chilled liquid cooling blocks and parts help

[iboomalot]

ok I turned to an "expert" website that has tons of cool products and wrote them an e-mail and basically the response was




"You're really going into a field that we are not familiar with. I wish that I could help you out but I'm not sure that I can give you the best advice. You might want to try our forums because there are quite a few people on there and they may have some experience with this."

Well, I'd rather ask my questions in this forum. Any suggestions would be great. Looking for mainly performance(cold & quiet) not looks since I don't window my computer.

e-mail I sent was as following:

I am looking at having a Vapor CPU cooling system built.

It will consist of a 1/3hp condenser unit. I was planning on diverting 25% of that and put it to a helical type cooling coil. The cooling coil would chill the liquid (windshield fluid for example) down below freezing. I would run the chilled liquid to the GPU and Chipset.

My main problem is I am not versed in liquid cooling. I would like some advice and pricing from you.

I was thinking the following

Low noise pump 200 -500 GPH would be nice,, also submerged would be nice to keep noise down
Tubing
Chipset block (ASUS mobo)
GPU block (ATI 9700pro)
Reservoir that can be chilled

Kind of a start more input from you would be appreciated

Thanks for your time in this matter

How about your suggestions???

so far Iam thinking of the following

chipset:
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/product.asp?0=204&1=210&3=92

GPU:
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ex-blc-37.html

[sandman]

Good choices for the blocks, for the pump, how about a via aqua 1300, they work great for submerged use, or a Mag 3. For the tubing, I'd go with tygon 1/2" since you will be using chilled water.

[iboomalot]

tygon cool deal

any suggestions on insulation for the tubing??

[sandman]

Not sure, Alot of guys use this wrappable foam type stuff, not sure what it is called.

Anyway, then you just like put a bunch of zipties around the foam over your tubing, should work.

I'd wait for another opinion about the insulating though.

[iboomalot]

Originally posted by sandman
Not sure, Alot of guys use this wrappable foam type stuff, not sure what it is called.

Anyway, then you just like put a bunch of zipties around the foam over your tubing, should work.

I'd wait for another opinion about the insulating though.


I used some really sticky foam tape on my sprinkler system to help winterize it.

do you think something like that would work?? I got it at Lowes or home depot. The foam is like 1/4" thick.

[iboomalot]

what is a "or a Mag 3" pump??

looking for quiet and still move a decent amount of water.

Iam not cooling the CPU with liquid just the chipset and GPU.

I was thinking submerged would be the least noisy.


opinions??

[sandman]

http://www.pondandfountain.com/pumps_danner.html

danner mag 3......

[iboomalot]

thanks sandman for the link

how noisey are these units?? any experience ??

think the smaller 250 gph might do well too??

thanks for the reply

[sandman]

I think they are quiet, they should be submersed anyway.

It would do, but I'd say you might as well go for more flow, plus this one offers a lot more head, so it'll fight resistance better.

[iboomalot]

sweet

[iboomalot]

ok i've narrowed down some of the Liquid cooling parts

D-tek chip sets blocks with alum tops for the GPU and Northbridge.

Tygon tubing and I like that pump Sandman suggested.


What do you guys suggest for a reservoir solution.

I would think the pump would need to fit inside and how do you suggest keeping it from forming condensation?

[sandman]

Have you thought about a small plastic tub type thing sitting in another tub made out of foam and electrical tape made air tight?

[iboomalot]

not a bad idea

I just don't want something huge like a those igloo coolers.

thinking something twice the size of a 5.25" bay cooler/res.


but nice idea you have thanks for all your input

[iboomalot]

little tallerr than I thought but what about this???


http://www.a1camping.com/5693-718.html

or even better nice and shallow

http://www.igloocoolers.com/products/beverage/elite_half_gallon.html

whatcha think ???

[\/icious]

those coolers will probably do just fine. As far as submerging the pump, its not the best idea when chilling water only because they are made of plastic and that extra cold water around it will help make the plastic more brittle which can lead to cracking

[sandman]

Good point vicious, hadn't thought of that.

Both of those coolers look good for a res too.

[iboomalot]

I figured modifying those would not be too hard and the short one looks like a winner.

thanks for the replys

[iboomalot]

ok now need to find a cooling coil to drop into the res.

can one be hand made?? or is buying one the best way ??

[\/icious]

your going to have to make one out of copper tubing. Probably 1/4"id wil do

[iboomalot]

God I feel stupid for asking this but Iam going to.

I understand how a cooling block works liquid from the cap tube boils off in the block and goes out the suction line.

A cooper evap coil is this just a hollow copper tube with suction on one end and cap tube supplying liquid at the other end??

seems too simple to me.

[\/icious]

lol yeah basically.

[iboomalot]

sweet deal that makes doing a cooling coil for the RES easy as pie.

thanks again for the responses

[Jabo]

How do you cool you CPU?
I assume yo ugot sth like Prommie or Vapo, right?

If you want to insulate your tubing (which is quite sensible thing to do and it yields quita a performance boost if done properly) do not buy tygon and go for silicone (if you intend to chill you coolant below -25C) or the cheapest you can get if your coolant is going to run hgher temps. Tygon tubing is the most expensive one to get... and it's simply for looks!

Unless you are VERY experienced with phase change DO NOT atempt to dismantle or tweak it, not to even mention building your own one from scratch.
What most ppl do is buy window AC unit or dehumidifier or old freezer chiller unit and extremely carefuly bend exsiting piping to put evap into a res.of your choice. Use mag driven pump (Eheim) and coolant of your choice to run the system.
Eheims are very quiet pumps.
Submerging pump makes it noisier since water/coolants conduct sound 100 times betterthaqn water (figure is indicative).

Do ou want to upgrade into TEC cooling later on?

[iboomalot]

Iam making a price list so I can get accurate info before havig someone build me a system.

example buying a premade cooling coil runs 50-100.00 and then add the added expense of a Large custom resivor to hold that coil is expensive.

by finding out its simply a round coil and its construction I will simply do the following or have the following done.

Igloo 1/2 gallon elite 5.00 + hand made cooper coil to cool it 10.00 = having 1/4 of the system done for under 20.00
Priceless :D


but I do appreciate your advice.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would like to have a setup similar to this one in the picture but with the chiller coil on one of the lines.

http://www.xbox-connection.com/hostedimages/cpu&gpu[1].75.7.57.8

[hatemi]

Originally posted by iboomalot
God I feel stupid for asking this but Iam going to.

I understand how a cooling block works liquid from the cap tube boils off in the block and goes out the suction line.

A cooper evap coil is this just a hollow copper tube with suction on one end and cap tube supplying liquid at the other end??

seems too simple to me.

What i`ve read is that the best way to make evap coil is putting one smaler tube inside the other copper tubes closed end and using it as the capillar tube. That way it maximizes the preformance or the cooling. I think macci has done such a thing in the past with a R404 refridgerator compressor and has got wery impressive temps also.