About the whole room watercooling project, and the way I will be implementing it

[Syntaxvgm]

@LinusTech, @Slick (and anyone who's interested in making their own room loop)
I'd like to start by saying I think, like a lot of other know-it-alls in the comments, a lot about the project you did was bone headed, BUT, you did a lot of things right, it was really cool, and I think the bone headed moves were simply just the result of not enough to time to put research into it. 
 

It was mentioned on the latest vessel video on the project that LTT will not have a room loop in the new office. 

Don't give up!
I honestly think you should do it again. You have learned a lot from the first version, and I think a second version would just kick ass. It's unique, and it really symbolizes the odd creativity of LTT. 


I know it wouldn't be practical in anyway for your new office. 
 
But since when has LTT done anything practical or easy? 
"We need an AC unit for the office"
"We're going to spend a ton of money make a room loop instead"
"Why?"
"Cause fuck you that's why"



 
First, some insight for my inspiration for doing my loop
 
Take a look at the rack CDU solution from asetek (hell maybe they could sponsor the project. Doubt it, but one can dream)

 
There are two variants. One, the ISAC style, circulates the same air in each blade allowing for no heat to be transferred to the room AT ALL. The way this works is there's a radiator inside the case that blows cool air (relatively, I believe the cool side is operated at 40c. They cool with warm water, the lowest temp isn't the goal, safe temps are)

The other lacks the air circulation element, but still greatly reduced cooling cost. 
I've a little experience with server watercooling solutions, and I've always been a fan of asetek's system. Reason is, as you probably know, the power cost for operating low profile servers keep rising really fast, mainly due to the high wattage compact cooling fans for 1u units designed to save space.

The asetek solution transfers the heat from the rack loop to the loop that takes the heat to an outside cooling unit, or recycles it as heat for the building.

Another cool thing is the redundant pumps on multi-processor systems allows for continued up time in case of hardware failure until earliest convenience. 
 
Anyway, the part I'm taking from this is the separate loops. (I want to try to make a closed air system, but I want my main PC to be portable)
I love my portable system, and despite being quite large (380t) and crappy to work with (380t ) I have gotten a LOT of use out of it being portable. 
My next build will likely be the x99 itx board from asrock, or a matx system. I want to make it as small as possible to take with me, but I want great performance at home. 

Initially, I was gonna have a detachable radiator on a stand for home with quick disconnects, and an included small one for one the go that would require me to turn off my overclock, or maybe even downclock a bit. (which is fine)
 Recently though, I've really warmed up to the idea of room watercoolng.....by warming up to it I mean I'm tired of it being so hot.
I could just buy an air conditioning unit, but I think I can save a bit of money watercooling it, or, in the very least, have a fun solution even if the energy saved doesn't make up for the initial cost . 
 
 
I'm going to make a baffle box and mount it in my window like an air conditioning unit.  It will be made of wood and painted black.
The baffling will allow the rain to not blow in, keeping the radiators and fans exposure to water minimal, and it will be sloped in the inside not to hold water if it does get in. (in addition to a downward facing grate on the outside) Plus, it will be screened for insects. 
I believe this will allow me to use non-waterproof fans. I will likely just use some cheap fans, and if they die, get something more suited to the conditions. Play it by ear. 

It will not be outside during the winder, I enjoy the extra heat when it gets that cold. Was -25c or so a couple of years ago here. It still will have some kind of anti-freeze in the liquid, but once it gets cool enough, I will either put the box inside or disconnect it completely and store it away. 
 
My desk is right next to the window, so hiding the tubing will be easy, just like another wire. I will use just regular plastic tubing. The same crap you get at the local hardware store for really cheap. 

I will  add rads one at a time as I add more systems. 
The way I will attach the systems, thus far 2 computers and a NAS possibly, is having each system have it's own loop, and a heat exchanger, keeping the coolant int he system independent from the anti-freeze coolant in the radiator box.
(I will have to hunt for the appropriate heat exchange solution, it may end up being pressed together cheap water blocks with thermal compound in the middle or something similar, not sure yet)
 
This will allow me to keep it expandable, use smaller pumps, and , most important, keep failure/corrosion/buildup from affecting all systems and ruining all of the waterblocks.
For a reservoir, I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, but it will likely be contained in the box. 

(I will be 3d modeling the final version as well as each piece of wood I will make, I want to keep this a simple process once I cut all of the wood)
 
Anyway this is the basic idea of what I'll eventually be doing. I suggest doing something similar, but move all of the heat to Linus's office. He's short and heat rises. 

 
How effective will this be? Very for me. Even with the AC running, with just one system on (not even on full bast) my office area gets really hot, mainly due to the size of the room and the terribly placed one AC vent. 
I hope this will allow me to have my cake and eat it too- Have a very small x99 8 core system with a small radiator for on the go, and be able to dock it at home and not have it spit all of that heat into my room. I may even make a couple of ISAC style circulated systems at some point, but that's not so easy as I'd either have to pick a special case and seal it up or make my own case. That also may defeat the quiet factor this setup will provide. 
 
 
Finally, a thought.
 
 
 
Maybe the firepole can be part of the piping taking the liquid outside.  <_<

 

(If anyone has questions about specifics I didn't include, feel free to ask. )

[_JohnB330ci]

This is genius.

[Syntaxvgm]

This is genius.

Thanks

and snips/spoilers are genius  I try to pretend I didn't have to go back and fix my typos

[AlwaysFSX]

@Syntaxvgm Yeah there's just one problem. Doing a whole room water cooling project again, with any amount of sanity so it's not a complete waste of money is still very expensive.

 

This is genius.

Yo, don't quote giant posts like that.

[Syntaxvgm]

@Syntaxvgm Yeah there's just one problem. Doing a whole room water cooling project again, with any amount of sanity so it's not a complete waste of money is still very expensive.

 

Yo, don't quote giant posts like that.

I did some 'estimatin , and it didn't seem so unreasonable to me. Consider that my systems will be within 10 feet of the window. Tubing is cheap, I will be making the box, cost of a good pump, tubing is cheap, cost one radiator and set of disconnects (without expansion), and 2 sets of disconnects and heat exchanger for each system. Sounds like a lot, but once you get it set up, per system cost over regular custom loops is not bad. Plus I use disconnects and other unnecessary crap galore on custom loops I make anyway. I like to be bale to yank a gpu out and have the loop bypass the gpu when I want. So I usually have a set or two of qdcs for each system 

And for the heat exchangers, I shit you not, I'm considering using chineese waterblocks. But I'll most likely drop money for something nicer

I think the main point o fmy build that transfers to something LTT would do would be the baffle box and a seperate loop

[_JohnB330ci]

@Syntaxvgm Yeah there's just one problem. Doing a whole room water cooling project again, with any amount of sanity so it's not a complete waste of money is still very expensive.

 

Yo, don't quote giant posts like that.

 

I removed it ;P I don't know why I did it.

[Syntaxvgm]

I removed it ;P I don't know why I did it.

habit

[_JohnB330ci]

habit

Yeah, I guess so ;P

[Tie Lightning]

hmmmm....interesting....

 

Thanks



and snips/spoilers are genius  I try to pretend I didn't have to go back and fix my typos

[Syntaxvgm]

hmmmm....interesting....

I typo a lot on this keyboard. 

[W-L]

Isolating the loops would make cleaning and maintaining individual loops a lot easier but as for heat exchangers I would suggest something like this from Koolance, it keeps the fluids completely isolated:

http://koolance.com/hxp-193-compact-plate-heat-exchanger

[Syntaxvgm]

Isolating the loops would make cleaning and maintaining individual loops a lot easier but as for heat exchangers I would suggest something like this from Koolance, it keeps the fluids completely isolated:

http://koolance.com/hxp-193-compact-plate-heat-exchanger

I didn't know koolance sold heat exchangers. A bit cheaper than other exchangers I found, and pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. 

Thanks.

This puts a set of waterblocks in the realm of less practical unless I use super cheapo ones. 

Depending on the heat transfer capacity (4 KW, whistles), I find it very possible I have all of the computers on the same loop, or some of them on shared loops. 1 good heat exchangor is good enough for a whole server rack (small one, like 5-6 systems maybe), one per system is overkill, so I'll have to figure out exactly what I'm doing there.

I had an idea, but I wanted to ask around about the effectiveness of check valves and some other things I wanted to use

[W-L]

I didn't know koolance sold heat exchangers. A bit cheaper than other exchangers I found, and pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. 

Thanks.

This puts a set of waterblocks in the realm of less practical unless I use super cheapo ones. 

Depending on the heat transfer capacity (4 KW, whistles), I find it very possible I have all of the computers on the same loop, or some of them on shared loops. 1 good heat exchangor is good enough for a whole server rack, one per system is overkill, so I'll have to figure out exactly what I'm doing there.

I had an idea, but I wanted to ask around about the effectiveness of check valves and some other things I wanted to use

 

It would lessen the number of connections and heat exchangers needed for the exterior or radiator side of the loop. It's probably a good idea to add a pump in every system to give it a boost to the next system and keep things flowing through the heat exchanger.

[Syntaxvgm]

It would lessen the number of connections and heat exchangers needed for the exterior or radiator side of the loop. It's probably a good idea to add a pump in every system to give it a boost to the next system and keep things flowing through the heat exchanger.

I did intend to have each system have a pump, especially since I intended to have one loop per system.

[Syntaxvgm]

Depending of how flow restrictive the heat exchangers are, I would see ymself using one per system for most things, and here's why-

at 75$, not any more than a good radiator. I will have some less powerful stuff on combined loops maybe. Long as I can add a few exchangers without a crazy pump. I'm looking for it to be expandable.

[W-L]

Depending of how flow restrictive the heat exchangers are, I would see ymself using one per system for most things, and here's why-

at 75$, not any more than a good radiator. I will have some less powerful stuff on combined loops maybe. Long as I can add a few exchangers without a crazy pump. I'm looking for it to be expandable.

 

True they are fairly expensive but if they transfer heat efficiently it maybe worth the cost. From the looks of things I don't think it will be very restrictive since it's a plate design without a bunch of fins to add restriction.

[Syntaxvgm]

True they are fairly expensive but if they transfer heat efficiently it maybe worth the cost. From the looks of things I don't think it will be very restrictive since it's a plate design without a bunch of fins to add restriction.

I really am wondering the effectiveness of taking 2 waterblocks and slapping them together. Those heat exchangers are well overkill for one system

[W-L]

I really am wondering the effectiveness of taking 2 waterblocks and slapping them together. Those heat exchangers are well overkill for one system

If you have a few of them in series sandwiched together I think it will be fairly effective the main benefit really of the heat exchanger I can see is it gives more surface area for the heat to transfer.

[Syntaxvgm]

If you have a few of them in series sandwiched together I think it will be fairly effective the main benefit really of the heat exchanger I can see is it gives more surface area for the heat to transfer.

oh yea the capacity is much higher for sure. But 4kw for one system? A bit much imho

[W-L]

oh yea the capacity is much higher for sure. But 4kw for one system? A bit much imho

 

At least no bottle neck with the heat transfer system 

[Syntaxvgm]

At least no bottle neck with the heat transfer system 

true true