Canadian Water Cooling Idea

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bonkrowave

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Oct 12, 2004
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Thoose in the know, Please Answer

While we are on the subject ..... I have a question about watercooling !

I am about to make my foray into watercooling and I have an idea that I would like to try. I am worried about one thing tho. Condensation

Since I live in Canada, I thought it would be a good idea to use the Canadian climate to my example. I am looking at the Swiftech H220 kit But I would like to make some alterations to increase cooling. The idea I have is since my computer is so close to a window ... why not stick the radiator in the window to cool down the water. It only seems logical that cooling water further would increase performace, much the same way a cool day gives a noticable increase to my 944.

So since I work at a metal Place I am already in the process of having a shroud for the raditor that will fit in my window (kinda like thoose plates for window air conditoning. Although this one will have a hood to prevent the elements from getting directly on the rad. It will also be foam backed to keep the cold from bringing my apartment to sub-zero temps.

This all seems logical to me .. except with very cool temperatures I am worried of condenation building up around CPU socket. Will this happen and is there a way to get rid of it. Also if I mix antifreeze in the water I would suspect the ice will not block flow through the rad.

Also would it be a good idea to locate the resevoir near the window as well ? to cool holding water ??

Anyway let me know I am just a huge asshat ... or if I really have something here.

Thanks

P.S. Sorry guys wrong place to post this ... my bad ,... i cant seem to delete it tho
 
I dont have any advice to give you. Yea some antifreeze will stop water from freezing. It should work as long as the coldass Canadian winter doesnt freeze or damage the hardware. You'll never know until you try it I guess. How is this for crazy? I have a friend that puts his 6800Ultra in the freezer for 10 minutes, just so he can beat the XT PE in 3dmark 05.
 
PS. U can ask a MOD to move it to the Watercooling Forum.

I think thats a good idea. I say experiment and place the radiator in different areas and choose the best place.

Ill take a XT PE, place it in the freezer for 15min, and then ill beat ur friends frozen 6800U in 3dmark05 :p
 
I don't like the idea of unnaturally cooling my electronic components. It will most definately increase component and solder joint fatigue and decrease the life of my component
 
Well, uhh... Why don't you do what I do.

I have a Den that is adjacent to the garage. I simply put the computer on a shelf in the garage, drill a fairly large hole (maybe 1 inch) through the drywall and insulation. Run the computer monitor, keyboard and mouse through that hole into the den and then reinsulate it.

When the temperature outside hits -30, the garage is usually -10. In the summer when its +30, its still usually around +20 celsius as its not a south facing garage.

Added bonuses:

No noise, as the computer is in the other room.
No extra cost to cool (all ambient).
No condensation as the whole case is at the same temperature.
 
dude as soon as the water temperature in ur system which will prolly get pretty cold is below the ambient temperature of room you will get lots of condensation
 
ZenOps said:
Well, uhh... Why don't you do what I do.

I have a Den that is adjacent to the garage. I simply put the computer on a shelf in the garage, drill a fairly large hole (maybe 1 inch) through the drywall and insulation. Run the computer monitor, keyboard and mouse through that hole into the den and then reinsulate it.

When the temperature outside hits -30, the garage is usually -10. In the summer when its +30, its still usually around +20 celsius as its not a south facing garage.

Added bonuses:

No noise, as the computer is in the other room.
No extra cost to cool (all ambient).
No condensation as the whole case is at the same temperature.
Click to expand...

Do you ever overclock when it gets really cold?
 
Sure, works great. Every winter I can overclock a decent chunk more than in the summer.

No need for watercooling, the ambient air is much cooler than minus zero in the winter here. A really big heatsink with a slow fan works a lot better than a small heatsink with a fast fan when ambient cooling like this.

Its usually a good idea to keep it on all the time, or else there is a problem with frost (not condensation, as its too cold for condensation) forming when it cools down on a shutdown.

PS: Since Calgary is not coastal, there is almost no humidity in the air here. IE: It can be -30 outside and +20 celsius inside, and yet there will be no frost or condensation on the windows because the relative humidity is so low. Downside is that the cold and dry wreaks havok on static electricity production... I swear I've fried my own personal Secure digital card three times in less than a year just by touching it.
 
It soudns like an interesting idea to me..although u might wanna watch condensation i hear it cna wrech ur CPU :eek:

lol...try it and let us know hwo it works im sure we'll be jealous and want to move to canada...
 
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