power the 18Watt pump as well as dual 120mm fans for the dual 120mm rad.



This is the 60watt PSU in the place I intend to put it, It will be mounted to a piece of plexi glass that covers the entire side panel from the inside, I thought of enclosing it though because of he limited amount of space I will have to leave it open like that. In addition, will have to re-wire the PSU so that it sends power to two Molex connectors. The plexi glass sheet is help in place with 4 screws.



This is the top part of the panel which will have two 120mm fans mounted on a rad, the max rad size that I can fit on top is 280mm x 150mm, I found a rad that is 240mm x 130mm so I will be using that one.


0.66mm x 20mm x 20mm Copper shim, you might be wondering why this is here. The reason is because the intel atom diode is lower then the Nvidia Ion (9400M) diode which creates a not prefect contact on the heatsink, this was the case for the stock heatsink, I don't know if the watercooling block took that into account but i didn't want to take any risks. It help really helps > http://www.zotacusa.com/forum/topic/2306-ion-heatsink-mod/



This is a pick of the back panel, I will drop by my local hardware store and have a plexi glass to replace the cut out piece that came with the case (it held 2 small fans but they where broken in the shipping process).




Measurements











And finally, this is how the HDD's will be mounted:





There was an other panel that the HDD's could be mounted by but I found that it would simply get in the way for the rad's airflow when I cut the holes into the case. So I will drill holes into the 3.5" HDD Bay that they provided (2 of the L shapes put together) and mount both my HDD's on them. There is 4" of separation between the "L" Mounts so I will be able to put the Pump between the HDD (either that or I will place the Res there).

Let me know what you think... there is still some time before I order the rest as some other things still need to get paid off


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Side note, the hard drive re-wiring etc... does freak me out as I don't want to leave any chances of me getting electrocuted or anything. I also wanted to add that I did some research on what people have been clocking the IGPU at, some people have jacked it up to 580Mhz Core Speed and 1100Mhz Memory and it was able to run stable, though many people say that the CPU is what really holds the system back... Anything above 2.0GHZ makes it unstable... even with the cooling I am putting on it I don't really want to go and push the voltages mainly due to the fact that it's an integrated PSU (90Watts) so there isn't much room to place around with.

Though I think that already by boosting CPU and GPU there should be a nice difference in what it can do. Not to mention I am pretty sure I can keep it in the 20's and rather silent.

Always detailed and good work, watching it.

Gonna have to make a media server someday..........

@Conumdrum

If you buy a barebone they are rather cheap, just remeber that to play any kind of HD Video you will have to tweak it just a little. The good thing is that it's only a software tweak and not a hardware tweak.

A barebone will go for about the same price as mobo that includes wireless n / nvidia ion / atom n330 or higher. Zotac now has barebones for under 300$ that use the intel atom n510 chip but for any amd fan's it seems that amd has started coming out with a neo chip that is 1.5 dual core which should offer the same preformance (I can't confirm that as I have not read any reviews yet).

I was actually hopeing to see more barebone form factors with the amd m300 - m500 cpu... guess the industry is trying to see who will wear the crown for low power consumption cpu's (via is still in the race with there nano cpu clocked at 2GHZ)! anyways if you do follow that road be sure to check out newegg as for the Gskill laptop pc 6400 laptop memory with heatspreaders as most form factors use laptop memory.

Cheers!

p.s. project will be back soon

ooh a new thread for me to visit =)
love colored brushed aluminum look

Update:

I am going to drop by my local hardware store Friday September 17th or Monday September 20th to get the plexiglass I need, some wire caps and a roll or two of electrical tape so that I can re-wire the PSU and mount it to the case. I will also drill the holes for the hard drive's and installed them.

I've been looking at overclocking this little guy and see what it can handle as a lot of people on the web have been pushing it...more the GPU then CPU as the CPU has some stability issues past 2.1 ~ 2.2 (you can't volt mod it). The GPU holds rather well clocking up to 630mhz / 1300mhz Shader.

The memory can be OC'd to increase the video card preformance as well though I dont know much about memory clocking... I am going to start digging through the forums to see if i can't get any insight! Other then that, sorry for the slow updates I am trying to get the parts in asap when my budget lets me squeeze a few $$ in

Final Product should be interesting though!


As always feel free to throw in your idea's and I will certainly consider them


Edit: September 15th 2010
Some of you may also notice that I am changing my thread as the project moves foward so that its easier to read or things are a little more clear for anyone who started reading the thread. I also want to add the following pic of how the setup will be or at least what I am thinking... I changed some things around from the original idea though it seems to work better, as for the fan's mentioned in the picture; I am not sure I will use them I am contemplating if 12mm or 25mm is the way to go as I may have the Rad inside the case allowing a clearance of less then 50mm, or less then 30mm. Not much place to work though... at least the motherboard will be cool

I will order the kit first then the fan's last as I have a 25mm x 120mm fan and a 12x 120mm fan at home right now.

Updates!

I know most people love them though the people following this thread might not like what I have to say when I say " the project is officially canceled " and the reason isn't that I don't have the money to finance it though rather I feel kind of bad spending 300+$ on parts to cool an Atom CPU / 9400M iGPU when I could build up an entirely new ITX system for more or less the same price and simply mod the air cooled setup for better temp gains.

This will involve:

1. Lapping the Heatsink (HSU) as its currently very rough.
2. Lapping the shim which provides proper contact between CPU & HSU
3. Custom Mounting bracket to Mount a 140MM Noctua fan on 60mm-70mm HSU (if it doesn't work then I will look at 92MM Fan 49CFM@25dba)

Half the part's have already arrived, the rest will arrive within two days and I have reworked the N330 into a new case. The N330 was also overclocked to the following:

Stock
Atom N330 1.6Ghz
Ion (9400M) 400Mhz Core / 1100 Mhz Shader

The Ion Shares system memory @ 4-4-4-12 800Mhz

OC
Atom N330 2.1Ghz
Ion (9400M) 625Mhz Core / 1300 Mhz Shader

The Ion Shares system memory @ 4-4-4-12 800Mhz


Pretty good gain's 500mhz CPU / 225Mhz GPU Core / 200Mhz Shader. I want to push it farther though the CPU doesn't want to stay stable past 2.1 at least not without modifying the voltage (which I haven't done). As for what will be arriving... Its the ASUS AT5IONT-I which has been hyped up and hated because of really really picky memory selection I will try and do a full review as no one seems to have put one up on the web yet.

It's an Atom D525 clocked @ 1.8Ghz and the iGPU (Ion2) is a Nvidia GT218 with 512MB DDR3 Memory clocked at 535 Core... Stock... so seeing what it can do should be fun! especially that Asus put some effort into designing a better HSU the Zotac... I mean WAY BETTER.

So once the thing's arrive I will post the new thread link here if you chose to follow the project as it changes course.


...


As for the people who would have liked to see the project completed, I can only provide you with my most sincere apologies as it was not my intent to create a post only to change things around. With that I apologize to any memebers that I may have offended in this regaurd.

Thank you.