My Quest/Silent but Deadly Water Cooled....

[zippyc]

Hello! I am new to this forum, and wanted to get some opinions.

I built my first machine six months ago. During the process of research and tweaking since then (reading forums and getting advice of friends), I decided to move to water cooling. I did this for overclocking benefits but, more importantly, because high-speed CPU and GPU fans are too loud to listen to all day, in my opinion! Since the start, I have moved from one, to two, to five waterblocks (3 on graphic card.) Spent $140-$150.00 on blocks, and doubled my return on investment in performance (had I bought stock XP2100 and Ti600 and not overclocked instead). Water cooling is the best thing since sliced bread to me.

Now I am in search of the best noise/performance ratio I can get. Now I am on a quest for a Silent But Deadly machine. My SBD project.

Here is my “Quiet” rig, where I am roughing in the placement of the manifolds. (pic. attached):

XP1600 AGOIA-Y@ 1754Mhz, running stable at 166FSB, MSI KT3 Ultra, 512M (2 sticks) Crucial PC2200, Gforce 3Ti200 o-clocked to 220/550, geminicool.com spiral clear top copper waterblocks on CPU(Hi-Flo) and Northbridge Chipset, Geminicool Anodized 3 pc (GPU/Mem.) waterblocks on Gforce, Custom $10.00 “Home Depot” copper sealed 4 way manifolds (look like 2x3 inch polished copper kegs, I have pics.), and prototype external heat exchanger from my friend at coolwatertech (External coolwatertech 295GPH ½” ID pump enclosed in a triplesoundbaffled slaved enclosure with 110 CFM flowing quietly over a 6x8 heater core, with watertemp monitor, limited prototype.) I installed the Antec Quietpower 430W PS, and with the water cooling and a near silent heat exchange, I am darn near silent. For temp. testing I am also using the DiskDoc 8 Way thermal monitor. All in an Antec 1040B Tower case with window.

Now my hard drive (40G MX6L040J2 7200RPM) is the loudest device in the room (Except for my TDK CD-RW, when it spins….hovercraft is a comin!) I received the 80GB 7200 Maxtor fluid drive last week, and the other one is going in the wife’s Tivo. (Was able to justify that purchase to her…)

Very happy with the results…without any mods on my hardware or case my XP1600 is performing better than a stock 2100…CPU cost me about $60.00. And did I mention my system is now darn near silent? I have to laugh. :-)

My next step is unlocking the chip and maxing the 1600 out. But that is not enough for me now that I have caught the bug!!! I just received my 80G fluid-drive maxtor to address the hard drive noise. (The CD access does not bother me because it is not countinuous.) Will build up to my ultimate box in the next two to three mths.. (lot’s o cash required, not enough paychecks!)

Ordering single 512M PC 3200 CAS 2.0.this week. Soon after the Radeon 9700 PRO (any good waterblocks recommended for it yet?)
Then MB (with better than 5 multiplier)? Abit? K7?
XP2400/2600 too…while keeping the noise down.

I have been searching for a decent (non-aluminum) hard drive cooler (water). Any suggestions? I want to encase the drive to kill the sound, while keeping it cool. I have the 4th hose ready to run.

Anyone heard about when the Socket A 400 boards are going to hit the market?

Peltiers and water chilling will come last. I’m not willing to go to phase change cooling…too darn loud!@!
Anyway, advice, opinions and similar experiences will be welcomed.

Zippyc
:-)

[JBELL]

www.xtwerkz.com ... SBD is all Swiftech QPower case


I would go with no other case!!!!

[RichBa5tard]

If you want a truly silent system, dump the maxtor and get a seagate barracuda 5, by far the most silent 7200rpm drive (and not too slow either).

I wouldn't recommend using pelts in the future, they cool well, very well, but even a 80W pelt heats up your water significantly. Be aware that you'll need to cool your rad better => louder.

Watercooling your PSU may be the last step your going to take, but it will be necessary to have a silent system...

The only 2 remaining fans (after I've watercooled my PSU next week) will be 2 120mm 55CFM papst fans @ 5V, which is virtually unhearable, to cool down my rad (black ice 2). Have fun building your DBM :)

[zippyc]

JBell,

I forgot to include my picture! The black wires are temporary themal probes and I had roughed in the pipes and manifolds.

I'm sure the swiftech is a nice case. Are they expensive ($350-$400?). How many blocks are you using?

I went to the Swiftech site and it has the noise rated at 34Db. Although quiet, still a little too loud for my efforts (can you hear the pump hum? How close is it to you?) I also already invested in my case (which is black and has a window) and in my quiet power supply. The beige swiftech looks kinda ordinary. Does it come in any other colors?

The external heat exchager is an easy add on (I can put it out of site in my closet, but don't need to) and I can use it when I get the aluminum case I really want.

Do you know of any good water cooling solutions for hard drives?

Thanks!

[JBELL]

Originally posted by zippyc
JBell,


I'm sure the swiftech is a nice case. Are they expensive ($350-$400?). YES correct on price range but construction quality and size makes it worth it!!!

How many blocks are you using? 2 one on cpu andone on vid card

I went to the Swiftech site and it has the noise rated at 34Db. Although quiet, still a little too loud for my efforts (can you hear the pump hum? NO you can not hear the pump
How close is it to you?) It is maybe 3 feet?
I also already invested in my case (which is black and has a window) and in my quiet power supply. The beige swiftech looks kinda ordinary. Does it come in any other colors? no it doesn't but its size alone is impressive from as I am not a beige fan at all

The external heat exchager is an easy add on (I can put it out of site in my closet, but don't need to) and I can use it when I get the aluminum case I really want.

Do you know of any good water cooling solutions for hard drives?

Thanks!

[zippyc]

RichBa5tard,

Maybe I should put that new 80Gb in the Tivo instead of the 40 ??? I'll try the maxtor first since I have it already. Are you custom building your PS cooling? Somthing about water in power supplies make me squeemish...I'm nutz, but you're crazy! :-). I would not have the guts for that. Post pictures, will you?

With three blocks and lots of overclock I'm running my radiator fans at 1/3rd and can't hear the exchanger three feet from me the computer. I also have six feet of hose and it fits in my closet (I can close the door, closet has air conditioning).

Do you know the new Antec Quietpower Power Supplies? My 430 also controls the speed of my case fans (thermally sensitive) and I have never had a case temperature high enough to kick the fans from thier lowest settings, where they spin just about the same as 5V.... Works fine for me. Did you eliminate your case fans entirely? How?

Just for fun I am attaching the other pic. I wanted to show...my ghetto $10.00 4-way manifold. Made of two 2 inch copper pipe ends over a two inch pipe sleeve, all mibs and seams soldered....and lots of sandpaper. Done with no special tools other than hot flame for solder. They work great, and I put a thermister on top of the exit manifold to read temp differences.

I look forward to seeing your project!

[sysfailur]

Hahah very nice! Don't those manifolds slow down flow a crapload though? And all manifolds in general?

[zippyc]

Yes,

I agree that any manifold is restrictive. So are any T or Y fittings I've seen. I'd love to hear of a good alternative. That's why I'm using a bigger pump than my old Eheim 1048 (almost 2x the flow of the Eheim). Using a Bazooka to kill a Mouse. It's not clear in the pictures, so let me explain.

I have a deliberately large 295 GPH pump (unrestricted) pumping six feet into the single 1/2" id manifold inlet (that matches the 1/2" outlet of this pump and most pumps I've seen). The pumps 1/2" outlet, being the first point of restriction, dictates that I realise no benefit in going to larger than 1/2 ID hose on my system, so 1/2 it is.

The water is pumped at high velocity though the 1/2 ID inlet into the manifold, swirls (inefficient, I know) and splits four ways, and then flows out of four smaller 3/8" id outlets.

The manifold inlet flow velocity and pressure is deliberately high, though. Because the area of the inlet is appx 1/3 of the total of the four outlet areas, I should (redneck math, no real world inefficiencies accounted for) get 1/3rd or a little less less the initial inlet velocity going into each of the four 3/8" foot-long runs to the blocks. That's more like what I was looking for in velocity to each block. It's really less than that because the blocks combined are more restictive than all four outlets combined.

Currently I do not have a hard drive cooler, so the pressure is split three ways as it is configured today.., the fourth loop is dead-ended on both (cold in/hot out) manifolds.

I can see through the clear (not acrylic, which cracks) tops to the copper blocks on the CPU and Nortbridge that they prime really fast (can't visiually track a bubble around the spiral....it's flowing way too fast).

Bottom line is that I am getting plenty of pressure to clear all lines and blocks rapidly, and cooling all blocks in parallel gives me better (lower temp) and equal water input into each of my critical cooling areas (Gforce and CPU are my main concerns. Could have cooled the Nothbridge with a fan...but that's not the point, is it!)
Don't worry, I will be working on a more elegant solution soon.

But not bad for $20 (US) at the hardware store (to complete both).

I also considered cooling in serial, but serial systems raise the water temps sequentially at each exchange point. I get a better temp differential this way (lower initial H2O temp. at each block = better Delta T at each block.) I am not throwing warmer then warmer water at the last link in the chain.

I evidently have lots of headroom left in my borrowed heat exchanger. With five waterblocks and heavy use (Heavy Gaming, CPU burn) I can keep the water temps around 8 Degrees F. above ambient temp. at 1/3 fan speed...really quiet. I think it will handle the hard drive coolers (still searching for reccomendations there...), no problem. Water temp. goes to a slighly higer differential running MadOnion 2001 because of all the heat on the overclocked Gforce and the addition of the Northbridge block. I just turn the fan speeds up to half on the exchanger and it's handled, no problem.

I'm unlocking my CPU tomorrow, and should get my Radeon 9700 by Friday (orderd it today!). Could not wait the two weeks for prices to come down...

Thanks for the question! How did you cool yours?

[IFMU]

Very nice setup there.
I like the way you did the split for each device. Im sure with a powerful enough pump, even the head loss wouldnt be anything to worry about. Ive seen a few different things made up for water cooling hard drives but Ive had some troubles finding it all. One Ive found so far is this (http://www.digital-explosion.co.uk/public_html/Tutorial_HDWaterBlock.html) which from what I can see there, is not overall too impressive. Kinda generic IMO.
Ill keep lookin and see if I can find one of those blasted things again.
Keep up the work there!!!

[IFMU]

Heres one (http://www.sharkacorp.com/cgi-bin/TLSstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=in-wc-hdd)

Heres a lil something on quiet cooling
http://fredrik.hubbe.net/watercool.html

Another?
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/silentcomputer.html

[wymjym]

Originally posted by sysfailur
Hahah very nice! Don't those manifolds slow down flow a crapload though? And all manifolds in general?

Hi,
Manifolds, designed around a certain criteria do not need to hurt flow. It appears that in Zippyc’s situation there are more gains than losses by porting the liquids to each waterblock from a single (copper keg?) location and then returning these liquids (at the different speeds....dictated by the water block restrictions) to a central return (keg).
I can see a more elegant solution based on this approach but it may only be more athletically pleasing (in my eyes) as what it there presently appears to be a very efficient.
Keep up the good work.
wj