How's this look for an entry level water cooling setup?
Sinistral_on_Steam
MA, USA Join Date: 2013-03-07 Member: 183764Members, Reinforced - Supporter
MA, USA Join Date: 2013-03-07 Member: 183764Members, Reinforced - Supporter
in Off-Topic
Since NS2 is a real beast on resources and I recently picked up a 7970 a few months before I got NS2 (fortunately, as my old 5850 probably wouldn't even run it on my desired settings) I've been thinking about doing a cheapish, entry level water cooling setup. I'd like to do a bit of OC'ing for Bitcoin mining too and I think watercooling would help a lot.
I was looking at the following components at sidewindercomputers.com;
XSPC Rasa 450 RS120 WaterCooling Kit - $129
XSPC Razer 7970 block - $109
5 ft Tygon® Silver Antimicrobial Tubing 1/4in. ID 3/8in. OD - $9.75
Feser One F1 Cooling Fluid - UV Clear / Blue - 1 Liter - $19.99
Compression fittings and what not... $x.xx
Total @ ~$267.74 before shipping but let's call it $300 for shipping and fittings. Fairly expensive for an entry level setup I believe (the actual kit is about a basic as they get) but it's the 7970 block that's the money breaker.
Now I was thinking on trying to run the temps a bit cooler than what you could do with a fan. This is what I was thinking - give me some feedback if this sounds whack or really good (hopefully
). I was going to put a few peltier coolers (when powered one side gets hot, the other cold) with the cold side on the radiator. The problem with peltier coolers other than the fact I have to blow off the hot side with a fan is that the cold side can cause condensation which you obviously don't want anywhere near your circuitry. Could I use a heat insulating adhesive and glue the cold side of the peltier coolers to the radiator? I think with enough adhesive it could offer enough of an insulation buffer to prevent condensation forming on it. This way I could reap the benefits of peltier cooling over air cooling without having to run a significant risk of condensation due to the thermal insulating glue/epoxy...right? Since the hot side of the peltier cooler would be facing out of the case I would just blow of the hot air with with something like 2 120mm case fans. They're merely there to prevent the air heated from the hot side of the peltier cooler from leaking back into the case - I was going to put the radiator in the front of the case (case was designed with a mesh design around the case for passive cooling) and I believe the cooling from the peltier cooler(s) would be enough to cool down the fluid as it passes through the radiator. I figure I could probably drop at least 20 degrees F over air cooling the radiator.
Layout would go something like this....Pump/resvoir intakes "hot" fluid and pumps it through the radiator where the peltier cooler(s) chill the fluid before it gets pumped out to a Y fitting that goes out to the CPU and the other GPU and then a Y fitting merges the two heated lines back into the pump and back off onto the radiator again. The idea in splitting the two lines is that I'm not sending GPU heated fluid onto the CPU or vice versa.
Maybe I should go to an Overclocking forum but I know we got some knowledgeable NS2 fans here.
Make any sense? Any ideas or is this just crazy?
I was looking at the following components at sidewindercomputers.com;
XSPC Rasa 450 RS120 WaterCooling Kit - $129
XSPC Razer 7970 block - $109
5 ft Tygon® Silver Antimicrobial Tubing 1/4in. ID 3/8in. OD - $9.75
Feser One F1 Cooling Fluid - UV Clear / Blue - 1 Liter - $19.99
Compression fittings and what not... $x.xx
Total @ ~$267.74 before shipping but let's call it $300 for shipping and fittings. Fairly expensive for an entry level setup I believe (the actual kit is about a basic as they get) but it's the 7970 block that's the money breaker.
Now I was thinking on trying to run the temps a bit cooler than what you could do with a fan. This is what I was thinking - give me some feedback if this sounds whack or really good (hopefully
). I was going to put a few peltier coolers (when powered one side gets hot, the other cold) with the cold side on the radiator. The problem with peltier coolers other than the fact I have to blow off the hot side with a fan is that the cold side can cause condensation which you obviously don't want anywhere near your circuitry. Could I use a heat insulating adhesive and glue the cold side of the peltier coolers to the radiator? I think with enough adhesive it could offer enough of an insulation buffer to prevent condensation forming on it. This way I could reap the benefits of peltier cooling over air cooling without having to run a significant risk of condensation due to the thermal insulating glue/epoxy...right? Since the hot side of the peltier cooler would be facing out of the case I would just blow of the hot air with with something like 2 120mm case fans. They're merely there to prevent the air heated from the hot side of the peltier cooler from leaking back into the case - I was going to put the radiator in the front of the case (case was designed with a mesh design around the case for passive cooling) and I believe the cooling from the peltier cooler(s) would be enough to cool down the fluid as it passes through the radiator. I figure I could probably drop at least 20 degrees F over air cooling the radiator.Layout would go something like this....Pump/resvoir intakes "hot" fluid and pumps it through the radiator where the peltier cooler(s) chill the fluid before it gets pumped out to a Y fitting that goes out to the CPU and the other GPU and then a Y fitting merges the two heated lines back into the pump and back off onto the radiator again. The idea in splitting the two lines is that I'm not sending GPU heated fluid onto the CPU or vice versa.
Maybe I should go to an Overclocking forum but I know we got some knowledgeable NS2 fans here.
Make any sense? Any ideas or is this just crazy?
Comments
--Scythe--
But then again TECs make no sense in modern computers, the heat output of a modern processor is far beyond what a single TEC can handle. You could keep sandwiching more and more TECs but you will get diminishing returns not to mention a hefty power bill.
Any extra "income" you gain from overclocking your gpu for increased BTC mining capability will be overshadowed by the increased electrical cost of the overclocked component.
With that said, a watercooling setup would be cool and I'd prefer the soft gurgle of a pump to the whine of multiple fans. It just doesn't really seem to make sense from a money perspective, if you want more power just buy better components.
I don't know about that. Bitcoin prices are ridiculous right now. At the current market rate I think any additional power consumption due to overclocking the GPU would be offset by the Bitcoins mined.
bitcoins are currently going down as quickly as they went up, as expected.
I've seen a couple of consumer TEC CPU coolers like the Cooler Master v10 and the Ultra ChillTEC. Though, pretty much all the reviews say they cost more for average or worse performance than comparable air coolers.
However, I'd love to see someone try to use the thermoacoustic effect to improve CPU cooling.
For reference an 8000 BTU compressor consumes around 600watts.
I could argue the opposite, a 5000 BTU AC unit will only run you about $100(less if you get it used), while he paid $30 each for 4 high-performance CPU coolers not to mention the 4 additional water blocks.
The difficulty in construction would be the tipping point I imagine. I'd be a little bit afraid of what would happen if you punctured the high-pressure side of the compressor tubing. Definitely more difficult than just mating a water-block and CPU heatsink that happen to already have the correct mounting bracket spacings.
Fun fact, in the same way that if you apply a current to a TEC it develops a temperature difference; if you apply a temperature difference to the TEC you can harvest an electrical current from it.
Theoretically you could actually use a TEC to harvest back some of the energy lost as heat from your CPU.
Ha! You guys are going way over my head on some of this! How about I just rig up a dryer line on my AC unit in the window and run it into the back of my case with the fans blowing out? No need to worry about BTU and efficiency since I'm already running the AC.
Perhaps using the thermal difference to generate some electricity would be enough to power a 120 mm fan, Xyth? I believe they run off only a few watts but have no clue how much power would actually be generated. I think I read something today while I was looking into peltier coolers that an auto maker had stuck them to the exhaust piping and electricity generated went to the alternator or something like that. Pretty nifty.
I'd advise just getting LARGE fans running slow. My HTPC is running five 120mm Antec Whispers at ~800rpm (nominal is 2200) and it's quieter than breathing normally. You can also follow proper flow design (plug up any extra holes/mesh in the case, install internal ducting, twice as many intake as exhaust fans) and get a much better return. Problem comes in when you just start throwing in more and more fans without any kind of plan, or a designed airflow path. Turbulence kills it, eddy currents stink, and you just get a lot more noise for no real gain. Aforementioned HTPC is running two intake, one exhaust, and two on the CPU cooler (CM Hyper 212+) oriented to act as a 'booster' for the airflow through the cardstock ducting. The extra mesh on the case is covered over with black construction paper and duct tape.
Not just money wise, but also time wise, effort wise, and will it do what you want it to do.
See, obviously I'm not a performance freak, what I want is to press the power button on my PC when I go home, and have it work. That's whether I want to play, to surf, or to work.
Building a computer rig isn't just getting performance parts together, it's knowing what you're aiming for. I believe there's a sweet spot between performance and comfort. This is definietly NOT obtained by a phase change cooling or whatever.
See, my idea of a rig (yes, my glorious gaming days are over, sadly. Life and all that) now would be a fanless Thin Mini ITX based pc (check out the Akasa Euler ; or maybe Streacom cases)
My current PC rig is aimed for silence as well, yet it houses a good i5-3570K and a out-of-the-box GTX670 from Asus (DCUII series) and the case is a Fractal Design R3.
It runs NS2 well. I could get a few more FPSes, but I just wouldn't stand the noise it would make just by turning the fans up.
I've also had those wonderful turbines with 4 fans in front, 2 at the back, a side panel airduct. And now that I think about it, it was just painful to live in the same room as my PC.
I also know that there are closed-circuit watercooling systems : open box, install block on cpu, install pump on case, you're done. I have no idea what they're worth (no interest in them, honestly) but maybe someone on the internet does.
You used to be cool, man.
Mine is completely devoid of blue LEDs and doesn't even have a window. Where did my passion go?
I do have a superfluous SSD RAID though
And I'm not sure that going the whole Watercooling with custom peltiers or running fans into an AC unit (or whatever idea you might have) is the way to go.
Heavy overclocking seems to me to be a very specific type of hobby. One where the actual construction of the rig is the actual important part.
And having a powerful computer is just the byproduct of your effort.
I may be wrong, and then by all means try whatever it is you wanted to try, but it IS definitely possible to have a very decent computer for a fraction of the hassle.
Remember, there are diminishing returns whenever you want to get that little extra performance boost.
Also, Haswell is just around the corner. Maybe wait ?
using it with "liquid pro" bare-die (without the heatspreader) on a 3770k at 5ghz.
temps after 24hrs ibt around 60C°
working like charm,
btw the pump was rly noisy the first 48 hours,
but then suddenly it went quiet and stayed like this for since.
cheap, easy and well performing. good how to manuals, went smooth and quick.
watch it that you install it in a way, where you can take the whole system out of your case without
the need of cutting the hoses!
thats what i've learned
*REDACTED.* Use your words, not just an image (macro). -Talesin