LITTLEBLACKDOG.COM

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 5:07 am Post subject: Going passive

Ok...

So far I've watercooled most of my machine.

In the machine this stuff is cooled:

CPU
2 SATA drives (yes, you can watercool hard drives)
Graphics card (GPU and memory)

Still not cooled is the Northbridge. I'm getting that fixed this weekend via a Zalman NWB-1 colling block.

The PSU is fanless. It is from Antec and works great. To get enough flow to remove warm air from the case I have a Adda 16 db fan. I've slowed it down a bit so I can not hear it at all.

So the only thing producing any sound is the dan for the (homemade and ugly) radiator box. I'm working on getting rid of that sound too.

This is what I'm contemplating:

You can read about the thing here.

I'd like any input and thoughts. Anybody tried these? Or the Zalman Reserator wich works the same way, sort of.

/Akely

5 times · Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:44 pm Post subject:

Quote:
You can read about the thing here.

that works better with the & on the end.
they look cool, and easier for mobility than the reserator.

I got a reserator at a friends place.
http://www.bp6.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=2671
it's pretty, blue, works well. but you wouldn't want to lan party with it.
the reserator 2 has quick releases for the water pipes which would be an improvement for moving it around.
and the 2 has different designs for the water blocks.
they look better ....

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:07 pm Post subject:

I always wondered, and it's a noob question, but I'll ask it anyway.

Do you use water, or something that carries heat better like glycol, or some other solution?

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject:

EdisonRex wrote:
I always wondered, and it's a noob question, but I'll ask it anyway.

Do you use water, or something that carries heat better like glycol, or some other solution?

It is a very valid question. Not only do glycol carry the heat better, it also has addatives to keep aluminum corrosion free. Even the copper get mucky at tymes.

But no, I do not. The reasoning is that id like to be able to handle the liquid safely. If anything leaks I want water only. Glycol tastes sweet and kids (cats) kinda like it.

I have an addative I have not used yet. I'll probably check it out tomorrow as I'll be draining/flushig. Going to change GPU heatsink to an all-metal one add a heatsink to the Northbridge.

I'll try to get a pic or to of the insane ammount of tubing in the case. Smile

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Thanks for the link Dave. The Res is interesting. I'll try to check it out more.

/Akely

Stray Dog Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 5

I used a Zalman Resorator1-Plus passive water cooling kit for my main PC and I'm really loving it atm

Its cooling my graphics card (nVidia 7900 GT), CPU (AMD64 3500) and Chipset (Abit A8N) as well as my feet on those cold winter nights. If all you wanna do is replace a radiator from your old watercooling set up then its probably not worth it, its definitely not the cheapest solution out there.

I can feel your pain though dude, noisy PC's (even just a few dB over background noise) flip me out ninja style.

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:34 pm Post subject:

There are doggy-safe radiator coolants available. Check with your local auto parts store.

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 10:28 pm Post subject: Re: Going passive

West2.0 wrote:
I used a Zalman Resorator1-Plus passive water cooling kit for my main PC and I'm really loving it atm

Its cooling my graphics card (nVidia 7900 GT), CPU (AMD64 3500) and Chipset (Abit A8N) as well as my feet on those cold winter nights. If all you wanna do is replace a radiator from your old watercooling set up then its probably not worth it, its definitely not the cheapest solution out there.

I can feel your pain though dude, noisy PC's (even just a few dB over background noise) flip me out ninja style.

A new dog! Welcome, West2.0. Wink

I've been thinking of using the Reserators tower. Buying the Cora stuff should be cheaper though.

Very interesting to hear that the Reserator copes with so many heatsources. From what I've suspected it would not be able to transfer out that much heat. Nice to hear it is working out.

/Akely

Stray Dog Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 5

Akely wrote:
West2.0 wrote:
I used a Zalman Resorator1-Plus passive water cooling kit for my main PC and I'm really loving it atm

Its cooling my graphics card (nVidia 7900 GT), CPU (AMD64 3500) and Chipset (Abit A8N) as well as my feet on those cold winter nights. If all you wanna do is replace a radiator from your old watercooling set up then its probably not worth it, its definitely not the cheapest solution out there.

I can feel your pain though dude, noisy PC's (even just a few dB over background noise) flip me out ninja style.

A new dog! Welcome, West2.0.

I've been thinking of using the Reserators tower. Buying the Cora stuff should be cheaper though.

Very interesting to hear that the Reserator copes with so many heatsources. From what I've suspected it would not be able to transfer out that much heat. Nice to hear it is working out.

/Akely

The VGA and CPU coolers are shipped with the unit and the Chipset cooler is an offical product. It could probably deal with more but I'm not really tempted to find out.

I originally bought the cooler for use with an nVidia 7800 GTX but it was DOA and by the time it was RMA'd and I got my money back, nVidia had released the 7900 GT/X cards. These cards are based on 90nm architecture and so run cooler and require less power. They dont even need memory heatsinks so I was pretty confident the cooler could handle it.

Temps are (after heavy gaming):
GPU: 57c
CPU: 32c

Those are in a sealed case with just 1 silent fan (in my PSU). Im really happy with the whole system really. I'm way too stressed these days from work to care/worry that much about my pc Sticking out Tongue