Water Cooling Newbie

 

I'm looking for recommendations to water cool a FX-55 and X850XT GPU in
a full tower case - Cooler Master CM Stacker.  Kits are preferred to
buying individual parts.  Currently using a Thermaltake Big Typhoon on
the CPU and an Artic Cooling ATI Silencer Rev. 5 on the GPU.  Any
benefits to moving to H2O over what I have?

Also, the FX-55 is at full load running Boinc 24/7.

TIA,
Tim

 

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 21:44:16 -0400, Tim


Is it instable?
Is it too loud?
Are you trying to overclock it (further?) ?

What do you hope to gain from water cooling?
Do you realize that water cooling does not eliminate need
for airflow on a video card or motherboard, because the GPU
and CPU aren't the only two parts producing heat?

What is the budget?  A cheap water cooling kit may have no
benefit at all.

 

kony,

My main objective in building this system was to build the best and
quietest system I could.  The system is perfectly stable and I'm not one
to overclock an $ 800.00 CPU.  Besides using the Big Typhoon on the CPU
and the Artic Cooling fan on the GPU, I replaced all CoolerMaster fans
with SilenX fans making one of the quietest systems I've ever built.  So
to that end, water cooling probably doesn't offer any benefits.

The follow up objective is the WOW factor, just to be able to say that
I'm running a water cooled system and to gain the experience of setting
one up.  There is no side window - that side of the system is right up
against my desk and wouldn't be viewable any ways, so it's not for looks
either.

Yes, I do realize the need for airflow.  I'd keep the 120mm fans (1 in
front, 1 in the rear) with a water cooled system.  There is an 80mm blow
hole that I could eliminate depending where the water tank would sit.

While I can't say that money is no problem, I'd only be willing to spend
2 or 3 hundred dollars if there is no benefit.

Thanks for your reply,
Tim


kony wrote:

 

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:01:28 -0400, Tim


Personally if i were trying for a WOW factor, getting a
window in it would be the first priority, since you already
note it doesn't actually "need" water cooling.  



After adding the window, put some neon around it then scrap
the whole case and get a clear one?  If you really want an
extra-SPECIAL wow factor then use an acrylic case and make
the water flow down a thin sheet-like gap between a
two-layer side panel, sorta like a water fall.

 

Kony,

I can't put in a window that is viewable unless I redesign my entire
room and that isn't going to happen any time soon.

I have 3 systems in an acrylic drawer type case I made about 2 years
ago.  I started out designing a single tower case but Home Depot
wouldn't sell me anything less than a 4' x 8' sheet of acrylic and all
the 'specialty' shops overcharged WAY TOO MUCH for what I had originally
designed.  My design changed drastically with all the extra plastic.  I
had to build a rack out of 1 inch square bar for the 3 drawers to slide
on.  Each system has 3 blue LED fans, 1 in front and 2 in the rear.  I'd
attach a pic but I don't think you can do that in a news group.

A year or 2 before that, I build a system where I cut out the Red Hat
logo for the side window, painted it red and black and put in a red cold
cathode.  Learned a lot about what not to do with spray paint on that one.

I like the water fall idea but doesn't the water need to be contained in
a closed system?  Otherwise I'd fear for air bubbles, evaporation or
contamination of the coolant.  The Thermaltake Rocket percolates at the
top of the tower so I'm not sure.  That thing would take a lot of
coolant though.

Thanks for the idea.  I see what I can come up with.
Tim

kony wrote: