Watercooling in extreme weather / wide temperature ranges

[snitzle]

I am currently purchasing parts for a microATX as well as a mITX build. I already have an i5 4690K processor (as well as an i5 4590) and will be using the Hadron Air for the ITX build, and either an Aerocool DS Cube or Fractal Design Arc 2 Mini for the mATX build.

I live in Wyoming, a place where the temps at night (or even the day) can literally change by 40-50 F in a 24 hour period, often times from well above freezing to below freezing. Whichever one ends up being the "overclocking" machine will live in my garage office. Although mostly insulated, the temps in here likely range from 80 F+ in the summer to -10 or -20 F (at times) in the winter. Obviously I would need a water cooling solution in the summer but not so much in the winter!

If it were cold all the time I would like to choose the Hadron mITX as my "overclocking" build and just use air cooling (thus requiring no modifications). But I don't think it would be able to handle the 3-4 months during the summer in the 70s to 90s F, maybe not even at stock speeds. But my guess is that I will have largely the same seasonal issue with the larger (i.e. more space) mATX build, even if it will handle the summer months a bit better.

Obviously I would like to avoid having to "swap" air cooling / water cooling systems twice a year in the garage machine (or lug it into the house every night!), so I'm thinking my best bet will be to use the mATX build with water cooling in here. But my question is: will my water cooling system freeze when it goes below 32 F - and especially below 0 F or even colder? I know they normally have an antifreeze component in the liquid but I was unable to find any ambient temp parameters, at least on Corsair's or Fractal-Design's sites.

So, just go water cooling and cross my fingers in the winter? Any advice or novel solutions are appreciated.

 

[Epsilon_0EVP]

Get triple 290X's and an FX-9590, and during the winter leave them on all the time bit-mining? 😛

On a more serious note, I'm not really sure what a good solution to this is. However, I think even 90F is "manageable" for the computer; you should definitely lower the overclock in the summer and the temperatures will be higher, but I think the machine will still run well with air cooling. I would definitely not want to risk freezing in my system, though. Besides, at such low temperatures, your computer may even accumulate moisture depending on the air humidity, which would not be good at all for the components.

 

[Kevinmack]

We need to set the temperature of the air cooling systems according to the summers and heating temperature. Know more about it here at http://www.airdexinc.com

 

[rubix_1011]

If you use distilled water like you should, yes, it can freeze if the system isn't running, but most people don't use antifreeze for watercooling coolants. Now, if it is a 24/7 machine, I don't see you having issues using just distilled water, but if for some reason the system power shuts down, you would be susceptible. If it remains always running, the pump and components are going to be dumping enough heat in the loop to prevent it from freezing. You *could* go with a glycol or antifreeze mixture but you are then creating a more viscous fluid for your pump to push.

I personally wouldn't use watercooling in an environment where you are certain it will be below freezing temps, even if you plan to leave the PC on 24/7...power can go out something like that causing the system to shutdown putting you at risk for freezing...potentially causing blocks and radiators to crack. There are always ways to add fail safes (secondary pump on UPS) or even a space heater. Just sounds like a lot of risk when air cooling would be safer in an environment where you are certain freezing temps are going to be known.