Watercooling a PS3, some help needed!

[humanitybg]

First of all I'd like to say Hello! to everyone here. This is my first time posting and hopefully not the last!

Now, I've undertaken a project which might not be the easiest one but it's sort of an "exercise" for building a water cooling loop for when I get my PC next year.

I've started modding my PS3. I've already repainted it Click here. This is the basic colour scheme for my Playstation. I like how it turned out. It's my first time repainting something, so don't be too harsh!

I've already made a list of parts that I am going to use. But the thing is that I really wanted to know what waterblocks are compatible with the PS3's chips. I've seen Alphacool's dedicated PS3 waterblock and have also seen people use Koolance's GPU-200 blocks (2 of those) for both the CPU and GPU. Is there anything else I can use or am I pretty much limited to that? I've seen universal block but I'm not sure they'll fit.

Here is what I am going with (my build is Koolance only)

Pump: Koolance PMP-450
Reservoir: Pump Fitting & Reservoir Base for the PMP-450 with a 60x200mm reservoir (cylindrical, top mounted)
Radiator: HX-720 240mm, 18FPI, Aluminium.
Fans for the radiator: I just got two Thermaltake AF0030 Red LED fans, 120mm. They run at 1800+-10% RPM. I've already test them and the airflow is good! And they go with my overall colour scheme.
Power Supply: since I'm not sure if there is any other way to do this, I got a 350W power supply from a friend of mine.

As for the Tubing I'm not really sure. 1/2'' ID seems huge to me. But it should give good flow. Any ideas on this? Because I can't get my fittings before I decide on the tubing! It's also going to be UV reactive!

This is all going to sit tight (just the water cooling parts from above) in a custom Plexi tank which I'm going to assemble as soon as the parts arrive. There will be a small window on the bottom of the PS3 exactlye where the two blocks will be.

As for the liquid, I'm going with a red UV reactive liquid to match mu colour scheme. Which automatically means installing UV light inside the tank itself.

I hope you're not bored while you read this. Please share some advices on what I could change, what I could add and so on! All help is appreciated.

Cheers from Bulgaria,
-d.lesov*

 

[thequn]

well you could save some money on the pump the D5 is like crazy overkill. flow from tubeing = .01 of a degree at any size.

the koolance gpu200 is fine and adjustable for seizing to make things much eazyer.

I say good luck to thee on your quest for PS3 awesomesause.
Do you plan on closing the loop? or do you need a rez because a $1.25 20oz coke bottle works lovely as long as you don't keep it there and close the loops after you clear it of the bubbles.

 

[thequn]

Also ?WTFrak? how did you get your PS3 to lay standing up mine is rouded and just falls over. I had to buy a mount for it....... FrakML

 

[humanitybg]

Also ?WTFrak? how did you get your pas to lay standing up mine is rouded and just falls over. I had to buy a mount for it....... FrakML

I've got the old 40Gig PS3 mate. It's flat on the bottom where the hard drive enclosure is and it's got rubber feet to make it stand upright.

I'm planning to stick with the reservoir mainly for the aesthetics. I like how it looks =)

 

[humanitybg]

I'm sorry for bumping this but does no one really know what other blocks can be used with the PS3? Can the Alphacool HF-14 be used with it?

 

[Hilo1222]

I don't know many blocks that would be designed for the cell processor, actually I don't know any at all. Sorry 🙁
Edit: Can you provide some pictures of the Cell Chip, it has been a while since I have seen one and maybe you can mod a standard water block.
-Hilo

 

[Deadboy90]

Water cooled PS3? sweet! Please post pics if you ever get done!

 

[humanitybg]

Guys, thanks for replying. I'll be sure to post a picture of the chip maybe tomorrow. Meanwhile this is how my new paint mod turned out

The full album is here: http://imgur.com/a/JlBUc

Those two fans are the Thermaltake AF00030, with the blades coated with the same spray paint like the rest of the PS3 - A fluorescent MONTANA MTN 94 "AZUL FLUOR". Hope you like it =) They will go on the XSPC RS240 radiator I ordered

 

[Hilo1222]

Loving the paint theme, and I'm getting a 240 kit for my new build. Are you going to run UV-dyed water through your system? Also, have you thought phase change? JKJKJKJK

 

[humanitybg]

I'm actually still thinking about that. Since I am going for a Blue-red theme I was thinking of getting two different sets of UV tubing. The IN - Red, OUT - Blue. I'll just leave the coolant clear. But there's still time before I get there. It's just an idea. =)

 

[Hilo1222]

Wait for your real computer for a phase change system. Make sure you have a kill coil or other biocide for your water. Don't want dirty water now do ya. 😀 But get those pictures in when you can and I'll compare some amd/intel socket waterblocks that could be modded. Have fun
-Hilo

 

[humanitybg]

I say "I'm not sure" for the coolant lol. I read a bit about phase-change cooling. Seems to work like a refrigerator if I understood it right. Anyhow, here's the pictures you asked for. Thank you so much for helping me. I appreciate it =)

 

[Hilo1222]

No prob, for coolant just use distilled water bought from a local convenience store. Other than the water you need to get a silver kill-coil from an online site, don't need algae now do we. As for the water block, I found a custom ps3 one from aquatuning.com, here is the link make sure its compatible with your other parts.
Part link: http://www.aquatuning.us/product_info.php/info/p13118_Alphacool-Playstation-3-K-hler.html
Edit: Make sure it fits your model, I think it supports slim models.

 

[Hilo1222]

Also get yourself some good thermal compound like tuniq tx-4 or another similar one. The can get expensive though, I only use tuniq for my water cooling. 😀 Have fun man.
-Hilo

 

[Hilo1222]

Upon inspection we might have to do modding or do you have a slim?

 

[humanitybg]

I've got the Fat one, 40gig. I've already looked into the Alphacool dedicated PS3 waterblock but I couldn't find it in Europe (I live in Bulgaria, Eastern Europe) and that's why I opted for two separate waterblocks (Koolance GPU-200 for now). =)

 

[humanitybg]

OH MY GOD! I found in at Watercooling UK! And it's on sale. Thank you so much for reminding me, dude! I wish I could buy you a beer lol!

 

[Hilo1222]

No problem. 😀 You have to show me the end product once you're done. See if you can get some uv-reactive dye.
Edit: Currently gathering supplies to make a below ambient cooler based loosely off the design in the sticky. 😀

 

[humanitybg]

That's what I was wondering about. See my initial thought was getting UV Tubing, IN - Red, Out - Blue, to match my color scheme and just have clear water running through the tubing. I've read on several places that UV Dye bombs (Primochill offers such things) somehow screw up the tubing? I've thought about UV reactive dye. Was planning on going with a red one since my system is mainly blue, you know, for contrast. I'll do some more research on the subject ^^

 

[Hilo1222]

Well, you can look at the build I'm going to be getting this upcoming year. I'm using UV reactive dye. I'm still up in the air about the parts for cooling. 😛 Are you using CCL (Cold Cathode Lighting)? Well anyway, here is the build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/p8KE

 

[humanitybg]

Yeah I've got dual AKASA AK-178 UV lights, 31cm (12''). They are cheap and well built =)

 

[Hilo1222]

Lol, nice, well I changed the case on my build (again).

 

[humanitybg]

I've got a new question for you guys. Since I last posted I changed my parts. Now I'm going with a Phobya 150mm Black Nickel res, a Phobya DC12-220 pump and a XSPC RS240 radiator. The waterblock we already established is the one from Alphacool, (Thank you Hilo1222!)

Now I've got a bigger problem, a more...aesthetic one. Since my color scheme is Red/Blue, I can't figure out a way to make my tubing. I want to have both the colors in the tubing but I'm not sure what I should with it. Here are my options:

A) UV Red Tubing combined with UV Blue tubing, one following the other. Clear liquid.

B) UV Red tubing followed by clear tubing, UV Blue liquid

C) UV Blue tubing follow by clear tubing, UV Red liquid.

But the thing is: I'm not sure if the UV liquid is not going to mess with the color of the tubing, or is it not going to be an issue? By " X followed by Y" I mean that if the first tube that goes into the IN port is UV Red, the one that comes from the OUT will be UV Blue. Just a quick clarification, for those who can't understand me =) I really hope you guys can help me with this!

Cheers!

 

[rubix_1011]

Did you find blocks for the normal PS3 or the PS3 slim? Mine is a slim and I was looking at having to use universal blocks to fit as I couldn't find any for the slim. Very interested to see how this turns out.

Your colored tubing will end up looking darker like a dark purple or plum color if you use one color tubing and the other color coolant. It really depends what tubing and how opaque it is and if there is a lot of light present or not. My Primochill LRT blue is a very rich blue color and I doubt I could see color through it, but color might cause less light through the tubing, making it appear darker. It really would depend on the tubing color being used and how much opacity it has, but if you really want 2 different colors, easiest would be 2 different tubing colors...I wouldn't even mess with coolants, but I'm a distilled purist . I've used a couple coolants in the past and haven't been impressed with performance, but they were different colors...

If you want to do color do either both colors of tubing or do one color tubing, other clear and use dye vs. coolant. That's my vote.

 

[humanitybg]

Hey mate! Thank you so much for replying. Right now the only tubing available where I live is Masterkleer. I've seen some comparisons with Primochill and Primo wins by a longshot. I will try to order some from Amazon UK, at least they arrive fast!


As for the waterblock, the block that I found, the Alphacool Playstation 3 Waterblock, is not compatible with the PS3 slim as far as I understand. Since I own a Phat PS3 I havent' really been interested in the Slims 😀

I also might purchase two sets of tubing, just for the fun of it and do a... dry-run with a small piece of tubing to see how it looks, how dark it gets and so on!

Cheers!