Water Cooling: Radbox, or passive water cooling?

[DarkSable]

Hey there Tom's!

I've come to a head of sorts. I have a few decisions to make.

The first is what to do with my beloved PC. I have, unfortunately, gotten bit by the audiophile bug. What that means is that my stereo system will soon have its own dedicated (silent) (hopefully mini-itx) rig, using my sound card and a Pentium D. (I kid, I kid, it's a G2120.)

I haven't decided yet what I want to do with that rig, cooling wise.

At the same time, my computer as it is will be moving into a CaseLabs S5, mostly for the versatility that mATX gives you. I absolutely love the mini-ITX form factor, but boy is that extra expansion slot calling out to me. It will still contain an i5-3570k, with custom watercooling. The reason I want to split the rig into two is mostly due to sound - watercooling is a hell of a lot noisier than I imagined going into this.

So here's my question. Since the media PC won't have to be mobile like my gaming rig does, should I take a page from the kids in Brazil and mount it externally on tacboard? The benefit to this is that it allows me to use piping with custom copper fins to create an absolutely silent watercooling rig - it would be powered by the heat of the processor, causing the hot water to rise and the cooler water to fall. (I've seen this done somewhere, I just don't remember where. However, I'm confident I could make it work.)

The other option is, as I'm turning my rig into a heftier (but not so much larger - the prodigy is a sizable beastie) computer, do I give it an external radbox? This would, I think, be somewhat simple to achieve - my reservoir is mounted externally, with two extra ports. These could be used to connect to quick-disconnects leading to the radbox, which would have its own pump. The idea would be to have two separate loops, so that I could disconnect the radbox, turn off the overclock on my CPU, and use two 2x120 radiators to cool a stock i5 and one or two high-end graphics cards.

So what do you all think? The radbox would be a fair bit more expensive, but not too much - copper is freaking expensive, and there would be a few plumbing tools I'd have to go buy that I don't currently have.

Which would be more fun? Which would give me cooler bragging rights?
I kind of like the modular idea of a radbox, but then again, having a computer mounted on a plate on the wall with this giant copper thing coming out of it does sound kinda fun...

 

[4Ryan6]

With all due respect consider this, the word passive and overclocking shouldn't be in the same sentence.

If your gaming rig is mobile for taking to lan parties then it needs contained cooling.

The benefit to this is that it allows me to use piping with custom copper fins to create an absolutely silent watercooling rig - it would be powered by the heat of the processor, causing the hot water to rise and the cooler water to fall. (I've seen this done somewhere, I just don't remember where. However, I'm confident I could make it work.)

I don't think so?

 

[Rustyy117]

Hi,

I'd personally opt for the passive watercooling solution as it'll be less of a headache and complete silence appeals to me.

However the radbox idea intrigues me as that could be a fun project and very unique.

If it was me I'd have to weigh up the costs of both options and the time/effort involved to try and come to a conclusion. Good luck!.

 

[manofchalk]

Your idea of using the processor heat to move coolant, I think Silverstone were showing off a CLC that did that at Computex. You would need a coolant with a very low boiling point and its cooling capabilities very limited in scope to make this idea viable I think.

From what you have written, I am not sure which cooling solution you intend for which machine. Your audio rig I can imagine the above working on as well as the passive cooling. Your gaming rig with GPU's also in the loop, I simply don't see being reasonably possible to passive cool and using convection for moving liquid would simply be too slow to get decent performance.

As for whether you need a rad-box on your gaming rig, that depends on how much you have to cool and how much rad your case can accommodate. A rad-box need not be expensive, buy some wood, build a box and fill it with rads.

 

[DarkSable]

With all due respect consider this, the word passive and overclocking shouldn't be in the same sentence.

If your gaming rig is mobile for taking to lan parties then it needs contained cooling.

I don't think so?

You misread me on both counts, mate. The passive option would not be with overclocking and wouldn't be on a gaming rig - it would be on a deconstructed audio rig. As for the gaming rig having contained cooling, that's precisely why the radbox would be detachable.

As for if it's possible, I have seen it done before, and the thermodynamics are sound.

 

[DarkSable]

Your idea of using the processor heat to move coolant, I think Silverstone were showing off a CLC that did that at Computex. You would need a coolant with a very low boiling point and its cooling capabilities very limited in scope to make this idea viable I think.

I've seen it done with water before, though yes, it would be with low expectations - all I'm looking for is for it to keep it reasonably cool.

From what you have written, I am not sure which cooling solution you intend for which machine. Your audio rig I can imagine the above working on as well as the passive cooling. Your gaming rig with GPU's also in the loop, I simply don't see being reasonably possible to passive cool and using convection for moving liquid would simply be too slow to get decent performance.

As for whether you need a rad-box on your gaming rig, that depends on how much you have to cool and how much rad your case can accommodate. A rad-box need not be expensive, buy some wood, build a box and fill it with rads.

I might have not made it clear in my phrasing - the options are equipping the audio pc with the convection cooler, or adding a radbox to my gaming rig for when it's at home.

 

[toolmaker_03]

I Would like to see some pics of what you have currently.




Well this is the way I would, and have gone.

 

[manofchalk]

In that case, do you want a your rig dedicated to noise to be as silent as possible, or do you want more beastly water-cooling on your gaming rig?
We cant really decide that for you.

 

[4Ryan6]

With all due respect consider this, the word passive and overclocking shouldn't be in the same sentence.

If your gaming rig is mobile for taking to lan parties then it needs contained cooling.

I don't think so?

You misread me on both counts, mate. The passive option would not be with overclocking and wouldn't be on a gaming rig - it would be on a deconstructed audio rig. As for the gaming rig having contained cooling, that's precisely why the radbox would be detachable.

As for if it's possible, I have seen it done before, and the thermodynamics are sound.

IC