Is there such a thing as a chilled water cooler

[FlashRZ]

Hi all, I’m just wondering if there’s such thing as a chilled water cooler (ie refrigerated?) my understanding is that the radiator cools the water rather passively, with the help of fans. My question is, is there such a thing as a water cooler that refrigerates the water to lower its temperature even more than just pushing it through the radiator?

If this is idiotic, I apologize for wasting your time, but I’m learning about WC and this keeps popping into my head... thanks

 

[Bill Dimwit]

Yes water chiller setups are out there, they are mostly DIY and or meant for benching setups. There is also tec chillers.

 

[FlashRZ]

Thanks. PS love your sig quote, DRS is one of the all-times greats and Ruprecht is too... “Ruprecht, do you want me to fetch the genital cuff?”...

 

[Bill Dimwit]

Thanks. PS love your sig quote, DRS is one of the all-times greats and Ruprecht is too... “Ruprecht, do you want me to fetch the genital cuff?”...

If you like DRS look up bed time story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedtime_Story_(1964_film)

Here is a review of a water chiller setup.
https://www.bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/cooling/hailea-hc-500a-water-chiller-review/1/

The systems out there are about 300-800$ But some systems do cost a lot.
performance pcs sells them.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/water-chillers

I don't recommend them for anything other then benchmarking. Yes they work, but they are costly, somewhat loud and pump out a lot of heat. Your better off spending the money on faster parts.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Also worth noting, you have to manage condensation when you have anything that is sub-ambient cooling. Normal water cooling the loop temperature stays at or just above ambient.

 

[Johan45]

Here's a few things I have done that you can do at home with just a few parts. The deepfreeze works well but only has a limited effective time span. Running the radiator out the window on a cold Canadian Winter day though is very effective have reache temps near to -30°C

 

[Bill Dimwit]

Also worth noting, you have to manage condensation when you have anything that is sub-ambient cooling. Normal water cooling the loop temperature stays at or just above ambient.

Indeed, condensation can be a really major problem. Its not as bad with a water chiller as say with DICE or LN2, even less so if you keep the water at ambient or above. But you still need to keep condensation in mind when using anything that can chill air/water below ambient.

Also Johan45, ever forgot to bring your rad indoors after using the PC or had a PC crash wile the rad was out side ? Or do you use anti freeze in the loop?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Indeed, condensation can be a really major problem. Its not as bad with a water chiller as say with DICE or LN2, even less so if you keep the water at ambient or above. But you still need to keep condensation in mind when using anything that can chill air/water below ambient.

Also Johan45, ever forgot to bring your rad indoors after using the PC or had a PC crash wile the rad was out side ? Or do you use anti freeze in the loop?

He uses antifreeze

 

[Lochekey]

You can also use run an open loop in a bucket and add dry ice to get even colder. If you do that, you do need to be careful about fluid selection. I normally run a methanol/water mixture. I find it works better at these cold temps versus glycol based antifreeze.

One way to get around the condensation issue in the winter is to put the entire rig outside so there is no temp difference. You just then have to be careful of any components with heat pipes as they can freeze and burst.

 

[Johan45]

I use the same as you Lochekey, windsheild washer fluid. Good down below -30

 

[FlashRZ]

Thanks. Unfortunately, I wont be getting any help from the elements unless melting things is what's called for. I live in Miami....

 

[Nebulous]

Thanks. Unfortunately, I wont be getting any help from the elements unless melting things is what's called for. I live in Miami....

Miami? Yeah you better forget the outside chiller route. Unsure if you want this to bench ( a few runs to score boints) or for a 24/7 gaming/everything else rig.

You can also go the mod the air conditioner route, but that will be noisy for 24/7 operation. You will run into condensation issues as well.

 

[Lochekey]

If the elements are not on your side then you will have to get creative.

You have a few options as spelled out above.

You can buy a pre made unit

You can build one yourself out of a repurposed air conditioner or TEC(look up Silver Surfer if you go this route, he is well versed in making this work)

You can use a closed loop system and submerge the rad in a deep freezer or a bucket of ice or other frozen goods(vegetables work)

You can forgo the radiator and have an open loop and have ice or dry ice added directly to the cooling medium in the loop.

I think that about covers your options. Once you kinda decide which route you want to try we can direct you towards threads/people who have done this before so you can get some pointers.

 

[FlashRZ]

Hi Nebulous, I'd like to use it for benching and then basically forget about it and just use a regular loop for the system I'm building. All I know is Linus came in 3rd place in the world in whatever benching app he was using, only he was using an i9 extreme with 18 cores that he delidded and put liquid metal onto for extra power. I am going the threadripper 1950x route with this build instead, so no delidding, but other than that, the builds are nearly identical and I feel like if I can cool the fluid, I might beat his score. Does that sound crazy or like something that can be done. I would be sitting next to it with towels to avoid condensation...

 

[Lochekey]

Hi Nebulous, I'd like to use it for benching and then basically forget about it and just use a regular loop for the system I'm building. All I know is Linus came in 3rd place in the world in whatever benching app he was using, only he was using an i9 extreme with 18 cores that he delidded and put liquid metal onto for extra power. I am going the threadripper 1950x route with this build instead, so no delidding, but other than that, the builds are nearly identical and I feel like if I can cool the fluid, I might beat his score. Does that sound crazy or like something that can be done. I would be sitting next to it with towels to avoid condensation...

Do you have a link to his score/submission. Most records are set using LN2 or LHe and you well not be able to get close on a chilled water loop.

There is a huge temperature difference that allows for much higher overclocking.

A chilled water loop can get down to around -50C
A system using LN2 can get down to around -210C
A system using LHe can get down to around -268C

With the massive temperature differential between the systems a chilled water loop just cannot normally keep up with the other cooling methods.

You also need to factor in your efficiency in each benchmark. If your system is not set up properly with tyre right OS, drivers, etc your scores will suffer and you will not be competitive.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Taking everything that's been said, you're not guaranteed a good OCing CPU or MB so you can do all of this work and spend a ton of time and money and still not get what you're looking for being limited to the components or you can go the custom liquid cooling loop way and try to get your temps closest to room temperature, assuming you're running AC or not dependent on the weather out there in Sun Shine State.

If you're looking to go to the non-exotic custom liquid cooling, have a good read in our stickies on custom liquid cooling and have a good look at this video below. Don't hold back on any questions you may have.

 

[JLK03F150]

I made a chiller out of an old water fountain several years ago. I put anti-freeze in the loop, jumped out the thermostat & maintained about 10 deg.f. in the loop. I should dust that thing off and play with it again. Good times.

 

[Alaric]

assuming you're running AC or not dependent on the weather out there in Sun Shine State.

Miami? 9 to 1 odds the A/C is running Christmas morning and New Years Eve. Winter in Miami is usually the first or second week of February and requires cargo shorts instead of beach wear at night. LOL

 

[FlashRZ]

Thanks. I’m very unfamiliar with the properties of dry ice- I know it can keep things cold if enclosed within an insulated environment, but can you add water (or my cooling mix) to it and use it as an ice cube essentially? If so, which cools better, ice or dry ice? I would assume the latter. Last, where does one get dry ice typically and is it costly?

 

[Johan45]

Dry ice is very cold like -70°C. You''ll need some type of liquid like lochekey suggested such as methanol and you'll want it in an open container when you mix the two because of the gas expansion from the frozen CO2. This should get liquid down around the -50° range. You'd need a pump, a big bucket some tubing and a block for the CPU
Check the Walmats, I know some in the US sell dry ice if not then look up a welding supply on any place that supplies compressed gasses such as oxygen/nitrogen/argon etc..