Cooling HDD cooling

Hey there folks. I'm currently building a stealth bomber themed case-mod and I'm going with watercooling. Only problem is, there isn't going to be much airflow in the case. So I'm a bit worried about my HDDs overheating with the lack of air flow. I've been looking at the Aerocool HB-101 and it looks like it will fit my theme nicely. Here is a link to the product...
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-129-240&depa=0
Does anyone know if this HDD heatsink is any good? I have a pair of small scroll fans that are really quiet and blow a decent ammount of air.

Would these in conjunction with the HB-101 work well? Please let me know. Thank you.

 

Have you thought about watercooling your hdd's?

 

I thought about it breifly, but that would cause more resistance in the WC loop which I really don't need. Besides, HDD wc blocks are quite spendy.

 

DIY your own block. Requires:
About 1.5 foot of 15mm copper pipe
Copper sheet/bar - can be made from flattened bar if needed (VERY cheap)
2x90° copper elbows

Tools:
Blowtorch/gas cooker + solder +flux + pliers
Also a drill for hdd mount holes

Only takes about 1hour including finnishing.

You cant get a less restrictive block. The copper itself is wider than your tubing, and the elbows are less tight, and 16mm ID (the copper tube has to fit inside to be soldered...) so dont worry about restriction..

Cost is about £5-10..


Dont worry about adding heat to your lop, hdd's are max about 15w..

Another advantage is now all the heat is gone.. you can insuylate/wrap up the hdd as much as you want to stop niose.. and it cant overheat

 

Seriously, listen to the man...

Watercool those HDDs...no need on spending bunches on overpriced blocks, building your own is cheaper and sometimes better because it will be exactly what you need. Keeps the cost and the noise down even more...my new case has them with watercooling sealed inside a plexi drive case that has soundproofing insulation under it.

By the way, I LOVE the (is that wiresleeving?) look of what you've done already. on, dude.

 

The Asetek Waterchill HDD blocks for the 5.25 bay are USD 50 to 60 but critically you can cool two drives with one set.
Pic: http://forum.vapochill.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2241&stc=1

 

I built a setup that sounds a whole lot like wht KBN suggest to WC my HDDs. I didnt put the pipes on yet as I wanted to see how my WC system would handle the CPU on its own first. My setup is two copper plates about 6" or 6 1/2" by 3" by 1/4" with 2 HDD's mounted between them. Well i am so impressed by how this setup works I'm not going to add the piping to them. The drives stay cool (barely above room temp), I'm assuming because of the extra surface area that amount of copper adds and they are very very quiet, again I'm assuming because of the sheer mass of that amount of copper (close to 3 pounds worth). Anyway... just a thought.

 

I'd guess that its coolsleeves (coils) over his tubing.

 

Re-reading the post, I'd guess that those coolers with the crossflow fan would do a very good job at both cooling the disks. Plus the disk box will reduce disk noise no end.

 

Actually, thats my old CoolerMaster WaveMaster case. Its not coolsleeves, its just regular chrome split loom on the PSU wiring with a blue CCFL shining on them.

 

Ahh I was so sure they were coolsleeves.

 

I have seen blocks that cool the sides of the HDDs (above) and I have seen the blocks that screw into the top of the HDDs. Can somebody explain this?

I think I might be thread-jacking, but this information could help Autobot too...

 

I'm liking that idea. It will cost the same as the 2 of the Aerocool units plus bracketry. I'm really not worried about the noise dampening as the case is constructed of 2mm this steel.

Is it just me, or does it look like the top HDD is not attached to the waterblocks in that picture? It looks like it is just sitting on top of the bottom HDD. I'm just concerned if the HDD mounting holes will line up correctly for the spacing. Also, will I be able to use some Swiftech 1/2" stem to 1/2" ID barb adapters to get my Masterkleer 7/16"ID tubing to connect to the Asetek HDD block? Here is a picture of the adapter...
*Fixed to avoid bandwidth robbery*
http://store1.yimg.com/I/sidewindercomputers_1830_8126752

 

The HDD mounting holes are a standard, what they've done is but two sets into the block, top and bottom. Have a look at the thread here and there's a high-res pic here.

Yep, perfect

Just edit it to a link as I did in my post. Rules are rules
http://store1.yimg.com/I/sidewindercomputers_1830_8126752

 

The side cooling ones are more effective as that's the way the disk is designed to give out head. However I noticed that Asetek offer a heat conduction pad that fits whole of the drive base and I've read reviews that it makes a huge difference.

 

Well I've decided I'll be getting one of these Asetek 5-1/4" HDD water blocks. I'll use 4 of the 1/2" stem to 1/2" barb adapters so I can use them with my 7/16"ID tubing. I won't be using the 90 degree fittings on the back for they will do nothing but hinder flow. Instead I'll use 2 of the 1/2" stem adapters and simply run a small curve of my 7/16" tubing. I think this will create the free flow cooling I was looking for.

 

Good luck.

I have a feeling that without the stem-90 you may find it hard to get the loop in there, but I though you could opt to send the loop out through the drivebay plate and back in . Could solve the problem and might look cool depending on your design.

 

Oh no no no...these drives aren't gonna go into a standard drive bay. They will be displayed in plain sight within a server case mod I'm currently working on.

The WC system will go as follows...
Resevoir>>AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12>>Swiftech MCW6002-A>>DD Delrin topped Maze4GPU>>Asetek Waterchill 5-1/4" HDD block>>DD dual-120 Heatercore>>Resevoir

After looking at Asetek's 5-1/4" HDD block, I went over to McMastercar.com and designed out a delrin/copper copycat. Good news is, it would only cost $42 plus shipping for all the parts. Bad news is, the Delrin would need to be drilled/milled and tapped which of course will cost more money. It would however be nifty to have the first Delrin/copper HDD block. Would match nicely with a LittleRiver G4 and a Delrin topped DD Maze4GPU.

 

Although it helps I think the side-coolers are still more effective. The tradeoff being you have to waste 5.25" bays to use them, where for a degree or two you can only use HDD bays (and the under-drive blocks are often cheaper)

 

With everything watercooled I really dont think you need to bother with cooling the drives. So unless you have oodles of money, dont kill the flow in the loop while going overkill on the hard drives. Heck, you should probably cool the NB before bothering with the HDs.