Ghetto Water Cooler

[titan151]

So I recently Picked up a cheap water cooler off e-bay. It was an amazing 35 bucks. The anxin whatever. I didn't expect much and that's kinda what I got. The water block apears to be nothing more then hollow copper box (fairly thin) with little more then the flat surfaces within (no channels to route water). So the other day at compusa I noticed at the bottom of a stack of clearance items they had a koolance water block marked down several times from 50 to 9 bucks. I figured what the hell could always use it for something. So I swapped out the ghetto block and put in the koolance block and who and behold my temps are down into high 30's from high 40's. (The original block was almost warmer then my air cooling setup). That said it's not a horrible system. I just ordered a new pump/reservoir with 125 gph. Pretty soon I guess I will have replaced the whole thing!

I should add that I cracked the cheap pump/res combo. The plastic isn't so strong and I sprayed a whole bunch of compressed air into it (air in a can). When I added the fluid it instantly froze and cause the plastic to fracture. Hoot!! New reservoir is aluminum. Next up I should toss the radiator. I guess you pay for what you get.

So if your gonna get a good cooling system spend the money and plunk down 200 bones for the good stuff. No point waisting a 100 bucks now then another 100 later.

 

[tehandydumke]

i didn't read your thread but ghetto water cooling sounds bad

 

[NotVery[H]]

heh, no reason to spend "200 bones" all at once.
I did my whole watercooling setup for like, 150...300gph pump, DD RBX, nice clear tubing from mom and pop shop, heatercore, 120mm YStech...load temps of 40C in a room thats like, 90 F

 

[weapon--]

$200....hmmmm. what can you build for $200.

C110 copper plate, $10:

add a little torch action after some cutting of the plates with the ubiquitous dremel:

after a little polishing and the addition of 1/2" barbs:

radiator:
heatercore from autozone + paint + fittings + side plates + 1/4" plexi for shroud contruction + two 120mm SanAce fans off ebay auction- prolly about $60 for all of it (bit of time consumption though):

that leaves me with $130 to spend.
time to drop $40 for badass pump -- Pentair Aquatics Lifegard Quiet One- 3000 from Big Al's
780 gph, 1" MPT / 1" MPT, 4.25" x 4" x 4.25", 10.50 ft max head 2.4 lbs

$90 left
clearflex from mcmaster car, 1/2"ID - $10

$80 left...
too much cash left over - might as well build a waterblock for the n.bridge with a cold plate + 80w pelt + insulation + quick and dirty mounting plate from 1/4" plexi:

rinse and repeat the above process for a vid card block...but a larger pelt.

$30 left (yeah, you can build a waterblock for the n.bridge and another for the vga with pelts + the required insulation for $50...you just have to dig a little).

metal hose clamps for everything, t-line fitting, cap for t-line. $15.

last $15....beer of course.

CPU temps - about 4C over mobo case reading under load, n.bridge is 0 deg C most of the time, VGA card is also frosty.

of course, if you are gonna drop $200 you might as well build phase change stuff...

add an evap brazed together with some copper from online metals:

little bit better temps for the CPU:

that was just a bit over the $200 mark -- seems like I spent about $220 for that one.

torch + dremel = high speed cooling for cheap