Want phase change cooling but don't want to spend over $1k?

[Enderman]

So I have seen many people ask how to mod an air conditioner to cool their PC, which is extremely difficult.

I always recommend they just buy a phase change system instead, but then they complain about price. Whenever I looked, I also couldn't find any phase change coolers for less than $1k.

 

But I have found what I was looking for, and hopefully someone who wants to experiment with sub-ambient temps can use this knowledge

 

 

 

This is a Hailea water chiller:

It is a phase change cooling unit with a massive cooling capacity of over 3000W. It is built to chill fish tanks up to 2000L in size.

And yes, its expensive.

 

But the good news? Hailea makes a variety of chillers with a variety of power levels, and chillers about 300-800W cost less than $500

No need to spend $1500 on a phase change cooler for only your CPU, this cooler chills the water in your loop directly to cool any watercooled component you want.

 

With the high cooling capacity you can choose to set it at a temperature (such as 20C) so that no condensation-prevention is needed (this is explained in the review)

Or with some insulation you can crank it to go sub-0C

 

Review: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2010/07/20/hailea-hc-500a-water-chiller-review/1

Buy: http://www.performance-pcs.com/water-chillers

Manufacturer: http://www.hailea.com/e-hailea/product1/HC-300A.htm

 

Instead of trying to modify an air conditioner, which will cost almost the same and probably not even work, these are a really good alternative to the classic "phase change unit"

Hope this helps you get into sub-ambient cooling

[GodSpoon]

Thats actually pretty fantastic and slightly practical!

 

I want to try it now

[Quanvuu]

why not build this kind of machine..

[linuxfan66]

why not build this kind of machine..

Have you seen the price of this case. And you have a quieter PC due to external cooler and use of stock water cooling parts...

[Enderman]

why not build this kind of machine..

It's over $1k for the case/cooler

 

That's the classic "phase change" cooler I'm talking about, and that's too expensive for most people

 

That's why a $300-500 option is much more affordable

[Quanvuu]

Have you seen the price of this case. And you have a quieter PC due to external cooler and use of stock water cooling parts...

atleast it easier

[Quanvuu]

It's over $1k for the case/cooler

 

That's the classic "phase change" cooler I'm talking about, and that's too expensive for most people

 

That's why a $300-500 option is much more affordable

Just put your pc in freezer...it might work

[Enderman]

atleast it easier

It's actually not because there are several problems with classic phase change cooling

 

1) the phase change unit needs to start up several minutes before you turn on the PC

 

2) you can only cool 1 CPU, nothing else (since there is only 1 evaporator)

 

3) you need to completely insulate the CPU socket, which you can see linus do in the video, and that takes several hours, and makes it so its very difficult if you ever want to remove the cooler or swap the CPU

 

4) with this water chiller you can use regular watercooling waterblocks, and by setting the temp to above-condensation levels you can avoid doing any kind of insulation on the tubing or components

[Enderman]

Just put your pc in freezer...it might work

Linus already proved it doesnt....

[Jumper118]

It won't get anywhere near -50c though. If you live in America just get an ek dice pot and some dice.

[cesrai]

Linus already proved it doesnt....

With a mini freezer that doesn't have active cooling.

[linuxfan66]

It won't get anywhere near -50c though. If you live in America just get an ek dice pot and some dice.

No one except oc nuts need that cooling...

[Enderman]

It won't get anywhere near -50c though. If you live in America just get an ek dice pot and some dice.

yeah because pouring dry ice into your PC every 15 minutes 24/7 is convenient right?

lol

 

With a mini freezer that doesn't have active cooling.

it was a fridge

fridges and freezers only work when the temperature inside is above the set threshold

the PC caused the inside temperature to increase so that the fridge was running constantly

 

it makes no difference if its "active" or not when its running at full capacity

and since it doesn't have enough cooling capacity to cool hundreds of watts of heat, the PC got very hot

[Jumper118]

No one except oc nuts need that cooling...

obviously but a water chiller is not a replacement for a phase cooler. The CPU will not scale the same at -4c as it will at -50c

[Jumper118]

yeah because pouring dry ice into your PC every 15 minutes 24/7 is convenient right?

lol

it was a fridge

fridges and freezers only work when the temperature inside is above the set threshold

the PC caused the inside temperature to increase so that the fridge was running constantly

it makes no difference if its "active" or not when its running at full capacity

and since it doesn't have enough cooling capacity to cool hundreds of watts of heat, the PC got very hot

why would you even run phase 24/7 its way too loud and its pointless for gaming anyway, same as the water chiller

[linuxfan66]

obviously but a water chiller is not a replacement for a phase cooler. The CPU will not scale the same at -4c as it will at -50c

Full phase change is like pro truck racing. It's a minority sport...

[Enderman]

why would you even run phase 24/7 its way too loud and its pointless for gaming anyway, same as the water chiller

It's actually not way too loud, this is talked about in the review. I know a lot of people who do phase change as their regular day to day PC cooling, because just like watercooling you leave it running and it works

 

no need to buy LN2, or dry ice, or to refill anything, it just works

 

The point is not to get higher fps in gaming

This stuff if for people who what to overclock for fun, or just like doing crazy watercooling setups, or just want to get below-ambient temps.

 

 

If you're just a gamer then you probably don't understand what it means to be a PC or watercooling enthusiast.

[Jumper118]

Full phase change is like pro truck racing. It's a minority sport...

and so is a water chiller

[Jumper118]

It's actually not way too loud, this is talked about in the review. I know a lot of people who do phase change as their regular day to day PC cooling, because just like watercooling you leave it running and it works

 

no need to buy LN2, or dry ice, or to refill anything, it just works

 

The point is not to get higher fps in gaming

This stuff if for people who what to overclock for fun, or just like doing crazy watercooling setups, or just want to get below-ambient temps.

 

 

If you're just a gamer then you probably don't understand what it means to be a PC or watercooling enthusiast.

I have a phase changer and a proper phase charger with a rotory pump is loud, its affensive that you are even comparing it to a crappy water chiller

[linuxfan66]

and so is a water chiller

Well yeah but it's a little more practical to start with you cool all your parts not just one. You can't phase change your gpu and CPU simultaneously

[Jumper118]

Well yeah but it's a little more practical to start with you cool all your parts not just one. You can't phase change your gpu and CPU simultaneously

yes you can you can have 1000 evap plates if you want. you have no idea what you are talking about

how bout sli under phase. 

[heathd]

I have a saltwater aquarium with a chiller, and they're obnoxiously loud, power hungry, and have a required band of flowrates that probably don't mesh well with PC cooling loops.

[linuxfan66]

yes you can you can have 1000 evap plates if you want. you have no idea what you are talking about

The case displayed on Linus channel had one...

[Jumper118]

The case displayed on Linus channel had one...

wow. mine only has one as well, but you can have as many as you like. you can even have 10 stages on 1 plate if you want and have your cpu at -110c all the time. you can have 2 separate stages with the same gas for cpu and gpu to balance the load too.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/11921/five_stage_cascading_phase_change_cooler/index.html

[Enderman]

I have a phase changer and a proper phase charger with a rotory pump is loud, its affensive that you are even comparing it to a crappy water chiller

please explain how it is crappy

 

this device uses phase change to cool a watercooling loop. It is a different way of doing phase change cooling which is much easier and more practical.

 

If you even read the review they talk about the noise there and how you can put the chiller in another room and just run tubing to your PC

Can you do that with the Little Devil? NOPE