I want to build a water cooled PC

[rolfea]

Has anyone done it before? I'm looking for a half demanding task to do at home and I didn't know how hard building a Water Cooled PC is compared with building a normal PC.

 

I don't actually have a reason to have a Water Cooled PC either, I don't tend to over clock or do anything graphically demanding. But then this is because I have been scared to experiment. It would be nice to learn over clocking and starting playing games with stupid graphics.

 

So yes, how challenging is it to build a Water Cooled PC and how expensive does it tend to be?

[jamesb]

This site seems to give a fairly reasonable discussion on the whole thing: PC water cooling basics

 

I wouldn't have thought its too hard at all though, since essentially you're building a normal PC, but cooling it with water rather than a fan. The components are available, and I'd guess you might be looking at most at a couple of hundred more than building a standard PC. Never actually tried it myself though so I could be completely off the mark.

[Butters]

Best bet is to read up and with water cooling because you can open up a whole can of worms if your not careful.

 

Leaks or bubbles in your loop can spell disaster for your components.

[ddcmp]

RTFM is the best advice i can give,

 

ive built a few back in the days they first came out......the novelty soon wears off, i even built myself a PC filled with Vegetable Oil!!!

 

oooh those were the days, now if i even buy a hard drive the missus goes berserk!

[K.C.Leblanc]

Water cooling is very last century, you need oil submersion.

[CyberNerd]

Water cooling is very last century, you need oil submersion.

 

liquid nitrogen ftw

[SYNACK]

liquid nitrogen ftw

 

Don't you mean liquid helium FTW?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB0JodKgZ0A]YouTube - AMD Phenom II Overclocked to 6.5GHz - New World Record for 3DMark[/ame]

[BaccyNet]

:DI've currently got a watercooled computer as my main system (at home, wouldnt be allowed at work:p) Currently watercooled Intel Core2 processor and two ATI Radeon X1900's. It took ages to get the air out of the processor block, plus you do have to keep an eye on the water level (or liquid coolant if that is what you use) as it seems to go down even if there are no leaks:eek:

 

Reason I did it was I wanted to see if I could, plus the number of fans I would have had is silly. Also you may want to find some kind of monitoring board/software/whatever to check that your pump is running or shutdown the computer if not. My computer BSOD'd the other day which resulted in the pump being switched off, that wasnt the greatest few seconds of my life:D

 

If you want to ask any more questions or you want to see some pictures of what it took to do, let me know!

[mac_shinobi]

Don't you mean liquid helium FTW?

 

If you listen to the video clip its both !!!

 

Liquid nitrogen to get it down to minus 190 or so and then the liquid helium to make the temp even lower.

[Diello]

Also pay attention to this thread - an old one, but timeless

 

Kramer and other members promoting water cooling- you have alot to answer - AVForums.com

[Dodgex1]

You need to build TEC PC. Thermo Electric Cooling on a home machine is blatantly the way forward.

 

- I have a water cooled PC. I like it, its very, very quiet. I've built a couple for friends aswell. I've got one at the minute with it built into the case, as in I bought it with a the pump and reservoir and a single loop pre built in with junctions built in to easily add extra water blocks on. With it being built in all the low coolant/blockage/stoppage alarm, flow meter, temp guage, fan speed controller is all their for you, all built into the case itself.

Other big advantage is it came with a warranty (18months in this case) so if it leaks I'm actually covered for my pc parts.

 

The case I've got with a single loop for the cpu in was 300quid. Tubing for another device is about 10 quid with connectors, decent waterblocks are between 30 and 250ish depending on what you are cooling, graphic card blocks are the most expensive, harder to set up efficiently if you are running SLI/CrossFire.

 

You can buy water cooling kits to put into exsisting cases, with the all the bits needed. Usually they come with just a CPU block. You can also get totally self contained units that will fit in drivebays (usually two) which you can then just run the tubes off and fit whatever waterblock you've chose too. Then there's obviously the option of buying the parts separately, radiator, reservoir etc etc and fitting them all yourself.

 

200+ In my opinion for something thats worth using. Not difficult to set up really, its most difficult finding room for everything in your case. Just double check all the fittings before you put the water in. (Use a "coolant" by the way, its pretty much distilled water with extra techno rubbish thrown in sometimes, stops it getting mould on the tubes and stuff like that, will probably come with what ever kit you buy and you get it in pretty colours.)

[rolfea]

might start saving my pennies to try build one then.

 

My system at home is a few years old, its a nice system but nothing amazing these days.

 

and atm, can't really afford liquid nitrogen OR liquid Helium.

[Greenbeast]

Yeah i've been running water cooled for a couple of years now

CPU, North bridge and GPU

 

I suggest buying plenty of pipework and planning the system out properly before you start

 

The pipe can be quite rigid and as such you want just the right amount for each jump between components

 

It's worked well, i've only had one small leak which luckily was from quite low in the case and so pooled in the base but didn't get on any components.

However for this reason i won't leave it running unattended (definately when out of the house but even overnight if i can help it)

[rolfea]

I've saved my pennies, yes that was quick. I love pay day.

 

I have about £700, do you have any websites good for watercooling kits, not only explaining what and how, but also where to buy.

 

I usually use Scan for everything but they don't seem to have a huge amount of stuff

[mossj]

oil submersion ftw!buy fish tank, put computer in (minus hard drive) and your done

[rolfea]

oil submersion ftw!buy fish tank, put computer in (minus hard drive) and your done

 

Or not

[ricki]

I know this is a bit off topic but a long time ago when I was a it student. I purchased an old fridge. Drilled a small hole in the door for the power and put the pc in that. Then over clocked the 348 in side to ridulus levels for the time.

 

Richard

[Greenbeast]

I used this place to research and buy my kit, good shop with handy forum attached

 

WaterCooling UK - UK PC Water Cooling Shop and Forums

[Tarnovsky]

Hi

 

I am now into my second year of watercooling and writing an article about it for Toms hardware.

 

One of the main things to remember is that upgrading/adding components to a watercooled system is far more work than a standard system, and often requires the mainboard to be removed.

 

Secondly, anyone remember DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM +/_ etc

 

Well its the same with watercooling, you need to think about your fittings. I would personally set up a spreadsheet of fitting costs at 3/8" or 1/2" and then look at the bore of the fittings, 10mm or higher is better as it increases the waterflow. Then find tubing with a bore that matches. If using compression fittings you MUST make sure that the pipe will fit, i.e that the walls of the pipe are not too thick.

 

Finally if you are going to do RAM/Mosfet/Northbridge or Southbridge cooling then you are going to need to split tubing rather than running a continuous serial (one component to another to the next) If you do this, then start with 1/2" 12mm or 13mm bore pipe as it splits equally into two 6mm pipes. You can then join them back before your radiator and will not lose too much pressure.

 

There are watercooling components and components. I like the XSPC reservoir pump combinations, the double bay one has a massive flow, the single bay is OK. Personnaly I have a split system with one of each.

 

Often you will find that lapping your heatsinks will pay dividends and takes about an hour per waterblock. XSPC unfortunately has some poor finishes so lapping is adviseable

 

FYI my system is built for low noise

[hman43]

if you email me and your not to far away i can show some water cooling ideas as ive been doing it for about 11 years now and still doing it all the best i personally never run a single loop or split the pipes and rejoin them i make my own manifolds which is a little more costly but a lot better for cooling and looks better Edited April 2, 2009 by hman43

[rolfea]

is it essential to water cool the motherboard chipset?

 

will be building for low noise.. not overclocking

Edited November 10, 2010 by rolfea

[Butters]

Nope, most people don't as it's generally overkill.

 

If you've got the money and space for the rads then would be a nice thing to get cooled aswell !

[Tarnovsky]

is it essential to water cool the motherboard chipset?

 

will be building for low noise.. not overclocking

 

 

In that case no you do not need to. Mosfet cooling is a nice to have not a must have. CPU & GPU first then Northbridge & Southbridge second.

[rolfea]

Ahh cool stuff.

 

Found the stuff to cool CPU, using all XSPC stuff.

Looking to get the XFX 5770 which is stupidly hard to find water blocks for. Atleast, I can't find anything.

 

Also, when cooling GPU such as XFX 5770, do you remove or place water block over the top of the fan? Or is that a really stupid question?

[Domino]

oil submersion ftw!buy fish tank, put computer in (minus hard drive) and your done

 

...no Oil then?