What are water chillers?how do they work?

[hellfire24]

hi,this may sound dumb but can anyone explain me the following questions-
1-what's a water chiller??like this one-
http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Waterchiller-Hailea-Ultra-Titan-4000-HC20003300-Watt-cooling-capacity-pid-12116.html
2-how it cools?fans or something else?
3-is it safe to use it in a pc watercooling loop?
4-is it better than a radiator and fan setup?

i am asking this because a friend wants to do watercooling.
Thanks in advance.

 

[boiler1990]

They cool the water - most of the ones that you usually see are for aquariums (saltwater tanks must be maintained around 74F in order to keep things alive). It's not a cooler for a device, but if you connect this inline with your loop it will drop your temps below ambient.

As for comparisons to a rad/fan setup, I think most of us are unsure. We've got a discussion going on in another thread since one of the guys here was looking into using his chiller.

 

[hellfire24]

so is it worth spending $$$ a lot more than a rad/fan setup for a single cpu(i7 920) and gpu(gtx 480)?

 

[boiler1990]

Not really. The chiller has a heat pump and water pump that most likely generate more heat than your system puts out. They're also bulky and don't look good (can't place them internally)

 

[hellfire24]

Thanks!