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Passive watercooling...

R

Riptide_NVN

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 1, 2005
Messages
2,063
I've had a lot of issues over the last year with power supply fans, GPU cooler fans, and CPU cooler fans developing odd and annoying noises. Chirps. Squeaks. Ticks. I'm kind of getting tired of it really. Even my brand new Zalman VF700 has some bearing noise that is audible and bothers me.

So I want to get away from fans as much as possible. The two solutions I'm looking at are the Reserator Plus and this:
http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-rad-33.html

The Innovatek one seems pretty pricey. Does anyone have experience with it? Is it really superior to the Zalman?

Another concern I have is longevity. I worry that if I upgrade to DX10 card will this thing be adequate for it or not. Is this a legitimate concern in this scenario?

I hate having to spend this much money but I am so sick of fans. I am not overclocking (at least not the CPU, I use overdrive on the GPU but that's it).
 
The Innovatek ones are very nice, especially with the Innovatek Konvektor MAXI Booster Kit.

Most of the people I've seen use them though use them as a booster still using an active radiator somewhere in the loop. I've personally never been that much of a fan of passive coolers. On my last build I used a second radiator I had laying around as an inline booster just to let a little more heat out of the loop. If you're using high-heat parts I'd suggest the Konvektor Booster at least.

Now if you're looking to use a tower cooler, check this bad boy out:
Thermaltake CL-W0040 Symphony Tower. Sure, it's got fans but it's got 5 of them, even if one fails you're probably still good. 1100mm high? Woooooo. :D
 
Wow the Thermaltake looks awesome!

Here is the thing. I guess I'm just screwed over then. I have horrible luck with fans. If they have a unit somewhere in their inventory with a problem then I will get it. That is why I was trying to get away from them completely. I just don't trust my luck here dude.

I appreciate the response and the advice though. :)
 
Try getting away from fans with ball bearings, the Panaflos with hydro wave bearings (basically trapped oil) have zero bearing noise so those coupled with a good rheobus will equal a zero noise solution.
 
Yeah but it's hard to get air cooling on my GPU with a panaflo. I need a simple and effective passive heatsink I can put on there and then a bracket that I can mount a panaflo on the next slot over so it blows air over that.

Any ideas?

Also getting away from fans w/bearings on PSU - good luck. ;)
 
My point was that switching to water with something along the lines of CPU and GPU blocks and either a passive NB sink or a block for it too and a 3x120mm rad with the Panaflo fans at low RPM will help meet your goals.
 
PA160 + Nexus fan :p

That thermaltake power is pretty cool though too. Too bad the block sucks and the pump is probably underpowered. The 5x120mm radiator is awesome though.
 
Well the reserator has an internal pump that should be quieter than an external one.

If you don't think you have luck with fans what makes you think you will have luck with pumps?
 
lol

A friend said the same thing.

This is also why I miss my old ZM80D-HP. The crappy ZM-OP1 fan that Zalman sends with it started acting up. But in that case it was meant to allow you to remove it and mount something else - which I did and it was fine (enermax 80mm).

These GPU coolers now almost all have a built in fan that can't be removed. So you have no choice - if it breaks or develops issues you are stuck with it.

I'm going to try jury rigging something else entirely and have a PCI Everywhere Bracket (sunbeam) on the way - will try to cool the card with a 120mm panaflo blowing air on it directly from one slot over. If that doesn't work I'm screwed.
 
I know what you mean,

My dieing vid fan pretty much pushed me into WC, Right now it sounds like an average aquarium setup, but probably because the tubing is pushing the pump up against the case. Ive got some softer tubing already to prevent this, but havn't put it in. That coupled with lining the pump area with foam should cut down noise by at least half. Ive noticed that nearly all my pump noise is from vibration carying through to the desk, Picking up the case renders it silent.

You would be surprised what little active cooling is needed to adiquately cool a cpu and video. A dual 80mm rad with 2 super slow panaflo 80s keeps my A64 3k+ under 52c (If I remember right) at high load and vga under 45c OCed and full load. Think what you could do with a bunch of sub 1k rpm 120s. Talk about silent. And at that low speed longevity should go up at least 2x normal fans. Provided the fans are dusted off every once and a while.

I know the overclockers would crap their pants at those temps (especially WC) but Ive ran cpus over 75c with no stability issues. Im also not currently cpu OC'n, but there should still be room with that temp to squeeze a bit.

My main goal was silence
 
wouldnt there be bad corrosion probs unless a ton of corrosion inhibitor is used with that Tt Sympony Tower cooler, as they are using aluminum and copper in the same loop.
 
My dieing vid fan pretty much pushed me into WC, Right now it sounds like an average aquarium setup, but probably because the tubing is pushing the pump up against the case. Ive got some softer tubing already to prevent this, but havn't put it in. That coupled with lining the pump area with foam should cut down noise by at least half. Ive noticed that nearly all my pump noise is from vibration carying through to the desk, Picking up the case renders it silent.
Click to expand...

I just did the same thing. My gpu fan is driving me nuts so I just finally bought a WC setup. Getting rid of my gpu fan/120mm panaflo will leave me with 2 120mm Yate Loons (radiator) and 3 low CFM 80mm fans. Chipset fan is the next thing to go and then a new case with 120mm Yate Loons. I've been computing since 98 and can't stand fan noise anymore.
 
madmat said:
Try getting away from fans with ball bearings, the Panaflos with hydro wave bearings (basically trapped oil) have zero bearing noise so those coupled with a good rheobus will equal a zero noise solution.
Click to expand...

That's not true. At low Volts there is an audible click of the bearings. I've found this happens with all fans regardless of bearing type (ball bearings, rifle bearings, sleeves) and brushed/brushless.
 
I don't have a problem with a nice steady whine. What I don't like are squeaks, chirps, and ticks. Especially squeaks and chirps. Drives me nuts.

This Antec power supply is the second one of the same model that has developed intermittent squeak after a few months. I'm tired of it. I'm trying OCZ next.

Turns out my Zalmans aren't the source of the high pitched bearing noise I've been hearing. I did some testing yesterday to determine this. It's either the NB fan or the Antec - I'm leaning towards the latter since it's already making a squeak.
 
Riptide_NVN said:
I don't have a problem with a nice steady whine. What I don't like are squeaks, chirps, and ticks. Especially squeaks and chirps. Drives me nuts.

This Antec power supply is the second one of the same model that has developed intermittent squeak after a few months. I'm tired of it. I'm trying OCZ next.

Turns out my Zalmans aren't the source of the high pitched bearing noise I've been hearing. I did some testing yesterday to determine this. It's either the NB fan or the Antec - I'm leaning towards the latter since it's already making a squeak.
Click to expand...

Probably the NB, they tend to use small fans which often whine. I watercooled mine just to shut it up :)
 
Yeah if replacing the PS doesn't fixit then that's next up on my hit list. Unfortunately I'll probably end up just having to replace the fan outright w/another one because I can't afford to watercool yet.

Still looking at options though and might try to do something this summer.
 
on the reserator...

I installed the Plus 1 last summer and I’m very happy with the reduction in noise that the system gives out, only stuff that makes any noise are 2 case fans and the power supply, both of which are hardly noticeable.

Heres what I have in the loop...

P4 (Northwood) 2.8ghz @ 3.2ghz
6800gt @ 400 (core) 1102 (ram)

and the temps...

P4 idle ~ 39C, load ~ 45C
6800gt (core temps) idle ~ 41C, load ~ 52C, the ram sits pretty much at ~53C all the time.

switching over to the reserator knocked about 5C off my average cpu temp and 10C of the graphics card, although the thermal grease on the graphics card was a little sparse when I took the heat sink off.

As to how the reserator will handle future cards and cpu's, I'm not sure, both the P4 and the 6800 series aren't exactly known for running cool and almost all the current batch of AMD's should run cooler than my P4, (i think) so you should be ok with an X2.

As for the new round of graphics cards...can't really say, I think there is enough capacity within the reserator to dissipate the heat of both a modern dual core and high end graphics card, but if you go for the fastest in each you may run into trouble, especially with the heat some of the new high-end x1900xtx's & 7800gtx's give out,

Although saying that, I'm building a new system in the summer (or whenever the DX10 cards come out and the M2 socket is finally ready) and the plan is to use the reserator to cool it all, plus with a silent PSU. A couple of case fans will still be needed however, you need airflow over the other components. I personally believe its possible on the experience I've had, but then my system is showing its age a little.
 
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