Temp's not as low as I expected.

[jwsmith37]

I got my system together and the cpu temp dosen't seem to be as low as it should be.
I built it all in a InWin Q500 case. I put a Ford pickup truck heater core above the P/S. Made a 120mm to 6 inch adapter for the fan. The fan is sucking the air through the core. I have a Danner 500 pump and a Danger Den Maze 2 block. The fan is a Sunon rated at 98 CFM/2800 RPM. I used 1/2 inch tubing for the system.The core had to lay sideways to fit in the case.
Before the temp. was 40 C with a WBK38 heatsink. Now it reads 35 C. This is using the in-the-sockit thermister on the motherboard. My thought was that because I had to lay the core sideways, the water is not flowing through all of the core. This is due to the placement of the inlet and outlet tubes. The 'top' tank's tube is on the bottom of the tank, something like this.

xxxxx
x x
x x Top Tank
x x
x x
O x - The 'O' is the pipe(outlet)
xxxxx

xxxxx
x x
x x
x x
xxIxx - The 'I' is the pipe (inlet)

I had, at first, the top tank as the inlet.
Today I reversed it, and the temp. went down 3 to 5 C.
I was thinking that a Aquastealth cube would be better than this core setup.
What do others here think?
Or have I over looked something?
Jim
I just looked at the message and it removed the spaces between the vertical X's. Ugh !
Well I guess everyone will get the idea.
J

[GuyBFF]

Maybe I didn't totally catch this, but the heater core your using has the inlet on the top and the outlet on the bottom (or vice versa). Basically a straight threw, one-pass unit?

It doesnt't have them both on top like the Big Momma and the Black Ice???

[JimS]

Heater cores usually have two different sized pipes. The larger one is for the inlet. This is to be sure that there is always backpressure in the unit so that air is expelled.

My heater core is from 87 Chevette, I have four 80 mm fans glued together pushing air through it. One 120 fan is probably not enough for your setup IMHO.

[jwsmith37]

GuyBFF:
I had to lay the core sideways. The water flows from left to right. The pix's, I have seen, of the 'momma' show the tanks at the top, flow would be top to bottom.
JimS:
Both pipes are the same size.
Update:
I just put a switch in the 120mm fan. This switches the fam from 12V to 7V.
So far there has been no change in temp. (35C).

[GuyBFF]

I'm still trying to figure out what type of core you have. When I look at www.heatercore4u.com/Make.htm it shows all ford P/U trucks as having top tanks (two pass) like this:

XOXXX0X
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
TTTTTTT

Where the O's are the tubes and the T's are the bottom tank (looking straight on). This is desirable.

There are some that are one pass - in top and out bottom (or side to side depending on how mounted). You don't have one like this do you? As the water spends less time in the core to actually cool.

It doesnt't matter that much how you mount the core, as sooner or later all the air will leave with your 500gph pump and 1/2". Flow will be complete then regardless of position. If it's sideways, auto's usually have the Inlet higher than the outlet, as this promotes hot water staying in the core. I doublt it amkes a difference.

Lastly I'm just using a single 120mm Delta Fan (107cfm) although it works well, JimS has a better setup. I made a fan shroud and saw 2-3 degrees (but it was in the way) so I may copy him with 4 cheap, quiet 80's. You need some way to have airflow corner to corner, or hot water just bypasses on corners.

[jwsmith37]

The core looks like this oneFord Truck Heater Core
I built a fan adapter to go from the 120mm square fan to the 6 inch square core. The adapter is attached to the fan with a sqare bracket I found at HSC. The fan is apx. 1 inch from the core. The adapter is sealed with metal duct tape. And the adapter is sealed to the core with 1/4" foam tape, the type used on windows with 'stickum' on one side. Now that I have lowered the fan speed and the temp. stayed the same I concluded that this is all the better this setup can get. At least it is much quieter than the 6800 RPM screamer of a fan that was on the WBK38.
I may get a Aqua stealth cube later, after I figure how to pull air through it instead of blowing air on it. Eithor way it will involve spacing the fan 1 inch from the core.
Thanks for all you guy's input.
Jim

[GuyBFF]

Hmmm, the Ford rad you have is about the same core as Big Momma and the same as the one JimS and me are using. I really don't think an aquacube will improve anything if this core is in decent shape (really this should be your best solution).

It interests me that you saw a difference in the cooling temperature by switching the hoses. Heater cores are usually used with the inlet in top and the outlet at bottom with the intent that hot water will rise a bit more than the cold and get cooled a little more (this is what they tell you in auto parts, but I didn't think there'd be any difference in computer cooling).

Maybe try turning and tapping the core to make sure theres no air-locks in it. Also is this a new core? If not maybe use a auto rad flush chemical (out of your computer, don't run it threw the pump). Also you could try situating fans to suck rather than blow. Can't think of much else.

[jwsmith37]

Thanks to Guy & Jim for your input.
I talked to a guy at work and his Athlon with a FOP32 is 45 to 50C.
I did order a AquaCube to play around with.
I may try to cram it into my mid tower case.
I liked that case and this Q500 is abit big.
But ez to work in.
Jim