Watercooling Basics?

[Blistered]

Hi,
I read the Introduction to Watercooling topic, but I've never even seen a watercooled system before, and barely know the basics of air cooled systems (which mine is at the mo, but it's really loud!!), so I really need to see some kind of diagrams or photos to explain how it works.
My aim is to have a very quiet computer when idle ie. I can sleep in the same room as it! I have so many questions about how it works, but it would be easier to see if diagrams would answer alot of the basics first. Can anyone point me in the direction of some kinda guide?
Cheers,
Blistered

 

[Blistered]

Ok...maybe if I'm more specific...
With a water cooled system, are there no fans at all in the case?
Is it possible to have the pump and reservoir in a different room to keep noise to a minimum?

I have no idea where the bulk of the noise is coming from with the system I have at the minute, but I'm thinking it's the case fans, in particular the rear extraction fan. The case fans are all (3) 80mm. I'm using a Zalman Fatal1ty cpu cooler...I think it's the FS-C77 or something like that!

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Blistered

 

[Blistered]

Thanks!
Over 150 views, no replies...

No, really, thank you!

 

[wun911]

www.ocforums.com

they have a list "top ten water cooling parts"

they have heaps of threads on this topic and massive massive discussions on water cooling....

 

[phreejak]

This is quite a huge question to ask actually - there are so many thing that can be written about it.

 

[dthomason119]

There are many water cooling solutions available, from pre-configured water cooling [thermaltake], to custom builds that places like the ones offered by dangeden. I was in your position about six months ago, with a lot of heating issues, but since I purchased the Thermaltake Big water SE, I have had no heating issues; especially with the new core 2 duo E6400 which idles at about 23c, full load 28-29c. Also I have four fans still in my case, which is the Antec p180. The major fan is the one attached to the radiator, plus the other three are chassis fans. You can find many option for liquid cooling, but I would say for beginners, purchase the thermaltake bigwater SE.

 

[rodney_ws]

I went with a Thermaltake BigWater 745 and overall I'm pleased with it... it has two radiators and a moderately powerful pump... temps went down as did my noise level. 6 months in it has required zero maintenance... however, the initial installation was pretty tough. A defective o-ring (not sure what else to call it) caused a nasty leak. There are plenty of people here who will tell you that water cooling is unnecessary for 99.9999% of the users out there... and maybe they're right... but I still say it's a good project to undertake.

Some general recommendations... kits are easiest, but have lower cooling capacity than setups with individually selected components. Some water kits are actually inferior to air cooling so be realistic... larger tubing and larger (more) radiators help... as does a higher flow pump. Just don't think all kits/equipment are the same. Good luck!

 

[chunkymonster]

Thanks!
Over 150 views, no replies...

No, really, thank you!

Learn some patience the forumz are not here for your beck anc call...and try a google search...

 

[Doughbuy]

YOu want quiet, we can do do quiet. Thermaltake has some real nice quiet external watercooling solutions out there, like their rythym. Another thing about watercooling, the most noise will be either your pump or your radiator. If your radiator is too loud, you could just get a quieter fan. If your pump is too loud, you can feed it lower voltages. Either way, it'll be quiet...

Basics to watercooling involve this:
Waterblock
Pump
Resevoir
Radiator
Tubing
Coolant
Thermal Paste

The waterblock is what goes onto your cpu or whatever you want to cool. Pump pushes the water through the system. Resevoir for storing the water, usually right before the pump. Radiator cools your water, could be mounted internally or externally, your choice. This usually goes before the waterblock, but people believe in different things. Tubing is what connects it all together. Coolant is what gets pumped around. You could buy coolant, or just used ionized water with some additive. Thermal paste for... pasting... shrug

If you want a powerful system, I recommend a Danger Den or Swiftech solution. If you want quiet, I recommend a passive radiator solution with a smaller pump, but it would be less performance. Whatever you want.

 

[Blistered]

Sorry for my ignorant post!
Just so you know, I'm not normally so cheeky, I admit I was kinda playing a troll to see if that would get me a response. I don't ask questions unless I can't find the answers elsewhere, I've even posted the same questions on other forums, but there has been no response anywhere.
It just cracks me up when I read people who are obviously well into watercooling asking for advice, and getting it, but noone could take the time to answer a complete noob like me - everyone started there!
I love being able to answer people's questions in forums, so it does my nut when you don't get the same treatment you give, you know?

Anywho, thanks for all the responses, it's given me a bit of an idea what I need to look for. I reckon I'm gonna start by looking at the Thermaltake external solutions. I'm still quite unsure about whether I'm going to need case fans or not. I've read about vga blocks and stuff like that, and I could be wrong, but noone seems to recommend them.

This is probably a really dumb question, but with external solutions, is there a maximum distance that shouldn't be exceeded between the pump and the computer, or reservoir etc.?

Thanks again

 

[waylander]

If quiet is what you are after then make sure that you get a system with 120mm fans as the 80mm fans can be twice as loud. Get a DIY system and set the fans of the radiator onto a fan controller so that they can be turned to low when you are sleeping. You will still need case fans as you can't completely eliminate heat inside the case, see if you can replace those 80mm fans with 120mm ones.

At this point I'd try to mod your case and replace the 80mm fans first. After that if it's still too noisy then go for WC but don't cheap out.

 

[Blistered]

Thanks again for the replies. I've been thinking about what way to go about it, and I'm thinking of actually getting a new case to start off with. A good case with 120mm fans, and compatible with watercooling, like one of the thermaltake(?) ones might actually be all that I need to lower the noise enough in the mean time. I think the Lian-li case I chose was just a really bad choice.
The Zalman cpu cooler (fs-c77) needs to be replaced too, preferably for something smaller / with greater claerance from the mobo, as it actually covers the 1st and 2nd RAM slots meaning I have my RAM in the 3rd and 4th slots, so I'm losing out slightly on performance due to that. I've read hear about a cpu cooler that's great and really quiet...I think it was a Scythe? I'll check that one out.
It might be worth my while trying out those steps before water cooling.
Does anyone have a case that they absolutely swear by, and would always recommend for how quiet it is?
Feel free to let me know what is the perect case of the moment!
Cheers!