ViaAqua Polar Bear Chiller

never seen nor heard of it before, but i have seen mixed revies about other water chillers, usually they couldnt keep up with the constant heat coming into the system and would stutter /fail if the computer was on too long
 
Got an e-mail from this company claiming they could keep cpu temps in the 30's-40's farenheit depending on the load.
 
The chiller uses a 1/4 HP motor to drive it's compressor, that's about 190 Watt. A typical refrigeration compressor has a carnot efficiency of less then 50%, so that cuts it down to 95 Watt maximal cooling. So if you're trying to run a 110 Watt thermal dissipation Prescott with that chiller you'll destroy it probably in short order, forcing it into 100 % duty cycle and still not getting much of a subambient performance. I would not use anything under 1/2 HP to act as my primary cooling system.
 
Carnot efficiency != Coefficent of Production.

The Coefficent of Production (COP) of a cooling system is the (watt of cooling)/(watts of input). For small phase change units, the COP will be in the range of 2.25 to 3. That unit should be able to handle loads of 400 W or more.
 
400 watts or more should be plenty to cover 3 waterblocks i should think. The e-mail i got from the company claimed 30's to 40's farenheit depending on the load and really i don't even want that much from it. I want to stay above dewpoint so i won't have to deal with condensation. This unit claims to be able to maintain the temp you set +/- 1 degree which sound like a safe way to go.
 
still $360 is an expensive substitute for a heatercore fan combo. By taking my coolant down subambient say by maybe 20 degrees, in the mid 50's since i keep my apartment in the mid 70's, that should keep my temps above dewpoint, but what kind of gain could i expect from an OCing perspective from lowering my temps that far? Is it worth the added expense?
 
g3no said:
never seen nor heard of it before, but i have seen mixed revies about other water chillers, usually they couldnt keep up with the constant heat coming into the system and would stutter /fail if the computer was on too long
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i have never heard of that and it seems to me the water alone would prevent failure
 
Actually i own one of those except mine is black :D (Paint is a wonderful thing) Anyways i have it cooling my 5600Ultra and my 2500 moble. I turn out temps in the 70's in the summer on a full OC of 12 by 225 (vid card at 400 by 800) and 60's in the winter at full load. I leave the temp on the unit at 55-60 deg since im to lazy to neoprene anything and have already had condensation issues twice w/ my vid card. If u neoprene ur hoses and block and everything u can go much colder.

Edit: By the way I leave my machine on 24/7 with it oc'ed and have not a single prob w/ it also on a non moble unlocked Barton 2500 i could achive clocks of 11 by 220 or more at a vcore of 2.0 and still have the same temps. Also the vcore on my moble is around 1.9
 
EDIT: Oops. forgot, no ebay links.
If you look up water chiller on ebay within the next hour, a waterchiller that chills to -20*C and it is only $50.00
 
dude you could get a 5000 btu window ac at wal mart for 100 dollars. just pull it out of the case and stick the evap section in a cooler. if you can find the thermal sensor stick it under the compressor. people are doing this ang getting -30 deg easy. just make sure you insulate everything!!!!!

oh yeah and this would get you around 0 deg.... mayby colder with proper modification either way its a cheap and easy way to start and you coud afford to buy 2 of them uncase you screw one up....
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=1-1302&catname=electric
 
BallerX said:
dude you could get a 5000 btu window ac at wal mart for 100 dollars. just pull it out of the case and stick the evap section in a cooler. if you can find the thermal sensor stick it under the compressor. people are doing this ang getting -30 deg easy. just make sure you insulate everything!!!!!

oh yeah and this would get you around 0 deg.... mayby colder with proper modification either way its a cheap and easy way to start and you coud afford to buy 2 of them uncase you screw one up....
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=1-1302&catname=electric
Click to expand...

Agreed. I run just a small oil cooler for a radiator and I have it mounted just behind the evaporator in a small window A/C unit. water temp stays below 18*C and I see typical CPU idle temps of 19*C (as reported by Sandra/Bios) on a system that used to indicate 38*C CPU idle on high end air cooling. (Swiftech MCX462-A and 80mm Tornado fan)
 
I'm not that interested in going sub-zero, i don't want to neoprene everything and the temperature control is more important to me than how low you can go. a couple of degrees over dew point is ideal.
 
Well the polar bear chiller will definatly do that and much more if u ever feel the need
 
The compressor on the soda fountain is only rated for 200 btu's. That's less than 60 watts. That's not much cooling capacity. :(

Compressor has a 1/12 HP, 115 VAC motor, 3.2 Amps. The wrap-around flexible cooling jacket is 33" x 8 1/2". 200 BTU cooling capacity.
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personnaly i would save up a little bit more and get a used vapochill or prometeia or even a new Lightspeed
 
Jonsey said:
The compressor on the soda fountain is only rated for 200 btu's. That's less than 60 watts. That's not much cooling capacity. :(
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trust me once you start changing a few parts on the system it can handle way more than that. a bigger condensor and gas change will go along way. propane is cheap and also a great refrigerant. much better than r-134. that exact system was used in a system on Phase-Change.com with stock condensor set up for direct die and maintaned a lower than freezing temp while under load....your not gonna get -30 but -2 is most certainly attainable.
 
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