Best overall waterblocks

[Phoenix-R]

Hi guys i'm new to the artform of watercooling and i'm in need of some quality advice. I'm looking for high quality water blocks (costing 50-170$) that you think would work well with a system like this: Starting with one MCP660 pump /w 1/2 tubing to a cpu block then to chipset block then to vga block then to RAM block, then to harddrive block, then out of computer to a 2nd MCP660 pump (it that's possible), into a 3 fan radiator, out the radiator then into a chest freezer (-20c to -40c), through a resevoir (submerged in an anti-freeze or the like that's in the freezer), out the side of the freezer, then finally back to the first MCP660 pump. Got all that? That's a lot more waterblocks than i've heard most people use so i'm assuming the 2x MCP660 will have enough pressure to overcome all that restriction. I just need to know now what are the best waterblocks I could buy for this system. I'm planning on using an A8N32 SLI motherboard or a DFI NF4 SLI-DR Expert motherboard, w/ two MSI NX7800GTX-VT2D512E 512MB graphics cards (http://www.citrusmicro.com/index.cfm...ils&ItemID=215 ) This is a lot of information I know, but all I need is your suggestions on the best waterblocks, so please don't let all this info scare you away. Thanks you guys, I appreciate your help on this matter (oh yeah and if my system idea sounds mental then i'd appreciate you telling me that too )

[5|*42]

What exactly will go on inside the freezer? Are you just running the tubes through it? You will probably be better off using pelts instead of the freezer though.

[Phoenix-R]

I will be running 1/2 HTTT Fluoropolymer (highly conductive, thermal resistant tubing) into the freezer, then inside the freezer will be a container filled with anti-freeze or the like and inside that filled container will be more 1/2 tubing + the system reservoir, then more tubing leading out of freezer.

I'm interested to hear why you think a peltier would give better temps than this setup.

[bobo5195]

By running something significantly different from water you could severly effect the performance of your block. A quicky calc would be to compare the prandtl number of pure water to the refigerant you are using.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prandtl_number. The %age differance will be the loss in performance of your loop. For storm style block the thermal conuctivity of the fluids is the dominant factor ( i think, fuzzy guesswork). So a comparision of those will tell you your performance drop.

[Phoenix-R]

Let me clarify what kind of coolent i'm going to actually be running through the system's tubing. I will be adding distilled water + MCT-40 Non-Conductive Solution from dangerden to run through the system. The antifreeze (which i'm not putting into the actual system) will sit in a tub inside the freezer. I will put the system reservoir 'into' this antifreeze tub and run tubing through the freezer to the reservoir and back out the freezer to complete the system 'circuit.' (so to speak) Antifreeze would be horrible to put into the actual system, i'm just using it as a super cooled liquid that will suck heat away from the actual system coolent (i.e. the distilled water + MCT-40) in the tubes.

[5|*42]

The MCT-40 is premixed, you don't add water to it. And why would antifreeze be horrible in a WC setup? That's what most everyone uses to cut down on corrosion/bacterial growth.

[bobo5195]

^my above post was enhanced by jagermeister. I forgot you were using an antifreeze mix on for some reason I thought you were using pure alcohol or something.

The same concepts apply but their effect is likely to be small (although it might show up in testing), don’t worry to much. It’s a standard approach and all is good in the world, a small drop in performance is worth it for no green goo.

[Phoenix-R]

The reason I don't use antifreeze in the actual system is because it is too viscous at low temperatures. It works great in cars where the engine temp can go to 200 degrees, but at normal temps and below it becomes like molasses. Here's a link for coolent comparisons. http://www.overclockers.com/articles609/ Note: I don't use methanol or enthanol because they both give off potentially dangerous fumes .

[billbartuska]

Originally Posted by Phoenix-R

into a 3 fan radiator, out the radiator then into a chest freezer (-20c to -40c),

Wait a minute...If the water will be cooler than ambient the rad will heat it up, If the water is warmer than ambient the freezer is usless. It it's intended that the water will be somewhere in between the two you will need some kind of temp control mechanism to keep it there.

[Phoenix-R]

I understand what you're saying about the radiator and freezer. I'm hoping that the cooled water will get hot enough by the time it goes through all the water blocks that by the time it gets to the radiator, the radiator will actually help lower the water's temp to ambient, then once that happens, the ambient temp water would enter the freezer and be cooled further.

[Brians256]

Originally Posted by Phoenix-R

Hi guys i'm new to the artform of watercooling and i'm in need of some quality advice. I'm looking for high quality water blocks (costing 50-170$) that you think would work well with a system like this: Starting with one MCP660 pump /w 1/2 tubing to a cpu block then to chipset block then to vga block then to RAM block, then to harddrive block, then out of computer to a 2nd MCP660 pump (it that's possible), into a 3 fan radiator, out the radiator then into a chest freezer (-20c to -40c), through a resevoir (submerged in an anti-freeze or the like that's in the freezer), out the side of the freezer, then finally back to the first MCP660 pump. Got all that? That's a lot more waterblocks than i've heard most people use so i'm assuming the 2x MCP660 will have enough pressure to overcome all that restriction. I just need to know now what are the best waterblocks I could buy for this system. I'm planning on using an A8N32 SLI motherboard or a DFI NF4 SLI-DR Expert motherboard, w/ two MSI NX7800GTX-VT2D512E 512MB graphics cards (http://www.citrusmicro.com/index.cfm...ils&ItemID=215 ) This is a lot of information I know, but all I need is your suggestions on the best waterblocks, so please don't let all this info scare you away. Thanks you guys, I appreciate your help on this matter (oh yeah and if my system idea sounds mental then i'd appreciate you telling me that too )

You'd do well to not have a radiator in this loop. If the coolant temps are ever expected to go below ambient temperature, they won't get much above after cooling the CPU, GPU, Hard Drives, NB and near anything else connected to your computer. So, you would have a 3-fan radiator that is heating up the water that was cooled by the freezer.

If you have a phase change cooler in the loop, ditch the radiator that is exposed to ambient temp air.

The idea of a peltier is that it cools ONLY the CPU and is thus much more efficient than a freezer that tries to keep everything in the loop cool (think of all that cold tubing that is pulling in heat from the air and even the water pump that is dumping heat into the coolant).

[Phoenix-R]

I've heard that most freezers are not designed to be on 24/7, and because of that I would need something else to keep the temperature down than just the freezer alone, any ideas?

[billbartuska]

Originally Posted by Phoenix-R

I've heard that most freezers are not designed to be on 24/7,

Huh?

[Albigger]

Actually I think he's right about the freezer - the freezer itself is of course fine for 24/7 use, but the compressors usually are not rated as so, and some (most?) of the experiments with using such devices are that the heat dumped into the freezer means the compressor would have to run continuously to maintain cold temps, which isn't good.

This is all highly speculative and depends on your freezer/compressor setup and the amout of heat you will be dumping into it, etc...

[Phoenix-R]

The freezer i'm currently looking at is the Whirlpool EH050FXM. All whirlpool chest units got top ratings in consumer reports and this one can go to a max of -35c to -40c. It's only 200$ though so it seemed like it was too good to be true. I'm really quite new at this stuff so I haven't really looked at the EH050FXM's compressor unit etc. yet. I can scarcely imagine the eletric bills that i'll be getting after building this computer. It's going to be a monster. Already the cost is at $8500 *gasp*. With all the power components + water cooling/freezer/fans + huge sound system + overclocking the components this thing could probably cause a city wide blackout. I'm exaggerating of course, but it certainly will use a lot of energy . I was thinking about buying a small scientific freezer as they are of higher quality and are probably designed to keep temperatures at a constant.
Thanks for all your input guys, I really appreciate the help.

[Brians256]

Phoenix, the compressors can work fine running continuously, but it depends quite a bit upon the thermal load you are placing upon it. Failures for compressors (for what you are doing) are probably going to come from heat. If you have too many watts to move, then you will have a high refrigerant temperature, which means that the electric motor in the compressor will get hot from the coolant and hotter from working harder to compress the highly energetic refrigerant.

Really, if you want to do it right (and you are throwing around a LOT of money), you are going to be more cost effective buying a phase change unit that cools ONLY the cpu. Instead of spending all that money for a refrigerator, buy a prometia or one of it's kind.

If you want to make one, go ahead, but you will get better temps by using TECs than the setup you are suggesting.

My suggestion is to TRY watercooling first. Then add a TEC and see how that affects your build. Then, add phase change. The experience you get at each step will really help you not waste a lot of money.

If you insist on doing it all at once, don't be surprised if there are some rude comments. There may be people that say harsh things, but even if they are right, you may learn better by burning up your own computers and equipment. You might even succeed. Remember to keep posting your results so that others can benefit from your experiences!

[Phoenix-R]

It's going to be an exciting project whichever way it goes, i'll send in the pics as soon as everything is assembled. The first step 'will' probably be to see how watercooling setup w/ a radiator handles the computer, i'll take it from there. Don't worry about the criticism, it all helps in the end.