Exploring Below Ambient Water Cooling

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A visit from the better halfs Mother has brought some potentially good news,
I've been hinting for ages to ditch the guest bedroom and have it as a craft/workroom and move the Pc's in there with no joy,
mommy suggests that my Gf has that room as a craftroom and I get this room as my Pc workshop, with the Pc's in the other room,
and its now being discussed/considered (bonus here is no guest room, no overnight visits hehe)
I see triple monitors and a Loop expansion in my future hehe :)
More if/as things develop
I'm thinking of a centralised cooler box A la' Ryan, and both our Pc's running loops into that, Y'know, just because :)
**Edit, this is a mains or 12v powered coolerbox, no need for icejugs :)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40-Litre-Split-Lid-Electric-Coolbox-AC-DC-/130703353680?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1e6e86e750
I reckon I could fit that in and run two separate loops from it ok 😛
Moto
 
Here's wishing you get the extra room! That will end up being your man cave! Maybe!

I've looked with extreme interest into the cooling chest you've linked and also into this.

It's very expensive but would allow a larger cooler and no ice at all, able to maintain 50F which translates to 10C and no condensation, just a thought convincing the other half will be like climbing Everest, I may loose fingers and toes in the process. I would LOL, but it's too close to true!

The wife already thinks I'm crazy anyway! Ry
 
I have been looking at then as well for the same reason and I hope that the gentleman with the TEC build gets it going because they both operate under the same principle maybe a nice chiller can be made for water cooling but it will probably cost more to build but I really think it would work better though. you could tell her it is a experiment see how that blows over. :lol:
 
you could tell her it is a experiment see how that blows over.
Click to expand...

I was never joking when I said my computer gains pale in result to my wife's, meaning, I get my computer wants, and she gets a new car.

In our earlier days of marriage I always got caught by surprise, but I've finally wised up to there is no easy gain when it comes to snowing my wife!

It does Not Work!

So the next time I push for computer gains, trust me, they'll be a fair trade off!

If she gets a new car, I'll have one hell of a computer in trade, unfortunately I already do have a very serious machine, so her new car will have to wait, for now! 😉
 
@Ryan, it will predominantly be her craftroom but with both Pc's in there (We can't bear to play WoW separated 😛)
the room we currently use will be my den, with my stock, piles of refurb units and probably a million sketches of new ideas :)
@Toolmaker, I think the chillerbox is a better move than the tec,
potentially less noise, improved cooling purely by weight of volume, the ability to add ice for seriously insane clock sessions, not as expensive either to install or maintain
and as I mentioned the ability to run several loops from one box, I just love the idea of that alone hehe,
Gf should be getting a 2500k refit as soon as I can afford it, same principle as Ryans car buying but hell of a lot cheaper :)
Noticed this in the review of your link Ryan,
*** Small Footprint: Most of the models are no bigger that a standard desktop computer. This compact size allows placement without a large designated area**
They have no idea what we consider standard haha
Moto
 
Really moto? I was thinking the opposite. From reading the user reviews they are for chilling fish tanks. While lights do put out some heat, I'm not sure they can handle the constant 150W+ that a CPU can dish out. Large volume of water will help, but only to a point.

Edit: Wanted to add I have no experience with those units. But I would think its just like the mini fridge idea. Can handle the small heat increase that afternoon temps would have on a tank, but not the heat that a CPU (or GPUs if you want to include them in the loop) can dish out.
 
As with the buried box, the idea is not for that to take the heat from the Cpu/Cpu from each Pc and cool it, the idea is that these things pre-chill the water supplied to the loop,
the loop still runs a couple of rads to deal with the heat, this just provides cooler water for the loop from the startpoint,
I could also throw in icejugs if I wanted/needed to, but a mainspowered one that adds a little cooling is preferable to loading up the freezer imo
we experiment, we learn hehe :)
Moto
 
Prechilled or not, eventually the heat from the CPU will override what the chiller can do.
I suppose if you have a loop that can handle the heat already and use this to make it work a bit better that's possible. But everything I know (which isn't much) says these small units can't take the heat.
 


Have you taken into consideration it's designed to chill a 130gal tank, IDK but it would seem it should easily chill say a 10gal insulated cooler even with the constant added 150W+ from the CPU.

It really wouldn't be necessary to chill any more than 10 gallons of distilled water, I'm presently chilling 8 gallons with ice now for my needs.

The problem with ice is it melts, the aquarium chiller should maintain the desired water temperature level, of course it's really expensive to even consider taking a chance on, even the lowest end model.

And you may be right it may not be able to handle the added 150W+????????


 
My biggest concern with the aquarium chiller is the fact it exhausts it's heat inside the room, probably explains why every major aquatic sellers business that I've visited seems like the tropics inside the building.

Though a little on the inconvenient side my ice cooling does not add heat to my office which is an 8 x 10 room, so I'm curious as to how much heat would be exhausted into the room the aquarium chiller is in.
 
**I suppose if you have a loop that can handle the heat already and use this to make it work a bit better that's possible**
That is exactly the point :)
your loop already copes with everything you throw at it, adding this to that loop just makes life a little sweeter for the chips
Moto
 
I'm half tempted to get a chiller asap just to see how this goes lol,
shopping list.
one 30L 240v chiller
10 feet of tubing
two more Koolance Qdc's
bit of silicone sealant
Damn I need funding!!!! 😛
**Edit, I'd also probably throw in another pump to keep the flowrate up**
Moto
 


So what are you actually getting?
 
Going for this cooler/chiller box,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170853458552?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
28L is a nice volume I think
(in addition to the two loops own volume, mine is about 6L atm but the added tubing length to the chiller will add about a litre or two I guesstimate)
plan is to drill ports through from the top,
grommet and seal the lines, which will both be under the level of liquid in there for noise control :)
the tubes from the chiller will have Qdc's to each Pc to allow independant use or removal if required
the chiller can be left on 24/7 if its mainspowered (It has an Eco-mode apparently 😛), moving water doesn't stagnate,
I could hook it up to a Pc so it came on when the Pc did but theres no point/benefit
her loop woll follow roughly the same lines as mine, (no radbox though)
as in it can be disconnected and fed back into itself so the choice is hers to run it standalone or hooked up to the chiller,
again in case its been missed, the Pc's loop in its own right will be capable of dealing with the heat produced,
the chillerbox will just provide cooler water and much greater volume
I will throw some coils into the chiller as well, maybe a cathode if its needed
it will be a while away yet as the garden needs sorting first, then the kitchen and then second room, but that just gives me time to plan, design and purchase the bits :)
Moto
 
Well this thread is all about exploring below ambient water cooling, so please share your work in here, even though I'm sure you'll do your own thread.

the Pc's loop in its own right will be capable of dealing with the heat produced
Click to expand...

Something I've already learned the hard way is your looped radiators running at ambient room temperature will have a reverse effect with your chilled water, they will actually warm the chilled water.
 
I reckon it will balance out nicely,
but that ofc will be tested once its all in place,
full passive with just cooler running
cooler running fans on low
cooler running fans on full
cooler off fans low
cooler off fans full
full passive runs the risk of heating the water as you mentioned, but with fans kicking it up I think the odds are good for controllable, measureable temps

I don't expect huge differences overall but the marked difference should be between full passive and full on
will do a log ofc, but yes it will definitely be linked here due to the nature of it :)
Moto
 
Bit of an experiment this morning, Origin has Me3 as a free demo currently (And its awesome and I'm probably going to buy it) so I Dl'd and played about an hour with no fans on whatsoever, a completely passive loop and no casefans (other than the modded fan over the Cpu block,appx 1200rpm)

after playing temps were, ambient 22.19'c, water 36'c and cores 50'c idle
so I threw the fans on full, and literally ten minutes later as i type this,
Ambient 22.19 water 26.88'c and falling, cores 28'c
approaching thermal equilibrium in a very short time gives me great love for my loop :)
**Edit water 25.9'c as I posted, rapid drops ftw
Moto
 
Lol, sorry man,
I'm not a trad gamer, and usually shy from fps type games, loved MGS and rogue trooper on Ps2 a few years back but thats about it,
Its thirdperson, and if I can manage to remember all the keybinds I may actually buy it, which surprises me but between Wow, Alice madness returns and Deadspace, I don't really have a lot of games to push the system with, although DS didn't even run on my old rig hehe
Edited first post to reflect joy of gaming 😛
Moto
 
I am strictly a First Person Shooter gamer, IMO nothing touches the excitement of walking through a 3D environment with 360 degrees of danger, I tried games like WoW but did not see the draw, it was totally boring to me.

What got me addicted to FPS games was the release of Aliens vs Predator on the Atari Jaguar console system, it was the first 64bit release but the 64bit was created using 4 16bit chips in series, many claimed it was not a true 64bit system but the game play was totally remarkable.

Unlike todays predictable AIs, the Jaguar had rotating chip priority meaning each time the game started from scratch, the next chip in the series was in control, so the game would change as far as contents of the maps, the maps stayed the same but the enemy count would change.

You never new what to expect each time you re-entered the game, the last time you entered a certain room there may have been no enemy, but the next time you enter the same room there could be 1, 2, 3, etc., that's what made the Atari Jaguar system so great, it was totally unpredictable.

Then Aliens vs Predator for the PC was released, and it's system requirements for the day were costly, bought my first Creative Gaming Soundcard and a VooDoo 3000 GPU, and got killed at every corner, the mice of the day sucked for 3D Gaming so I bought my first Trackball, and the rest is history.

With each progressive 3D shooter release the graphics increased, 3D environment and sound increased and the adventure just kept getting better and better, I couldn't imagine never playing games like, FarCry, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Crysis 2, All the F.E.A.R. releases, Aliens vs Predator, BioShock and the mindless shooters like Serious Sam all of them, (Just Flat Out Shooting Fun), Left 4 dead, and quite a few I've forgotten.

Moto, with the system you have you owe it to yourself to at least play Crysis2. Ry
 
I'm always seeking ways to improve upon this project and seeing as how my filter was apparently the weak link in the maintenance chain I decided to change it from a double filter to a triple, this has allowed increased flow rate at lower pump settings.

CoolerViewInside.png


Close Up of Filter in Operation.

TripleFilter.png


Flow rate with Swiftech MCP655 on level 2 of 5 settings.

NewFilterFlow.png


To bond the three filters together I used Scotch Professional Grade 2228 Moisture Sealing Tape, acquired from Lowes the link is exactly what I am using, Home Depot also carries it.

It is super sticky stuff sticks to virtually anything and especially to itself, I eliminated the JB Weld curing time with this bonding solution and the plastic inside coupling that was actually a flow restriction, the filter is completely outside sealed now allowing full interior flow.

The Scotch sealing tape has been tested from the beginning of this project as it is what seals the end of the filters, it can be cut in small strips and stretched to bond the the filters together.

Once completed it is as permanent as needed, meaning it can actually be pulled apart and reapplied if needed, a convenience not afforded with the JB Weld 2 part epoxy.
 
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