Cooling CPU, North Bridge and GF3

jwsmith37 · 06-17-2001, 08:05 PM

I plan to set up my first water cooled computer. So far I got a InWin Q500A case.
I have been reading up on water cooling at alot of web sites. And I have not found much info. on setting it up with 3 water blocks. I want to cool the CPU, the north bridge chip, and the chip on the video card. The idea was to eliminate as many fans and noise from the computer as I can. I thought of going with 1/2 inch tubing, putting a 'Y' in the line to split the water to the cpu and the GPU & N. bridge. The output to the CPU would stay at 1/2 and the output of the 'Y' to the video card etc. would be 3/8's. If nessary I would put a check valve on the video card side to prevent the cpu water from flowing back into to video side. Or would this be better:
Pump -> radiator -> n. bridge -> video -> cpu -> pump.
I want to put the radiator above the power supply and the pump in the bottom F. of the case. I thought that having the pump 'pump' the water to the highest point first, then let the water flow down, back to the pump.
As far as the other components of the system. I like the Danger Den Maze2 block and either the AquaStealth AquaCoil or the DangerDen Cooling Cube. I see on the AquaStealth page that they have video card and nort bridge waterjackets. I have not decided to use a inline pump or a resevrvoir/pump setup.
This will be cooling a T'bird 1.3, running at 1.4 now, a GF3, on a Epox 8KTA3+ board.
I just got a WBK38 heatsink/fan for the T'bird and between it the 2 Asus case fans, power supply fans... I've had enough fan noise to last a lifetime.
Thanks for any idea's input etc.
JS

redleader · 06-17-2001, 10:00 PM

I would just put them in serial with the CPU first then the northbridge and finally the GF3. That way you don't have to worry about flowrates and distribution. The GF3 will get fairly warm water but since its not uncommon for graphics card to run in the 50C rage, I don't think 32C water verses 29C water will make a huge difference.

Spinoza · 06-19-2001, 09:27 PM

You mentioned that you want to pump water to the highest point first... Don't do that!! With a liquid setup you want to get your "lift", the vertical span of the system, as small as possible. Flowrate decreases a ton when you have too much lift. Centrifugal pumps are horrible when it comes to lift... no more then a foot or you get problems. if you put the radiator in the top of the case... put the pump on top of the power supply. if you put the radiator on the lower side... put the pump in the lower portion.

jwsmith37 · 06-20-2001, 04:56 PM

I do not want the cooling coil in the bottom blowing hot air into the case. There isn't enough room in the top for the coil and pump.
The pump will have to 'lift' the water 18 to 24", the distance from the bottom to the top, of a tower case. The pump will need to be sized for this lift, and still maintain enough water flow. The local nursery store (happy frog) has pumps from 210 to 500gph and more. These pumps are Cal Pump, any one heard of them? They are in line pumps, some have a max lift of 6 to 8 feet. I hope they are quiet, I will have to go there and ask if I can plug one in, and see how loud they are.

06-17-2001, 08:05 PM	#1
jwsmith37 Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Grass Valley, Ca. Posts: 6	Cooling CPU, North Bridge and GF3 I plan to set up my first water cooled computer. So far I got a InWin Q500A case. I have been reading up on water cooling at alot of web sites. And I have not found much info. on setting it up with 3 water blocks. I want to cool the CPU, the north bridge chip, and the chip on the video card. The idea was to eliminate as many fans and noise from the computer as I can. I thought of going with 1/2 inch tubing, putting a 'Y' in the line to split the water to the cpu and the GPU & N. bridge. The output to the CPU would stay at 1/2 and the output of the 'Y' to the video card etc. would be 3/8's. If nessary I would put a check valve on the video card side to prevent the cpu water from flowing back into to video side. Or would this be better: Pump -> radiator -> n. bridge -> video -> cpu -> pump. I want to put the radiator above the power supply and the pump in the bottom F. of the case. I thought that having the pump 'pump' the water to the highest point first, then let the water flow down, back to the pump. As far as the other components of the system. I like the Danger Den Maze2 block and either the AquaStealth AquaCoil or the DangerDen Cooling Cube. I see on the AquaStealth page that they have video card and nort bridge waterjackets. I have not decided to use a inline pump or a resevrvoir/pump setup. This will be cooling a T'bird 1.3, running at 1.4 now, a GF3, on a Epox 8KTA3+ board. I just got a WBK38 heatsink/fan for the T'bird and between it the 2 Asus case fans, power supply fans... I've had enough fan noise to last a lifetime. Thanks for any idea's input etc. JS

06-19-2001, 09:27 PM	#3
Spinoza Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 42	You mentioned that you want to pump water to the highest point first... Don't do that!! With a liquid setup you want to get your "lift", the vertical span of the system, as small as possible. Flowrate decreases a ton when you have too much lift. Centrifugal pumps are horrible when it comes to lift... no more then a foot or you get problems. if you put the radiator in the top of the case... put the pump on top of the power supply. if you put the radiator on the lower side... put the pump in the lower portion. __________________ Thunder K7 Athlon 1800's Danger Den/Ehiem to cool jig of RAM http://www.cs.oswego.edu/~vito/complete.jpg

06-17-2001, 10:00 PM	#2
redleader Thermophile Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: The deserts of Tucson, Az Posts: 1,264	I would just put them in serial with the CPU first then the northbridge and finally the GF3. That way you don't have to worry about flowrates and distribution. The GF3 will get fairly warm water but since its not uncommon for graphics card to run in the 50C rage, I don't think 32C water verses 29C water will make a huge difference.

06-20-2001, 04:56 PM	#4
jwsmith37 Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Grass Valley, Ca. Posts: 6	I do not want the cooling coil in the bottom blowing hot air into the case. There isn't enough room in the top for the coil and pump. The pump will have to 'lift' the water 18 to 24", the distance from the bottom to the top, of a tower case. The pump will need to be sized for this lift, and still maintain enough water flow. The local nursery store (happy frog) has pumps from 210 to 500gph and more. These pumps are Cal Pump, any one heard of them? They are in line pumps, some have a max lift of 6 to 8 feet. I hope they are quiet, I will have to go there and ask if I can plug one in, and see how loud they are.

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