Tips for Vapochill & phasechange n00b?

K

[k]ar|

Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
Messages
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I'm about to start my first foray into phase change cooling, by strapping a Vapochill LS to my FX-57. I'm finishing off the build fairly soon, then running with stock cooling to make sure everything is OK.

So in the next couple of weeks or so, I'm going to have to get the LS up and running. Does anyone have any tips for someone new to phasechange and sub-zero cooling?

Thanks in advance!

[k]
 
First of all, I don't think the kit comes with enough paste.

I used liquid electrical tape on the back of the mobo. Then used the same stuff around the CPU socket. I filled the socket (yes, in the pin holes) with dialectric grease. Buy some rubber gloves, dialectric grease is REALLY hard to remove.

I also bought some Arctic Ceramique for the top of the heatsink.

And this is the most important advice: Buy some electrical cleaner from radioshack!!!!! It removes dialectric grease so that you can't even tell it was used. This is especially helpful if you want to RMA a processor or sell it at a later date.

radio shack cleaner

I wish you the best of luck with your Asus motherboard, but DFI is really the typical board of choice for phase change enthusiasts. The Asus boards just don't provide enough voltage to the CPU. Under a vapo ls, you should be able to run up to 1.8v with no problems. There, I said it. Get the DFI mobo if you plan to get the most out of your setup.

Here is my setup:
SD3700 @ 3.2ghz
DFI NF4
Gskill LE Ram
Viper John X800Pro (sold the XTPE and am waiting for ATI's next card)

I used to have an Intel setup on the vapochill and just wasn't happy with it. AMD is the way to go these days.
 
Yup, the guy above this post pretty much said everything that I was going to say. I used
Dielectrode grease on the CPU socket, and the back of the motherboard, etc... The whole goal of using this stuff, is to stop condensation from dripping/forming on anything due to sub zero temps.....
 
How loud/quiet are the LS units and/or phase change systems in general? And how much of an impact would you say that extra 500MHz creates that the phase change unit lets you get above air cooled Rev. E?

I'm toying with the idea of getting WC (for video & silence) and/or phase change, I'm just not convinced how much good it'll do above what I'm running now, and I would really like my rig to be completely silent or as near as possible.

Now if only I could mod one of those into a Stacker...;)
 
Thanks for the suggestions!

I ordered another tube of Vapo's own TIM, so that's covered, and I have some cleaner lying around that I can use for cleaning up as necessary. I have heard somewhere that duct-taping the head clam to the hose (to cover the gap where they meet) also helps avoid condensation. Anyone else have any tips for the n00b? :D

ATM, I'm still putting the rig together (with stock cooling). I have had it POSTing, but I've not installed an OS or anything yet. I want to get the case & mods finished before I do a proper test run and burn-in on stock cooling. After that I'll install the Vapo, and the water loop for the 7800s.

Thanks again for the advice so far :D

[k]
 
ashmedai said:
I would really like my rig to be completely silent or as near as possible.
Click to expand...

Then I'm afraid phase change isn't for you. They are not quiet, but I find the noise tolerable. From your statement above, I would stick with water cooling.
 
[k] do you guys get the vapochill units cheaper than we do in the states? ...being closer to the source and all.

In the US Vapochill LS retails for around $860 USD or 490GBP.

-peace out
 
As a general rule of thumb, everything here is generally more expensive than anywhere else in the world - cars, CDs, houses, fuels, electronics - you name it. "Rip-off Britain" is the phrase often used by the tabloids to describe the phenomenon. When cool stuff comes out the the US and I'm waiting for it to appear here, I usually just swap the "$" for a "£" in front of the price to find out how much it will be.

By way of example...

I paid £545 for my Vapochill LS from here. That's $957.
I paid £942 for a pair of BFG 7800 GTXs from the same vendor. That's $1655. ($1120 from the 'Egg)

In short, if you like to buy nice things, don't move here.

[k]
 
[k]

what case did you decide to go with?

will the footprint match up with the LS?
 
I did have some problems when choosing a case. My main concerns were having enough space for watercooling the graphics cards and the vapo hose, yet having a frontpiece that matches the Vapo.

In the end, I went for a Lian-Li PC75. That's the full tower with six 5 1/4" drive bays, three 3 1/2" bays and side window. It's an exact match width-wise, but the case does overhang the Vapo at the back by a good three inches or so. That's OK, as the Eheim 1250 for the VGA watercooling loop will be mounted under there - it slots in nicely underneath, with enough clearance for the WACC reservoir that's going vertically onto the back of the case.

I have made a vew changes to the case itself to accommodate the Vapo and WC loop, and I've also mounted some additional switches on the front. I'll post some pics when it's all done. At the moment, it just looks like an explosion in a computer shop :D.

[k]
 
Hehehe, nice case choice. I chose the PC-60 Plus

It is a midtower with a 120mm front intake fan (perfect for the videocard radiator). Then I used the swiftech single 5.5" bay pump + reservoir setup. It's all very ultra compact and only takes up one drive bay!
 
I'm pleased with the way it's turned out so far. Only thing is, with the top-mounted external BIX3 active rad and 1 metre WACC reservoir, the thing is massively tall... and it weighs a ton, even without the water. Fortunately, once it's in place on my desk, it won't be moving anywhere very often. It is quite imposing to look at though.

Only thing is, progress is slow. With work, I don't get much free time, even at weekends, to get on with finishing the rig. Hopefully, i should be able to get up and running on stock cooling within the week, and on Vapo & water power soon thereafter.

[k]
 
I use this...to insulate around socket area and vapo tim @ the socket. It never "too much or overkill" to fight condensation and believe me its worth it :)

screenshot0358dx.jpg


Hers the mobo.....

mvc011f1ju.jpg

mvc012f1pc.jpg
 
centvalny said:
I use this...to insulate around socket area and vapo tim @ the socket. It never "too much or overkill" to fight condensation and believe me its worth it :)
Click to expand...
Man you're the definition of [H]ard.
Where's a good place in the states to pick up Vapo TIM?

Also have you tried that insulation tape that ships with the Mach2 GT units?
 
So to prevent condenstation you...

Put dialetic grease in the pin holes,
Cover the surrounding areas around the CPU socket with dialetic grease,
Then use foam insulation

Are those three areas good enough to prevent condensation? Any more ways to prevent it, or?
 
EQTakeOffense said:
So to prevent condenstation you...

Put dialetic grease in the pin holes,
Cover the surrounding areas around the CPU socket with dialetic grease,
Then use foam insulation

Are those three areas good enough to prevent condensation? Any more ways to prevent it, or?
Click to expand...


put lots of greese in the pin holes and you will fine. Unless you can remove that red junk on the picture above then its ok. I just use greese and never had a issue.
When running a vapochill system though you should just use it when you are either surfing the net or playing video games /burning cds /encoding . When your not using it turn it off completely. I wouldnt take the chance of leaving it on all the time. Since its bad for your electric bill and for other reasons like trying to make it last a long time. I have had my vapochill ls since april 2004 and its working great. Had a few issues with the chill control board but asetek will send you a new one via RMA. Also i did have 1 blown fuse but went to the hardware store and its fixed now. Other then that i think the system is full proof if you dont leave it on 24/7 and you prep the mobo right. just becareful moving the system and dont mess with the internal because once you get a leak you are scewed.
Other then that it will last forever.
 
[k]ar| said:
As a general rule of thumb, everything here is generally more expensive than anywhere else in the world - cars, CDs, houses, fuels, electronics - you name it. "Rip-off Britain" is the phrase often used by the tabloids to describe the phenomenon.
[k]
Click to expand...

yeah, my friend is going to brittain over winter break later this year and he was doing some research .. he found that there is a 17.5% tax over there!! :eek: is that true?
 
First up, thanks again to everyone for the phase-change tips! I'm running my rig on stock cooling at the moment, just checking everything works. Progress unfortunately remains slow due to extensive work committments :( . However, I now have a temporary "test" install of XP Pro x64 up and running, and I've completed a couple of run-throughs of Memtest at stock speeds without errors, to validate the Ballistix RAM. I'll run a few more tests over the weekend and install a game or two to give things a bit of a workout. After that I'll try a bit of overclocking on stock cooling before moving over to the Vapo and WC setup.

Darktsx - our purchase tax is called VAT - Value Added Tax - and is indeed 17.5%. Most retail outlets include VAT in their "headline" prices, but some of the more trade-based suppliers don't. Some places actively quote ex-VAT prices to make things look cheaper, so you have to be careful when comparing prices.

It's certainly not cheap to live here and buy cool stuff. You saw in my last post, for instance, the premium on the Vapo - it doesn't stop there. My sports car is British-built, yet bizarrely is cheaper (both in straight money conversion and real terms) to buy in the States than over here. Plus, I had to gas it up on the way home from the office, and found I was going to have to pay 98p per litre. I guess that's why not many people buy Hummers overe here :D

[k]
 
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