Passively cooled fish tank computer

[FakeGamerGuy]

Off-topic, I was dragged to a park in Seattle last night so I took the opportunity to take some photos. Here's one I made into dual-monitor wallpaper if you'd prefer that.

 

[0ld_Chicken]

Off-topic, I was dragged to a park in Seattle last night so I took the opportunity to take some photos. Here's one I made into dual-monitor wallpaper if you'd prefer that.

 

 

That is an awesome shot, I'd love to get dragged there any day!  added to my collection.

[FakeGamerGuy]

While playing Battlefield 3 last night the tube connected to the water pump came off. Judging by the large air pocket in the line by the water block I'm guessing the water block actually went try. The system saw the temperatures go bananas and immediately shut down. Once I realized what happened I reconnected the line and jumped into the UEFI. By the time I got there the CPU was already down to 48C and falling by 1 degree every second or two. System is running perfectly so it looks like there was no damage to the chip.

 

In other news, after reenabling power saving options (and I think there's a few more I can turn on) my system stays at 28-30C under light workloads and the system hibernates after some period of inactivity. Normally I would find that really irritating but the combination of the two means that the tank's thermal capacity is always at it's highest which means that under full load it runs cooler and can continue to run cold longer than before.

[FakeGamerGuy]

Hypothesis: Reducing the the volume of water will increase the rate at which the water temperature rises. As the temperature of the water increases compared to it's environment so does it's cooling capacity. It may be possible to reduce the volume of water and still have an effective passive cooling loop with the trade-off of higher CPU temperature.

 

Experiment: Use a smaller class container as the passive radiator/reservoir and play Battlefield 3, monitor temperatures over time.

 

Time: 3:45 PM PST

Water temp: 29 C
CPU temp: 36 C​

 

Time: 4:06 PM PST

Water temp: Off the scale, approx 44-45 C

CPU temp: 60 C

 

I shut down Battlefield and just doing web browsing the temperature has dropped to 52 C.

 

Conclusion: In no way does a lower water volume help. In theory there should be a point in which the water's heat loss and the CPU's TDP reach an equilibrium but it looks like it's higher than what I'm comfortable with, if it's even within the CPU's operating temperature.

[hk29]

it could been done but your tank would need to be much, much bigger. plus the amount of humidity being pumped into the room would make the room hot, humid and lower the efficency of heat transfer. like in the southern U.S. there has to be a temperure difference for heat transfer to occur.  the danger if your tank is too small  is that it couldnt get rid of heat fast enough.  its like your in a sinking row boat and you are bailing water out with a coffee mug while someone else is using another mug to put water back into the boat. so it will work until the temp in the tank gets high enough where it cant get rid of the heat then you would need an active cooling solution.

 

but i could be wrong.  try an experiment. get a container hook it up to a pump with about the same total length of hose you would be using and run it into the tank and return it to the container. now heat the container with a hot plate or something and run the experiment in the time frame you expect to use your pc.  but also take note on the amount of time the tank needs to cool off too.

 

i dont what the water temps get to in a water cool system but you need to know the inlet and outlet temp going into the tank. 

[Hoppa]

I haven't read through all the pages / comments on this thread but I have a feeling the bacteria will be a big problem for you.

Even with anti-bacterial agents in the loop, bacteria will probably still grow since there's a decent amount of water , and it's not completely sealed off.

And before you know it, you'll have big chunks in your waterblocks that will restrict the water flow.

[FakeGamerGuy]

it could been done but your tank would need to be much, much bigger. plus the amount of humidity being pumped into the room would make the room hot, humid and lower the efficency of heat transfer. like in the southern U.S. there has to be a temperure difference for heat transfer to occur.  the danger if your tank is too small  is that it couldnt get rid of heat fast enough.  its like your in a sinking row boat and you are bailing water out with a coffee mug while someone else is using another mug to put water back into the boat. so it will work until the temp in the tank gets high enough where it cant get rid of the heat then you would need an active cooling solution.

 

but i could be wrong.  try an experiment. get a container hook it up to a pump with about the same total length of hose you would be using and run it into the tank and return it to the container. now heat the container with a hot plate or something and run the experiment in the time frame you expect to use your pc.  but also take note on the amount of time the tank needs to cool off too.

 

i dont what the water temps get to in a water cool system but you need to know the inlet and outlet temp going into the tank. 

 

I haven't read through all the pages / comments on this thread but I have a feeling the bacteria will be a big problem for you.

Even with anti-bacterial agents in the loop, bacteria will probably still grow since there's a decent amount of water , and it's not completely sealed off.

And before you know it, you'll have big chunks in your waterblocks that will restrict the water flow.

 

Please read the rest of the thread. The actual thermal characteristics of the system have been extensively tested on multiple occasions and it's been my daily use computer for weeks. As for the biocide, it works just fine. You add n drops per liter of fluid so there's always the correct amount of agent to keep the water growth-free.

 

CoolerMaster had a booth at PAX this weekend all about case modding and I got to try my hand at bending hard line tubing. It was a lot simpler than I thought it would be and I'm really excited to replace my soft lines with hard ones. Not sure if I want to go with clear or white.

[Vellinious]

Not taking evaporation, radiation, or anything else into account this is what the thermals look like over time given a range of heat being introduced into the tank:

 

 

I get what you mean. The tank is supposed to be aesthetic as well as functional so I'm hesitant to put heat sinks anywhere near or on the tank. If I do use them I'd get a double or tripple 120mm radiator to put on top of the computer case and run the 'exhaust' line to the tank from there. The whole purpose is to have a completely fanless gaming computer, but if it becomes unsustainable I could also put fans on top of the radiator and turn them on above a certain water temperature.

 

 

I don't LAN; this machine only moves when it gets new hardware and now the motherboard is completely maxed.

 

 

Are there any numbers on watts or BTUs radiators dissipate passively? It'd be nice to be able to add that into my thermal models.

If you're just looking at fanless...get an MO RA3 420 and don't overclock anything.  I had my 5820k and a single 970 running without the fans going on the radiator.  Water temps would start to climb up a bit after a few hours of stress testing.  Up to about 12c above ambient after a two hours of OCCT, but....that's nothing to worry about.  CPU and GPU temps stayed perfectly fine during normal usage and gaming.  

[FakeGamerGuy]

While doing some upgrades to my cooling tank I decided to see if i could run the system on an extremely low amount of water.

 

 

The inner dimensions of the container are approx. 3" x 4" x 8.5", 102 ci (1.67L). After several hours of low-resource usage (Facebook, YouTube, Google Sheets, etc.) CPU temp has been pretty stable at 44C, plus or minus 2C. Not that I plan on running the system like this long-term, and I doubt it would be happy under load, but I was pretty impressed by the result.

[CobbleWalker]

On 11/12/2015 at 5:25 PM, FakeGamerGuy said:

While doing some upgrades to my cooling tank I decided to see if i could run the system on an extremely low amount of water.

 

 

The inner dimensions of the container are approx. 3" x 4" x 8.5", 102 ci (1.67L). After several hours of low-resource usage (Facebook, YouTube, Google Sheets, etc.) CPU temp has been pretty stable at 44C, plus or minus 2C. Not that I plan on running the system like this long-term, and I doubt it would be happy under load, but I was pretty impressed by the result.

I was following this thread since the beginning, and was just wondering if you had any updates (if you still use the form). This was one of the most interesting treads I've ever read.

[FakeGamerGuy]

On 5/30/2016 at 0:53 PM, CobbleWalker said:

I was following this thread since the beginning, and was just wondering if you had any updates (if you still use the form). This was one of the most interesting treads I've ever read.

 

I ran the system as it was for a while and was largely happy with it. When spring/summer started to roll around the evaporation rate skyrocketed and I had to refill the tank every other week. When the water level got low it would start sucking in dust and air and I would have to "burp" the system to flush out the air and dust bunnies that got into the system. Eventually, I decided to go with a more conventional water cooling setup and ditched the fish tank.

[CobbleWalker]

Awww, that really stinks. I'm sure you learned a lot! (I sure did ). Thanks for giving me a sense of peace and conclusion and I wish you luck on your future computer endeavors! 

 

[Ryzen 7 1700]

Hi. I am thinking about doing this too. I am going to use a 20 gal fish tank instead.