I really hate to muck around with the CPU, but I think it's likely I botched the WB mounting. Ah well. I have enough AS3 to do this quite a few times more.
I need to put some ball valves and quick-connects on the tubing going to and from the CPU so I can take the system apart easier. Everything is using 3/8" barbs and screw-down clamps at the moment, and trying to mount the WB with tubing still attached to it probably led to a bad mounting.
The setup is as follows: Pump/res -> CPU -> radiator -> pump/res. Yeah, I should have set it up the other way, but when I arranged everything together I lost track of which side on the res was inlet and which was outlet. The pump/res and radiator are sitting on top of my case.
The chip is a Athlon XP 2100+ running stock speed of 1733 MHz. I was getting temps of 55C with my Thermaltake 6 Cu HSF at idle. I don't do much CPU intensive stuff with this yet, so the only meaningful temps to me are at idle.
I'm pretty sure the mobo is reading the temperature 8 or 10 degrees over, since it's an ASUS A7V333 board, and I hear that's common with die temp readings on them.
Still, that's way too high for a watercooling system.
My ultimate goal is a setup with CPU idle temps 10-20 C above ambient, under which conditions the noise would be barely perceptable - less than 30 dBA, anyhow. Once I pick up either a GF4 or Radeon, I plan to cool that as well.
The Black Ice pump setup is a keeper, though. I think it's a Maxijet, but I can't really tell much about it without tearing apart the res. In any case, it seems to be doing the job. I can't use the Rio for much of anything unless I feel like wrapping it up in a few yards of foam.
I've already sunk about $250 into this project, which netted me two complete watercooling systems, neither of which seem to work well. I don't like the idea of spending much more. I don't spend money on much else, though, so I don't mind spending another hundred or so as long as I can be sure I'm going to use it.
I have some milk crates, tons of cardboard, and some old computer parts around here. I was considering making a portable cooling system under my desk using a good mag-drive, as airspirit suggests. I'd need a much better pump than what I have here to move water 3 feet up from the floor to my CPU as well as overtake friction. But with the old AT (?) power sources I have lying around, I can set up a bunch of 120mm fans down there, which will probably be much quieter. I could even set up two radiators in series. Hmm . . .
airspirit, where can I find that sort of sandpaper? I can't find anything better than 400 grit at Home Depot.
Alchemy
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