Personal Whole Room Water Cooling

[jackm1120]

Hi everyone,

Im currently attempting my own "whole room water cooling project" and was wondering if anyone knows what I should put in my loop to prevent freezing.  Specifically antifreeze? Vodka? isopropyl Alcohol? Wiper fluid? I just would like something that wont damage my loop over time.  I live in Chicago and its well below freezing right now and will be for the next 3-4 months.  I plan to mount 2 quad rads outside that are part brass part copper.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I live with my brother and we have so many LAN parties ive built 5 rigs over the years so it does get very hot when I have people over gaming. 

 

My RIg: 2x GTX 980s

Brothers 2x TItan Blacks

Rig 3: 3x GTX 780s

Rig 4: 3x GTX 580s

Rig 5: 4x GTX 480s

 

Everything is currently water cooled inside the house except the rigs with the 580s and 480s, which are strictly on air.   I have already purchased waterblocks for them but have not installed them yet.  Im planning on just water cooling the 2 low end rigs with the outdoor mounted radiators for before I hook up all the computers to the outdoor loop.  By then I will have added some more radiators by then tho.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated,

 

Thanks!

[spartaman64]

idk hire a plumber 

[W-L]

Hi everyone,

Im currently attempting my own "whole room water cooling project" and was wondering if anyone knows what I should put in my loop to prevent freezing.  Specifically antifreeze? Vodka? isopropyl Alcohol? Wiper fluid? I just would like something that wont damage my loop over time.  I live in Chicago and its well below freezing right now and will be for the next 3-4 months.  I plan to mount 2 quad rads outside that are part brass part copper.  Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I live with my brother and we have so many LAN parties ive built 5 rigs over the years so it does get very hot when I have people over gaming. 

 

My RIg: 2x GTX 980s

Brothers 2x TItan Blacks

Rig 3: 3x GTX 780s

Rig 4: 3x GTX 580s

Rig 5: 4x GTX 480s

 

Everything is currently water cooled inside the house except the rigs with the 580s and 480s, which are strictly on air.   I have already purchased waterblocks for them but have not installed them yet.  Im planning on just water cooling the 2 low end rigs with the outdoor mounted radiators for before I hook up all the computers to the outdoor loop.  By then I will have added some more radiators by then tho.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated,

 

Thanks!

 

Regular premixed antifreeze for vehicles will work they are meant for dis-similar metal loops in cars and won't have nay issues with an all copper/brass loop for PC's. This will be interesting to see how things pan out 

[Omon_Ra]

Judging by the fluid color, it appeared that Linus and crew used regular antifreeze for their loop. IMO, it would be easier to setup the radiator array in an adjacent room. That way you don't have to worry about temperature extremes, but the heat is still pumped out of the room. Obviously that would depend on your floor plan, what room(s) you have your LAN parties in, and if you have a room you don't mind having a bunch of heat dumped into. Do all the rigs stay at your house, or are they friends' rigs that they take with them? I think the hardest part would be connecting/disconnecting rigs from the system without having to prime the whole loop to get the air out if you're removing them frequently.

[marioo1182]

Insulate (or maybe its outsulate) all of your pipes which may reach freezing temperatures. Also you could use 

special coolant which would have a lower freezing point.

[upliftsleet1974]

We need a build log of this!!

[rummykan]

We need a build log of this!!

Yes please do a build log if you can, would love to see it!

[SuperPug]

 

My RIg: 2x GTX 980s

Brothers 2x TItan Blacks

Rig 3: 3x GTX 780s

Rig 4: 3x GTX 580s

Rig 5: 4x GTX 480s

 

Holly crap you must be loaded

[jackm1120]

thanks for the responses everyone ill take some photos and try to get a build log up!

[WildTurtle]

Im still wondering, where you found waterblocks for GTX 480s...

[Mojo-Jojo]

Interesting might be to run your pump always - just like how heating installations keep pumping water around in the winter to prevent freezing up.

Our water boiler also kicks in once water in the pipes reaches < 16c to prevent freezing up.

[MoDtEc]

Im still wondering, where you found waterblocks for GTX 480s...

probably ebay?

 

This is an interesting Projekt

anti-freezing additives like they are used in cars and the thing with keeping the pump running the whole time might be enough to keep the loop from freezing. idk how cold it gets in chicago though

[Psykomantis00]

Use a car raditor with slim radiator fans. They are more weather resistant. 

[jackm1120]

Lolz found new ones on ebay from koolance.  The guy must have raided an old where house, the plastic was still on them when they arrived.