The beginnings of mikeeputer 3.0

[mad mikee]

Figured I'd put in some pics to get your attention

Background / overview:

No I don't have the puter up, I am however testing the cooling subassembly (16"L x13"H x 12"W) for leaks.





Slideout motherboard tray will be 1" above cooling subsystem (both removable - cooling subsystem as a unit minus the blocks.)
Most of the filling time is spent getting water into the system (about 30 minutes for 1.75 quarts). However air is gone almost immediately so I can live w/ that.

Inside the cooling subassembly: 2 x 2-342 HC, each fed by an MCP600, gravity fed from res immediately above each pump, pump feeds HC which will feed blocks:

(MCP600(1)->HC(1)->Cascade->MCP600(2)->HC(2)->(GPU/MCW5000 + NB/Z-Block)->MCP600(1))

Air comes in though the bottom (furnace filter in front of horizontal HCs) and exhausted out back by 4x 120mm pana. M1As. Single fill at top (1/4" ball valve, slow fill mentioned above), and single drain at bottom (same thing - connected to both HCs, open top and bottom - FAST easy drain).

Tubing runs should be less than a meter for each (sub) loop.

I like the redundancy aspect, thus the cross-connected loops.

I am trying to minimize the impact of the GPU/NB on overall flow rate/velocity to get the most out of the MCP600s into the cascade.


Some new questions:

1. For the GPU + Zblock, would I be better off running 2 x 3/8 ID in parallel or 1/2" ID in series. I have 2 of those large-bore Ys (2x3/8" -> 1/2") for parallel.

Have option of 2 |_| in parallel or

... /\
|_| |_| (series) (|_| = water making 180 degree turn in block).

2. (for BillA please or whoever? ) Since the pumps are primarily inductive loads (I think?), am I better off putting them both together on their own wire from the PSU or on 2 separate wires w/ something else on with them or ????
(new PSU is PC Pwr &Cooling 510 dlx, so sufficient power should NOT be an issue)

So? :shrug: :shrug: Suggestions /criticisms please?

[mad mikee]

Does Anyone have an opinion????:shrug:

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Looks like a good start mad mikee... look forward to seeing your system on top of it...

[j3rkoff]

I like how you set up the enclosure and loops. Those pumps as good as everyone says?

[flacowboy]

Originally Posted by j3rkoff

I like how you set up the enclosure and loops. Those pumps as good as everyone says?

those pumps rock to me much better then the eheim mine is very very quiet btw way mike set up looks good cant wait to see what temps u get

[Gooserider]

Interesting setup, but I was wondering if you added some extra fittings to the rads? My 2-342 doesn't have that fitting you seem to be using just as a drain connection. Your photos don't show it, but I presume there's another pair of fittings on the other end of the rads? Or are those what those copper pipes running up to the top of the case are?

Some new questions:

1. For the GPU + Zblock, would I be better off running 2 x 3/8 ID in parallel or 1/2" ID in series. I have 2 of those large-bore Ys (2x3/8" -> 1/2") for parallel.

Well, I think your best bet is to do 'bucket testing' to see what gives you the best results.... My gut feel is that the flow path you propose (MCP600(1)->HC(1)->Cascade->MCP600(2)->HC(2)->(GPU/MCW5000 + NB/Z-Block)->MCP600(1)) has something not right about it, but I'm not sure just what. If I were doing it with your hardware, I would probably put the two pumps in series sequence, and feed into the two rads in parallel, then do the cascade, then the two minor blocks in parallel, then to just one res (possibly larger than what you have however)

Like this:

                                          / --- rad 1 ---\                 / --- GPU ---\
        RES out -> Pump 1 -> pump two  -><                > -> Cascade -> <              > -> RES in
                                          \ --- rad 2 ---/                 \ ---- NB ---/

Edited to fix pix because this frigging editor doesn't do 'Code' properly so that ASCII art works....

This will give the maximum pressure head (Pumps in series add heads, almost, while keeping about the same volume as a single pump), feed the coolest possible water to the Cascade, and minimize the pressure drop every where in the loop EXCEPT across the Cascade. If the GPU and NB blocks are comparably restrictive (I'm not sure, never looked it up) and the GPU is a real hot one, you might want to add some restriction to the NB branch in order to force more flow into the GPU branch, but that is a fine tuning question. However if you were to add another block (say a drive block) I would probably put it on the NB branch.

2. (for BillA please or whoever? ) Since the pumps are primarily inductive loads (I think?), am I better off putting them both together on their own wire from the PSU or on 2 separate wires w/ something else on with them or ????
(new PSU is PC Pwr &Cooling 510 dlx, so sufficient power should NOT be an issue)

I could be wrong, but I don't think this makes much difference about three different ways...

1. AFAIK, the different strings of drive power leads coming out of a PSU don't represent seperate circuits inside the PSU box. All the red wires tie to one point, yellow to a different point, etc. At least it's been this way in all the relatively few PSU's that I've torn apart.

(You can prove this without surgery using a multimeter - set it to the lowest resistance scale, or possibly the diode test / continuity check scale. With the PSU turned OFF and disconnected from wall power, take any two drive leads and measure the resistance between two wires of the same color. If they connect to the same internal point, which I expect, you will get a short on the continuity scale, or a fraction of an ohm on the resistance scale.)

2. ALL the drive circuit loads are going to be primarily inductive to a large extent, esepecially on the 12 volt circuit. The electronics on a drive will draw minimal power, the big juice burners are the (inductive) motors on any drive.

3. The concern about inductive vs. capacitive vs. resistive load types is primarily a concern on AC circuits because the power on an AC line constantly varies, and the relationship between the voltage and current curves matters. On a PSU, the outputs are all DC voltage, which is constant power so the relationship between power and current is fixed and not terribly interesting.

Hope this is helpful

Gooserider

[fhorst]

Looking good! I like your 2 big radiators! That should be able to kill all the heat in your system.

However, I do agree, the pumps should be paralel, as that will give a better head.
Serial as you have it now should in theory double the water flow (2 x 600L) at the same pressure. As the system is restrictive you won't get more flow. For that you need more pressure. So Pump1 -> Pump2 -> rad will give you more flow!

One other thing to consider, is that when you split the water at the radiators, the flow in the radiators will be half. (also the restricting factor) As it goes for your waterblock, more flow is better heat dissapation, the same goes for your radiator. With this in mind, you could also deside to go for pump - rad - pump -rad, or pump - pump - rad - rad.

As you already have big radiators, the temp change won't be that much. As you go closer to ambient temp, it get's harder to get the last degree out of the water. (it's mre easy for a rad to cool water of 40c to 30c at 20c ambient, then it is to cool water from 30c to 20c at 20c ambient)

Let us know how it cools!