Does Watercool?

[ECOslin]

Has anyone tried PC watercooling, without frying anything, and is it worthwhile?

Does the pump make noise, did you need an extra fan, was it temperature controlled, does volume help?

Edward

I'm thinking of making my own with oversized tank and automobile brake fluid radiator. I've got some scrap copper that I was thinking of soldering some pipe to for the cpu heatsink. I've considered getting a universal windshield washer pump, but they are not rated for extended use, I'd have to buy something mean't for the job. I was also looking at peltiers to enhance the project, but the trade is more potential wattage drain(75W) and maybe another power supply. I'd like something not obvious that hardly makes a noise.

I've picked up some automobile sound control matting(tarlike) but I'm not sure that's better from the carpet underlayment I'm using in my cabinet now.

[JackTheTripper]

Rather than using a windshile whipper pump what about a pump used for water fountains and ponds? they're water tight and submersable. You can pick one up and a aquarium store or maybe even the gardening department at a hardware store.

[ECOslin]

Well, I'm trying for quiet and in the case. I went and looked at some fountain and pond pumps which were too big and out of my budget which is frugal.

I'm worried about using a windshield wiper pump, because of short continous usage life. If I can set up something where the pump is only turned on as needed, intermittantly, then maybe yeah.

I've been looking at some of the like http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ex-pmp-01.html?mv_pc=898 pumps, expensive but should do the job.

I'm looking for feedback from someone whose tried it and can echo their results back to me.

Edward

[ECOslin]

Two days ago I removed a powered cpu fan from a P3-1 gig processor and replaced it with a non-powered heatsink. I've left in the original power supply with it's fan. I did, of course, blow the dust out with canned air.

original idle temp measurements were 29C - Case, and 21C - Processor.
new idle temp measurements are 29C - Case, and 24C - Processor.
Danger temp for processor is 70C.

What I got when I loaded the processor heavily and ran for a while was 50C, after changing it. I didn't check max load before.

I've got a standard generic case with a standard Made in China power supply. I'll likely change the power supply to a quieter Thermaltake dual fan 420w later on. I'm running the hardware monitoring software provided by the motherboard manufacturer.

I wasn't satisfied with how fast the CPU heat rose, so, I'm in the market for a fan.

The end goal is to have a quieter and non-dead pc.

Edward

[ECOslin]

I bought some 'Enermax Ultra-Cool' Thermo Control Second Fan Kits to run air over the Motherboard Chipset and CPU Heatsink.

The thing is, that this fan is controlled by a small thermister that you can place on or in the heatsink.

25°C runs the fan at 1800RPM, this is basically an analog control, so the fan RPM follows the heat curve up to 2100RPM at 45°C, to 2600RPM at 65°C, and finally 3100RPM at 85°C.

The kit consists of screws to install the fan and a power adapter. You can choose whether to run you fan off of the motherboard 'cpu1 fan' or the full size power connectors.

I used a metal arm simular to below, that I already had and can be bought separately to position the fan over top of the processor(what is show is a Zalman fan kit, the full four screw bracket by itself is out there, cheap, I've seen it and couldn't re-find it for this message).

http://store5.yimg.com/I/siliconacoustics_1713_7275742

I've been testing with some monitoring software that was set to turn the PC off in unkind conditions, one of these was fan speed too high. Considering that I did not, previously, have a fan installed, yep, 1800 rpm was too high. So the software shutdown Windows and the PC with a blaring PC speaker error beeping everytime WinXP got past startup.

I had to unplug the fan, and kill the software, to get the machine booted. And then I was able to set fan speed error high enough to overcome it's reservations. I was replacing a CPU type fan with a full 80mm case type fan.

Now I'm looking for the next better-est thing.

Edward