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Liquid cooled PC's

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:18 pm
by alex.barylski
Are they cooler than traditional fan units?

I'm not a big fan of the 747 on take off sound of my current PC buta bigger problem is heat generated by the system in the summer...I need something which I can operate all day and doesn't max my room out at 45+ C :P

So are liquid cooled systems much better in this way as well?

Where would be a good place to peice togather a cost effective performance machine (no gaming just some photoshop, movies and mostly software development, etc)...

Anyone ever buy through Tigerdirect?

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:37 pm
by ckh
The heat from the pc has to go somewhere so the more efficient the cooling system of the pc the warmer the room will get. I'm not familiar with the liquid cooling systems in a pc but I'm sure a liquid is used to cool the cpu and something needs to cool the liquid off, maybe a radiator of some sort which would release the air into your room.

If your room gets that warm, you should consider an air conditioner or better air flow through the room. The cooler the air in the room, the cooler the pc will run, no matter which way your pc is being cooled.

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:13 am
by aaronhall
I've heard that the pumps on water cooling systems are as loud or louder than their dry counterparts

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:16 am
by jammr
If you're doing things that are particularly CPU intensive maybe it's something to look into, otherwise it's quite an investment ($200+) to invest in a decent watercooling system. I've used watercooling on two systems that I've had and it works great, but there's maintenance (flushing out the water, anti-algae) and making sure that it starts the pump with the system and shuts off as well.

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:22 am
by matthijs
Why do PC's still have these loud noisy cooling systems? Since I have my Macbook pro I can't stand the noise of my PC anymore. Once in a while I turn both on, but I turn off the pc as soon as possible because of the noise. It's like the noise of a distant highway: you don't notice the noise it produces until you take a walk in a quiet forest somewhere. Suddenly you hear the ... silence.. :)

You would say that the heat dissipation would be a lot easier to accomplish in a big open box then in a thin notebook, even without all the fans?

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:29 am
by jammr
Most notebooks use processors (sempron, centrino, etc) that use a lot less power than desktop processors (which produce quite a bit more heat than laptop processors do.)

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:09 am
by volka
I have an external watercooling unit and put it in another room. But now I can hear the hdd clicking everytime it seeks a new sector and can't bear other people's computers because of the noise level :-S

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:12 am
by matthijs
jammr wrote:Most notebooks use processors (sempron, centrino, etc) that use a lot less power than desktop processors (which produce quite a bit more heat than laptop processors do.)
Well, why not put those same processors in the desk tops then :) Too expensive?

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:15 am
by jammr
Well... They're a little less powerful because they don't get as much power. Aside from that, almost all laptops use processors which are soldered in, making them pretty much irremovable without wrecking them. That makes them unable to be used in normal motherboards, as well.

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:53 am
by Jenk
Watercooling is high maintenance as suggested, but it works well. The water system will need either a large(ish) tank, or a radiator to cool. The radiator option is best due to bulk. Also having 'clever' positioning of the radiator can erradicate the need to use a fan at all, as all it will need is moving air - even if it's moving at a snails pace. Thus having a radiator mounted at the top of your case, and 'lying flat' as opposed to upright will work (simple laws of convection and latent heat.) However if you are seriously overclocking/running hot this will not be an option.

If you want to get really serious about it, you can also take a look at phase change cooling.