Watercooling setup (pic)

[Bad Maniac]

What do you h₂o Guys think of this idea?

This is how I plan to do my watercooling in a miditower atx case.

Will it work to have two smaller radiators instead of one larger? one in the top cooling the water directly from the cpu with warm air from inside the case. and one radiator at the front bottom getting fresh cool air from outside the case. In this way the air going through the second radiator doesnt add SO much heat to the case since the water is already cooled with the first radiator.

Input please.

 

[Bender]

Looks good as long as you get enough water flow. Were you planning on having fans to blow air from the outside onto the radiators? I wonder what 2 cooling cubes would do?
OOps now I see you do have fans venting to the outside. Just make sure the fans are getting there air from the outside of the case.

 

[most deaf]

dont see the point of two radiators. put the radiators after the pumb and before that water block, water in a resovor for a long time will warm up

 

[Bad Maniac]

The purpose of two radiators is:
[order=1]
[#]total ammount of heat removing surface will be better with two smaller ones combined rather than one large.
[#]two smaller ones gives me more choices to where inside the case I can put them, not many places a big rad can fit in a midi tower.
[#]the air blowing through the bottom front radiator will not heat up the ambient case temp as much since the water is already slightly cooled by the first rad at the top.
[/order]

And NO I dont want to change to a bigger case. the whole purpose of my project, named "AMD goes supersonic" is to get as much speed as possible from all components at low cost with good cooling and low noice all enclosed in a standard miditower case. thus bringing "extreme" cooling to normal use.

 

[Bad Maniac]

*bump*
c'mon guys, please?

 

[Colin]

You might want to duct fresh air to the top radiator from the side of the case. If you can keep your case temps within 1C of ambient this won't matter but if your front mounted radiator is dumping heat into the case, it's going to be tough. Perhaps a duct to move the heat from the front mounted radiator out the side of the case.

 

[Flash]

I think it's a great idea. I might try it myself. But ... I don't think it'll lower temps by virtue of sucking cool air into the second radiator. I think you will give back whatever you gain by blowing warm air into the case, thereby causing the water in rad1 to be hotter than before, thereby negating the cool air, etc.

The beauty of it, though, is the compact design and ability to leverage both ventilation fans without requiring additional fans to cool a big external radiator (or two 120mm exhaust fans to cool a DD cube). Of course temps *will* be lower with two radiators.

 

[Kingslayer]

I think he's on to something....

 

[Colin]

Could be. It's nice to see some fresh ideas. I am sure many of us are looking forward to learning how it works.

 

[burn'em]

I think that both fans should exhaust air and make an intake some where else like in the side or the bottom in front of the pump should be under your pci cards. That way all the hot air is going out.

 

[Flash]

burn'em (Jul 18, 2001 11:48 p.m.):
I think that both fans should exhaust air and make an intake some where else like in the side or the bottom in front of the pump should be under your pci cards. That way all the hot air is going out.

That would lower temperatures some, but it would require additional fans, i.e., more noise, which is something Bad Maniac is trying to avoid. Me too.

 

[mechsiah]

Hey,

Just added a second radiator to mine- the first was too small I guess. Things are great now.

I'm no expert, but consider:
Radiator at top- that's where case heat will naturally gather. Also some heat coming off the PSU. And, as you mentioned, your air is already warm.

I think that you will only get modest improvements from the second radiator. Save the $20 and just put some fans to clear the warm air out.

If you decide to run with it, try it with only one radiator with all fans running and then with both rads. Let us know and good luck!

 

[burn'em]

Flash (Jul 19, 2001 12:06 a.m.):

burn'em (Jul 18, 2001 11:48 p.m.):
I think that both fans should exhaust air and make an intake some where else like in the side or the bottom in front of the pump should be under your pci cards. That way all the hot air is going out.

That would lower temperatures some, but it would require additional fans, i.e., more noise, which is something Bad Maniac is trying to avoid. Me too.

I think if you put a hole in without a fan I would bet you could get enough air going through the case with the two 120's blowing out.

 

[Bad Maniac]

Unfortunately I will not be able to start my project soon. Because first I need to get a job and a place to live in London/UK. THEN I will spend a buttload of money on this, and build a top of the line watercooled overclocked comp.

Any help one the job and apartment in London issue would be welcome. and it is indeed on topic, since by helping me with this I will be able to overclock sooner

 

[Flash]

I think if you put a hole in without a fan I would bet you could get enough air going through the case with the two 120's blowing out.

Probably, but you'd have to seal up the case really well. Otherwise you'd have air getting sucked in through your drives and every crack and screw hole. I can tell you from past experience that that creates a nasty dust problem.

 

[burn'em]

Flash (Jul 19, 2001 08:07 a.m.):

I think if you put a hole in without a fan I would bet you could get enough air going through the case with the two 120's blowing out.

Probably, but you'd have to seal up the case really well. Otherwise you'd have air getting sucked in through your drives and every crack and screw hole. I can tell you from past experience that that creates a nasty dust problem.

I tape up all the hole in my cases as standard practice. To stop the dust. I hate Dust!

 

[inertia]

Yep, it should work. Just like that. One thing though, what about air in the system. Depending on the design of your rad, you might find that after you've run it for a while that your upper rad is only half full of water and half full of air.

Conversely, if your resevoir isn't completely water tight, water will flow down and out through it.

How about you mount the second radiator blowing out of the bottom and put the resevoir in the top.

If your rad is designed w/small channels and your resevoir is water tight, it should work fine just like that. Exhausting the lower radiator into the case is no big deal. The air cooling guys send 100% of the CPU heat into the case.

Tonight or tomorrow I'll have mine up and going. I just got my Swiftech water block (it took like 3 weeks to get here 'cause it was back ordered.) My design blows out of a front mounted radiator. I've got 2 120's blowing out and 3 80's and 1 120 blowing in. All incoming air has either stainless steel or aluminum filters. All filters were bought at www.digikey.com. I'm planning on posting a page out of their catalog that has pics of all of their grills and filters, but I can't find a good scanner anywhere and it's got really tiny print.

 

[Flash]

Um, why would the radiator fill with air? If you bleed the air from the start you shouldn't have this problem. And why would water flow out of the reservoir? There's an equilibrium of water flowing into and out of the reservoir, so the level shouldn't change except for very gradual evaporation.

 

[Bad Maniac]

Ofcourse the reservoir will be watertight, I will have it inside my computer, and my computer will be going to lan partys, kinda stoopid to have it leak water while i transport it

Other than that, there will be an air pocket in the reservoir to automaticly let air bubbles get trapped there. so I should be fine.

Any more comments/ideas?