Help to Improve my watercooling

[Skidd]

Hey guys, need some suggestions on how to improve my watercooling setup.

Here are some pics of the setup

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

What are your temps? The system looks good, and you've got a pretty nice blue theme going on there. Do you feel a need to improve it?

 

[chuckshissle]

You can however replace that rad with a 2-120mm fan radiator like from DangerDen or Swiftech and get 2 120mm Silverstone FM121 fans for better cooling performance.

 

[samir_nayanajaad]

Along with that radiator suggestion I would get a different water block. I dont know exactly how yours is made but it is not the best design for where the water enters the block. The pics below of a water block is easy to make yourself if you know someone with a drill press and have a little micanical aptitude. Also the designe of it allows for the coldest water to be brought into the water block right at the center of the cpu, the hottest spot.

The water flows in at the center then around in a square then out by the corner

 

[Skidd]

Its the STD Gigabyte Galaxy LCS system. Reason for asking is I went to a lan recently and the system got a little hot (50c idle) with the fans fairly high. It got something to do the hot air being pushed out the case through those two large 120mm fans and straight through the radiator. Not a very good idea.

Any ideas on relocating everything?

As for the new radiator idea. Ill have a look into that, Being in south african its a little hard to get hold of watercooling systems without importing yourself. The water block I did some research on before purchasing the system.

Most reviews stated that it was of a good design and very well thought over. As for the rest of the system, it has a 12v DC Pump pre-attached to the Resavior. Its capable of pumping 400L per hour. The tubing is 1/2" width and the radiotor is aluminium(Its not ideal but should be fine) of the flat tube type.

My temps, at home are 40c idle and 55c load. Ambient tempreture is about 25c.

 

[samir_nayanajaad]

well I dont think that the 120s pushing hot air through the rad is a problem. Most of the case heat is made by the cpu hsf but you have water so the heat is outside the case(for the most part anyway). Yes It will be better if you had room temp air going through the rad, but I like that set up you have keeps the tubing short and keeps the case looking nice.

Another thing that would be nice to know is what cpu you are running and if its overclocked. If you have an AMD thats running that hot no oc you have a huge problem, but if its a p4 EE overclocked its not so bad.

Other general things to thingk about or check, is the waterblock properly seated? did you use too much or too little themal grease?

Also if you were at a lan at someones house in a small bedroom lets say with you and 1 or 2 other people, 2 or 3 pcs with monitors (especialy crt) can make a room warm in no time so you cooling is going to suffer bc the average room temp is now higher and your rad cant cool below room temp

 

[waylander]

While I'm unsure how much difference it will make (especially where the ambient temperature gets so hot) but

1. Get a 2 x 120mm rad (as suggested already).

2. Move rad to the top of the case

3. Think about putting the cpu water block right after the rad (don't think it makes much difference but every little bit helps)

Those temperatures are a little high with ambient at 25C, my water cooled system is 36C / 48C, idle / load. My two video cards are the same temps.

My setup has everything inside (thanks to the huge size of the armor) see pick below. I've put the rad with 4 120mm fans at the front to draw air in from the outside though it to the inside of the case. Then I placed the reservoir right behind it to hopefully cool the water in that even more.

 

[wun911]

Gigabyte wc kits sucks.... thats y you have high temps..... do you buy your pc pre built from del? Nooo..... you buy parts on an individual basis and build it yourself.... same way to go with wc....

Seriously gigabyte gives narrow tubes which leaves water to laminar flow.....

The pump in the gigabyte system is piss week, and it emits a lot of heat into the water (the very water that you are trying to cool your CPU with!)

The Rad is tiny and will not surfice for most OCed CPUs.... as discussed already....

The water blocks gigabyte has arent jet stream or impingement (due to the disign of the piss week pump) they are just flow through.... similar to the wacky design the other dude presented.....

Please do me a fav and go to swiftec or danger den..... what ever just dont use that gigiabyte stuff.....

I know of many air cooling systems that preform better than the gigabyte water setups.

 

[shawnlizzle =]]

agreed =]


gigabyte's watercooling system is a disgrace -_-

ditch the entire loop and get a new one, because for you to improve on that thing, you would need to change eveything anyways.


and as for that waterblock design, its probably one of the most ridiculous ones i've seen, you can buy a block for much cheaper and you can skip all the labor. even for a home made block, its really inefficient. check procooling for some awesome home made blocks

 

[Skidd]

Gigabyte wc kits sucks.... thats y you have high temps..... do you buy your pc pre built from del? Nooo..... you buy parts on an individual basis and build it yourself.... same way to go with wc....

Seriously gigabyte gives narrow tubes which leaves water to laminar flow.....

The pump in the gigabyte system is piss week, and it emits a lot of heat into the water (the very water that you are trying to cool your CPU with!)

The Rad is tiny and will not surfice for most OCed CPUs.... as discussed already....

The water blocks gigabyte has arent jet stream or impingement (due to the disign of the piss week pump) they are just flow through.... similar to the wacky design the other dude presented.....

Please do me a fav and go to swiftec or danger den..... what ever just dont use that gigiabyte stuff.....

I know of many air cooling systems that preform better than the gigabyte water setups.

By Narrow tubes do you mean that 1/2" is too narrow? The pump pumps 400 liters per hour, is that too weak?

And been in south africa, swift tech and danger den is non exsistant, anyother suggestions?

Here are the link of the review that I looked at before purchasing the system:

Gigabyte Galaxy LCS

PS: Can you please point me to the review that you read that you are basing your statements on, Im always open to suggestions...

 

[Skidd]

well I dont think that the 120s pushing hot air through the rad is a problem. Most of the case heat is made by the cpu hsf but you have water so the heat is outside the case(for the most part anyway). Yes It will be better if you had room temp air going through the rad, but I like that set up you have keeps the tubing short and keeps the case looking nice.

Another thing that would be nice to know is what cpu you are running and if its overclocked. If you have an AMD thats running that hot no oc you have a huge problem, but if its a p4 EE overclocked its not so bad.

Other general things to thingk about or check, is the waterblock properly seated? did you use too much or too little themal grease?

Also if you were at a lan at someones house in a small bedroom lets say with you and 1 or 2 other people, 2 or 3 pcs with monitors (especialy crt) can make a room warm in no time so you cooling is going to suffer bc the average room temp is now higher and your rad cant cool below room temp

I am running my Pentium D 805 at 4ghz at 1.55v

 

[phreejak]

Well, first of all, I'd replace the pump/reservoir. 400l/h is only 105 gallons/h and that's not that much. The Swiftech MCP 655 is quiet, powerful and very reliable and it pushes liquid at 317g/h. That would help to remove heat from any waterblock at a better rate. I'd replace the CPU waterblock as well. There is no need to have one that ALSO uses a fan. The Swiftech Apogee or Swiftech Storm are excellent waterblocks with good, solid reputations.

If you are going to ONLY cool the CPU and insist on using a single 120mm rad then get a Danger Den rad and use a "push-pull" configuration and place 120mm fans on each side of the rad. Attach the rad to the back of your case (externally of course) with a radbox assembly from Swiftech.

Seal off the 120mm hole in the back of the case directly behind the rad. Also, cut a blowhole in the top of the case for a single 120mm exhaust fan. I am assuming that you have a fan blowing into the side of the case as well.

I don't see where you are cooling the videocard. Using a waterblock on it would remove some heat from within your case as well. But, don't do this unless you are willing to get a more powerful pump. Also, if you ever do decide to watercool your videocard, I would definitely go with a dual 120mm rad or 2 single 120mm rads.

As for the reservoir, get a single bay (or something that can be placed higher which will use gravity to assist the pump in getting water to it's intake valve).

A perfect setup would have you with rads AFTER each waterblock (so that the heat added to the water from a waterblock will be removed as much as possible) such as:
Reservoir - pump - CPU waterblock - rad - GPU waterblock - rad - back to the reservoir.

My own setup is:
reservoir - pump - CPU block (peltier) - dual 120mm rad - GPU waterblock (NV78) - dual 120mm rad - back to the reservoir.

 

[samir_nayanajaad]

similar to the wacky design the other dude presented.....

That is just a wb I found bc I want to build my own water block and that is the simplest to build myself and most effective one I could find. I know that I can buy better water blocks but its just not the same as DIY. I would much rather say I have a Pentium @ 4 ghz and that I made my own water block than say I have a Pentium @ 5 ghz and I spent 500 bucks on a phase change cooling system so I can say I have a 5 ghz cpu.

Maybe if I explain what I was going for it would help. First off you need the dimensions of the block, I was thinking a 4'' by 4'' by 1'' thick chunk of copper and the holes would be .75'' id. and the water coming into the block would pass within .125'' of the actual cpu (the guy that designed this actually suggested this be 1mm thick). I was going to try an extremely high volume and high flow set up with a large rad and reservoir. The same idea as with air just push as much through as you can as fast as you can.

I have not seen any water systems that use this sort of idea and just want to try it out, besides right now its 60 bucks for that massive hunk of copper and I know some ppl that can drill and tap the holes for me for free or I could use their tools myself to do it. So I see it just as a little bs experiment, I will buy a good water block if I need to. I would just like to do this for my own little whim.

If anyone has ideas or thoughts on this please pm me. and I will check procooling

 

[waylander]

By Narrow tubes do you mean that 1/2" is too narrow? The pump pumps 400 liters per hour, is that too weak?

And been in south africa, swift tech and danger den is non exsistant, anyother suggestions?

Here are the link of the review that I looked at before purchasing the system:

Gigabyte Galaxy LCS

PS: Can you please point me to the review that you read that you are basing your statements on, Im always open to suggestions...

The 1/2" is fine but that pump I don't think is really up to the task. I also use 1/2" but my pump (swiftech MCP655) pumps at 1200L/min, 3 times more than yours....

I'm not sure if you are interested but www.frozencpu.com will ship anywhere in the world that FedEx delivers and accepts only Paypal for payment.

As to the system as a whole, it's kind of like buying a Dell, prepackaged no choice at all. But both Danger Den and Swiftech have kits as well, they are just made up of their individual components.

 

[shawnlizzle =]]

lets just all remember that when comparing pumps, the head pressure is MUCH more important than free flow

 

[guyinyourattic37]

i think u errd. 1200L/min. damn thats fast.

 

[phreejak]

I use the same pump in my system. It has a maximum discharge of 317 gph which comes to 1200 lph. That's what I think he meant.

 

[wun911]

Dont get me wrong the gigabyte wc set up MUST be sweet..... otherwise it wouldnt need "improving."

If you think 1/2" tubes are the best and you havent herd of 3/4" tubes it must be great setup...

The pump must be great! 400l in an hour along with great head pressure ?????

There are other alternatives (I live in the middile of Australia) but you chose a gigabyte one..... alternatives such as Fed ex etc etc etc.....

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=369416

As you can see your gigabyte system is soo good it has made it to the most wanted, and most highly rated water cooling set up there is!

We are just trying to help you and our sugestions are mostly the same..... get a better pump, bigger rad and decent water block..... its simple really....