Could you use passive cooling to cool a water cooled PC?

[fattdogs]

So i just saw the review for the coolermaster haf stacker, i know a bit late. But i was wondering if it would be possible to have a passively cooled water cooled system, where you would potentially have 4 360mm radiators with no fans, all hooked up to the pump and computer itself. sorry i have only built a handful of computers and have never dipped my toes into water cooling yet, but i was still wondering if it would be possible as to have a near silent system with nothing audible running but the pump, and still get great temps. So what is your guys thoughts or opinions?

[comicsansms]

If the water is moving (Which it is in a water cooled PC) it is not passively cooled

[WoodenMarker]

If the water is moving (Which it is in a water cooled PC) it is not passively cooled

^ Ditto

 

Also, the quietest of fans is quieter than the quietest of pumps. 

[Marinatall_Ironside]

The Alphacool Cape Cora and the Aquacomputer Airplex GIGANT are massive radiators meant to be used externally. So you can have a passively-cooled watercooled PC, just need either of the ones outlined.

 

 

[GlassBomb]

So i just saw the review for the coolermaster haf stacker, i know a bit late. But i was wondering if it would be possible to have a passively cooled water cooled system, where you would potentially have 4 360mm radiators with no fans, all hooked up to the pump and computer itself. sorry i have only built a handful of computers and have never dipped my toes into water cooling yet, but i was still wondering if it would be possible as to have a near silent system with nothing audible running but the pump, and still get great temps. So what is your guys thoughts or opinions?

 

You NEED something to move colder air through the hotter fins. Or else the component will sadly only keep becoming hotter and hotter, up until they will throttle themselves down to nothing, or even shut down the system.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

^ Ditto

 

Also, the quietest of fans is quieter than the quietest of pumps. 

Ya want to know what's quieter than the quietest fan? No fans at all

[WoodenMarker]

Ya want to know what's quieter than the quietest fan? No fans at all

Maybe with active ambient noise cancelling, it could be the other way around. 

[Marinatall_Ironside]

Maybe with active ambient noise cancelling, it could be the other way around. 

You also saw my post right? I tried active noise cancelling and it doesn't bode too well for me unfortunately. But for some that's a good solution.

[Gumi Rokkaku]

Yeah moving water is by definition not passive.
But the answer is still no. Put simply, the water needs the fans to help move the heat from the water to the air. Noctua fans are super quiet though. Maybe pick up the ltt ones when they come back on sale?

[WoodenMarker]

You also saw my post right? I tried active noise cancelling and it doesn't bode too well for me unfortunately. But for some that's a good solution.

Link? I don't remember coming across that. 

[GlassBomb]

The Alphacool Cape Cora and the Aquacomputer Airplex GIGANT are massive radiators meant to be used externally. So you can have a passively-cooled watercooled PC, just need either of the ones outlined.

 

Aquacomputer Airplex GIGANT 3360

 

Alphacool Cape Cora

 

I would personally not be comfortable using either of those configurations for any kind of extended use. And you would still have to use fans in the system, because you NEED some kind of airflow going through the case to keep components from frying themselves.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

I would personally not be comfortable using either of those configurations for any kind of extended use. And you would still have to use fans in the system, because you NEED some kind of airflow going through the case to keep components from frying themselves.

Uhh that's what air circulation is for in your room, right?

 

If that doesn't help, hang that sucker out the window like what Linus did with his rad box for whole room water cooling.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

Link? I don't remember coming across that. 

I have some images of the rads I posted. If you want links to the products, I'll give 'em to ya.

[Stefan1024]

So i just saw the review for the coolermaster haf stacker, i know a bit late. But i was wondering if it would be possible to have a passively cooled water cooled system, where you would potentially have 4 360mm radiators with no fans, all hooked up to the pump and computer itself. sorry i have only built a handful of computers and have never dipped my toes into water cooling yet, but i was still wondering if it would be possible as to have a near silent system with nothing audible running but the pump, and still get great temps. So what is your guys thoughts or opinions?

If you use normal radiators it won't work well because the finns are way to close togther.

But if you use radiators designed for passive cooling it will work fine. But they allso will be quite big.

As for the pump: get one that is cooled by the water it pumps and wrap it with several layers of foam. But it's difficult to make it inaudiable.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

If you use normal radiators it won't work well because the finns are way to close togther.

But if you use radiators designed for passive cooling it will work fine. But they allso will be quite big.

As for the pump: get one that is cooled by the water it pumps and wrap it with several layers of foam. But it's difficult to make it inaudiable.

Which is what the Alphacool Cape Cora is designed for. I'm currently watching a review of the HF 442 and 642 by OC3D.

[GlassBomb]

Uhh that's what air circulation is for in your room, right?

 

If that doesn't help, hang that sucker out the window like what Linus did with his rad box for whole room water cooling.

 

I'm just not sure how much it would help when you don't have AC, and ambient goes up to 30-35C in the summers. I would personally just go for a more normal water cooling setup and just grab quiet fans and run them as low as possible.

[xgn]

I would personally not be comfortable using either of those configurations for any kind of extended use. And you would still have to use fans in the system, because you NEED some kind of airflow going through the case to keep components from frying themselves.

No you don't ive seen reviews of passive machines i personally wouldent use it though.

[Finnster]

I'm using a setup as listed in my profile, with a MoRa3 and 9 NB fans mounted on the wall. I've configured my fan-controller that the fans just start spinning when the water-temperature gets over 29 degreeC. So the fans just start spinning very slowly when I'm playing GPU intense games for multible hours. But even with a MoRa3 the water heated up to 40 degreeC after some time in a completly fanless mode.

So I would say you have to buy fans for your radiators but you could configure them for different scenarios like desktop or small load where you will have silent operation and gaming where the fans will turn on (but I suppose you're using headphones while gaming anyway).

 

For a very quiet pump I can recommend the Aquacomputer Aquastream XT and a Shoggy sandwich. For me running it at 58hz it's not perceptible!

[DebatED Nothing]

You NEED something to move colder air through the hotter fins. Or else the component will sadly only keep becoming hotter and hotter, up until they will throttle themselves down to nothing, or even shut down the system.

Maybe you could get some convection based cooling going, but it would just be stupid for the purposes of a PC.

[Jared_kahler]

Ya want to know what's quieter than the quietest fan? No fans at all

[Jared_kahler]

Unfortunately there would still be slight pump noise. You could get a variable speed pump and turn it down, but unless you had fantastic airflow, or had the case in a very cold room, it would still start to heat up.

[Stefan1024]

What components / TDP are you looking for to cool?