My DIY Liquid Cooling System

[Spawn-Inc]

how hot does it run?

if you haven't already the cheapest thing to do is swap out the thermal paste for some better stuff. i dropped 10C on mine.

 

[cadman420]

+1 again for spawn, just in the past week added some new artic silver to mine and gained another 100mhz running the same temps.

 

[pdxer1]

I put some new Silver5 on my CPU when I got my GPU water block, running temps after hours of GTA4, 40c to 43c, 46c on a hot day. Dropping the ambient heat dispersal of the GPU has effected the heat readings of the CPU.

I've tried to push my setup to 4005MHz using my current fan and sink. At 4GHz I need 1.3+ Vcore, at this range my CPU is hitting 57c after 2 hours of GTA4.
A bit hot for my liking.

 

[Owenator]

pdxer1, Nice final product, kudos!

axis01, don't forget that while watercooling is great for better cooling it can also be used for quiter cooling. It all depends on you build goals.

 

[thorilan]

the whole point i think most should walk away from this thread is being intentionally overlooked .

as axis was trying to illistrate. there are parts of your system that do or do not gain from extra or lack of cooling.
your gpu is designed to run at higher temps. so will cooling it more make for a faster system. in almost all situations your average individual will face thats a resounding NO
now ask oyurself the same thing about the CPU,
the NB
the SB
the Mosfets

you can see where im going with this.
now take all the no answers and throw them out so you only have the yes answers. those are the things you consider first if your goal is performance or quieting your system (performance vs quiet are functions of the same graph)

so if you have a pinto that cost $500 and for $100 more you can add a super charger but your top speed is limited by the govener. would you want to pay the money when for $600 you could buy a pontiac grand am with a govener set at much higher .

 

[Owenator]

the whole point i think most should walk away from this thread is being intentionally overlooked ...

I dissagree. That was not the point of the OP. They did this for quiet not to get the best bang for the cooling buck.

...Yeah, 132.8f is not to high of a loaded GPU temp, but to get that temp my GPU fan needs to be at 80%, which is very noisy! I walk into my room now wondering if my PC is on or not! ...

That said, I agree that from a cooling perspective you are right. Ans that is a very good point to make for most watercooling. But from a quiet perspective you take the loudest thing and make it quiet. The OP never really said this but that was the direction they went with no real deviaiton.

Personally, I WC the CPU first then NB/SB for overcolocking and finally I may WC the video cards if I get bored. Also for me noise is not an issue as I wear 'over the ear' head phones most of the time.

Just my $0.02.

 

[thorilan]

I dissagree. That was not the point of the OP. They did this for quiet not to get the best bang for the cooling buck.

and this is what i said in my post before. you may have skipped over it but its the unequivicable truth

"performance vs quiet are functions of the same graph"

 

[Owenator]

and this is what i said in my post before. you may have skipped over it but its the unequivicable truth

"performance vs quiet are functions of the same graph"

I read that and I understand what you mean. But it is not entirely true. You can make a completely silent cooling system that performs better than fans. Dig a deep hole and put a tank in it. Circulate the water through that for exceptional cooling. But I digress. I don't want to start a flame war as I do respect your opinion and it does apply in general.

My post was directed at axis who was not getting what the OP was going for and kept pushing to cool the CPU. I think the OP did a fine job achieving his goal and I felt axis' pressing CPU cooling was not respecting that.

 

[Owenator]

I knew I had this link around. Project Stealth Cooling The last two pages are the ones showing the end ground part.

A bit old and extreme (you need heavy equiment to dig the hole for the tank) but just as cool today as back then when it was new IHMO.

 

[thorilan]

that still does not explaine how how silence and performance are not on the same graph.. i dont think you really understand the concept we have been aiming at.


in any case you have the laws of nature ( also called newtonian physics in the industry)
these laws dictate that everything is a ratio .
ratios can and do change based on what is acting on them.

so for the purposes of the OPs water cooling. no matter what his desire weather it is silence or performance or both it still is governed by the ratio( aka relationship to eachother)
there are efficient ratios and inefficient ratios. BUT a ratio has to have 2 things to compare
these things in this case are ability to cool vs noise produced in this instance.
we all agree the better the ratio the happier we are.
that will then lead you to the next step but for now lets look at that ratio.
first
we Generally say that you can have extreme cooling or extreme quiet or somewhere in between.
now lets say you want to pay 100000 for the ultimate cooling and perfect silence.
you then just violated the idea because you are not targeting the ratio of heat to noise you are targeting the the ratio of money to efficiency.

THAT is where most people start to stumble because they threw a conditional in which invalidates the data.

for our purposes in watercooling those with experiance INTENTIONALLY work on the ratio of money to efficiency INDIRECTLY by targeting the 2 individual sides and choosing parts. the thing that makes it indirect is the fact that they dont have a static number for either the efficiency (usually) or the money (sales and where you order is a matter of preferance ) so we sorta only ballpark it and look at it from the oblique

so check this out say we have an alpha cool system that is a static number in efficiency =4
say the apex is =5

so you say 5 is better right?
what if i then say the apex cost 400 and the alpha cost 200

if oyu plotted those on the same graph you will notice the efficiency to money ratio much better for the alpha or roughly 5-8 ratio in money to performance

so which would you choose.
no brainer right.

now the same idea can be applied to every single individual aspect of your system.
that means for instance and here goes
ratio for performance gained by cooling the GPU =1 cost 30 and performance gained from CPU =10 and cost 50

so which ratio would you pick

better yet where do you think i got those numbers.
they are hypothetical but based on some real world tests but for now ill let you guess untill someone other than spawn conundrum or axis answers

 

[pdxer1]

I dissagree. That was not the point of the OP. They did this for quiet not to get the best bang for the cooling buck.

I, not they, did it for both. For the most part however, I did this for sound dampening. The cooling is just an added bonus. However, decreasing my system ambient temps, I have been able to achieve slightly higher CPU speeds while staying at the same CPU temp. Though, it's just 420MHz FSB.

Before the GPU water block, my CPU would get up to 58c(62c to 67c on hot days) after some hours of GTA4. Now with my "GPU" on liquid, the ambient temps of my case are no longer keeping my heat sink warm, allowing for cooler CPU temps of 41c to 46c(on hot days) during hours of GTA4.

So I cooled the GPU and an after effect was the lowering of case temps, which in effect lowered my at load CPU temps. An effect I thought of in the back of my brain, but I never thought it would really happen in real world testing. Hey, I proved myself wrong. I learned something!

That said, I agree that from a cooling perspective you are right. Ans that is a very good point to make for most watercooling. But from a quiet perspective you take the loudest thing and make it quiet. The OP never really said this but that was the direction they went with no real deviaiton.

Correct! Though cooling was always part of the reason, the bigger reason was always noise cancellation.

Personally, I WC the CPU first then NB/SB for overcolocking and finally I may WC the video cards if I get bored. Also for me noise is not an issue as I wear 'over the ear' head phones most of the time.

I have an ok headset, but I could still hear the whine of my GPU fan though those and it was becoming frustrating when the fan was at 80% to keep 58c at load. Watching movies with friends on the 48" was almost unbareable due to the noise my PC was creating. I could turn the fan down during movies, but than I would forget to reset it when I would go to play games. And during the summer, 58c to 62c would heat up my room and make playing games a night time thing. I've left this PC on now for almost two weeks and I can no longer feel the heat coming from my PC since the liquid mod. Once I get some more project monies I'll get a NB and CPU liquid block.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

I've left this PC on now for almost two weeks and I can no longer feel the heat coming from my PC since the liquid mod. Once I get some more project monies I'll get a NB and CPU liquid block.

then something is wrong, you will have the same amount of heat coming off the pc as with air, just a different manner in how it's removed. i believe the reason you don't feel the heat is because the same amount of heat is being transfered from a larger surface.

e.g. if you have a 100 grams of heat (remember just an example ) coming out from a 1x120x120mm square vs the same 100 grams coming from a 3x120x120mm area it will be less heat in 1 spot.

 

[pdxer1]

then something is wrong, you will have the same amount of heat coming off the pc as with air, just a different manner in how it's removed. i believe the reason you don't feel the heat is because the same amount of heat is being transfered from a larger surface.

e.g. if you have a 100 grams of heat (remember just an example ) coming out from a 1x120x120mm square vs the same 100 grams coming from a 3x120x120mm area it will be less heat in 1 spot.

If you had been standing in my room prior to the liquid mod there would have been two things noticeable, heat -once near the PC- and the noise you would have heard once you entered the room. The third issue I had with the PC, it was warm to the touch. I believe the reason for feeling the heat coming from the PC was due to the PC sitting in the corner of the room on my desk, as the exhaust left the back of the PC and hit the wall the only place it could go was to the left, which was at me. The whine of the constantly cleaned eVGA crap sink & fan was not going to work either and had to go[as previously reiterated]. Now the case is always cold to the touch, even on a hot days ambient temp. I walk into the room wondering if the PC is even on, because it's hard to hear the 5V and 7V modded 120mm fans.
(exhaust faster than intake.) Plus the GPU only gets to 46c at load on hot days. That's a big drop from 67c on a hot day!

No more reiterating!

 

[Spawn-Inc]

the heat in the room should be the same, thats all i'm saying. water cooling doesn't change the amount of heat being removed, just the speed at which it gets removed from the chip.


you got some great results and thats all that matters, Well Done!

 

[pdxer1]

...water cooling doesn't change the amount of heat being removed, just the speed at which it gets removed from the chip.


you got some great results and thats all that matters, Well Done!

Hey, I learned something new again!

Thanks to all those who gave props. Your encouragement is what mattered!

 

[Spawn-Inc]

err i meant efficiency at which it's removed, but speed as well.

i thought i commented on your job on the build but it seems i didn't. it looks really good. i love the black finish on the heater core, what paint was it?

 

[dylskee]

Nice job man, looks great and even better than that you got some great temps and that's all that matters!

 

[schmide]

the heat in the room should be the same, thats all i'm saying. water cooling doesn't change the amount of heat being removed, just the speed at which it gets removed from the chip.


you got some great results and thats all that matters, Well Done!

Well technically as the operating temperature increases, the semiconductor's resistance will increase and a bit more energy will be used. Enough to quantify, but not with human sensors.

 

[Owenator]

that still does not explaine how how silence and performance are not on the same graph.. i dont think you really understand the concept we have been aiming at...

I understand where you are coming from. But insisting that perfromance and silence are 'on the same graph' is a flawed assumption. That was the point of my example of an in-ground cooling system. You base your response on a limited scope, hence the misunderstanding.

I don't think we need to get in argument here it is not helpful for the OP. But we need to keep an open mind about watercooling here at OCF and not try to force every person into one acceptable method or motivation for watercooling that is couter productive and not fun at all.

Anyway, I thought all of this is supposed to be a fun hobby? So why not do things that are based on what you want to do or what is fun. If it was serious work it would be a job not a hobby.

 

[axis01]

I understand where you are coming from. But insisting that perfromance and silence are 'on the same graph' is a flawed assumption. That was the point of my example of an in-ground cooling system. You base your response on a limited scope, hence the misunderstanding.

I don't think we need to get in argument here it is not helpful for the OP. But we need to keep an open mind about watercooling here at OCF and not try to force every person into one acceptable method or motivation for watercooling that is couter productive and not fun at all.

Anyway, I thought all of this is supposed to be a fun hobby? So why not do things that are based on what you want to do or what is fun. If it was serious work it would be a job not a hobby.

I understand the quiet aspect but the OP watercooled his 9600 because of two reasons. One was because he OC'd for MORE PERFORMANCE, and second, he thought he needed to keep the temps as low as possible so he increased the fanspeed to 100% which made it loud. Clearly the OP is looking for more performance from his system. Do you not agree that increasing the speed of his CPU will give him more bang than increasing the GPU? Now that the OP knows that GPU's can run at 70C+ for years without a problem, he can turn his fanspeed down to a more bareable noise level and get the most from his CPU.

It's easy to assume someone wants one thing. I was looking at his posts and trying to figure out what he's after. More performance is clearly his objective, with silence along with it. That would make Thors comments clearly relevant. We also have to assume that the OP is not as tech savy as many of us unless he shows it in his posts.

Axis