HD waterblock from Innovatek !?
 

Hey, take a look at this (get your hands on babelfish because it's in German):

http://www.innovatek.de/sites/wkuhler.html

Scroll down a bit, there's a HD watercooler there (4th item). Looks fine, doesnt it ?
There are already 2 resellers carrying it in Europe.

Does anyone know anything about it ? Is it made of copper or alu ? Is there any review of it on the net ?
I like the design, it lets some room for foam or noise insulation to be added. My main concern is the material, my loop is all copper and i dont want to put any alu component...

Here are links to 2 close-ups of this device:
http://www.pc-mac2000.com/733.jpg
http://www.pc-mac2000.com/735.jpg

pc-mac2000 is an European dealer (with a great customer support) , they're selling the HD-WB for about $50.. fair price.

hmm, it seems kind of pointless to cool the sides, doesn't the top get hotter that the sides?

You need to read my hard drive watercooling article.. I cooled an entire hard drive that was wrapped in foam with just a normal CPU waterblock. The entire drive is made of metal, often aluminum. Cool one part of that metal, and all the heat from the rest of the drive will be heatsinked right out of there. That was the whole point of my article, to prove that simple theory. ;)

Yep Una is right, HD casings are like heatsinks already, and dont build enormous heat quantities... So cooling only a small part is enough.
I just confirmed with the dealer, it's made of alu, and the overall quality is up to par with other innov products (that means top notch)
Innovatek fans, this one is for you...

Too bad for me i've got an all-copper loop, does anyone know of someone selling copper HD blocks ?

:cool: I just hope they ship to Europe within reasonable delays...
i'm getting one immediately !

what about this Hdd cooling block ? It even supresses all the sounds of the HDD. ITs kinda expensive (about 70 bucks) but looks nice too.

some more pics of it are here.

wow. As usual it's a great looking product from aqua-computer. The only thing that gets my hands off it, is it's made of Aluminium.
My current water cooling loop is made 100% of copper, i dont want to introduce an Alu element or it will corrode away too quickly...

aluminum and copper interaction is HIGLY over-rated. Even a small amount of water wetter will solve the problem.

Una's right, just use a left over cpu block you have, or just buy a cheap one, it'll be just as good

Well i have no leftover block... DTEK block aint too expensive, looks good, and buying a GPU block would be OK for the cooling but at the same price i'd lose the easy mounting and the 'sandwich' option (one HD over, one HD under) since i've 2 ultra SCSI disks to cool down.
Oh and DTEK customer support replied me in a few hours, and provided all the info i needed. And they have Tygon :D yumm

why can't you do the hdd sandwhich with a gpu block?

the HD which comes over would not touch the block - it's an IBM drive, circuitry comes in the way.
OhhHhhhh you make me think about putting it upside down... anyway i like DTEK solution, the mounting is easy. (unless someone comes with a good idea about mounting a gpu block between 2 HDs).

get first hdd, mount the block on the first hdd. put the second hdd on top. use the normal screw holes to hold the bottom hdd in. drill some new holes to mount the second hdd with. I realise it mightn't make too much pressure depending on the screw holes, but some AS alumina will make up the gap

That part i figured out :p
the problem is , the WB would be 'free' to move. Need some rentention mechanism...
I imagine adding (soldering..) 2 copper foils around the WB, so their size would match the HDs, and drilling holes around the upper foil so it can be screwed to the upper HD and the lower foil would make contact with the lower HD.
Still, this would cost the same price as buying a the real thing from DTek...

Sorry, where can I buy a GPU waterblock for HDD cooling (if it is possible - in UK) ?
THanks
Leon

Any block which has the barbs sticking out on its side should be OK. If the barbs are 1/2" you should take care they dont stick out (ie the block is thick enough)...
on DangerDen's main page i see a block with barbs on the side but cannot find it in their products list.
Try any WB maker who carries GPU blocks (i said GPU because those are the blocks which usually have barbs on their side)

Watercooling is great. Except I really don't think its practicle for hard drive cooling. You can get a low speed fan thats silent for VERY little money and cool it just as well.

Does this mean we will be lapping HDDs soon? :eek:

Darkedge, no fan is silent. "nearly" is not "totally". And "totally" is the goal i want to achieve. Take a look at BladeRunner's config to see what i mean.
An some HDs *require* active cooling (i've got ultra160 15000rpm drives).
Totally silent cooling = water cooling.

Oh and with a fan you cant wrap the HD in noise insulating foam....

I've seen blade runners rig. The damn thing is excellent. How practicle is that for a normal person though. Also you only need 12-15cfm to cool a hd. Throttle down any quality 80mm fan and you won't hear it.

Granted if your computer is on your desk you might, but if its on the floor you won't. I run watercooling everywhere except my vid and hd's. I hear my vid-card crystal orb before I hear the 80mm hd cooler.

BTW as for your 15000rpm drives, I don't know what it would take to cool one, but most people don't own these and have normal 7200rpm drives. God knows I'd want a ultra160 but I can't afford one like many other people.

Hey i'm not a normal person !..
I cut PC casing with a blowtorch, watercool my comp and own 15000rpm drives...
I still have 2 slow moving 80mm fans, and i HEAR them. I simply sont want to hear them anymore. Not even a whisper. A small air flow produces noise whatever you do. So no airflow allowed. That means total watercooling.

Also if you read my post i mention noise insulation around HDs. That means you cannot aircool them.