Basement water cooling
- Thread starter Handruin
- Start date
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
That's one way to heat the basement. 
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Mmmm floor pie.
ddrueding
Fixture
Yup, I have a similar system (into my garage) for the summer. I use Koolance Quick Disconnects to allow me to move the rad inside in the winter. Part of my redesign would be to keep the hard-plumbed loop in place and leave the pump outside all the time. Just relocate the rad for winter.
Also, uber nitpick, the pump should be before the rad as it adds (the tiniest bit of) heat to the water and you want the water to be as cool as possible (non-condensing) when it hits the CPU water block.
Also, uber nitpick, the pump should be before the rad as it adds (the tiniest bit of) heat to the water and you want the water to be as cool as possible (non-condensing) when it hits the CPU water block.
This is something I'd like to try using quick disconnects. I'm also debating even making the radiator assembly a separate unit/enclosure that I could put on the floor under my desk or away from the tower thereby keeping the mess of radiator, pump, and reservoir all outside the case and have really nothing but the water blocks and tubing. I'd even like to consider something for the warmer months with moving the radiator outside the window. I mainly want to cool my GPUs down better without so much fan noise when running F@H or playing games. When I'm away at work during the day I leave the GPU fans at 90% because I don't care about the noise and whenever I'm in the office using the system I make them near silent but that means stopping F@H.
Thanks for the tip on where to place the pump that's a good point. This guy did note in the video that he uses some of the air flow from the fan in the radiator assembly to cool off the pump but I doubt it has much affect without some kind of shroud or channeling. I'm still researching what I'd like to do but maybe when I'm closer I'll post some parts and a plan to get feedback.
ddrueding
Fixture
This is the unit I use, but don't do that unless you are cooling multiple systems (several kW). This is the one I would get were I you. Integrated rad, fans, pump, res, and control for all of it.
ddrueding
Fixture
Oh, and a warning. I really like the Koolance stuff, but check here before you order; every part is a distinct P/N that needs to be spec'd separately. In fact, I have quite a few fittings and misc that I'd send your way were you interested in doing this.
That's really awesome and perfect for what I was considering doing (the one you recommended to me). I thought I'd have to mangle something together on my own but even for $300 in a self-contained radiator, that's worth it to me. I realize I'd still need fittings, water blocks, etc.
I realize this is a fairly ignorant question but what's the proper way for me to calculate the wattage I need to dissipate from my rig to ensure that unit has enough capacity? Is it as simple as basiging it on the PSU draw (which I recognize that's crude and doesn't account for HDDs, DVDs, fans, motherboard, and loss at the PSU).
ddrueding
Fixture
I'd just use a kill-a-watt at the wall and consider that a safe figure. Or (what I normally do), get something that is certainly overkill and don't worry about it.