Thoughts on Spherical Reservoir?

[Tech4Dogs]

Pretty much all the water cooling reservoirs I've seen are either plastic/glass tubes or fit in a drive bay. What do you guys think about a spherical reservoir? I imagine a 3" glass sphere reservoir would give a pretty neat aesthetic and function equally as well. Also that pearly colored fluid some people use in their rigs would probably swirl nicely due to the shape of the sphere.

 

I did some google searches and it seems OCool had a prototype of something similar made this year.   It looks very wild and RGB.  In my opinion a simple glass sphere would look a lot better.

 

So what are your thoughts on a sphere reservoir? Would it work aesthetically and function equally? 

[Skiiwee29]

I think they look great, but would likely be hard to place in some cases due to the space likely required compared to a standard tube reservoir. 

[Eigenvektor]

A sphere has the smallest surface-to-volume ratio, so a sphere would be better at keeping the heat in, i.e. harder to cool the liquid inside of it.

 

~edit: I realize the reservoir is not the radiator, so surface area is probably not really relevant. In any case, it might be harder to mount.

[Yebi]

2 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

A sphere has the smallest surface-to-volume ratio, so a sphere would be better at keeping the heat in, i.e. harder to cool the liquid inside of it.

While technically true, it really doesn't matter. The cooling performance of a reservoir is close to zero either way

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, Yebi said:

While technically true, it really doesn't matter. The cooling performance of a reservoir is close to zero either way

Yes, just updated my post... don't know why I thought that mattered.

[Tech4Dogs]

I was thinking space might be a concern. I just did some math and measurements just to see what it would be like. A glass sphere that is 3"(7.62cm) in diameter has a volume of 7.83 ounces. For reference a Red Bull can is 8 ounces. That should be enough fluid more most peoples rigs.

 

These are the measurements on my own rig (x99 deluxe, stock 1080ti  and all ram slots full.)  There is 3.25" distance starting from the top of the ram to top of the GPU.  The 3" sphere would not stick out past the GPU and you would have .25" of gap between the RAM and reservoir.  All should be good in terms of fitment unless you have abnormally tall ram. 

 

Living in a cannabis legal state I would think it would be fairly easy to find a glass blower to make this for under $50. The only issue I see is that the glass blower could only make it work for compression fittings or glass on glass style fittings. I have a mill so I would probably cut and shape a piece of acetyl to mate to the glass. That way I could drill and tap the Acetyl for the standard G1/4"

 

 

[I do cause im bored]

I think alphacool do some sort of disco ball. That might have a pump in it though.

[SolarNova]

Nothing out right wrong with have a sphere. Its just space in the 'usual' case design may be an issue, as well as mounting.

 

I remember seeing a build where som1 reused a Glass skull bottle/decanter from a alcohol drink. Looked badass. Not exactly sphere, but most certainly not the usual tube or bay res

 

The decanters cost less than $50, some careful cutting/drilling with glass cutting drill bits and modding easily turns them into suitable reservoirs.

[Belezebub]

You might have a bit of trouble getting a g1/4 to seal correctly against a surface that is not flat but a bit of being clever and you can get around this. If you are going to have this made see if they will add a flat on the top and bottom for fittings to seal against, or leave a larger hole you can silicon a pre drilled and tapped bit of Acrylic to?