WIP, projekt 'Massive Passive'.

This is pretty sweet, congratz on the the sweet build ;)

I just did some w/c modding myself. Although it's not nearly as quiet as yours, it has 11 fans altogether lol.

GL
 
Gosh, I should update this thread... I added another GTX 285 with the same watercool cooler (had to cut the PCI bracket so it would go in the slot above the X-Fi. I added another Samsung F1 drive to run windows 7-64 on one, XP-32 on the other. I swapped the NB block for the watercool one. I ended up with a Samsung F3 drive for reasons having to do with another computer all together, but I might swap it out with the Velociraptor of that other computer anyways.

I added an Ikea shelf (all stainless & chrome) to elevate the monitor, and swapped the CRT for a couple Asus VW246h monitors (when Fermi comes out, if I go triple monitor, I might add another for 3-way). Thats about it. I run it at 3.6 GHz when its cool out, and lower it to 3.2Ghz in summer so I dont let it get too hot.

Ill have to take a pic and post it, but right now there is so much crap on my desk (and stacked against the case, etc).... and Im not cleaning any time soon.
 
UPGRADE TIME!
gtx580.jpg

gtx5802.jpg

waterblocks.jpg

gtx5803.jpg

desktop.jpg
 
Yeah, the wiring is out of control... frankly, I think there is just too much to even try... prolly 20 lbs in cables alone... you just cant hide that amount very easily.
 
Just dont get the point of this honestly. Having to deal with corrosion issues, size issues, wiring issues isnt worth it when you can get fans at under 25dbm. My 4 120mm fan rig is so quiet, I can hear the capacitor whine on my video cards which i found really freaking annoying during video games. I even have my rig set up so that all the fans are turned off until the water temp increases beyond a certain point, then they kick on 1 by 1 as the temperature heats up to keep it dead silent.
 
sok0 said:
Just dont get the point of this honestly. Having to deal with corrosion issues, size issues, wiring issues isnt worth it when you can get fans at under 25dbm. My 4 120mm fan rig is so quiet, I can hear the capacitor whine on my video cards which i found really freaking annoying during video games. I even have my rig set up so that all the fans are turned off until the water temp increases beyond a certain point, then they kick on 1 by 1 as the temperature heats up to keep it dead silent.
Click to expand...

Because of his allergy. It's right in the OP
 
I consider that to be good input. I challenge my designs (including this one) all the time with my own questions, so getting some from an outside source is great.

The corrosion isnt so bad actually. The G11 has proven itself awesome in that regard. If anything, when it starts to get old there are biological issues that surface long before the corrosion inhibitors give up. The massive amount of aluminum surface area in the radiator was a concern. This is also why I have opted to keep the EK north block over the Heatkiller one, since the acrylic top serves as a 'check window' so I can see corrosion if it starts.

The wiring is more of an issue from the multiple monitors than the cooling. Actually, the external cooling eliminates ALOT of wiring I might otherwise have from a fan-bay controller, multiple fans, etc. My peripheral collection, multiple monitors, etc... thats what broke the camel's back when it comes to wiring. The case wiring would be easy to clean up, but its sort of pointless... I dont need to tidy them up for airflow concerns...lol. I tend to swap out parts so often as well that having hidden wires might actually be a problem.

The water cooling allowing me to eliminate fans has multiple purposes. In case you missed it; Its not just noise, but dust control. For years I had a case next to my workspace on the desk. Even with it up off the floor, the massive airflow of a case (the more heat, the more airflow needed) causes all of the radiator surfaces to have massive buildups of dust. This not only chokes out the convection cooling, but serves as a great habitat for dust mites.

Allergies are cumulative, so "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is the exact wrong mentality. Part genetics, part lifetime exposure, I ended up with a rather severe dust-mite allergy about 3-4 years ago. On the allergy scale, it blew my doctor away (he wrote a '4' on the chart,which indicates the highest level normally seen, and then added a few + signs after it. He asked me if I ever saw/heard of those people who live in special "clean" houses that are very spartan and 'modern' looking, almost like hospitals. I said I sure did and I like the modern look, to which he exclaimed this was a good thing because it was in my future. He also said that I will likely have to move to the pacific southwest or into the arid mountain regions where its either too high or dry for mites to live. So yeah... I got BAD allergies. If I turn on a computer thats on a desk next to where I sit, my nose gets stuffy and I have even experienced an asthma attack from this. You would be shocked how much particulate matter just floats around the air in your house, and thats what I need to deal with. Sure, I have large air filters in the busy rooms and I pick everything from clothes, bedding, furnature, and flooring (I can barely step into carpeted rooms or sit on a non-leather sofa for instance) to help deal with this, but the typical computer case is very counterproductive. With video card blowers and all the other fans, it was just obvious that I was going to have to get rid of all the air movement and dust buildup.

An external water cooling setup allows me to do just that. Even if it was a smaller radiator with fans, I could still vaccuum the radiator easily and keep it clean, as well as eliminate airflow through the case like I do now. The massive passive radiator means no kicking up dust or buildup at all though. Why so large? Well... I made it so that I could run more than one loop should I need to cool another computer on the same radiator with ease. Also, if you look at the existing passive radiators like the Zalman, Innovatek, Alphacool, etc... they are either undersized to move as much heat as my system makes or they just wouldn't cool as well.

The side benefits are silence and excellent cooling. I dont have any bad caps that make noise (thats not a good thing, it means your caps are wasting energy which they shouldn't). The loudest thing is optical drive if it comes on or if I use one of the HDD's rather than the SSD.

The external radiator, with long hoses also means I can put the radiator out on the deck in summer, keeping the A/C from having to deal with the 800-some watts that the computer would otherwise dump into the room as heat. The Aluminum radiator (the starfin pipe is for use in greenhouses normally) allows for this where a copper radiator would cause concerns, not to mention if my radiator had fans. So the 'all weather' option helps.
 
I would think there would be a better way with fans as opposed to using some 8 feet tall aluminum tubes that look pretty ridiculous to me.. Id hate to see what my gf would say if she walked into my bedroom and saw that either heh... Could you not get a case with a back mounted radiator where the fans could be exhausting from the inside threw the radiators to the outside. Would hardly get any dust buildup and at 800-900 rpms you can hardly feel any airflow threw the thick radiators. Basically inaudible also with some good fans.

And I guess my video card whine is from 3 years of being overclocked. It still runs like a champion.
 
It was essential that I get rid of all fans for this for the main reason I built it. Anything kicking up dust or that would be a potential buildup spot was eliminated. I can put the side door on the computer and there is no air circulation between the case and outside air.

I was going to make the radiator all flat at first, like a huge version of the innovatek konvekt-o-matic:
501000_z1.jpg


The problem is that this would require being attached to a wall or on some very wide and heavy duty feeet to keep it from tipping. Since I wanted to use PVC, this became unlikely. When I can make it a wall mounted unit, I'm all over it. Then it can be flat and out of the way.

The square or 'tower' layout works as long as its in a corner, and allows for more stability with a lower square footage. Its much like a large version of this, the Innovatek HTCS radiator:
http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=HSPC&Category_Code=HTCSrad
HTCSbig.jpg

Now, you may think having big shiny radiator pipes on the wall is ugly, but my woman thinks its cool looking. We both agree that its very much like the hydronic radiators that are so common in the EU:
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.j...er_radiators&fh_refview=lister&isSearch=false
^^^one person's ugh is another person's decoration. That radiator is what gave me the idea... but yeah, what was that you were saying about having a tall shiny radiator in the room? Lol.
But hey, when I can make it a wall mounted unit, I will:
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.j...er_radiators&fh_refview=lister&isSearch=false
Not to mention, its not like it needs to even be in the same room, or even the house. If and when I move to the southwest, I can simply leave the radiator outside so Im not adding to the AC. FWIW, I have also made my own liquid cooled LED lighting system for the reef tank, and the cold plates from those lights are piped to a similar radiator that is in the basement so that all of the heat doesnt build up in the room. The great thing about an external radiator is that it allows you to run it in a remote location AND export all of that extra heat out of the room. No more having to sit in the hottest room in the house because my computer is burning up the air. Its also quite the conversation starter... people see it and ask where the uranium goes sometimes, or they really dig it. It has some 'cool factor' for sure.
 
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Why couldnt run some ductwork from the back of your pc to the outside, so there is no dust being blown into the room from the fans. I would be surprised if 800 rpm fans kicked up anywhere near the amount of dust that your a/c vents blow out on a constant basis. I have to put my hand right against the back radiator to even feel air coming threw it, thats how minimal the air flow is with low speed fans. But w/e, seems like you got to much time invested in that to try anything else. Guess you can heat your house for free though. Hah.
 
Necrothread, yes yes, I know....

Mr. Radar, are you still using this system? Have you tinkered with it any more? Is it still stable and reliable, or...?

I was pleased to find this thread; you've realized a notion I've been kicking around for years - ever since I saw the finned heating tubing in the greenhouses at my mother's place of employment. Kudos to you, sir.
 
It still works. It is very stable... temps depend more on room temperature than the computer. I did change the system though, but not because I was displeased or anything.

Since one of my primary concerns was dust (along with silence), I ended up purchasing a large air filter for this room. Since this fan runs 24/7 when I am home and since it filters the air anyways, I decided to try something different. I purchased the new watercool MORA3 with some feet to make it free-standing. As it turns out, this 9x140mm radiator is almost exactly the same size as the Whirlpool air filter's intake... so I just put it in front of the air filter and it moves all the air needed.

There were a couple disadvantages that this does solve... the volume of cooling water, and the aluminum/copper mix. The massive passive radiator took about 3 gallons of water. It also needed that special additive to protect the copper and aluminum parts. I have not had any corrosion, but going through that much G11 fluid and having to change 3 gallons at a time was a bother sometimes. I suppose, I should have designed a better purging system. Either way, with the MORA3, now I don't need to worry since the radiator is now copper like the blocks. It also uses under a gallon of water.

Yes, this isn't as quiet, but my reality is that I needed an air filter in this room to ease my allergies, so the noise that this single large fan makes is something I will have to live with. OTOH, it is still a very quiet filter so it's still a win in my book.

The massive passive radiator is now liquid cooling about 1000 watts of LED lighting in a custom lighting fixture that I made for my 8' long reef aquarium. The cold plates are Aluminum inside, so no more corrosion worries with the big boy, and since it is aluminum, I put it outside in summer so all that heat doesn't tax my air conditioning.
 
Please post about your tank or link to elsewhere where you've posted about it? I'd love to see it.
 
Your project feels very similar to what I'm planning to do with my cooling loop. Just instead of passively cooling everything with star finned pipes, I'll be sinking my loops heat into a steel drum buried in my crawl space. I think I'll even weld some fins onto it for some added surface area like yours. Thanks for that idea there. I started my own thread over here. Come have a look if you like. This will be my first water rig so I'm sure I have some stuff I could learn.
 
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