Freezone Elite x2 Build

[malkiewicz]

Recent Purchase 2 Freezone Elites: Total $450



I’m modifying my current build (Lian-Li V1200) and adding 2 Freezone Elite Coolit systems... Currently I'm using 2 radiators (DD Black Ice 360 & 120) to cool my QX9770 @ 4.2GHz, 8800 Ultra OC’d, North/South Bridge & Both Mosfets…. My current temps are 37-40 Idle & 59-62 under full load… I’m going to remove the 120 and keep the 360 to assist with cooling before it reaches the TEC…

Note: Not looking for subzero temps.... Just looking for 10-15C drop at full load... The Rad should keep me above ambient temps and prevent condensation at idle.... Will post pictures and results once the install has been completed…

New Setup: Single Loop



Revised Setup: 2 Loops

[nascasho]

Can't wait to see the final build!

[Dark Bishop]

yeah, this sounds interesting. looking forward to more.

[Ultrasonic2]

Numerous basic issues with this

1 You'll be mixing metals with the Aluminium of the Freezone and copper for everything else

2 Man with all those blocks your flow rate is going to be horrible !

3 Why bother having the Freezones if you've got a normal rad inline with it. Any possible gain from the Freezones will be lost because of the Inline rad heating the water up

4 your recycling the air. You have the rads blowing into the case .. so you blowing hot air in .. then your taking part of this and trying to use it to cooler your freezones ? thats no good

[malkiewicz]

Numerous basic issues with this

1 You'll be mixing metals with the Aluminium of the Freezone and copper for everything else

2 Man with all those blocks your flow rate is going to be horrible !

3 Why bother having the Freezones if you've got a normal rad inline with it. Any possible gain from the Freezones will be lost because of the Inline rad heating the water up

4 your recycling the air. You have the rads blowing into the case .. so you blowing hot air in .. then your taking part of this and trying to use it to cooler your freezones ? thats no good

I appreciate all of your inputs and I’m sure it’ll take a few weeks to work out all of the bugs… To most this is a waste of money and time, but it’s a hobby... If the results suck then Ooo well lesson learned - At least I had fun doing it…

1. I've been mixing copper & aluminum for about 2 years now with no issues... I'm using a commercial coolant that prevents corrosion ... It works about the same as most of the other coolants sold today for computers…



2. I'm not using the Coolit pumps... Most likely I'm going to use my 2 Alphacool Laing DDC-Pumps.... IMO this is sufficient enough to maintain good pressure / flow…

3. Very good point... I'm going to try it with and without the radiators... I’m curious to see how much of a difference this will make…

4. I've never had any real issues with my current setup... The Lain-Li case is mesh which allows for excellent ventilation...

[Spoiler]

wow, can't wait to see how it turns out! Pictures too! I imagine its going to get pretty crowded. It always looks better on sketch.

[Boogerlad]

Why lose possible performance? Sure, you fixed the corrosion problem, but now with the antifreeze stuff, you're now ruining performance. (slightly though)

[grasskicker509]

just do it...sounds like fun!

[malkiewicz]

just do it...sounds like fun!

Yeah... I'm still working on the mod but it’s taking forever for my parts to arrive… Also I’m considering upgrading to i7….

[Vinas]

Okay, I hate being the negative Nancy but IMHO these Coolit units are a waste of time and money. Hopefully you meet success but wouldn't it be better to go with a dual TEC sandwich? Condensation really isn't an issue anymore if you follow one of the guides in this forum. Personally I've been running up to -15c for over a year without any issues.

So it looks like you already purchased the units. You will possibly need a temperature controller to prevent condensation @ dew point. I say possibly because those TECs are so small it might not ever pull the temp down that low to even see a difference over regular water cooling.

More info: http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2008...eezone-elite/5

[malkiewicz]

My parts finally started to arrive and as you can see both freezones fit nicely.... I only really had one issue so far… For some reason my 2 yr old 750w power supply kicked the bucket while I was testing the chillers… It’s possible that it couldn’t handle both freezones, pumps, graphic cards, fans, CPU, ECT…. It’s a good thing I decided to purchase a new one… I was going to use my old P5E3 Deluxe MB w/ the QX9770 setup but I decided to use my new EVGA Classified w/ i7-920 instead… I also purchased a nice water block to cool down the NB, SB & Mosfet…

More to come…

[Vinas]

malki, those pics look pretty nice. If all goes well you'll have a clean build in the end.

Thanks for sharing the pics... Hope to see more as the project continues.

[Barrolde]

Hi Folks, Barry here w/ CoolIT... I am loving what is going on here. Hybrid loops may be the way forward... if you end up with results anything like some of the guys on our forums are getting adding a single 240 rad in line w/ their Elite.. you are going to be a happy man

Yeah, all of our products have always mixed aluminum (blue FHE's) w/ Copper (CPU Blocks) without ever having any issues w/ galvanic corrosion or algae. Its all about the coolant blend. Phosphates baby... phosphates!

Anyways, really excited to see how this turns out.. i'll link this in a couple of other forums too. Get to work!

[Ultrasonic2]

Hi Folks, Barry here w/ CoolIT... I am loving what is going on here. Hybrid loops may be the way forward... if you end up with results anything like some of the guys on our forums are getting adding a single 240 rad in line w/ their Elite.. you are going to be a happy man

Yeah, all of our products have always mixed aluminum (blue FHE's) w/ Copper (CPU Blocks) without ever having any issues w/ galvanic corrosion or algae. Its all about the coolant blend. Phosphates baby... phosphates!

Anyways, really excited to see how this turns out.. i'll link this in a couple of other forums too. Get to work!

Please dont do that .. if you get better temps with adding a rad in line it's time to bin the CoolIT products and go straight W/Cing

[malkiewicz]

Thanks for the suggestions and yes I’m just as curious to see the results with / without the radiator... OOoo and I decided to use the freezone illuminated logo… I think it turned out okay … Hell I figured since I’m using the product why not show it off (This is mainly for the freezone haters lol)…

Todays Pics...

[Vinas]

If they used stronger TECs or a design that gave really good OCs we wouldn't be haters.

But still, negativity aside. I'm interested in the final results. I can see the argument about adding a dual 120 in the loop. But for what price?

[zipdogso]

If they used stronger TECs or a design that gave really good OCs we wouldn't be haters.

But still, negativity aside. I'm interested in the final results. I can see the argument about adding a dual 120 in the loop. But for what price?

Your missing a fundamental point here they can't use stronger TEC's and consequently give really good OC's because they are limited by the market.

The market demands ease of use which for most Joe Bloggs computer owners means it works in their system without to much faffing about and extra hardware.
This ultimately binds them to the molex plug and it's 8amp current limit they have to run a pump, controls, TEC's etc all within the confines of 8amps.
What nobody seems to understand is that on the face of it....design wise they have very amazing units but they will NEVER win any awards for cooling levels due to the limitations of the cooling of the TEC's.
TEC-wise they have been heavily undervolted and have obviously undergone enormous amounts of testing to keep within their amperage limit and TEC-wise they done an incredible job to get where they are.
These units really are at the cusp perfect design within 8amps and that is why people have so many problems attempting to MOD them for extra performance - sticking to molex and the 8amps limit it really isn't that possible.
The only way to improve them measurably is to move the TEC's to separate power(they are 15.6v units after all.) and basically dismantle the whole unit - so why start from one in the first place ????
Sell the unit to someone - in one piece - who needs that level of technology and start fresh with bigger TEC's to start with - it will save a heck of a lot of time, money and frustration.
Take the Guy who had two boreas - that was a long winded project and ultimately cost MORE than top rated custom phase unit !! What for ????
If he wanted really cold he could of just bought Phase....If he did'nt want it really cold (and I can't remember the particulars...) and I hope he wasn't one of those who did'nt want to go below dew point, he spent far in excess of money, time and effort necessary for such results.

You may be thinking i'm pro coolit but as it happens I have never bought one, for what they do TEC-wise they are quite expensive and I have never felt compelled to buy one, even to test it, so you could call me a coolit hater but with that hate comes a degree of respect....

[Ultrasonic2]

i personally find the term "Coolit hater" to be offensive . but i'll get over it. i personally dont "hate" their products . if they built a worthy product then we'd all love them

Their ultimate problem .. is they dont want to TEC cool "properly" cos it costs to much to do so .. i mean look at the boares on frozenCPU it's like 500 dollars or something and you really need two of them these days. so the cost of a proper single unit would cost train loads.


And then there's the issues around condensation .. unless Coolit will allow their units to go significantly below Ambient then there will never really be any point to their products over a high quality W/C setup.

[kayzrx8]

i personally find the term "Coolit hater" to be offensive . but i'll get over it. i personally dont "hate" their products . if they built a worthy product then we'd all love them

Their ultimate problem .. is they dont want to TEC cool "properly" cos it costs to much to do so .. i mean look at the boares on frozenCPU it's like 500 dollars or something and you really need two of them these days. so the cost of a proper single unit would cost train loads.


And then there's the issues around condensation .. unless Coolit will allow their units to go significantly below Ambient then there will never really be any point to their products over a high quality W/C setup.

I agree. And why would u need to put a rad inline with the chiller? wouldnt this just put ambient heat into the loop? im not too familiar with coolit, correct me if im wrong.

[Ultrasonic2]

By the way I actually respect coolit. As they have been the first and last company to fully compared TEC and their advantages when using multiple ones and under volting them. It just time they came up with a new product to deal with the high out put CPUs we have now

[Ultrasonic2]

I agree. And why would u need to put a rad inline with the chiller? wouldnt this just put ambient heat into the loop? im not too familiar with coolit, correct me if im wrong.

You are correct. Putting a rad inline completely defeats the point and any advantage you could possible get from having a TEC Chiller

Now the Guy from Coolit suggested putting a RAD in line because he knows their product is unable to cool a modern CPU effectively (sub ambient or = to it) So you can get lower temps with an inline rad because the fluid temp is already over ambient.

[malkiewicz]

Guess I need some sensitivity training…. The haters part was a joke / a little added sarcasm… Not a personal attack against those who decide not to use the mentioned products… Again I apologize to all the offended members…

As I stated before this is a hobby not a money maker (Not setting records here)… Waste of money – probably yes but who really hasn’t wasted few bills before… I’ve never seen a customized computer that held its value…. Personally I’m going for the clean look with everything mounted inside the case… If I had the tools / equipment necessary to build a proper TEC cooling system I would attempt to build my own… Unfortunately tools, equipment & materials cost money too… (My tools are limited / Houses are very small where I live)

[Ultrasonic2]

Since you have 2 units i might cool well . it will be interesting to see... im probably one of the biggest money wasters here so dont worry about that to much .. i built a quad water to water TEC chiller thats just lying around.. It worked so i got board of it after 10 minutes. Now i've built a 62mm TEC block thats finished and now sitting on the bench too. I just like playing with things rather than anything else.

[malkiewicz]

I agree… I’ll spend days, weeks, and months working on projects and when they’re finished I get board of them really quick…. So I set them aside and start something else….

Today: Modded faceplate for the bottom freezone... I’ll post more pictures when it’s installed...

[Vinas]

Your missing a fundamental point here they can't use stronger TEC's and consequently give really good OC's because they are limited by the market.

The market demands ease of use which for most Joe Bloggs computer owners means it works in their system without to much faffing about and extra hardware.
This ultimately binds them to the molex plug and it's 8amp current limit they have to run a pump, controls, TEC's etc all within the confines of 8amps.

You're PTTC (preaching to the choir) Zip! We understand 7amp max molex fire hazard thing and weak wattage,etc. I guess my point is that if they targeted the enthusiast market I would give the system more kudos. I mean really the PCIe connector(s) can handle A LOT more amps @ around 30a max each. I posted the schematic stuff up last year or so directly from PPC engineering... So then they'd need a killer PSU, etc. But still there is a way to make them better IMHO.

Every now and again people post up these Coolit units/projects and it ends in failure most (maybe all) of the time.

Failure of course being a price performance ratio that is beyond reason.

Finally though, I do appreciate the creativity that goes into a build like this. So thanks for sharing the pics/progress Malkie!