Modding Geothermal PC Cooling

Discussion in 'Modding' started by dark_avenger, 22 Mar 2010.

  1. dark_avenger

    dark_avenger Minimodder

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    Just saw this up on Hackaday and thought i'd share it.

    Was going to post it in general but thought that people in modding might enjoy it more
     
  2. The_Beast

    The_Beast I like wood ಠ_ಠ

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    Very cool project, I saw it over at XS a while back



    Someone at bit needs to out do him
     
  3. veland

    veland What's a Dremel?

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    MY setup doesn't really out do that, but somewhat the same...

    About 40m of 22mm copper tubing in the crawlspace under my living room floor. Heats up my toes and keeps my pc cool at the same time. Right now the coolant is at 21c, indoor temp 23c, outdoor 10c.

    Cooling i920 cpu, 4870 gpu, everything on the mb and two hd's. Not done for extreme colling, rather for very low noise. Only fan is the PSU...
     
  4. Mork

    Mork What's a Dremel?

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    :D
    Pics or GTFO! :D:lol:

    No seriously, I'd love to see some pics of that build if you have any! ;)

    /Mork
     
  5. veland

    veland What's a Dremel?

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    Alright, I'll try to include som pics here:

    Here you see the copper pipes under my living room floor. 22mm pipes, about 35 meters in total. As you can see, this is just a crawlspace. Normaly the living room floor is quite cold, this has really helped a lot...
    [​IMG]


    Next the pump. This pump is designed for heating systems and should run almost forever... Also included a filter and a valve to force water through the filter. A drain valve at the bottom. Only thing I'd do different is to also have a valve on the intake of the filter so filter could be changed without draining the loop.
    [​IMG]


    Then the pipes run from my crawlspace, under my kitchen floor and up to the first floor where my computer is. This pic sort of show the pipes coming up from my kichen floor and going into the wall.
    [​IMG]


    Then we have the upper control station :D This is where the pipes come out and where my res is located. The valves are there so I can isolate the computer without stopping the pump/draining the loop. Just need to cover that hole now...
    [​IMG]


    And the reservoir, a simple container from IKEA, reinforced the bottom with fibre glass. But messed it up a bit, that's the white smudge you see...
    [​IMG]


    Finally the computer. Watercooled so not going anywhere, therefor built into my desk.
    [​IMG]


    Another shot showing the insides a little better. The 22mm pipe is split into three 1/2" tubes, so three loops: 1-CPU, 2-GPU, 3-HD+MB
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    Oh My God. That is pretty damn impressive. Though it seems like besides covering the hole, you might also want to get some work done with that kitchen floor ;)

    +rep
     
  7. el2k

    el2k Modder

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    Epic, absolutely epic.
     
  8. veland

    veland What's a Dremel?

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    Well, the kitchen looks a little different now: (last kitchen pic showed lower left corner of this one, pipes to first floor is inside the wall behind the fridge/freezer)
    [​IMG]



    Did it all while rebuiling an old house, so could do just about everything I wanted. 250 year old house with built in watercooling and Cat6 cabling!
     
    Nanosec likes this.
  9. Nanosec

    Nanosec absit iniuria verbis

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    WOW, that is a sweet setup.....

    'nuf said


    + Rep
     
  10. dark_avenger

    dark_avenger Minimodder

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    @veland

    Awesome setup, i should think about doing something similar when my house gets built.

    Nothing like using a i7 to heat your house and crunch numbers :)
     
  11. Puk

    Puk (A shrewd and knavish sprite)

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    Pure awesome, seriously +1 on that setup!
     
  12. evildude5t5

    evildude5t5 Real gamers overclock

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    That is a sick set up. How much did that cost to build
     
  13. veland

    veland What's a Dremel?

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    Not really sure about total cost, as I was building the cooling while I was working om my house... So bought some bits and bobs now and then...

    But a quick round with the calculator gives me a figure of about £500 for all the parts outside the computer. Biggest cost is the copper pipes, high copper price now.

    If anyone wants to build something similar now, I would recommend going with pex pipe for the "transport stage" i.e. the pipes going from the computer to the cooling bits. Preferably the pex used in normal water installation with two layers so potential leaks will drain and pipes can be replaced if needed.
     
  14. Shadow703793

    Shadow703793 What's a Dremel?

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    Damn, +rep veland.
     
  15. motas

    motas What's a Dremel?

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    Thats awesome. To out do him how bout a whole airconditioning like unit which is one big rad sitting outside the house?
     
  16. barry99705

    barry99705 sudo rm -Rf /

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    A few people have done this. The problem comes from being too cold in the winter. You get a lot of condensation.
     

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