Lab chiller
 

I recently stumbled on to the concept of using Lab Chillers to pump water through the computer. I do not know exactly how these things work, but they seem to be able to heat/cool water to a set temperature, and will circulate it. Assuming it does all this, it would be a resevoir, radiator, and pump all in one, plus it would be able to hit very low temps. Does anyone have any experience with these or know how they work? Could it be used for watercooling?

The chillers are effectively phase change units with the evaporator inside the reservoir.

The important thing to look for is the thermal capacity of the chiller. They cannot cope with a computer producing more power than they are specced for. Ideally you would want something rated at ~250W and up. Remember this is the thermal capacity, not what they draw from the wall socket.

Essentially, it works the same way as a fridge, except the compressors are designed for continuous use, but tend to be cycled for temperature control. They are often much more powerful than fridge compressors as well.

Hope that helps

8-ball

I have a Thermotek chiller. It uses 6 * 50W pelts sandwiched in a huge heatsink, and is rated for 250W.

The advantage of the chiller is that it can maintain a set temperature steady.

The disadvantage is that it'll draw a lot of power, Pelts being as inefficient as they are.

My unit has a built in pump which is underpowered for a PC (at least in my application ;) ).

If using a chiller, I'd have to recomend the phase change units (aka with a compressor), just because they're more energy efficient. There's no real need to hold the set temperature as steady as a pelt based chiller can, IMO. (unless you plan to do testing, like me)

On the other hand, the Thermotek unit can be found on eBay for $100-150...