PICS - looking for input on my WC system, good or bad

A

anamosity

n00b
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
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46
Hi, I have this WC system which is performing decently, However, I think it should be be cooler. I know moving to a dual 120 rad would be better, but I like the small size. If you have any do's or don'ts you could recommend, please do. I am looking for positive and criticism. lets just keep the remarks on topic. :)

wc1.JPG



wc2.JPG


temps are:
Video = idle 43.3C under load = 46.6C
CPU =idle 32C under load = 47C and i have seen it hit up to 53C in intense gaming

specs are:
1/2 fittings
black ice extreme w/ ultra-cool 120 fan
danger den 64 TBX
swiftech MCW50 w/ 6800 adapter kit
eheim 1250
swiftech 5 1/4 res
danger den UV blue hose
artic alumina paste
distilled water/zyrex super coolant
all in a older inwin Q500 server case

I have a criticool power plant to use with the eheim pump, just isn't installed yet.
 
From the pics it looks like you are ehausting inside case air through your rad. Try mounting the fan so it pulls fresh air from outside the case through your rad. You want the fan to pull air through the rad, not push it through.

Hope this helps.....
 
Do you run your system with the sides off all the time? or is that just for the shot... I see that the other side is off too so I'm assuming that yes you do leave it open....

If thats the case then pulling warm air from inside the case isn't a problem.... I thik the only thing you can do is put a higher-flowing fan on it.

BTW< whats teh blue wire going to your graphics card for?? Temp sender?
 
Yes the blue wire is a temp probe, hitting 44.7C on the video right now as I type this.
The sides are off Cuz i was "tinkering with it" Not sure as how much hotter or cooler it will run with the panels on, as I just installed the temp probes.
I will try it with the panels on, then with on/off with the fan outside the case sucking in cooler air. Do you think a 5 /14 bay LCD would be beneficial for monitoring? Right now I am using a 3 1/2 lian li temp monitor. It works, just doesnt go with the setup.

thanks for the ideas, please keep them coming
 
louder faster stronger fan will maybe shave of a degree or two centigrade. Making sure the fans are drawing on cool air instead of the hotter air inside the case might shave off another degree centigrade.

Your idle temps are fine, however the big difference in the idle and load temps on the cpu seems to suggest to me that you are at about the limit for your single 120mm radiator, so you wont see too much improvement from anything else. I like all of the components however, looks like a nice setup.

Oh, and you have no problem fitting in a dual heatercore in that massive thing! What are you worried about? Just cut a rectangular hole in the top of the case, buy one of those nifty grills for the dual 120mm radiators and voila!

PS. Is that sparkly green I see a custom paint job? It looks nice...perhaps why you dont want a larger radiator that would require cutting?
 
yea, the paint is that color changing camelon paint
it used to look really good, but I used this case as my web/mp3 server in the basement for a few years and it has taken its toll of bumps and scratches from things falling on it and such.
its supposed to be red/green/gold/black, but it doesnt really work with a camera
heres a few pics to get the color idea

wc4.JPG


wc5.JPG


wc6.JPG


wc7.JPG


wc8.JPG
 
If you still have your plates from the front of you case you should stealth those drives. It will hide those beige CD roms
 
Hmm, magnifying glass, and some lubricant on the desk... :p

Looks good and clean.
 
plywood99 said:
From the pics it looks like you are ehausting inside case air through your rad. Try mounting the fan so it pulls fresh air from outside the case through your rad. You want the fan to pull air through the rad, not push it through.

Hope this helps.....
Click to expand...

Not this idiotic argument again... Once again:

Once you have removed the major heat sources from the computer and put them in the watercooling loop (the CPU and GPU), then you dont have to worry much about case ambient air temp because these things wont be heating it. The power supply is the next leading cause of heat, and it exhausts itself. Leave it the way it is, that is a great setup you have there.

And LMAO at the lube and magnifying glass, lets just hope you arent trying to compensate for anything with this watercooling system. :D
 
One thing I would suggest is cleaning up the cabling inside the case. It's a tedious chore and maybe it's not worth your time, but just going on the pictures you've taken, I see a little room for improvement if there were a cleaner path for the air from the side fans to the exhaust fans. Correct me if I'm wrong, but do you see a large temperature difference between the psu exhaust and the radiator exhaust. I would expect there is because the wire + tubing clutter horizontal to the psu blocks the hot air inside your case from moving to the upper half (above psu line) of your case.
One more thing, do you have fans behind those biohazard fan grills on the side and top panels?
 
Coulda saved tubing by flipping your radiator upside down (nozzles against the PSU)
 
killernoodle said:
Not this idiotic argument again... Once again:.
Click to expand...

I, don't see what's so "idiotic" about it. My case temps are always slightly higher than ambient temps outside my case. The suggestion I made to Anamosity cost nothing, and would take maybe 5 minutes of his time. If the results are neglegible, fine then say so. But to resort to "idiotic" statements seem a little infantile.

Or are you just pissing about a recent "cavitation" discussion we had???? :rolleyes:
 
Look at my recent post reguarding cavitation. If you have anything else to say, please save everyone else from your bullshit and take it to PMs.
 
killernoodle said:
Look at my recent post reguarding cavitation. If you have anything else to say, please save everyone else from your bullshit and take it to PMs.
Click to expand...

So I guess you giving a nice reasonable explanation is out of the question? :rolleyes:
 
ok guys, thanks for the words and help
On the fans, yes there is fans on the side panel, the 2 are intakes and the top blow hole I did remove the fan so that the rad fit, otehr wise i coudnt fit it there.
the vasoline is for the barbs, it makes removing them a heck of a lot easier when I get my new case and swap out the parts. On the wires, I know I need to do cleanup, but as I am getting a new case I didnt want to get to involved in that right now, I do beleive I will be going to either a neo power or the fanless Phantom 350. Havnt decided on that one yet.
I do beleive i will be getting a dual 120 rad in the future to see how it effects the temps.
thanks again for the help and the positive feedback on my water setup.
and please dont hesitate to add more if you have more ideas.
 
killernoodle said:
Not this idiotic argument again... Once again:

Once you have removed the major heat sources from the computer and put them in the watercooling loop (the CPU and GPU), then you dont have to worry much about case ambient air temp because these things wont be heating it. The power supply is the next leading cause of heat, and it exhausts itself. Leave it the way it is, that is a great setup you have there.
Click to expand...
Based off personal experience, you are wrong. Without proper ventilation in the case, things get very hot very quickly regardless of your method of cooling... MOSFETs, RAM, HDDs, etc all contribute to case temperatures.

Do me a favor... run a W/C loop on just your CPU and GPU, and run Prime95 with in place FFTs and loop 3DMark01 for a few hours with no case fans, and run your rad outside your case... see how long that system will stay stable...
 
cmon, settle down.

regardless, lest put this in a real world setting. Would you ever run your case without any fans whatwoever in it? Probly not. So assuming that there is at least one 120mm fan running (and probly another 5 volted 120 somewhere else), what would you say would happen? would it be properly ventilated? Also, considering that there is at least one 80mm fan in most power supplies available (again, sticking to the real word applications here).

So whats teh verdict? properly cooled or not?
 
first off, i like the setup. it looks pretty good and is just about the same way i would've set it up.

second, there's a huge temp difference between what your cpu and gpu are getting. this could be because you're using an external probe on your gpu and not on your cpu. if it weren't for this, i would have told you to check your seating because the cpu and gpu should idle at close temps considering you're using the same water to cool both. your idle temps seem good but your load temps spike enough to make me agree with the other person who said you're probably pushing the limit of a single rad. consider tho that if you're not having any stability problems, then you don't have anything to worry about because your temps are well within acceptable levels.

what i would recommend, if you can afford it, is to add another rad in the lower front of the case. it looks like you have enough room to spin the pump the other way to clear that area. tubing might be tight but not completely unmanageable. barring that, i second the motion to stick a dual-rad or heatercore up topside. i have a triple fan rad in mine and my 3400+ and 6800GT barely phase it when i go load. after gaming @ 100% load for several hours my temps only climb about 3-5*


as far as the argument about this taking the major heat source or fan orientation, i can say that i've had my rad in the front of the case taking in fresh air, and in the rear blowing out case air, and it really didn't make a difference. either way you're going to have to deal with warm air somewhere, personally i'd rather have the warmer air being blown out of my case than have it blown into my case to screw with the rest of my components. lord knows my ram modules get hot as feck already.


for reference, with my system here i get these temps:

CPU 43 idle / 46-47 load
GPU 49 idle / 53-54 load

much tighter range than what you're seeing, so you will probably see lower load temps with additional cooling capacity. also note that all my fans are running @ 5v for noise purposes.
 
nweibley said:
Based off personal experience, you are wrong. Without proper ventilation in the case, things get very hot very quickly regardless of your method of cooling... MOSFETs, RAM, HDDs, etc all contribute to case temperatures.

Do me a favor... run a W/C loop on just your CPU and GPU, and run Prime95 with in place FFTs and loop 3DMark01 for a few hours with no case fans, and run your rad outside your case... see how long that system will stay stable...
Click to expand...

Of course if you take out all the case fans it will get hot, this is not my point. If you take the radiator and put it elsewhere outside of the case, but leave all the fans in there, the computer will not get much warmer than ambient.

HDDs do not have much heat density or sufrace area, and only consume 8w of energy. Mosfets do not have the surface area to dissipate the heat they create and therefore do not heat the air much (which is also why they feel hot).
 
killernoodle said:
Of course if you take out all the case fans it will get hot, this is not my point. If you take the radiator and put it elsewhere outside of the case, but leave all the fans in there, the computer will not get much warmer than ambient.

HDDs do not have much heat density or sufrace area, and only consume 8w of energy. Mosfets do not have the surface area to dissipate the heat they create and therefore do not heat the air much (which is also why they feel hot).
Click to expand...
Sorry, I disagree. My HDDs get plenty hot and dissipate a measureable amount of heat into the air around them. MOSFETs are going to dump a % of heat into the air rougly equal to their inefficiency * wattage... regardless of the surface area.

Look, I don't care where the rad is, without 3-4 decent fans your innerds are going to get pretty darn hot... hot enough to make pulling cool in from the outside versus pushing warm air from the inside noticeable.
 
how about this question:

would you rather have the biggest source of heat (cpu/gpu) being pumped IN to your system, or OUT of your system?
 
Devilpup said:
how about this question:

would you rather have the biggest source of heat (cpu/gpu) being pumped IN to your system, or OUT of your system?
Click to expand...
In my setup, it is pumped in, and then right back out the back. I am not worried AT ALL because the temperature of the air as it leaves my radiator has changed temperature so little that it is almost imperceptible. The heat imparted into the air given the flow rate and cross sectional area means that I will probably have lower internal temps than without my fans there at all.

So, I would rather pull are in thankyouverymuch. kthxbye.
 
well sure given enough airflow it won't matter at all if it's in front or in back. perhaps i should be more specific.


if you had 1 intake and 1 exhaust, of LOW airflow, which would you prefer?

IMO i don't really want the heat from my cpu/gpu to be dumped into the case and thus help contribute to the heating of other components (hdd, memory, psu, nb, etc). where (also IMO) the heat of the cpu/gpu are easier to control since they are actively cooled, where nothing else is.

given the heat i can feel on my memory modules i don't think they need any extra added to them, and i KNOW that extra heat combined with poor ventilation will hamper oc'ing on the memory and nb. so i would rather sacrifice .5-1* on my cpu/gpu than dump that heat into the case because when it comes down to it, unless you watercool your nb and memory then those are going to crap out before you overheat your proc/vc.

i am not trying to say that anyone is wrong for how they want to set their system up, i am just stating my opinion on the subject. if you have enough airflow through your case then it really doesn't even matter if you wc or not because the temp of ambient air will play a bigger factor the more you pump through the case. i have run my systems with rads in the front and in the back, with all fans on, with all fans off, with only the rad fans on, and in almost every case i got better overall results with the radiator exhausting the hot air outside of the case. i did not notice any signficant change in my cpu/gpu temps regardless of where i put the rad, but did notice a change in my nb temps.

if someone likes the cooler air hitting the rad first then that's fine, but when i built my last pc i went off my previous experience (5 different wc builds) and did what i thought worked the best. i have fresh air coming in the bottom and exhausting through the rad at the top of the case.
 
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