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Geek Culture / Water cooling for a beginner?

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nj18
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Posted: 27th Apr 2009 02:28
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I'm building a PC for a friend and I was wondering if I should have water cooling for it. I have never done any water cooling stuff before, do you think I could do it? And do you have any recommendations for a cheap one? Or should I just use a fan, I do hope to overclock.

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sprite
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Posted: 27th Apr 2009 02:33 Edited at: 27th Apr 2009 02:34
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If you overclocking then water cooling is really a must.

However if you overclock then do so slowly. If you do it in huge jumps then your asking for burnt out parts. I know this forum has good advice for it http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=7

I'll add something later on.
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jasonhtml
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Posted: 27th Apr 2009 05:03
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also be prepared to take care of it. most beginners don't like maintenance, but water cooled pc's are SUPPOSED to be cleaned every few months (even though I know lots of people don't do this)

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El Goorf
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 01:05
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Quote: "If you overclocking then water cooling is really a must. "


i disagree. i overclocked my cpu from 2ghz to 3ghz with just a standard heatsink and fan which costed like £15 in total. my graphics card is overclocked and it doent have a fan at all, just a passive heatsink with a heatpipe which costed £35. you can get the same fanless heatsink/pipe cooler for cpu's also.

if u want silence with good cooling, then watercooling is a must, though theres other safer (more expensive) methods, such as peltier cooling (basically like sticking a mini fridge on each componant).

if u still wanna try water cooling, i hear that the cheap, basic "starter" kits should really be avoided.

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Roxas
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 01:15
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Also be careful with water cooling, even kid knows what happens when you play with water and electricity

My Quad Core clocked easily without any additional cooling to 3ghz from 2.4ghz. My GPU is also over-clocked. Also because of my linux distro, when i don't do heavy rendering or CPU intensive tasks it underclocks my CPU or GPU to safe voltage and stress, so if there is some program for Windows that lets you set CPU levels for diffrent workloads then get it, will make your hardware stay longer. Especially overclocked.

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 01:29
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Windows does that automatically if you set your power settings to "Max Battery". Unfortunately, it also strangles GDI so the system becomes unbearable.

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Roxas
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 01:33
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Quote: "Windows does that automatically if you set your power settings to "Max Battery". Unfortunately, it also strangles GDI so the system becomes unbearable."

Never knew that, is the Strangling so bad? There may be some people who wants computer to use less electricity as possible so powersaving is really good option =)

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 01:38 Edited at: 28th Apr 2009 01:39
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Yeah but seeing as most CPUs in laptops consume 10% or less of total system power, (5% in netbooks) it isn't at all beneficial. Knocking your screen down, turning the sound off, setting the HDD to auto-shutdown or heck removing a memory stick probably does more in some cases.

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AaronG
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 01:40
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I wouldn't even worry about Water Cooling... I dislike it. I think it's more of a fad.



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Roxas
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 01:41
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Yeah, but was aiming more for desktop PC's. Depending on their CPU and Clock this can cause huge difference.

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sprite
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 03:16
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It depends how far you push your tech. With water you can overclock alot more. Not saying that fans are useless but when your pushing to silly limits water is really the way to go.

Personally my Intel Quad Core 3ghz is running fine at 5ghz but I have seen people get it 6+ghz but theres a stage where one slip up and its processor goes bang. Back then £800 processor bang was not in my price group. At 5+ you can't use a simple fan you have to go for water you get heat errors overwise.

With water never go for one of those has everything kits. Its like buying a record deck mix and match the best parts some have a better heatsink but have a worst pump. It takes a bit of research to do but can get you a better cooling system.

To the OP forget Phase-change cooling the tech needs a few more years in to it before it will be useful. Its between air and water in cooling terms and costs a silly amount of money.

I'll add something later on.
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nj18
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 03:38
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Since this is not for me, do you think that anybody can change out the water and maintain it because I'm not going to be there to do it.

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El Goorf
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Posted: 29th Apr 2009 15:51
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you'll probably need to instruct them, especially the bit about not spillign it every and turning the pc on before letting it dry...

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sprite
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Posted: 30th Apr 2009 02:22 Edited at: 30th Apr 2009 02:32
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The changing of the water is fairly easy. However they need to know how to mix the dyes and use the right water. Using tap water will cause the parts to not work as should and slowly die. Most people don't know that the water has to be the processed kind.

They need to know how to get air bubbles out of the pipes. which is easy to do.

Its best to take someone and show them how to do it. Overwise your asking for trouble. Also make sure your PC hardware is disconnected no water its not cooling plus overclocking bye bye hardware.

edit: Forgot to add that some new tech doesn't need a refill for up to 5 years. I have older tech so I change every year.

I'll add something later on.
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bergice
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Posted: 30th Apr 2009 14:20
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Here is the most awesome computer ever, i sat almost next to it at The Gathering nerd-party thing at Vikingskipet:




You can see some pipes with water in them but on the other side it has a huge tank with water... Now THATS awesomeness!

NEW: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8600 @ 2.40ghz 4gb ram 32-bit | OLD: 3.19GHz - 7600GT - 1GB - Windows XP
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Roxas
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Posted: 30th Apr 2009 14:49
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Most awesome computer ever!

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nj18
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Posted: 4th May 2009 21:59
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Haha wow to both!

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El Goorf
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Posted: 5th May 2009 12:24
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try submersive cooling. get your motherboard and all components, submerge in a tank of mineral oil. do your research first though. i think im going to try it for a summer project

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ABXG
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Posted: 5th May 2009 23:00
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Water cooling can give a computer a very cool look and provide great cooling, the major downsides are that it is very expensive and requires more maintenance than a standard air cooler. You also have to be very careful with leaks and setting up the actual loop as to prevent any kinks from forming within the loop. The largest downside with water cooling is that it makes it a pain in the ass to do any work inside the computer (especially if you are water cooling a video card) as you end up with a bunch of tubes that you cannot really move blocking your work area. You also generally need a larger, and more expensive, case in order to actually accommodate the system.

I water cooled the first rig that I ever built, and when I build my next PC I will most likely elect to use a standard air cooler. With a decent air cooler you can do almost as much as a decent water cooling system, at a much cheaper price.

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nj18
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Posted: 7th May 2009 16:29
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Thanks guys, I think I'll just stick to air.

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 14th May 2009 12:26
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Just go with this:



or





Links:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/strip-fans,1203.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/05/?p=3

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El Goorf
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Posted: 14th May 2009 18:22
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sid, this is the submersive cooling i was going on about, and after extensive research, i've concluded it really isnt a viable option

1) the best oils for the job would literally cost £100's to fill a tank
2) other oils which might seem to do the job are actually slowly disintegrating into more harmful chemicals which are capable of damaging your parts
3) the oils will also disintegrate the tank
4) a little heavy for carry around to lan parties
5) still cant submerge hdd's and cd drives which in my case are the loudest part of my pc
6) cleaning up is gona be a hastle, and the better quality the oil, the harder it is to clean.
7) any modifications mean cleaning the components involved first.

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 14th May 2009 19:47
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Lol, I was just kidding. I hadn't seen you posted something about submersion above.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
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nj18
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Posted: 15th May 2009 18:49
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Ok I'm building a PC right now but I need to connect the cords from the front panel like the USB and audio jacks. I have a BIOSTAR A770 A2+ motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...82E16813138106R and I'm not sure how to do it.

These are the connections I need to plug in, I'll write what it says on the connector first then the color. If you could tell me where to plug them in on the mobo that would be great! Yes, I read the manual and I still don't know where to put it.

First cord (I think it's the sound stuff from the front):
Ground Black
ReturnR Gray
ReturnL Blue
Spkout L White
Spkout R Green
Mic-Bias Yellow
Mic-IN Pink


Next cord:
GND2 Black
DATA-2 White
DATA+2 Green
VCC2 Red


Another cord:
GND1 Black
DATA-1 White
DATA+1 Green
VCC1 Red


Last cord:
GND Black
VCC White
TPB Red
TPB+ Green
GND Black
TPA+ Blue
TPA- Orange



Thanks!

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nj18
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Posted: 15th May 2009 20:55
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OK I did the audio and usb, now I just help with this one


Last cord:
GND Black
VCC White
TPB Red
TPB+ Green
GND Black
TPA+ Blue
TPA- Orange

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 15th May 2009 21:15 Edited at: 15th May 2009 21:15
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I'm unfamilliar with those symbols. Firewire?

http://www.frontx.com/cpx506.html

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nj18
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Posted: 15th May 2009 21:26 Edited at: 15th May 2009 21:36
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Ok maybe that cord for the front panel header, because the is a 16-pin open place on the mobo that the manual says is for the front panel.

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 15th May 2009 21:27 Edited at: 15th May 2009 21:27
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No, it sounds like Firewire. They'd be marked power button, sleep button, reset button, power LED, HDD LED, etc...

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nj18
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Posted: 15th May 2009 21:37
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Oh so I can run that cord on my mobo? Also there is 2 different cords that are for the power button and reset.

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 15th May 2009 22:12
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You could, if for some reason you wanted FireWire. 99% of the world's population have no need for it.

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nj18
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Posted: 15th May 2009 22:36
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OK then I guess I just will not plug it in because I don't think I have a firewire spot on my mobo.

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