Watercooling Completed

[matt719]

I finished my watercooling system from scratch. Pics:







NOTE*** My dirty wet pants and socks in top left of first picture were from when i first turned the pump on. Appearently you do need the exact size hose Yeah, there was a leaking problem, but i solved by getting the right sized hose. ID (inner diameter) and OD (outer diameter) are truely too confusing... I had a different size barb / fitting on every device i had.

More pictures @ http://www.shortcircut.org/~mattb/pictures/project/

Most are relavent, first dozen are so were old pics left on the camera


Idles at about 80F w/o CPU idle, 74F w/ CPU idle. Full load is 86F.

System Specs:

AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1000
MSI K7 Master
256MB PC2100 DDR RAM
Voodoo 3 3000
30GB Western Digital HDD

NOTE*** Ordered a new AMD Athlon XP 1600+ that will arrive next week, unlocking kit (from highspeedpc.com), and a digital thermal probe. I'm also getting an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro soon for my main system, so my old Geforce 3 Ti500 will replace the Voodoo 3 3000. Hopefully i'll get a GPU waterblock, i know that the Ti500 runs hot and will probably limit my FSB speed somewhere down the road. Once i get this @&$#* above 2GHz i'll let you know I'm also thinking of some vcore mods (to get to 2GHz), if anyone has any suggestions on that, please let me know... that's something i don't know the specifics of.


Watercooling Specs:

Via Aqua 1300 370GPH pump - $20

Black Ice II Copper Radiator (2x120mm Fan)- $50

Swiftech MCW462-U Waterblock - $43
Vantec Nexus Fanbus 18w Per Channel - $29



I made the reservoir myself w/ some silicone glue, 2 barbs, and a waterproof box (the grey thing on top of computer)

Other materials were the tubing (3 different sizes on mine), adapting barbs, clamps, and distilled water.

The total project probably cost about $150, but if i did this a second time i could make it a lot cheaper

[plucky duck]

I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to try watercooling. $150 for the entire setup? How quiet is it compared to traditional air cooling? Do you think it's worth the cost?

If water is leaked into the system, won't that fry the entire rig?

[NascarFool]

Those pics are huge. Try resizing them. Looks nice too.

[matt719]

Nah, i set it up completely in the case before putting in the computer parts. When it leaked, it leaked into the case and then onto the floor. It can be completely silent because ti can run at a resonable temperature (about 95F) with fans at a very low rate. Unfortunately that Nexus fanbus i have is kinda crappy... it has cheap circuiting that makes a high pitched chirping noise. None the less, it is still much quieter than my other system, and MUCHO GRANDE quieter than whne it had a 60x60x38mm Delta on it!

About the pics... I've taken like 115 pictures so far, resizing them would take ages I hope i don't fry and 56k modems.

Yes $150 may be a lot of money to throw into something like this. But, if you look at it, all (or most) kits you buy from brands like innovatek and koolance are all over $250. So you're getting a lot for your money. Let's put it this way. Assume a Ferri is $250,000, and you can make it yourself for $150,000, for the exact same parts and quality. Sure, $150,000 is a $h!tload of money, but your still getting something worth a lot more than you are paying.

Also, if your into overclocking, $150 may not be much to spend to potentially get a 1/3 or higher performence boost out of your computer.

Even though I did this for science fair, i think i might make one for my main computer. I really like to look at it work .

By the way, you generally use distilled water with watercooling. In theory, that would prevent water from being a conductor (no minerals), but you'd really need to flush it out of crap before using it. My theory is, if it works it works. The odds of something breaking that is properly installed is close to 0% after 48 hours.

[CaterpillarAssassin]

Gonna run that water through some sort of refrigeration?

[nero wolfe]

why do u only have one rounded cable?

[nexus_7]

my guess is he is a cheap bastard.

Greg

[eGoCeNTRoNiX]

Is that he didn't have a regular ribbon cable long enough to reach all the way to where he put the HDD cage.. he he eh

[matt719]

I got rounded cables for my other computer and http://www.coolerguys.com was having a buy 2 get 1 free on IDE and a buy 1 get 1 free on floppy. I have another rounded floppy cable, but it's too short. The new cables are coming tomorrow, with the new CPU. They are actually at my friends house, he ordered them. He is bringing them over tomorrow.

Updated Pictures:

(the paint does not look blotchy in person... It is the high flash of the camera that makes it look like that. It is actually a much darker color.







This is a scratch on the side panel i need to take care of... I have some navy blue Audi touch-up paint from my mom's car that i plan on using.

[Tomuchtime]

Looks good matt...now about that dresser on the left...