Thinking about water cooling

[Raje]

OK I have lots of question so i thought I'd start here. First off how much more efficiant is this than fans, second can it be done correctly and cheaply.


As posted once before, my room is a friggin sauna. I live in South Florida and when the sun rises in the morning it comes straight into my window. At 7 am the sun is blinding me awake. I've put up curtains, and am going to tint my Bedroom windows. The AC is already cranked up but there is little central air can do when its only one room the is hot.

I was thinking about going with a water kit, my questions is, will it keep the pc cool, won't the heat of my room warm up the water just as well; defeating the purpose. Could I just add a few ice cubes to the resovoir when I want to play games or anything. I've had the pc restart twice now, and both days consisted of me sweating my and playing demon stone for like 6 hours straight.

Any ideas, recomendations to start-- right now I have a socket A processor but also thinking about upgrading to a 64 bit amd, probably a socket 939. Please help, any info on water cooling be helpful, or any ideas to help my situation.

 

[Cache-man]

water cooling will still only cool down to ambient temp, although if you mount the radiator and fan external to your case, then it will be much more efficient at transferring the heat from your CPU than air cooling even though the temp won't seem to be much lower.

 

[1nteger]

Raje - what is the ambient (room) temperature at its hottest and what case, fans, processor and heatsink do you currently use? Also, what's the temp at idle, according to your bios or other gauge? This will help establish things that you might be able to do.

I know a few game players who run their machines so hot that they keep the side panel off and have a room fan blowing directly into it from about a foot away...hopefully you won't have to resort to that!

 

[Raje]

Raje - what is the ambient (room) temperature at its hottest and what case, fans, processor and heatsink do you currently use? Also, what's the temp at idle, according to your bios or other gauge? This will help establish things that you might be able to do.

I know a few game players who run their machines so hot that they keep the side panel off and have a room fan blowing directly into it from about a foot away...hopefully you won't have to resort to that!

I'VE BEEN DOING THAT --- as far as ambient temp in the room I dont know, I would have to say pretty close to outside temp, I'll say my room can get to and above 70 degrees pretty easily. If its 85 outside its probably 70-75 inside, and its summer time.. so only going to get hotter. My BIOS do not list the temperature, that why I put in the chameleon fan, and boy has it turned orange before
Color will change at 26°C (78.8°F) from Blue to Orange.

Color will be completely changed at 33°C (91.4°F) and above.

Air Flow:21.5 cfmCooling Fan Technology:SleeveMounting:Internal (Chassis)Noise Level:20.3 dBaDevice Type:Case CoolingIn the Box:One 80mm fan, one 4-pin connector and four screws Height:25. mmWidth:80 mmDepth:80 mmLimited Warranty:3 Months (90 days
SO at full load its goes all the way to neon orange , at idle it is orange with a purple tint so I would have to say idleing around 30*C. Also its attatched to a solid copper thermaltake heatsink, with artic silver 5. There are 2 80mm maddog rear exaust fans, thermaltake 80mm side panel intake for video, and front 80mm intake for hard drive(this fan is actually garbage and I'll have to change it soon).

I want to add another 80-120mm blow hole on top. But its frustating that I have to basically leave the thing off from noon-3 pm every day.

 

[Alf]

i suggest to Coolermasters Water cooling, they have one thats for the CPU only but its one of the best and cheapest one you can get! Forgot the name though, search them up

 

[Reefsmoka]

If your going to get water cooling you might aswell get a proper kit. These cheap ones on the market dont seem to be doing much better than ur standard heatsink fan.

You want to be looking at building your own kit, choosing your radiator, pump, blocks and fans urself, depending on budget vs performance. One of the best water cooling site in the UK is www.coolerses.co.uk . I know you dont live in the UK, but it will give you an idea of what to look for. And if you take a browse in there forums, you will get lots of helpful information about watercooling, best set ups and how to do everything basicly. I think one of the best watercooling makes in the world is called "Aqua Computers" and there based in the US.

 

[Kenny]

Thing is, people go for watercooling to help temperatures because water absorbs heat better than air, but if the ambient temperatures are higher, then that might count against you. Again, the radiator will be heated by the sun so the water might be simmering before the computer is even turned on. A copper heatsink will be as bad, I know, but water wont be much better, not in Summer.
Is it possible for you to move your computer out of the sunlight?

And overall, its worth paying more for a better kit- a 2x12 radiator or heatercore, and a good pump make all the difference. Try ebay for deals if the price is an issue- I got most of my watercooling gear cheap or from ebay and it saved me a fortune.

 

[Raje]

The funniest part is that my bedroom is quite small, maybe 10ftx10ft . Their is no direct sunlight on the pc itself, it is shaded nicely by the desk, it is just the ambient temperatures as we stated earlier.

If I do go with the water cooling kit I know what I'll do. (I'm looney at times) I'm going to get a very high powered pump-- Move my desk to just below the central AC and put the radiater in the shaft. I'm just hoping I can get a strong enogh pump to push the water up 6 feet or so. 3/4 the height of the bedroom. From that A/C shaft is cold air, just not enough to cool my room.