Possible to cool computer components effectively at high ambient temps?

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Xinmosni

[H]ard|Gawd
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Mar 12, 2012
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Is it possible to cool computer components effectively (either with air or water or heat pipes) at high ambient temperatures?

My budget is around $300, and my main concerns are cooling my Radeon HD 7970, Radeon HD 5770 and i5 2500k while at 90-110F ambient. I bitcoin mine and transcode video 24/7, otherwise I'd just turn the computer off until night time.

The reason I ask is because I live near a dairy farm, and when I use my swamp cooler during the summer its moisture attracts an INSANE amount of flies to my house. Instead of connecting my swamp cooler this year I was considering just dealing with the heat and going to the gym more often (I live alone but have my girlfriend over some nights), because I'm not a country boy and I can't STAND flies; if any door is left open even for a moment, they rush in like long lost relatives after a lottery win. I've consulted our exterminator on this and he explained that while other insects are easy to control, flies are not. I forget his explanation (it was last summer), but it made sense and we've been using him for many years so we trust him.

Hopefully someone has experience with this, since I'd rather know now instead of buying the cooling stuff FIRST and then finding out it's a waste unless I cool down ambient temps FIRST.
 
What about upgrading you homes heating and cooling system instead? Phase change is the only thing that comes to mind with high ambient temps, but that would require lots of money, modding and pointless steps...
 
Wasn't there a ghetto mod a while back from someone who piped the radiator from his water coolers into the freezer part of a bar fridge? Don't know if it was a good idea or worked well.
 
Haha, well I guess I'm SOL then and will put money into replacement window screens and exterior door insulation.

Thanks, guys
 
David_CAN said:
Wasn't there a ghetto mod a while back from someone who piped the radiator from his water coolers into the freezer part of a bar fridge? Don't know if it was a good idea or worked well.
Click to expand...

been done, dose not work, better bet, if you have the parts would be a cascade chiller... but they are still noisy/expensive. and you have to know what your doing...

next best thing is more like a swamp cooler, but just for your PC. Called a bong cooler. (poor mans phase change)

high flow shower head

4" pipe x 4ft

4" 'sanitary' Y pipe
______ 120mm high pressure fan

4" pipe x 1ft

5 gallon or larger bucket
______ high flow water pump

every thing else in your PC that you want cooled will have to have water cooling blocks on them (cpu gpu, etc) heated water from the pc goes up to the shower head, and falls down the pipes, the 120mm fan blows air back up the pipe, helping to suspend the droplets in the air longer which gives an evaporative effect, before its collected in the bucket and ran back into the PC...

down falls

1 it takes some tweaking to get the air pressure right, to much and it will blow water out of the top, to little and it wont cool right. the right shower head makes a big difference here as well as how much pressure you have coming off the pump.

2 it will make it more humid. if you can run your water lines else where (say into the garage...) it would be advised... note, this requires a stronger pump to push the extra distance.

3 open air + water = algae... bacteria... and all of the fun stuff that comes with it. clogged water lines, funky smells... there is stuff you can buy that is used in the tanks of dehumidifiers that will combat this... but it is still an issue.
 
Thor, if I was doing this for overclocking I'd have probably tried to make a bong cooler by now. However, all I need in this case is for my full load at high ambient to be workable at stock clocks (70-80C max). Would love to try phase change, but the expense (or in bong cooler's case, trouble with refilling water constantly) just isn't worth it unless you're trying to win an overclocking competition...

I'll try and bare with the swamp cooler for another summer. If the flies become too much, I may end up trying water cooling just to see if it gets my CPU down to no more than 70C while at 100F ambient. We'll see.
 
Is there a window where you can drop in a good AC unit? That would be a significant improvement for dirt cheap.

Otherwise you could throw everything in a loop with a good water chiller, more expensive though.
 
What about something like this? Sure its rather gimmicky...on the other hand its a thought.
Or you could do a DIY phase change WC setup. Grab a compressor out of a Water fountian or something like that, setup up a large insulated external res in a Colman drink cooler and have at it! (run antifreeze fluid)

Edit: Eww flies.

Also if you are out in the country use some sort of underground WC method. I'm sure I saw something about this not too long ago.
 
walwalka said:
What about upgrading you homes heating and cooling system instead? Phase change is the only thing that comes to mind with high ambient temps, but that would require lots of money, modding and pointless steps...
Click to expand...

I'm interested in knowing how much an effective phase change cooling will cost in this kind of situation? And what the pointless steps?

My ambient isn't that bad of course but I'm just too curious.


Thanks.
 
The problem with heat is that it's energy, and it cannot be destroyed or deleted, only moved. In the process of moving heat forcibly (through phase change cooling for example) more heat is generated. Cooling a 300w CPU loop with a phase change cooler will, in and of it's self produce a considerable amount of heat TEC's can actually double heat production. This all translates to a warmer ambient temperature.

The only thing I can suggest is to pick up a massive radiator (I'm thinking one of those 9x120mm fan radiators, such as the Phobya Nova series) and a powerful pump (MCP655). Attach 9 2500rpm fans to the radiator and mount it outside a window, with the tubes coming inside. Make a small wooden panel (say, 2" tall and the width of your window) using 3/4" MDF. Drill 2 holes the exact size of your tubes through it, to pull the tubes through. Throw in some weather stripping and it'll all be sealed tight against bugs and won't let any heat in (also, being 2" tall, it won't be too ugly from the outside).

Mount the radiator somewhere close to the system that'll be using it. I've done this on the side of my house, just protecting it with some white plexiglass (a square around the radiator around 4" thick) to help ward of the absorption of heat from insolation.

This will serve 2 functions. A, it will get your components within 10c of outdoor ambient temperature. And it will reduce your indoor temperatures *considerably* (4-5c) during high load operations, making you more comfortable. And it will be silent as hell, since the fans will be outside.
 
Looks like prometheum beat me to it.
I was gonna say.....

Get a nice strong pump and bury some copper about six feet down for a radiator. I'm sure you'll find that the temperatures down there are quite comfy even in the hottest of climates. I know people who have buried car radiators and even old used aluminum SCUBA bottles. Find a dive shop and they might have some to give you for free. They can only be used so many times before they will not refill them again. You may even be able to get some used ones on E-bay for really cheap. It doesn't have to hold pressure, it just can't be leaky.
There are several ways to do it on a budget.

Adding a bong cooler or anything like that is just going to add to your fly problem same as the swamp cooler.
 
If there's any reason you can't get a window AC unit, look for a portable one. Just make sure it's sealed up well so the flies don't get in, and add filters on the intake and exhaust.
 
Red Squirrel said:
If there's any reason you can't get a window AC unit, look for a portable one. Just make sure it's sealed up well so the flies don't get in, and add filters on the intake and exhaust.
Click to expand...

Thats the same thing I was thinking... why not get a cheap window unit! I installed a window unit in my master bedroom as the AC design in my house SEVERELY undersized the airflow to the largest room in the house... so I had to add another unit. I added a $99 unit from Home Depot and now its the coldest room in the house AND only increased my bill by about $20 per month.
 
I have had weeks during the summer where it was around 100F ambient and my computer still ran, I would turn down my oc's if I was really worried which happened once but other than that you should be good. If you run at stock on air, if it really gets that hot and you aren't on water just don't overclock.
 
OP, are you running stock? If so you can let your hardware get hot, cause they design that stuff to operate anywhere in the world. It's why the rest of us are able to overclock--we take advantage of lower temps that allow higher voltages.
 
walwalka said:
What about upgrading you homes heating and cooling system instead? Phase change is the only thing that comes to mind with high ambient temps, but that would require lots of money, modding and pointless steps...
Click to expand...

Phase change ain't all there is. There are also water chillers. Slightly less pricey and less of a pain.
 
You can only do so much when you have high ambient temperatures to deal with. Especially with regard to air cooling. Water is better, but again, you can only do so much.
 
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