water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

I've been thinking about getting water cooling for my AMD 4200 X2, but
have been reading reviews that say they're only getting around 3 to 6
degrees lower than with fan\heatsink. My case has 5 80mm fans and one
smaller one (50mm, I think), not counting PS/CPU fans. I live in OR
where it does get hot (90 - 100+) in summer. CPU temp sits around 40C
idle. I'm a casual gamer.

Is water cooling worth the extra $$?
--
Biostar GeForce 6100-M9 939
AMD 4200+ X2
2 gigs Kingston ram
EVGA nVidia 7600GT PCI-E
450W PSU

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

taragem:
Is water cooling worth the extra $$?

Probably not except it should be quieter than all those case fans. I used
to run a water setup and if you do it, cool everything (cpu, video, mb)
with water.



--
Mac Cool

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

On Aug 1, 10:40 pm, Mac Cool wrote:

Probably not except it should be quieter than all those case fans. I used
to run a water setup and if you do it, cool everything (cpu, video, mb)

Ok, thanks. Next question: I currently have a run-of-the-mill CPU fan/
heatsink (fan is smaller than 80mm). Would you recommend a beefier fan/
heatsink? For example: http://www.directron.com/amdopteronfan.html

Noise isn't a concern, unless it sounds like a buzz saw. I actually
like some fan noise as it acts like white sound and helps me sleep.

However, awhile back I ordered a cooler with a 120mm fan for an AMD 64
3000 and it literally sounded like a buzz saw and didn't make the CPU
run a bit cooler than the thermaltake heatsink with an 80mm fan that
was originally on there. I sent it back. There are so many different
designs I don't know what works and what doesn't.

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

taragem:

Noise isn't a concern, unless it sounds like a buzz saw. I actually
like some fan noise as it acts like white sound and helps me sleep.

If you like white noise, there is a water set up that will produce both
white noise and cool better than fans or a typical closed water system and
that is an evaporative system. Rather than being enclosed and cycling
through a radiator and fan, you either trickle the water over a waterfall
or mist it through something like a shower head or pipe in which you've
drilled tiny holes. This was the type of system I ran when I did use water
cooling. You need to add swimming pool chemicals to the water to keep it
from getting slimy and a filter helps, but the chemicals are cheap.
Occasionally you will need to add water since the system is evaporative.
If you add a fan to the system, it's possible to cool the water below
ambient room temperature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower
--
Mac Cool

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

On Aug 2, 11:31 pm, Mac Cool wrote:

If you like white noise, there is a water set up that will produce both
white noise and cool better than fans or a typical closed water system and
that is an evaporative system. Rather than being enclosed and cycling
through a radiator and fan, you either trickle the water over a waterfall
or mist it through something like a shower head or pipe in which you've
drilled tiny holes. This was the type of system I ran when I did use water
cooling. You need to add swimming pool chemicals to the water to keep it
from getting slimy and a filter helps, but the chemicals are cheap.
Occasionally you will need to add water since the system is evaporative.
If you add a fan to the system, it's possible to cool the water below
ambient room temperature.

Thanks. Looks like a project I'd like to tackle. :)

Why did you stop using water cooling?

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

taragem:

Thanks. Looks like a project I'd like to tackle. :)

Why did you stop using water cooling?

When it came time to upgrade I was working about 60-70 hours/wk and I
bought a Dell because I didn't have time/desire to tinker anymore, been
using it now for several years. It's time to upgrade again and I have more
free time so I'm going to roll my own this time.

--
Mac Cool

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

Thanks. Looks like a project I'd like to tackle. :)

Why did you stop using water cooling?

When it came time to upgrade I was working about 60-70 hours/wk and I
bought a Dell because I didn't have time/desire to tinker anymore, been
using it now for several years. It's time to upgrade again and I have more
free time so I'm going to roll my own this time.

--
Mac Cool

Have a look here for a review on the CoolIT freezone, it sounds reasonable,
and easy.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/processor/438/

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

On Aug 5, 12:50 am, "oldwolf" wrote:

Have a look here for a review on the CoolIT freezone, it sounds reasonable,
and easy.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/processor/438/

Hey, that's cool - no pun intended. :) I think I'll wait until they
get the 'bugs' worked out like the fan, crimped hose (even though the
dude said there was no blockage - I wonder over time if it would get
fatigued?) and make it a little more compact.

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

"taragem" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Aug 5, 12:50 am, "oldwolf" wrote:

Have a look here for a review on the CoolIT freezone, it sounds
reasonable,
and easy.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/processor/438/

Hey, that's cool - no pun intended. :) I think I'll wait until they
get the 'bugs' worked out like the fan, crimped hose (even though the
dude said there was no blockage - I wonder over time if it would get
fatigued?) and make it a little more compact.


I have one of these from Swiftech. A bit pricey, but not so much when you
consider the price of buying the parts seperately. It is very efficient too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nc.-_-35108092


Ed

water cooling v. fan\heatsink
 

On Aug 5, 6:26 am, taragem wrote:
On Aug 5, 12:50 am, "oldwolf" wrote:

Have a look here for a review on the CoolIT freezone, it sounds reasonable,
and easy.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/processor/438/

Hey, that's cool - no pun intended. :) I think I'll wait until they
get the 'bugs' worked out like the fan, crimped hose (even though the
dude said there was no blockage - I wonder over time if it would get
fatigued?) and make it a little more compact.

Actually, it is *not* very cool, in fact it produces a lot of *extra*
heat from the Peltier cooler. These things work by passing a current
through a type of diode which causes one side of the diode to get hot
and the other to get cold. But the efficiency is very poor. IIRC, it
consumed two times the amount of heat being moved, so if it needs to
pass 50 watts from the CPU, it will draw 100 watts from the PSU and
output 150 watts to the air. In my book, Peltier coolers are only for
very space constrained applications.

I would like to try to build a totally passive water cooled system. I
thought about this a few years back when I built my last couple of
computers, but never finished it. I used a cheap air cooled heatsink
and added plexiglass to enclose it. I got 0.5" fitting mounted and
was ready to put it on a CPU. That turned out to be the hard part. I
would have had to make a special mounting bracket and got busy, so it
was never finished.

In order for this to work, I would have to use a very large radiator
mounted above the computer so that convection would cause the water to
circulate. The large size of the radiator would provide lots of
cooling area eliminating the need for a fan. I don't know for sure
how well this would work, but even if it is not cooler than a fan, it
will be nearly silent. Only the PSU fan will be running. It might be
possible to eliminate the PSU fan by using a passive chimney. Then it
would be deadly silent with only the hard disk spinning. Well, that
can be eliminated too by using Flash memory!

To help all this work I was thinking that one of the newer very low
power CPUs could be used like the BE-2350. Seems when it is combined
with a 960 based mobo, it is very low power at idle and not very high
at full speed.

I don't know how practical all this is, but it would be the ultimate
in quiet!!!