Water cooling questions?

[wun911]

1: Is it better to have a larger reservior eg... better to have 1 litre reservior than to have 0.5 litre reservior?

2: Is it better to have tubes that are as wide as possible or tubes that are as thin as possilbe? (internal dimensions)

3: Once the liquid cooling system is full of water how do I drain all the water out?

4: If I have water cooling set up in a tower case (Lian Li PC V 1000) Will the water cooling system still work if the case is put on its side??

5: Im still looking for single slot GPU water block for my SLI set up... Does this exist yet??

Thanks in advance.....

 

[chuckshissle]

Answers:

1. No not really, having big reservoir like 1 litre is not gonna make a difference to 1/2 litre. Try a gallon or bigger then you'll see some difference in cooling. The key in cooling is not reservoir, its the radiator.

2. Having 1/2 ID tubing doesn't mean better, key factor of it is the fluid flow.

3. You drain the water out by disconnecting the tubes. Okay, you can jump the mobo power cable to run the psu without running the motherboard.

4. Yes, water cooling works regardless if it's inside, outside, on top or bottom. Best thing to set up the water cooling is outside because the ambient temp is cooler than the ambient temp inside the case.

5. What do you mean single slot, as in you want to be able to use the slot underneath the gpu? If so then look for the Thermaltake Aquarius gpu water block. It's pretty thin and uses 1/4" ID tubing.

 

[wun911]

Thanks for your help

I have set up my water cooling now!!!

Swiftec Storm Water Block
Swiftec Pump MCP 655
Tygon 1/2" tubes
Reservior is 1 x CD rom sized box (tundra)
Black Ice Extreme III rad + 6 Panflo fans

I have decided not the water cool the GPU.

The drop in temps is about 10-15 deg compared to Zalman 7700 Cu

Thus far I am Ocing my P960 to about 4.0, I plan to push it more.... as soon as i figure a way to cool my NB a little better.

 

[wun911]

Yeah I got the half inch tygon tubes, I found that most of the barbs are not exactly half inch!!! For example the barbs on the Black ice extrem III have an internal diameter just short of half an inch!

same with the swiftech reservior just short of half inch internal dimeter!!!! I hope it does not create too much choke flow....

Go get a ruler and check it out yourself!

I was going to go for 7/16 inch tubes but decided that against it because I couldnt find 7/16inch tygon in Australia.....

7/16 is way easier to work with the tubes are far more flexable without pressure for kinks.... Half inch tubes require more work...... eg drill bigger holes out of my lian li etc etc.

I would recomed the 7/16 inch for newbies its easy to work with and it has quite a tight fit around most barbs, decreasing the chance of leeking!

 

[Nitro350Z]

Anothre set of answers:

1) No - having a larger res will only increase the time it takes to reach equilibrium(spelling?)

2)1/2" ID tubing is considered the best for higher flow systems

3)To drain you remove the system and take one section apart and let it drain into something

4) It should work if its a closed loop - meaning there is no way for the coolant to go out (uncapped fillport or something similar)

5)Danger Den Maze 4 Low Profile GPU heatsinks are what you're looking for
There are some other ones but they are usually a bit higher, they may still fit.
DD Maze 4 - regular one, AquaXtreme MP-1(considered the best GPU waterblock)

 

[wun911]

I thought a larger res would help:

Here is my theory in practice.....

1 L of water takes a much longer time to boil in the kettle than say 500ml.

So we pretend that the heat core in the kettle is the CPU water block.

I know when I want a quick cup of coffee I put less water in my kettle..... If I wanted the water in my res to heat up quicker I would put in less water????

Does this make sence to anybody???

 

[Nitro350Z]

well yes. what you are saying makes sense.

but, the only difference between having a larger res aposed to a smaller one is that it will take longer for the larger res to reach the optimum temperature.

a bit hard to word but like you said with the kettle and coffee, both will eventually heat up until they reach boiling temperature, it only takes the larger amount of water a while longer.

if you setup 2 loops with 2 identical computers and both loops are the same execp for one has a large resevoir while the other has a small one, then if you leave them on for a long time, both loops will have the same water temperature. Having a larger res will only slow down the time it takes to hit that temperature.

edit - forgot to mention if your larger resevoir has fins or any other type of cooling structure on it, it will decrease your temps, but very marginally.

Hope this helps

 

[wun911]

Ohhh I see what you mean now!

IF I leave both systems on for days and days both the large and small res will have same water temps

BUT IF I use the comp for a few hours per day and its switched off over night then large res is the winner!

(I still rather have the large res cost wise its about the same)

 

[Nitro350Z]

cost wise the same? were are you buying your WC parts?

you have either found a good deal or that place has overpriced resevoirs

last time I checked the micro res from swiftech is only 14-19$, if you can find a larger res for that price, point me to it.

 

[wun911]

Whoa! 14 bucks! hell thats cheap

Must be those Euro or US dollars!

Here in Australia the Micro res is more like 35

And the CD roms sized ones are like 40 bucks

If you want a double CD roms sized one its 50 bucks

You do get what you pay for the micor res is a nice piece of work... with rubber O rings and comes with 1/2 and 7/16 inch barbs.

The micro res holds about 114ml
The cd rom sized one holds about 520ml

Mine didnt come with optional smal barbs (figured I didnt need it running 1/2" tubes) + the micro res didnt fit anywhere in the lian li PC V 1000.... I think you guys squeeze it in between the CD rom bay and the side panel. Micro res didnt even fit in the HD rack of Lian Li soo I got CD rom sized res.

I figured that I could hold > 4x the amout of water for 5 bucks more.

It now takes about 3hrs of prime to heat the water up by 1 deg (runing P4 960 OCed to 4.2). My rad is Black Ice extreme III I find I dont really need the fans to cool the water down and I only switch on the fans if the water's temp gets to 30 deg.

The larger res can hold a real doctor's style mercury thermometer inside of it!!! ... (The most accurate way of measuring water temps!)

I dont mind seeing the water in the res from the front of the case..... and I like the fact that the 2 barbs on it are far apart letting the water mix a little unlike the mico res.

 

[Nitro350Z]

In your case i see how it would be more cost effective to get a bigger res.

sorry to hear about the crazy pricing.

This is what the price is suppose to be - Link

 

[wun911]

The res I have is the same dimensions as a standard CD rom.....

Yeah its kinda hard to find water cooling in Australia, in winter here its quite cold already... but summer gets really hot..... 40 deg or so....