Please help cooling 4 CPUs

[wmandra]

Ok, so here it goes. Currently I have a dual Athlon MP rig which is watercooled with temps around 40c, of course I have to have the latest and greatest so I am getting ready to start building a dual Opteron rig. Both machines will be in Yeong Yang cube server cases.

So, here is the challenge, I want to modify a third case to house a cooling system capable of bringing both machines to atleast -0 (or lower if possible). The main idea I have in mind is to stack all three units, with the cooling unit in the center, the case for the cooling unit is a rackmount external HDD case (with an ID of 17.5" x 16.5" x 6"), since I can remove all 9 drive bay covers I would also like to make a acrylic res that would fill in the whole front of the case. Now the hard part, how to possibly make this work. The idea I'm toying with is to run RES->Inline chiller (using HX)->Y Splitter->Pump 1->CPU1->CPU2-RES ..... Y Splitter->Pump 2->CPU3->CPU4->RES

Here are my possible concerns with this design:
1. RES temp might drop below ambient and cause condensation (especially with an acryllic window)?
2. What to use for a chiller? A home / fishtank inline type chiller? Or a window AC unit with the evaporator replaced with an HX?
3. Which type of HX to get and where to get one?
4. Possibly using an MCW-CHILL and add another cooling loop for the TECs?
5. Anything else that could cause both systems to fry!!!

Any and all help will be appreciated. My budget really isn't an issue, basically whatever it takes to get this to work. I already have a spare window AC unit that I can use, but the problem is size, I need the chiller to be as small as possible so that it will fit in the case with the RES, the pumps can go into the cube server cases.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[Tedinde]

First off welcome to Xtreme, what forum is your usual hang out if i may ask??

Hmm you have me thinking now. I just put together 2 duallie ASUS PCDL rigs with a pair of 2.8 XEON "MO" chips, both @ 3.6ghz on air. but i have a pair of Swifty 462-ut waterblocks im about to mount, ANd i can get more prett cheap.

I used to have a YY case, and i loved all the room and the 2 chamber design. That was 4 years ago. I ended up selling it with a duallie AMD setup/watercooled with the same swiftech blocks.

Those cases are about $175 each bare if i remember. Im thinking about your whole setup now, and i can just picture that sweet setup if you pull it off!!!

That's going to be hard to pull off your temps with a fishtank chiller. And a window air conditioner will do it. But your wanting it inside the YY case. Man that's going to dump a lot of heat into the room!!! And using the Window airconditioner in the YY case, your going to have to cut the MB tray out. I had my Vapo PE mounted in my YY case for a couple months so it is doable.

Im subscribing to this thread. You have my interest, since im doing the same thing. I've been thinking like i said about watercooling both rigs and hoping for dual 4ghz duallie xeons. I love the 4 cpu's showing up in the task manager!!!\


Lets see some more posts out of you also, Dont post one time then dissapear. we will hunt you down, what your thinking of doing only belongs here @ xtreme dont let us down!!!!

[wmandra]

Thanks for the replay, I was actually refered here from someone over on the pro-cooling forum, usually I'm on the 2cpu.com forums (I'm a bit of a dually junkie).

I'm only using the YY cases for the actual computers themselves, like I memtioned in my post above I would like to get the rest of the cooling system in a rackmount 9 bay HDD case. The biggest issue for the cooling system is size, how to get something to cool 4 AMD CPUs to 0c in 15.5"x12"x6"?? Of course the pumps would be in the YY cases, so that would free up some room. The res I'm planning on building will be 15.5"x5"x6" OD propably out of 1/2" lexan.

Hopefully tommorow I will have some time to do a Photoshop image so that everyone can get a better idea of the look I'm going for.

Thanks again,
Bill

--Edit
I decided to take some time now and do a quick photoshop of the design
http://home.earthlink.net/~mandraw/wc-design.jpg

[Vandread]

U wana chill 4 cpu's?
Remember... u gota isolate all 4 of them including all tubing etc :stick:
Maybe a chiller which chills the water to a nice ambient temp is somewhat safer ;)

About the swifty cooler: dont do it :P just dont, waste of time, just use a decent chiller. About the chiller look for something that can chill XXX-watts @ 0 degrees C (where XXX = total watts of the cpu's) with a thermostat so u can up it to about 20 C so the chiller doesnt have to work very hard.

If you really want sub 0 temps uhm... good luck? or: slap some tecs on all cpu's so the isolation is eazyer and get a HUGE radiator :P

A fishtank chiller wont do the job i think? Maybe you could ask chilly1 about the LiquidFrostbyte. (sticky @ the top)

For a pump: Iwaki with high head :)

Hope my ideas are usefull. Good luck. Keep us posted about your project :banana4:

[wmandra]

Well, I looked up the thermal data on the AMD processors and figure the CPUs will generate approx 320W of heat. So with that in mind, what would it take to build a cooling system to bring the temps down to atleast 20c, it's sub-ambient (current room temp is about 26c, but it varries). Remember the entire cooling system (minus the pumps) has to fit in a container approx 15.5"x12"x5.5" ???

Please keep the suggestions coming,
Bill

--Edit
I figured out the volume for the Res and it would be 1.26 Gal. With a Res that large is there a heatercore available with approx dimension of 10"x6" that could handle the heat load from all four processors?? Another Idea I had was to use a standard WC loop to cool all 4 CPUs then add a chiller loop to circulate cold water into the RES. I have attached a jpg with this design...

[wmandra]

Ok, here is what I came up with so far....

The Thermochill HE120.2 radiator claims it can dissipate up to 400W of heat to within 10c of ambient. If thats the case, I'm almost where I want to be. Then I took a look at the IceProbe Aquarium chiller, which is capable of cooling 10gal of water to 6-8f below ambient. So I'm thinking that by going with the 120.2 RAD and the IceProbe in a 2gal RES I should be able to get temps to atleast ambient, have the cooling unit fit in the space available, and be able to handle the heat load from all 4 CPUs.

Any thoughts???

Bill

[Rehtaf]

Hello everyone. I'm the new guy. What you are talking about building is not much different than what I'm currently running. Though its much larger than what you specified, maybe it will give you some ideas.

click here (http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=358726)



A fishtank chiller wont do the job i think?

Thats what everyone told me including the people who made the chiller. So...I built it anyway. :D

[wmandra]

Rehtaf, your setup looks really good, anyway you could post a diagram of your sys flow??

As for my setup, I think I came up with a compromise. Sub-Zero and Sub-Ambient temps are out. I decided to purchase a third YY cube to house the cooling system for both computers which will consist of 2 loops (1 per PC) with an MCP650 Swifty blocks and 2 Thermochill 120.2 Rads (1 per loop) connected to a single 1 gal Res which will have an aquarium IceProbe in it.

The third case with the cooling system will also have its own power supply for the pumps, chiller, and rad fans. I came up with a wiring scheme using some relays and diodes to allow the thrid PS to be turned on by either one of the main PSUs, it also applies power to each loop independantly, so if only 1 of the computers is on only it's w/c loop will have flow.

Construction will start in the next week or so. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it will most likely be awhile before the project is complete, but I will keep you guys updated with pics of my progress throughout the build.

Oh, one last asthetic question... Since all 3 YY cubes will have windows in the side, should I paint the inside of the cases, or leave them bare metal???

Bill

Note: I attached an image of the w/c systems design for you guys...

[Rehtaf]

Something like this.......

************|--filter---chiller---|
************|-----pc----------|
res----pump----|-----pc----------|----res
************|-----pc----------|
************|-----pc----------|

Not going to be like this for long though. Gonna rebuild the intake and return manifold so it has 8 outputs and 8 inputs respectively. Also, going to get a larger filter so i can run the the filter and chiller in series. Only the pc's will be run in parallel. Be done next week if my parts arrive on time.

"Oh, one last asthetic question... Since all 3 YY cubes will have windows in the side, should I paint the inside of the cases, or leave them bare metal???"

Build it first....then worry about making it look good. Personally, I wouldn't paint it.

[wmandra]

Rehtaf, I almost forgot to ask you, what chiller are you using in your setup??

Thanks,
Bill

[Rehtaf]

Im using an arctica, 1/5 hp model.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_chillers_titanium_arctica_jbl.asp?CartId=

Aqua logic are supposed to be the best
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_chillers_aqua_logic_delta-star_cyclone.asp?CartId=

[Rehtaf]

I would like to point out the drawbacks to runnning a system like this:

1. Power consumption. The chiller im using pulls 5 amps and takes around 7-8 amps just to turn the thing on. I had to rewire my office on 3 different breakers. The cooling circuit(pump and chiller) is on a 20 amp breaker by itself.

2. Heat. The chiller puts out a lot of heat when running. If your in a small room expect the room temp to go up 5-10f. Locating the chiiler in a different part of the house would be wise.