My watercooling adventure!

[Gillbot]

Assembly:




Leak Testing:






I started this out as a home-brew Franken-Cooler project but as time went on and I fould good deals on parts, it turned into a full blown watercooler! My goals are simple though, equal a TRUE in cooling. A TRUE wouldn't fit into my case so I decided to try water to keep my Q6600 in check. We'll see how it performs!

 

[Nebulous]

Nice. Are you going to leave the rad on the side like that? I would've mounted it ontop so it'll be safe from damage.

 

[billb]

Same comments as I mane to your post on OC.net...............

 

[Gillbot]

Yes, the rad will stay there. The point of this was to get better cooling without hacking my case so that's the easiest mount.

Just to clear up some concerns, i'll copy my reply from OC.net also.

I know the hose is overkill but it's all I had access too. It will be re-plumbed anyway.

I also know the T sucks but the bend couldn't be made with this tubing. Once again, it will be corrected when I re-plumb it.

The fan exhausts out so it pulls air from the case. There is so little left in the case now that the temps stay very low anyway. I'm not worried about the heat being dumped from the case into the rad at all. The back fan actually flows better than the front but this will be fixed when I re-plumb as well. I plan on spacing the rad out an inch or so for extra air flow and to reduce noise from the air turbulence. It's just mounted there for ease and test fitting. This was a learning build and I know I need to make MANY changes!

I will say though that after ~30 minutes of Prime95 at a higher OC than I was on air, my load temps are 11°C lower and the Ceramique hasn't settled in yet!

 

[Diddyu]

Just curious, what did you have for air cooling, so the 11C can be compared.

 

[Nebulous]

Yes, the rad will stay there. The point of this was to get better cooling without hacking my case so that's the easiest mount.

Just to clear up some concerns, i'll copy my reply from OC.net also.

Well you coul've just made an external box for the rad/fans. Having the rad lay the way it is, is just an accident waiting to happen....but then i'm sure you already know that

Just curious, what did you have for air cooling, so the 11C can be compared.

His sig: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink w/ Ceramique TIM

 

[Diddyu]

Ok, I just wasnt sure if thats what the 11 degree difference was from.

 

[Gillbot]

Well you coul've just made an external box for the rad/fans. Having the rad lay the way it is, is just an accident waiting to happen....but then i'm sure you already know that





His sig: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink w/ Ceramique TIM

Yes, from the Freezer 7 Pro. It's a very good HS, Just not GREAT!

I won't have any issues with the rad where it is, my PC gets tucked under my desk and never touched.

I'm happy with the setup. It achieved my goal of better cooling and fitting in my case w/o hacking it. Sadly my 3.2 oc failed 1 core after an hour. I guess i'll have to start upping the volts from all stock! I thought I set it to [email protected] but when I checked it this am, EVERYTHING was on auto so it did 1 hour of prime at 3.2 on 1.325v!! Considering on the ACF7Pro not even being windows stable long enough to prime at all and it taking 1.4v+ to get in windows, i'm very pleased!

 

[Gillbot]