Liquid Cooling Showdown

[bennyblanx]

In part 1 of our liquid cooling comparison, Shelton compares the cooling ability of fluids from Thermaltake, SilverStone and Koolance. Part 2 will test the cooling abilities of car anti-freeze and beer.

Watch Part 1: http://www.tomshardware.com/site/fl...ing_comparison_part_1__standard_coolants.html

What other fluids do you think we should try next?

 

[Sengoku]

Please, no bodily fluids, nothing that will cause us to catch on fire and die in a huge burning pile of agony.

 

[Darkk]

I wouldn't be surprised if the car anti-freeze would perform the same or a little better than the standard cooling liquids for the PC. Nice thing about the car anti-freeze is that it already contains anti-corrosion agents and cheaper to boot. Question would remain do you use the 50/50 mix of water or pure anti-freeze? I'd be curious to see how that works.

Beer? It does have alcohol but I wouldn't wanna try something like rubbing alcohol as a cooling liquid cuz it's too flammable. Wonder if ammonia would work?

Darkk

 

[dragonsprayer]

Nice Job THG - quite entertaining!
First - why not more fluids? Second add another pump to add and remove fluids faster - a submersible in distilled for the flush

Second, i am not sure that the system reacted exactly the same each time- why not run orthos or something to get 100% cpu output this would assure a better comparison.

I would expect higher temps as the system warms or the room warms you need readings on the room temp.

You need to test the fluid several times to rule out ambient temp changes and changes in the system temps. If tt fluid is first run it again last, etc.

cool test you need to expand the number of fluids like the over priced xp etc! i saw the beer bottles did it/u get sticky when u drained the beer?

again nice job - looking forward to the next phase!

ok - ya i am pain!

note: water cools the system, the radiator fluid decreases the heat capacitance with increasing levels!

therefore since water cooled computers aren't usually built for sub zero use i expect the radiator fluid to be hotter

 

[phonoflux]

You state in the video and in the system specs at the end that you're using a Quad Core processor, yet the pics of task manager only show two cores rather than the expected 4.

What's up with that?

 

[ewart]

the video voice says '...of our overclocked QUAD core' processor but the screen shows what appears to be a DUAL core processor.

also, what was it overclocked to? in part II I hope there is a short web page summary with numbers on it.

 

[Senater_Cache]

what a waste of time...
This test proves absolutely NOTHING! It only serves as a public mention of the three products.

jeez, lame.

How about measuring ambient temp?
How about running a baseline with pure water?
How about using actual sensory equipment?

Come on ! the coolant has such a little effect on temperature and you are measuring with something as un-sensitive as that thermaltake probe?

Why not use Intel's TAT as to properly load the cores?

also, why not actualy test with various ratios of teh zerex and water...because it will outperform all teh coolants. and so would straight water.

"payed-off'

 

[funnyman06]

Hey guys, in my water cooled rig, i use FluidXP Extreme, i was wondering if you guys could check out that stuff too, its expensive and i would like to know if its worth the extra money.

 

[gwolfman]

Hey guys, in my water cooled rig, i use FluidXP Extreme, i was wondering if you guys could check out that stuff too, its expensive and i would like to know if its worth the extra money.

I am also running FluidXP Extreme. I would like to know how this compares as well. It doesn't seem that expensive though, it only cost me about $30 USD and I have enough for the initial fill and enough for an entire refill.

 

[Senater_Cache]

ok , fluidXP is a complete ripoff. after some time in th eloop touching metal blocks it no longer is non-conductive. also temps are never better than pure distilled water+bicide.

 

[gwolfman]

ok , fluidXP is a complete ripoff. after some time in th eloop touching metal blocks it no longer is non-conductive. also temps are never better than pure distilled water+bicide.

Whatever you said doesn't matter, that's not what I'm asking.

 

[shazzbot]

I wouldn't be surprised if the car anti-freeze would perform the same or a little better than the standard cooling liquids for the PC. Nice thing about the car anti-freeze is that it already contains anti-corrosion agents and cheaper to boot. Question would remain do you use the 50/50 mix of water or pure anti-freeze? I'd be curious to see how that works.

Beer? It does have alcohol but I wouldn't wanna try something like rubbing alcohol as a cooling liquid cuz it's too flammable. Wonder if ammonia would work?

Darkk

Since the second video isn't up yet, I won't get too detailed here, but I will say that I'm open to further experimentation with the Antifreeze as well as other fluids!

btw, Shazzbot = Shelton

 

[shazzbot]

Nice Job THG - quite entertaining!
First - why not more fluids? Second add another pump to add and remove fluids faster - a submersible in distilled for the flush

The main reasons for not using more fluids had to do with cost and time. We wanted to see how the project would be received by you guys, and personally, I had hoped to get some level of participation out of our readers/viewers in the form of suggestions for fluids/setups and general feedback, both of which I'm very glad to see here already.

Second, i am not sure that the system reacted exactly the same each time- why not run orthos or something to get 100% cpu output this would assure a better comparison.

This time through we used the burn-in feature of SiSoft Sandra 2005 to loop and attain our work load. Again this was more of a preliminary test than a truely finished, polished project, so I'm reviewing suggestions and discussing methods as well as the lessons learned. Definetly our method of bringing the CPU to maximum load is under review along with the rest. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll need to play with a couple programs to find the best fit for the projects needs.

I would expect higher temps as the system warms or the room warms you need readings on the room temp.

You need to test the fluid several times to rule out ambient temp changes and changes in the system temps. If tt fluid is first run it again last, etc.

cool test you need to expand the number of fluids like the over priced xp etc! i saw the beer bottles did it/u get sticky when u drained the beer?

I plan on taking these environmental variabls into consideration should we decide to move forward with more videos and more fluids, possibly with not just multiple test runs per fluid but also with longer test runs. I'm confidant that we'll hammer out these details in short order and be able to have a lot more fun on this!

And unfortunately, yes, yes I did get sticky with the beer >_<

 

[shazzbot]

You state in the video and in the system specs at the end that you're using a Quad Core processor, yet the pics of task manager only show two cores rather than the expected 4.

What's up with that?

Argh! I'm a little peeved at myself for allowing a mistake like that to get through, but thanks for pointing it out, we're making the necessary adjustments so that everything is accurately reported!

 

[gwolfman]

...I had hoped to get some level of participation out of our readers/viewers in the form of suggestions for fluids/setups and general feedback...

-What about FluidXP Extreme?
-What about Corsair Nautilus 500?

It'd be interesting to see how Corsair's only cooling product (that I know of) compares with what you got.

 

[bydesign]

The main reasons for not using more fluids had to do with cost and time. We wanted to see how the project would be received by you guys, and personally, I had hoped to get some level of participation out of our readers/viewers in the form of suggestions for fluids/setups and general feedback, both of which I'm very glad to see here already.

You need to use Distilled water without adative and with about a 10% Zerex. This setup will both benchmarck with a base line and see if any coolent as good as H2O.

 

[martin_man]

so why Molson Canadian for the next test, i think it would be too good to waste on testing the cooling properties, i personally would drink it and get a crappy beer such as laker, or budwiser for the test

 

[BGP_Spook]

How about measuring ambient temp?
How about running a baseline with pure water?
How about using actual sensory equipment?

Come on ! the coolant has such a little effect on temperature and you are measuring with something as un-sensitive as that thermaltake probe?

Quoted for support.

You need REAL temperature measuring equipment(something with .02+ C resolution or better and a plotted precision drift relative to temperature) and REAL procedures(think science lab).

Going at it ad hoc serve no purpose except for product placement.

Volumes have been written on this subject, try and research the work of Bill Adams(BillA) and Stew (Cathar).(procooling.com, xtremesystems.org other places...)

I would assume that there was one or two people in the same room as the tests were being performed.

This alone would invalidate your results.

If you want to make a serious attempt at this then wonderful!

Otherwise this series will be at best useless and at worst(and more likely) misinformation.

 

[shazzbot]

Quoted for support.

You need REAL temperature measuring equipment(something with .02+ C resolution or better and a plotted precision drift relative to temperature) and REAL procedures(think science lab).

Going at it ad hoc serve no purpose except for product placement.

Volumes have been written on this subject, try and research the work of Bill Adams(BillA) and Stew (Cathar).(procooling.com, xtremesystems.org other places...)

I would assume that there was one or two people in the same room as the tests were being performed.

This alone would invalidate your results.

If you want to make a serious attempt at this then wonderful!

Otherwise this series will be at best useless and at worst(and more likely) misinformation.

Having done the initial runs now, and seeing first hand what doesn't work as well as what does, I do realize that some changes would be greatly beneficial. However I do feel the need to point out that (and perhaps it's my fault for not making it more clear to begin with) that we're not trying to define maximum cooling performance of each liquid; we're simply not equipped to do that as not only would we need better sensory equipment (a simple part of the problem to remedy), but also a sealed, temperature controlled room without anyone inside for a perfectly ideal environment.

Instead our goal is to show the potential differential between the fluids, or in some cases (like the beer) whether or not it can actually be used as a coolant at all. Further, our intention is to show results as close to what you would get should you attempt this at home, which by default means room temp fluctuations as well as a body or two being present. To that end we're taking the lessons from the first attempt as well as the valuable suggestions and criticism provided by you guys and investigating all possibilities for any future runs!

In short, yes, we want to make a serious attempt at providing something fun and informative!

 

[SeanS]

I would be interested in seeing how some beverages with higher alcohol content than beer would perform (vodka, everclear, etc). Since alcohol has a lower boiling point than water (therefore can move heat faster) it doesn't surprise me that beer performed well since it probably bordered on a phase-change cooling solution.

 

[shazzbot]

so why Molson Canadian for the next test, i think it would be too good to waste on testing the cooling properties, i personally would drink it and get a crappy beer such as laker, or budwiser for the test

tbh, it wasn't initially the plan to use Molson. We simply were talking about beer in general. Then a couple days later i was at a grocery store and was suprised to spot a box of the stuff (I'm from Vancouver, you see) and picked it up out of nostalgia. Trust me, the rest of that box was enjoyed (responsibly) at home after we no longer needed it for the testing. =Þ

 

[joex444]

I think when you try to use a liquor like 40% vodka instead of the 5% Molson, you'll run into flammability issues. Perhaps a cheap white wine? Usually around 13.5%, not carbonated, isn't thick like some of the red wines can be.

As I recall, ethanol has a much higher heat capacity than water, but a boiling point of 172.4F (78C). You won't have a phase-change coolant without also having a really bad cooling system.

 

[atvogel]

As a homebrewer of beer, not electronic devices, I have learned a thing or two about cooling five gallons of boiling hot liquid. The method I use is to emerse a coil of copper tubing into the very hot liquid and then running cold tap water through it. I learned a while back that running the tap water through the coil at full blast does not cool the hot liquid the fastest. The cold water running through the coil has to have enough in the coil to heat up. I imagine that if you were able to vary the speed of the recirculation pump you are using in your experiments that some of the unusual liquids you have been trying could provide better cooling than the comercial products.

 

[ethaniel]

Anyway... beer seems to work! You better explore that a bit further, otherwise I'll be using a pack of Budweiser next week...

 

[battousai831]

car coolant has worse thermo conductive properties than straight water. The reason its used in cars is cause it doesn't freeze at as high of a temp and takes more heat to boil, thats why you do't see straight antifreeze in cars either.