Anyone using chilled water? I am

G

genen

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Apr 14, 2004
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After being frustrated at room temp water cooling solutions I've upgraded to a chilled water/antifreeze (55F) running to both my P4 3.4 (OC 4.0GHz) and X800 XT PE (526MHz)... I'm wondering if anyone else has done this?

I'm using 3/4in hoses which split to 3/8 and 1/4 in for the CPU and GPU respectively. The Chiller is a 1/3HP model with 40F maximum chilling capacity and the Pump is a 350GPH marine aquarium pump with Micron filter. Total cost is estimated at $600-700 to cool a $300 CPU and $500 GPU.

CPU is normally at 66-68F (coolant is 55-58F) and GPU is 62F
Under load CPU shoots to 80F and GPU to 76F

I'll try to include photos either as in-line or links...

Gene

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I had a home made dehumidifer water chiller set up for a while, but the added noise/heat/risk of parts dying due to condensation or leakage became too much for me. Since I got all my new parts together, I've been using air cooling.

With coolant temps as low as they are, don't you get any condensation on those tubes? I highly suggest insulating them if you have not already done so.
 
You could have used a swiftech thermal electric cpu block and then gotten a chiller from them, http://www.swiftnets.com/products/mcw462.asp, although they discontinued it you can special order it from around 200-300 bucks.... Also, haven't gotten around to wcing yet, but from my understanding, your cpu will cool down to ambient room temp at lowest?
 
Glyphic said:
Also, haven't gotten around to wcing yet, but from my understanding, your cpu will cool down to ambient room temp at lowest?
Click to expand...

with active cooling you can get sub ambient temps
 
WuTangClam said:
I had a home made dehumidifer water chiller set up for a while, but the added noise/heat/risk of parts dying due to condensation or leakage became too much for me. Since I got all my new parts together, I've been using air cooling.

With coolant temps as low as they are, don't you get any condensation on those tubes? I highly suggest insulating them if you have not already done so.
Click to expand...

The sweet spot I found is coolant at around 55F - if I go lower then I start seeing condensation. At 55F the tubes are cold, but there is enough air circulating around them that condensation does not have a chance to form. Coldest I ran is about 42F and I did have to wipe the tubes ever hour to prevent dripping.

CPU is about 10F above coolant at idle and about 20F above coolant while playing games - always below room temp though.
 
Wow, I can't believe this idea hadn't even occured to me before. I know we have at least one of these water chillers lying around the lab that's not in use (FDA guidelines and all mandated that we replace it for a newer version I believe). I know that this thing can get the water down to really low temperatures, to the point where the tygon tubing will actually stiffen and there's almost like an ice condensate film coating the tubing. I don't see any need for running it quite that low, but speaking hypothetically... if I was to run it at a temp where condensation was appearing on the lines how would I go about insulating them?
 
Insulating pipe wrap at your local hardware/home improvement store, assuming you have a 1/2" system.
 
I'm running a chilled water setup. I have a radiator mounted inside a window A/C unit. My water temp hovers around 17*C and the AC unit keeps the air nice and dry.
 
I posted a thread about the polar bear chiller on here before. Glad to see someone has actually tried it. I got some of the same responses you are, ppl who are so wrapped up in getting it absolutely as cold as they can. I like what you have done, the sweet spot is as cold as you can get it without condensation. Screw all that insulate everything trash, if you have to insulate to beat condensation then thats just a risk I can't see introducing into my system. Your overclock is great and I haven't heard of anyone doing a lot more with those wrapped up tight sub-zero systems. I live in an area where the dewpoint is usually between 70 and 90 degrees outside, I have no idea what the inside dewpoint would be in my air conditioned apartment, my hesitation stems from that though and how much does it vary. It would be a shame to adjust it as you have by eye to that sweet spot then have your dewpoint rise over night frying your system with condensation by morning. I guess with enough airflow in the case that may not be such a likely problen though. Anyway, great job!
 
astolpho said:
Anyway, great job!
Click to expand...

Thanks dude! I keep inside temp about 75 year round (I have 125G fish tanks).

Informally I found that dewpoint is around 60F inside... so chilling the coolant to 55F is about as cold as you want it with the CPU running at about 65F then - the chiller will go to 40F but that is too cold.

Biggest problem is the power use. Between the chiller, pump, PC PS, monitors, etc. there is over 1KWH being used - and all that heat gets dumped into the room, so you need to run the AC much more, so add another KWH or so...

Don't even think about trying this in CA!!!!
 
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