Water cooling

[Floppyman]

Hey all,

I've been doing some research the last couple days about cooling socket A tbirds, and have come to see that only the real expensive swiftech cooler (normal air cooler) has a good C/W, it costs $80. I'm planning on getting a tbird and overclocking it then, but I hate spending $80 on an air cooler. So I looked into water cooling. It's actually not that hard to setup, I have looked at several kits. You need a pump, radiator, and waterblock to mount on the cpu...along with water (duh), and hose. Found some good stuff at:

www.dangerden.com
www.infinipro.com

Does andyone here water cool their cpu? Is there anything I should look out for? Installing a peltier is a little harder or more time consuming anyway, and I don't think I'll go that route, just watercooling. Thanks in Advance!

[HAL9000]

The main thing to watch for of course is condensation. All it takes is a bit of moisture to really start screwing with your system.

[Floppyman]

Thanks Hal, yup I read about that, I guess that's a problem when you are using peltiers. There were couple articles on how to prevent that too, but I don't think I'm going to use a peltier, just standard water cooling.

[HAL9000]

It's definitely a problem with peltiers. If you've ever had the chance to use one, you'll see what I mean, the one side gets VERY cold. Condenstation will become a problem (even with water cooling) any time the water block gets colder than the current dew point. While water cooling and/or peltiers may be quite effective, I often wonder if there is enough benefit for the effort involved.

[Frey Grimrod]

Yes condensation is a major concern as is the watersimply flipping over onto your computer or a hose busting for some reason. Hal watercooling common man you get mucho bragging rights if you manage to OC your cpu that little bit more with it. I know of a guy with a 1.2gig TBird running steady at 1.6gigs with his watersystem problem is he has to keep his CPU at 100% constantly otherwise LOTS of Frost forms on the sucker.

[Chris in U.K.]

I guess Legionaire's might be an issue....

Chris.

[Frey Grimrod]

heheh well just to make sure legionairs aint a problem be sure to change the water and keep it clean.

[Floppyman]

Thanks guys,

Due to the risk involved, I've decided to try this on a cheapie duron first. If everything works well I'll probably upgrade to a Palomino tbird later. If I get things going I'll post my results here, and also hopefully some pictures.

[Frey Grimrod]

Just be sure to employee proper condensation damage prevention methods and everything should be fine if a hose doesnt blow or sumthing like that.

[Floppyman]

How important is it to protect against condentsation when using JUST a watercooler? I thought the risk only applies when using a peltier...? My room is airconditioned and stays at a pretty constant temperature.

[Frey Grimrod]

I couldnt tell yah but better safe than sorry right? I mean you wouldnt want to loose your board right. Just need to give it a light coating of non corrosive silicone and use some special waterproof electric grease on the CPU pins.

[Floppyman]

Thanks frey, yep I read about that...there's an excellent guide at www.octools.com. I posted at another board, and people said you could do it, but since I won't be cooling at less than ambient temperature (I'll be using a radiator, not a chiller, freezer etc.), it's not really necessary.

[Frey Grimrod]

Yah thats true so you should be fine.

[Floppyman]

You're right though, it wouldn't hurt and would provide some extra protection. If I add a peltier later on, I will definetely prepare my board for it, there's a real good guide at www.octools.com, but I don't think I will for just water cooling. Since this an experiment is part of the reason I"m getting a cheap duron, if something goes wrong I will have learned my lesson...