Reservoir Size

[chiguy]

How does the size of a reservoir affect performance? I'm thinking that a bigger one would allow for lower water temps and therefore lower temps in general?

[Nate P.]

Bigger res equals more liquid in the system equals slightly lower temps (less than a ceclius)but that's about it.

[Digital Nirvana]

I don't think a res would help cooling down water, more like help the water stay cooler for longer as it has to heat up more water.

unless I am mistaken of course

[MpG]

Perhaps, if the reservoir gives off a little heat. The main effect is simply that it takes longer for the system to reach a steady state temperature.

[Martinm210]

Nothing really

Lets do the math:

Let's assume a 5C water to ambient radiator delta

Assume 1 liter
1,000ml of water = 1,000 grams of water

Solve for heat

q=(specific heat of H20)X(grams of H20) x dT
=(4.18 J/g-K)x(1,000 grams H20)x(5)
=20,900 Joules

Assume one hour for starters
There is 3,600 Joules per watt-hour, so
Watts = 20,900/3600 = 5.9 watts for one hour.

So with a 100watt heat load, it will get that 1 liter of water up to temperature in 3.6minutes

So...even doubling your system capacity to 2 liters will allow your temperturate to take a whopping 7 minutes to get to temperature instead of 3.5 minutes.

Not worth it IMHO...doesn't cool any better...just takes a few minutes longer to reach initial temperatures.

[smee]

Well, we (my dad and I) have a 1.5 gallon res:


It sits behind our 20":


We get pretty good temps too:

From top temp to bottom temp:
CPU
GPU 1
GPU 2
NorthB
SouthB
Water Out temp (the water in temp shows up on our rad)
All listed above are WC'ed (of course)...

Oh, and the button is from a Honda S 2000 (it's the power button ):


It probably doesn't make to much of a difference, but the res was fun to build

[septim]

bigger res more water = true

but

the water in your loop would reach point of equilibrium, given constant heat in and heat out, it would take in heat and give off heat at a constant level.

[smee]

(i'm assuming your talking to me)
It idles 28c and max load is 42c (while gaming).
But your right, it does give heat in and out, and definitely doesn't make much a difference than to have a small res.

[Martinm210]

Well, we (my dad and I) have a 1.5 gallon res:

That looks sharp!!

[Nate P.]

Nice one there Smee!

[chiguy]

Hmm, makes sense, thanks for the help =)

And that's a pretty neat res there

[septim]

i like your res smee!

[smee]

Thanks guys!
My dad and I built that res, it was pretty fun to do

[SiGfever]

The S2000 power button is the icing on the cake.

[dunn2953]

im planning to use the 1 gallon bottle that distilled water comes in for my new res. this shouldnt cause any problems will it?

i envy your res smee.

[chiguy]

I'm not sure what kind of bottle it came in but if it's sturdy enough, I can see it working.

[smee]

The S2000 power button is the icing on the cake.

Lol, thanks We had to mod it (a little) to make it work how we wanted it too.

i envy your res smee.

Thanks dunn

You should be fine using the bottle your coolant came from, as long as it's sturdy enough that it won't fall over.

Sorry chiguy, I know this is your thread.

[chiguy]

Meh, my question got answered already, it's all good =)