Weekend Cooling Project
Weekend Cooling Project
Before this little project my temps were 40c idle and hot enough to make the CPU throttle itself under a heavy load. I picked up the Koolance CPU200 waterblock and got the rest of the stuff from local hardware, auto, and pet stores. I hooked it all up outside the PC yesterday and let it run overnight to make sure there were no leaks. Today I installed it all and am pleased so far. The CPU idles at 32c and under full load I have not seen it go over 37. The CPU is running at 2.7Ghz with 1.7v on the core. Another bonus was the noise reduction. The pump and Panaflow are nowhere near as loud as the fan that was on the Sunflower I had. I am sure this setup will change, they always do, but here is what I have for now:
Nice setup Schwartz!
Would you mind posting a few details about the various parts used for the reservoir, radiator, and pump? I've been looking at water cooling for my P4 just for the heck of it, but the systems you can order off the internet are way too expensive.
From the picture of the reservoir and tank system, you system looks fairly simple, but according to your post, is cooling very well.
MAC
Would you mind posting a few details about the various parts used for the reservoir, radiator, and pump? I've been looking at water cooling for my P4 just for the heck of it, but the systems you can order off the internet are way too expensive.
From the picture of the reservoir and tank system, you system looks fairly simple, but according to your post, is cooling very well.
MAC
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EvilHorace
- Life Member
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- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 7:14 am
- Location: Greenfield, WI
It is my P4 2.0a and Gigabyte GA-8IRXP mobo.
I just got a mag drive utility pump from a pet store, the smallest heater core that AutoZone had, and the hose and fittings from a hardware store. The reservoir is a PVC pipe cap and end glued together also from the hardware store.
After the PVC stuff was glued and dry I tapped the sides and made it threaded for the hose fittings. Soldered the fittings into the heater core. Make sure you use pipe tape on the fittings to prevent leaks. I then hooked the hoses up, clamped them, filled it up and let it run overnight before installing it.
The pump was the most expensive part at $70. It is a 350 GPH mag drive. I couldn't find an Eheim pump local; this one is made by Supreme I guess. I don’t know but it looks like the Eheim and has replaceable parts and I needed a pump so I gave it a shot.
The core was $18.
The PVC, hose, and fittings were probably around $20.
The CPU block was $50.
I already had the Panaflow 120MM fan.
I'm running it with plain water run through a Pur water filter to get the junk out since I couldn't readily find distilled water. I added some Algicide to prevent anything from growing. I have some Water Wetter ordered and will add some of that once it gets here.
I just got a mag drive utility pump from a pet store, the smallest heater core that AutoZone had, and the hose and fittings from a hardware store. The reservoir is a PVC pipe cap and end glued together also from the hardware store.
After the PVC stuff was glued and dry I tapped the sides and made it threaded for the hose fittings. Soldered the fittings into the heater core. Make sure you use pipe tape on the fittings to prevent leaks. I then hooked the hoses up, clamped them, filled it up and let it run overnight before installing it.
The pump was the most expensive part at $70. It is a 350 GPH mag drive. I couldn't find an Eheim pump local; this one is made by Supreme I guess. I don’t know but it looks like the Eheim and has replaceable parts and I needed a pump so I gave it a shot.
The core was $18.
The PVC, hose, and fittings were probably around $20.
The CPU block was $50.
I already had the Panaflow 120MM fan.
I'm running it with plain water run through a Pur water filter to get the junk out since I couldn't readily find distilled water. I added some Algicide to prevent anything from growing. I have some Water Wetter ordered and will add some of that once it gets here.
I also dropped the core voltage to 1.6 and the FSB to 133 until I get the time to mess around with it and start pushing it more and finding a sweet spot with my new cooling potential. I'm on-call this week so I don't need my PC acting up on me. In fact that is why I am up this late, waiting for Cisco to get some parts to one of our major routers that decided to have a VIP card crash and burn. 
what ID tubeing is that? While a very nice setup, you will see large gains by upgradeing your tubeing. (yes, I understand I am just a newb) If you still have a little bit of money left, get new tubeing and a different block. You will see temp decreases.
The pump is a danner mag drive pump. I have one in each of my comptuers.
The pump is a danner mag drive pump. I have one in each of my comptuers.
The tubing is 1/4 inch id; but I fail to see how bigger tubing will make a diff with this block as it is made for 1/4 tubing. I'm no watercooling expert but it seems that if the opening on the block is only 1/4 I am only gonna push through what will fit through a 1/4 hole. I can put more force on it but it is only a 1/4 hole so if the delivery method is 1/4 everyone should be happy. Seems like a larger tubing would just serve to slow the flow as the extra waits to get through the hole. The heatercore is really the only place I think I would want a slowdown after the pump.
From everything I have read two of the most important things are turbulence through the block and the speed of the flow. I haven't seen this block compared to others yet; only the older Koolance block but this block has the little pyramid looking things in it to make the turbulence unlike many others I have seen.
Money wasn't really a consideration when I put this together, I could have got anything I wanted to and I just happened to pick this stuff to play with. I am really happy with the results as the system stands now but that's not to say I won't change it sometime down the road. Also remember I am talking about a Northwood so I am taking my temps from the internal thermister and not an external one.
You are right about the pump. I checked the bottom of the box and it says mfgd by Danner in small print. I would think if anything would make the temps lower than they are now it would be a higher GPH pump. IE what I mentioned earlier about higer flow = lower temp.
Like I said I'm no watercooling expert (yet
) so I would like to hear your thoughts on some of the things I touched on above.
From everything I have read two of the most important things are turbulence through the block and the speed of the flow. I haven't seen this block compared to others yet; only the older Koolance block but this block has the little pyramid looking things in it to make the turbulence unlike many others I have seen.
Money wasn't really a consideration when I put this together, I could have got anything I wanted to and I just happened to pick this stuff to play with. I am really happy with the results as the system stands now but that's not to say I won't change it sometime down the road. Also remember I am talking about a Northwood so I am taking my temps from the internal thermister and not an external one.
You are right about the pump. I checked the bottom of the box and it says mfgd by Danner in small print. I would think if anything would make the temps lower than they are now it would be a higher GPH pump. IE what I mentioned earlier about higer flow = lower temp.
Like I said I'm no watercooling expert (yet
) so I would like to hear your thoughts on some of the things I touched on above.I am not a watercooling expert by any means. I just read alot and have too much spare time. With the setup you have, you will be fine on this case. It is not worth changeing out all of your fittings, tubeing and block for a 4-5 deg C drop. . . . or is it?
From what I have read up on and seen in my own testing, you want to get high flow through your block(s), but low flow through your radiator. This gives the water a bit longer to cool down in the radiator, but less time to acumulate heat, thus forceing more water onto the block. With this in mind we can take a look at your system.
With the block, you will either have to have fun with a dremal, which isn't hard to do, or get a new block all together. Turbulence in the block is a EXTREAMLY good thing. But. . so is direct core injection. Take a look at the stuff from dangerden or some other places. I have always used their stuff with reliability. By doing this, you can upgrade your tubeing to a larger diamater to get that flow you are talking about.
Right now, your pump is fine. You are prob pushing that pump quite hard with that small ID tubeing. I would not suggest getting a new pump untill you start chaining together several blocks, like for your PSU, or GPU, or even hard drive.
I totaly suggest you experiment with the way you have your hose laid out. Would you get better temps by running the hose from your pump outlet to your waterblock and then from there to the rad then to the res? Check it out and try different combos.
Last but not lest, do you have a skirt on that fan yet? I would check one out so you can force the air through the rad instead of just haveing it hit it. Don't expect large gains, but you never know. Might drop that water temp by a few deg.
From what I have read up on and seen in my own testing, you want to get high flow through your block(s), but low flow through your radiator. This gives the water a bit longer to cool down in the radiator, but less time to acumulate heat, thus forceing more water onto the block. With this in mind we can take a look at your system.
With the block, you will either have to have fun with a dremal, which isn't hard to do, or get a new block all together. Turbulence in the block is a EXTREAMLY good thing.
But. . so is direct core injection. Take a look at the stuff from dangerden or some other places. I have always used their stuff with reliability. By doing this, you can upgrade your tubeing to a larger diamater to get that flow you are talking about. Right now, your pump is fine. You are prob pushing that pump quite hard with that small ID tubeing. I would not suggest getting a new pump untill you start chaining together several blocks, like for your PSU, or GPU, or even hard drive.
I totaly suggest you experiment with the way you have your hose laid out. Would you get better temps by running the hose from your pump outlet to your waterblock and then from there to the rad then to the res? Check it out and try different combos.
Last but not lest, do you have a skirt on that fan yet? I would check one out so you can force the air through the rad instead of just haveing it hit it. Don't expect large gains, but you never know. Might drop that water temp by a few deg.