- Joined
- Nov 6, 2004
First post!
I've been reading Overclockers.com since practically day one, but never felt I had anything impressive enough to post to the forums before. I've been watercooled since 1999 and making slow tweaks to the system since then.
Up until yesterday, the system was an Eheim 1046, DangerDen Maze1 (same block I've been using since '99) modded for 1/2" ID inlet/outlet, and a heater core from my old '88 Mustang LX 5.0L as the radiator, with two 120mm Muffin DC fans pulling through undervolted to 5v. The pump was submerged in a 3/4 gallon homemade resorvoir.
Idle temps were around 110f, full load was about 125f. I could live with that. Unfortunately all the fans, though pretty quiet, were getting on my nerves. So, for my birthday I got a new DangerDen TDX copper block, a Dangerden Maze4 GPU block and an Eheim 1250. I also had a whole radiator from my current car, a 1996 Mustang GT (4.6L) sitting around that had sprung a leak at the gasket.
So, the NEW system is as follows: the 4.6L radiator is in a custom box made of MDF board placed in front of the A/C intake for my house, so that all A/C air is pulled through the radiator, thus cooling the system whenever the A/C fan runs. The radiator is about 30 feet from the actual computer, and they're connected by 1/2 soldered copper pipe that runs through two walls. About halfway between the computer itself and the radiator is a storage closet that the pipe runs through. That's where I located the water pump, submerged in a 2.5 gallon utility bucket. I left the old heater core in the circuit too, though I'm sure it's totally unnecessary, but it was easier that way - less re-soldering of pipe etc.
I booted and had idle temps of 96f with the 2.4Ghz overclock (11.5 * 210 from a 2600+ Barton that started at 1.91Ghz - stock voltage). At full load using Folding@home for eight consecutive hours, the temps stabilized at 113f with no fans running - the A/C was turned off entirely to ensure the system would be stable when I'm away from home during the day and the A/C is off. If I manually turn on the A/C fan, the total system temp drops to 106f full load within a minute or two. The responsiveness of the huge radiator is really impressive.
Total system capacity is in the neighborhood of about four gallons including the sixty or so total feet of 1/2" tubing plus the 2.5 gallon resorvoir, volume of the large radiator, and volume of the small radiator.
I don't have any image hosting but I'll email the pics to someone if they'll host 'em for me.
Needless to say, the system is now completely noiseless - I have an Antec Trupower 550 that's barely ticking over with the current setup - the fans are barely running and inaudible unless you stick your head in the case. The video card has a Zalman heatsink on it with an old AMD stock fan undervolted to 5v just to be on the safe side. Northbridge fan will be getting dumped shortly because I'd rather it just be passively cooled, and you can *just* hear it if the room's quiet.
Now I'm bothered by the noise of my refrigerator compressor running instead of the noise of my computer running (it's on 24/7).
I've been reading Overclockers.com since practically day one, but never felt I had anything impressive enough to post to the forums before. I've been watercooled since 1999 and making slow tweaks to the system since then.
Up until yesterday, the system was an Eheim 1046, DangerDen Maze1 (same block I've been using since '99) modded for 1/2" ID inlet/outlet, and a heater core from my old '88 Mustang LX 5.0L as the radiator, with two 120mm Muffin DC fans pulling through undervolted to 5v. The pump was submerged in a 3/4 gallon homemade resorvoir.
Idle temps were around 110f, full load was about 125f. I could live with that. Unfortunately all the fans, though pretty quiet, were getting on my nerves. So, for my birthday I got a new DangerDen TDX copper block, a Dangerden Maze4 GPU block and an Eheim 1250. I also had a whole radiator from my current car, a 1996 Mustang GT (4.6L) sitting around that had sprung a leak at the gasket.
So, the NEW system is as follows: the 4.6L radiator is in a custom box made of MDF board placed in front of the A/C intake for my house, so that all A/C air is pulled through the radiator, thus cooling the system whenever the A/C fan runs. The radiator is about 30 feet from the actual computer, and they're connected by 1/2 soldered copper pipe that runs through two walls. About halfway between the computer itself and the radiator is a storage closet that the pipe runs through. That's where I located the water pump, submerged in a 2.5 gallon utility bucket. I left the old heater core in the circuit too, though I'm sure it's totally unnecessary, but it was easier that way - less re-soldering of pipe etc.
I booted and had idle temps of 96f with the 2.4Ghz overclock (11.5 * 210 from a 2600+ Barton that started at 1.91Ghz - stock voltage). At full load using Folding@home for eight consecutive hours, the temps stabilized at 113f with no fans running - the A/C was turned off entirely to ensure the system would be stable when I'm away from home during the day and the A/C is off. If I manually turn on the A/C fan, the total system temp drops to 106f full load within a minute or two. The responsiveness of the huge radiator is really impressive.
Total system capacity is in the neighborhood of about four gallons including the sixty or so total feet of 1/2" tubing plus the 2.5 gallon resorvoir, volume of the large radiator, and volume of the small radiator.
I don't have any image hosting but I'll email the pics to someone if they'll host 'em for me.
Needless to say, the system is now completely noiseless - I have an Antec Trupower 550 that's barely ticking over with the current setup - the fans are barely running and inaudible unless you stick your head in the case. The video card has a Zalman heatsink on it with an old AMD stock fan undervolted to 5v just to be on the safe side. Northbridge fan will be getting dumped shortly because I'd rather it just be passively cooled, and you can *just* hear it if the room's quiet.
Now I'm bothered by the noise of my refrigerator compressor running instead of the noise of my computer running (it's on 24/7).