Large resivoir for increased cooling

[mesa06]

I was thinking of building a custom water resivoir for a water cooled system in the the range of almost a gallon. Has anyone done this or know if it would increase cooling efficency?

 

[chuckshissle]

Depends, but if the reservoir is made of aluminum and with fins to add more outside surface area, then it would make a difference since it can dissipates heat. Plastic reservoirs are not that good.

Like this one for example:

 

[jjw]

The volume of water by itself would just make it take longer to heat up. You still need somthing that will dissipate the heat, be it a radiator or cooling fins on the reservoir.

I believe there are some passively cooled water cooling systems out their, Zalman makes one. But it is expensive, but again, if you're talking water cooling then you won't be too suprized.

A passively cooled system will have a lot larger surface area for cooling.

 

[shawnlizzle =]]

stay away from alu resevoirs as most high end waterblocks are copper

and copper+alu = unhappy watercooler

also, a res like that really doesn't disspate much heat and will not affect your temps.

 

[MasterLee]

I had 5 gallons at one time and it made a difference but that's another story.
I'm running 2 quarts in plastic and my CPU runs 2F over ambient. More is better, you'll have time for more cooling, circulating too little too fast is not good for keeping the temps down.

 

[duke8989]

i looked into this myself and i came upon the conclusion from reading various fourms. That A smaller High Flow Resivoir , a large raidator , and high flow pump; would be much more suiteable for watercooling. Ok lets just take this into perspective. Southern Rivers = cold. Southern Lakes = hot. Still water is much more likely to heat up than moving water. keeping your water moving all the time makes better heat transfer and more cooling. Basically Its all in your Waterblocks, Flow, Radiator, And fans. Thats what you gotta do well for watercooling. I like the black Ice Pro III with triple Scythe 120mm 1600 rpm class F fans( no noise , even with 3 of them). Then the Swiftech Storm, and the Swiftech High Flow Micro Res. http://www.crazypc.com/products/93318.html

-opps sorry for my lecture.

 

[koolaidkitten]

i looked into this myself and i came upon the conclusion from reading various fourms. That A smaller High Flow Resivoir , a large raidator , and high flow pump; would be much more suiteable for watercooling. Ok lets just take this into perspective. Southern Rivers = cold. Southern Lakes = hot. Still water is much more likely to heat up than moving water. keeping your water moving all the time makes better heat transfer and more cooling. Basically Its all in your Waterblocks, Flow, Radiator, And fans. Thats what you gotta do well for watercooling. I like the black Ice Pro III with triple Scythe 120mm 1600 rpm class F fans( no noise , even with 3 of them). Then the Swiftech Storm, and the Swiftech High Flow Micro Res. http://www.crazypc.com/products/93318.html

-opps sorry for my lecture.

I totally agree with this guy.
Changing the res size will make near 0 impact on your temps. I get the same temps if have a rez or don't have a rez. Its all in the pump - blocks - choice of tube sizing.

 

[clue69less]

I was thinking of building a custom water resivoir for a water cooled system in the the range of almost a gallon. Has anyone done this or know if it would increase cooling efficency?

I have considered an infinite reservoir setup. Get rid of the pump and radiator and just plumb into the house water main.

 

[koolaidkitten]

hmmm
wouldn't that make yoru water bill high as hell?
and don't you think that would be a waste of resources?
and wouldn't all the crap in that water cause a lot of problems overtime with corrosion and unwanted biological growth?

 

[wun911]

The more the better!

Equilibrium... takes more heat energy to increase the temp of a larger volume of water. If I could I would even put the resivoir into a bucket of ice!

 

[clue69less]

wouldn't that make yoru water bill high as hell?

For the amount of hours a day I play? No biggie. People use much more watering their lawns.

and don't you think that would be a waste of resources?

Water is a renewable resource. None is consumed by this scheme.

and wouldn't all the crap in that water cause a lot of problems overtime with corrosion and unwanted biological growth?

I grew up in a 100 year old house with the original copper plumbing. I don't expect this computer to last nearly as long. Regarding biological growth, also not an issue. City water is chlorinated and flocked. Not much biological content. Plus, in a constant flow system, growth is nil. Instead of complete shutdown when not in use, leave it at a trickle.

 

[JonathanDeane]

I was thinking of building a custom water resivoir for a water cooled system in the the range of almost a gallon. Has anyone done this or know if it would increase cooling efficency?

I have considered an infinite reservoir setup. Get rid of the pump and radiator and just plumb into the house water main.

Im glad im not the only one who actualy thought of that.... If you got crazy with your OC you could use it for a preheater for your water heater lol

 

[MattC]

"Plus, in a constant flow system, growth is nil"
Wrong.
And it's not algae that grows in your system - unless you had clear tubes and light could enter. Algae is photosynthetic and will not grow without light. What you saw was what is, in general, called a biofilm. It consists of bacteria and extracellular polymeric substances, primarily, and it will form even with a constant flow, though the faster the flow and the lower the nutrients, the smaller the equilibrium size will be. Once that equilibrium size is reached, the biofilm will have a growth of "nil," but the quoted post seems to imply that none will grow.

 

[clue69less]

"Plus, in a constant flow system, growth is nil"
Wrong.
And it's not algae that grows in your system - unless you had clear tubes and light could enter. Algae is photosynthetic and will not grow without light. What you saw was what is, in general, called a biofilm. It consists of bacteria and extracellular polymeric substances, primarily, and it will form even with a constant flow, though the faster the flow and the lower the nutrients, the smaller the equilibrium size will be. Once that equilibrium size is reached, the biofilm will have a growth of "nil," but the quoted post seems to imply that none will grow.

Look at it this way - homes around the world have plumbing systems running city water through iron, PVC and/or copper pipe. How often do you clean the water pipes supplying your kitchen faucet? Is biofilm buildup shutting your house down? Fock no! If the system can flow enough to do its cooling job, then what is the protesting about?

 

[MasterLee]

Tested that yesterday, temps went up 5 C at idle
, I'll keep my 2 quarts.
You could always find a small dehumidifier and use it to chill the coolant, I had that in my 5 gallon system. but I went to my neighbors house and left it on, computer off, and when I got back I had a 5 gallon block of ice. I loved those 45 degree F CPU temps but it was just a little too big. Working on down sizing it now.
I want to use it again and regulate the coolant temps so I don't have to go through combating condensation. I think using a dew sensor will keep the coolant just right.

 

[john_thor]

For equilibrium, as people say it does nothing. However if like me you only use the comp for a couple of hours and then switch off then a large res can have an impact.

A 100W proc would take about 1.4 hours to heat a gallon of water from 20deg C to 60 deg C. Obviously the more water you have the longer it takes. Eg, 5 gallons would take 7 hours to get to 60deg.

However, once it got there you would be pretty screwed. Also, because heat transfer depends on the temp difference, less and less heat would get transferred from the water block to the hotter water.

Getting an alu res is a nice feature, but if you want performance then another rad will make much of a difference!


Ps.

I've often considered plumbing the proc to the mains water supply. We have quite high water pressure in the UK so flow would be great. Not to mention the water would be a steady 10degs or so!

 

[MasterLee]

Nice job. I think if someone is going to use a small res they should have 2 large radiators to always keep a supply of cool water. My radiator holds a quart and does very nicely.

 

[tmac]

"]stay away from alu resevoirs as most high end waterblocks are copper

and copper+alu = unhappy watercooler

also, a res like that really doesn't disspate much heat and will not affect your temps.

What do u mean ALu + copper = unhappy watercooler????

 

[tmac]

Depends, but if the reservoir is made of aluminum and with fins to add more outside surface area, then it would make a difference since it can dissipates heat. Plastic reservoirs are not that good.

Like this one for example:

Do u have this reservoir?? I'm considering getting it. I like the capacity and that it performs a function of removing some heat.

 

[Nitro350Z]

what he means by alu(aluminum) + Copper = Unhappy watercooler is that if you have aluminum and copper parts in the same loop then i believe that copper will act like an anode and aluminum like a cathode

basically electrolosys will occure and they will corrode over time - definetly not a good thing.

and like others suggested, get a better/more rads than a larger res, you will see better performance.

 

[chuckshissle]

No I don't but I'm planning to get a humongous reservior though.

 

[tmac]

what he means by alu(aluminum) + Copper = Unhappy watercooler is that if you have aluminum and copper parts in the same loop then i believe that copper will act like an anode and aluminum like a cathode

basically electrolosys will occure and they will corrode over time - definetly not a good thing.

and like others suggested, get a better/more rads than a larger res, you will see better performance.

Thanks for your response:

I understand that. So far this is what 1 have:
themochill PA120.3 triple 120 radiator
Swiftech MCP-655 pump
Danger Den Tyee
Swiftech storm

All that being the same, isn't still better if the reservoir is of the passive
type and has a very large capacity.

http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Swiftech/Mcres_micro/2.php

The above review for the Swiftech Mcres reservoir 4.5 fl oz (133 cc) - complained that the small size resulted in higher temps.

The XSPC has a 260 and a 529 ml versions. Adding a larger reservoir will not decrease the water flow through the system.

 

[adamryer]

one word, overkill. Even if u have a 2 gallon bucket sitting next to your computer if you cant remove the heat from the water fast enough its not going to matter. If you want a gallon sized res then your probably gunna need a massive radiator to go with it, and with a large rad comes the need for a larger pump too.

 

[tcdude]

so about this corosion danger a short question:

a friend of mine is building an enormous watercooling for his rig all by him self. he took an old car-cooler-grill to pump the water through, took off the shelf copper heatsinks and a rather strong aquarium pump.

so here's the question: is he also running the risk of corosion damage by mixing copper and whatever metal the cooler-grill is made of?

 

[RichPLS]

Yes, but rad grill is probably copper and lead...