First test of new WC Setup
 

Hello people. I've finally gotten around to testing out my setup for my first watercooled computer. I just set it up for the first time, and so far, so good. There are only a few clamps on it in a few places, and only one or two areas that are developing little drops of water occasionally. After I play with it for a while, I am going to dismantle it until I finalize a few things with my design.

Here's some pics for right now:
http://www.dakotacom.net/~twilight/wctest1.jpg
Here's a kind of top-down view. The extra hands in the pic are my little brothers'. I have an Eheim 1250, 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD Tygon R3603 tubing, (2) Maze 3's. There's also a Y at the bottom and top of the system for fill/bleed/airtrap.
http://www.dakotacom.net/~twilight/wctest2.jpg

http://www.dakotacom.net/~twilight/wctest3.jpg

I was going to use a heatercore for the radiator, but I found this thing on a radiator for cooling the tranny fluid of a car. It basically has two copper tubes, one inside the other, with a gap between the two for fluid to flow. I am going to do some experimenting with it to see how well it works (I may also put some fins on it with a fan at one end). I just need some way to test it out.. I don't have my dual proc. computer yet to test it on. I also would like to have the cooling system and case finished before I get the parts for the computer..

Well, anyways, I've typed enough

Nice shorts...

LOL :D

And very sexy if I may say. ;)

Anyone have any opinion on that copper tube? I'm trying to think of a way to test it's cooling capacity, but I don't have the computer I'm going to put it in yet, nor do I have a pelt or anything that I can use to heat up the blocks to see what the temp. goes to. The best thing I've thought of is putting the WB's on something hot (like a hot pan or something that I can keep a constant hot temperature) and dropping a thermometer down one of the fill tubes to see what the temperature evens out at.

Any other suggestions?

i don't have any experience with copper tube cooling, but;

it has way less surface area as a multi fin radiator
it looks most unpractical for using with a pc case

your idea of testing it on a stove looks solid; but keep watching the teflon crap on your WB fittings. it wouldn't be kool if it looks all blackened.

Umm Dallas... we're going to have a problem here... I'm telling you this from the get-go. NO, to the pipe. Although I'd like to see the results... Just about nothing beats a heater core for overall cooling capacity. They are designed to just what they do best, DUMP heat and heat yer ride up. Check out my Chevette heater Core Extraction how-to... Took me about 10-15min with some simple tools... Good luck!

BTW-where did you get that sexy looking Y-splitter?! Homedepot and Lowes don't carry anything of the sorts... just overpriced T's! Nice shorts too! lol ;)

Dido, nay on the tube.

You really can't beat the heatercore, no matter how you look at it, unless you're an aircraft mechanic...

The results should be interesting though. If the inner tube was finned, and the whole assembly was a lot longer, like 3 to 5 times, I'd say "use it", but by then, you'd have the same flow restriction as a core, and you'd have a massively large contraption. Unless you've got a large cold basement...

Yep, I did a little experimenting and it looks like I am going to be going with the heatercore. I didn't think the tube would work well enough, but I wanted to give it a shot (Would've been cool if it did work though). I was thinking about putting some fins on the outside, but I still don't think it will help enough.

Pretty much, I put a small pan of water on the stove and heated it up to a constant 140F. I put in the two waterblocks and although I couldn't measure the temp. of the water inside my system, the copper tube did heat up quite a bit, and the temp. of the pan of water dropped to a pretty constant 120F. Not bad, but I think with processors, the system would slowly overheat.

V12|V12: I got the Y's from Dangerden when I ordered my watercooling stuff. They were a few dollars. I'm pretty sure that they are from McMaster.