Question about Water Cooling and Ambient Temp?

V

Vengeance

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 6, 2004
Messages
69
So I went all out and dished out $400.00 for a dual radiator water cooling setup. I'm also thinking of buying one of 2Fresh's heater core setups. The loop will run like so...

Pump ---> Rad 1 (Swifttech MCR80)---> GPU ----> Chipset ---> Rad 2 (Swifttech MCR80) ----> Heater Core ----> CPU ----> Fill/Bleed Assembly ---> Pump.

The reason I want so much cooling is because I will be purchasing the MSI K8N Nero Platinum soon, so I can OC my A64 3000+, and I'd like to break some water cooled records. I'm sure there is a better series to run with this kit, but with the space I have and where things will be mounted, this seemed the most logical ... I am up for suggestions though...

Here's my question:

1.) I know if the liquid drops below ambient temp, I will get condensation, which will lead to frying my PC. Does anyone know the possibility that this will happen with this kind of setup??

2.) I'm getting many different readings for my ambient temp. 1st from Riva Turner ambient temp, (39C), which I assume is near the card (9600XT)?? 2nd Sys Temp from MSI Core center (43C)?? Which should I trust, or should I take the middle of the two??

Thanks,

-V
 
Their is ZERO chance you can drop your temperature below ambient. Think about it for a second you are using fans to cool the radiators off, which in effect is using convection which is the same thing that will cool your processor off in a heatsink. Thus, if you are only using air which is at room temp ie ambient no matter how big your radiator could be it would only be able to get down to ambient temperature since you are using forced air convection which itself is at ambient.

Your second question is that neither of the two temperatures you are reading is ambient temperature. Go into bios and it will be their as well as your cpu core temperature. You will be able to get your core temperature as well as your motherboard temperature. Neither are your ambient temperature. However your ambient temperature is what the temperature in the room is. You will never really get your motherboard temperature down to ambient since their is current flowing throught the motherboard and a pcb isnt the best for heat transfer. So what you need to think about is three fold. One your cpu temperature, two your motherboard temperature and thirdly your ambient temperature. As your ambient temperature increases so will both you motherboard temperature as well as your cpu temperature.
 
I recommend a 2Fresh rad! I got mine several weeks ago now, but have had to wait for shipping/money to get the rest of my goodies. Well, the rest of my parts arrive tuesday/wednesday, so I'm going to be leak testing until the final build this weekend!

Anyways, the Bonneville rad that 2Fresh prepares for you is a great one. I feel minimal resistance when I blow into it, and he does a great job at preparing them.

Realistically, you can't put too much faith into onboard temp sensors. If you want bang-on ambient temp readings, put a good calibrated thermometer in a glass of water, and put the glass wherever you want (use common sense here). Thermal monitors, commonly found with good fanbuses, are accurate enough for most people (usually within 1C or so, specified by the manufacturer).

And no, there is no way to get sub-ambient temps while using ambient air to cool the working liquid. I'm talking straight WC here, no TEC's or anything like that. ;)
 
Pump ---> Rad 1 (Swifttech MCR80)---> GPU ----> Chipset ---> Rad 2 (Swifttech MCR80) ----> Heater Core ----> CPU ----> Fill/Bleed Assembly ---> Pump

I'm a WC newbie, but isnt that a bit much for one pump to handle? how far are you pushing that water? and why do you need two radiators And a heatercore? I would think you'd be better off making two separate loops or something. You may also want to use a reservoir, I think those make bleeding a bit easier.
 
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