Crazy Custom Sub Zero (ish) PC Cooling!

[Jake The Dog]

EDIT: There is a reason that I could get the CPU down to 4c, I had an air conditioner pointed at the rad, And yes I know you can't cool below ambient with watercooling parts alone...

 

 

This is now my second water cooled system, but the first I have built for myself. So here's the story...

 

Back in 2011 I built a FX-8150 system for Graphic design in Cinema 4D and after effects and a bit of gaming too. Both Cinema 4D and affects take a whack-tonne of CPU power to use. With all that power came a lot of heat so I switched out the stock heat skink with a akasa X4 cooler which could keep it at a reasonable temperature @ stock clocks (~60°C under load). Since then it has been sitting under my desk chugging along and collecting dust, Until very recently...

 

I’d been wanting to do some overclocking for a long time to speed up the render time however I could not because of thermal limits. Why? For the same reason Linus does it: http://youtu.be/QBfXruwe8w4?t=57s . So an upgrade was in order.

 

I have, sorry, had a large air conditioner that recently started spewing coolant everywhere, so I cannibalized it and salvaged the evaporator radiator which has a very high fin density and a nice flow rate. I then strapped it to the side of the case and called it a day. This was to be the radiator for my water cooling loop. I then mustered every penny I could find and bought an EK supremacy LTX waterblock, a Laing DDC pump and an XSPC pump top and resivoir combo. Condensation on tubes was also a problem so I bought so anti-condensation tubing

 

I'm still running a crappy GT430 GPU that runs games fine on low settings, but it needs a upgrade badly.

 

List of components:

 

AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 @ 4.6Ghz

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX

GeForce GT430 (Yep, the overpriced graphics card that Linus said was a stupid and no one should buy)

Crucial Ballistics Tactical Tracer 12GB

XFX Pro 450W Power supply 

2X WD 1TB Black HDD in raid 0

All housed in the Zalman Z9+

 

The Finished System

 

CPU Socket

 

Radiator

 

 

I drilled into the pipe slightly... So I fixed it some random epoxy. *Remember, Do as I say not as I do*

 

 

Temperatures @ 20c

 

Idle at desktop: ~4c

Prime 95 for 4 hours @ 4.6GHz: ~31c

 

 

 

[Zeke]

How much of a difference does that fan make?

[CoolBeans]

Is your room like 0C because you can't cool under the ambient temp unless you have a refrigerator or something 

[Rorgash]

you are just using the rad itself? in that case i want to know how you broke the laws of physics?

 

i could understand if its working and used to cool freezers..

[helping]

you are just using the rad itself? in that case i want to know how you broke the laws of physics?

 

i could understand if its working and used to cool freezers..

It's probably like 40c actual since the AMD thermobobbers are wrong at low temps.

 

 

either way it's cool

[Rorgash]

It's probably like 40c actual since the AMD thermobobbers are wrong at low temps.

 

 

either way it's cool

amd seems fun.. now i hear that their "thermobobbers" cant read lower than what 40 something, and if the cpus goes above 65 they overheat/burn if they dont shut down... amd sucks

[Enderman]

This is either a troll or a really stupid idiot. You cannot cool below ambient temperature with just a radiator. You need to use phase-change to get below ambient temperature just like a fridge/freezer does. It is not possible with just a radiator.

 

EDIT- seems like the general agreement is the shit AMD thermal sensors. That would explain the fake idle temps.

[Jake The Dog]

I did have a Air Conditioner pointed at the rad, So I guessed that helped.

I will post legit temps later!

[Jodomcfrodo]

 

You can't cool below ambient...

[Jodomcfrodo]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/275185-29-exploring-ambient-water-cooling

 

Going below ambiant temps is possible with PC rads however that radiator has such a huge surface area I guess it just works anyway...

So let me ask, if you blow 20c air across water, how does it go past 20c? Temperatures equalize. Energy goes from a higher temperature to a lower temperature I believe. We were taught this in physics this year but I can't remember the specific name for it. 

 

That guy had ice from the looks of it...

[helping]

So let me ask, if you blow 20c air across water, how does it go past 20c? Temperatures equalize. Energy goes from a higher temperature to a lower temperature I believe. We were taught this in physics this year but I can't remember the specific name for it. 

Thermodynamics, thermal equilibrium, and Newton's cooling law.

[loccilucas]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/275185-29-exploring-ambient-water-cooling

 

Going below ambiant temps is possible with PC rads however that radiator has such a huge surface area I guess it just works anyway...

no, its not possible with just radiators. You need peltiers, liquid nitrogen or something like a freezer.

[Jodomcfrodo]

Thermodynamics, thermal equilibrium, and Newton's cooling law.

I was thinking something energy. Like a cup of coffee has more/less XXXX energy than an iceberg.