[OT] RE: Replacement power supply and CPU fan/thermal cooler?

[Mike Tibor <tibor lib uaa alaska edu>]

On Tue, 19 Feb 2002, Maurice Hilarius wrote:

> True, but remember a water cooler still only transfers the heat to
> another point in the case. Once there the heat is now in a tank of
> some kind, and this then has to be cooled. All we can gain is that
> maybe the tank is bigger, and we can have a larger surface area to
> cool, perhaps with a bigger and quieter fan. Pretty expensive
> solution.. A little too "ricey" for me!
>
> Aw, come on, chop off the studs, add a cool air filter, maybe a
> spoiler, and perhaps some clear tail light lenses, blue lights, and
> (of course) some stickers!! "VTEC" and "Type R" perhaps..
>
> That will make it run at least 15C cooler!!

Hey, don't knock it--that spoiler will help temps by 5 deg. C alone!!
I'm also thinking a flame job and swapping the rear castors for bigger
ones.  ;-)

In all seriousness, all the watercooling setups I've seen have a
relatively tiny system capacity and are self-contained inside the case,
presumably for "LAN gaming" portability.  Because my motivations are
primarily reliability and quietness, I've been thinking about a system
which would move the heat exchanger and reservior outside the case, and
eliminate as many fans as possible (obviously it would still retain the
power supply fan).  The system I'm thinking of wouldn't be at all
portable.

Fewer fans would be quieter, but also fewer fans means fewer fans to fail.
Of course, this also means that the water pump needs to be a good, high
quality unit, or have a pair of them.  I also have yet to see a system
that can automatically replace coolant as it evaporates over time --
something which wouldn't inspire confidence in me if I left to go on a
three week vacation.  I can just imagine talking to my neighbor before we
leave--"...um, in addition to watering the plants while we're gone, can
you also water my server?"  :-)

No, my slot A Athlon system with a flakey parallel port has been earmarked
for watercooling testing--I think the Alpha will remain unadulterated.
:-)

Mike
-- 
Mike Tibor         Univ. of Alaska Anchorage    (907) 786-1001 voice
Network Technician     Consortium Library         (907) 786-6050 fax
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