Cooling Sorting out my rig - chassis / watercooling etc.

Hey guys.

So, still looking at PC cases, there's a few runners up - but as before a bit issue for me is the weight. I was wondering, how heavy is water cooling? Will it make a case impossible to take to a LAN. Over the next 3 years I'm pretty much obligated to attend about 25 LAN parties (not that I mind ) and the P180 is seriously weighty.

I really liked the concept behind the gigabyte 3d mercury, but I'm sure for the money (£250) I could do better. What I liked, was fully laden, with water cooling set up, it weighed in at 19kg. My system at the minute probably weighs 1.5 times that . At first I can't afford to go full watercooling, but would like to get a case that allows me to upgrade in the future. Preferably with some ease, so maybe having an externally mounted rear 2x120mm rad.

But anyway, is water cooling really heavy? And how would you go about setting up a 'beginner' water cooling system - with the minimum of dremeling and such. I would like it to cool my graphics too. The main reason I want w/c is for good oc'd performance with near silence.

So, what case would you start with, then what's a good way to get into water cooling without diving in at the 'deep end' without getting every single component custom made. And what is the weight impact on the system with watercooling?

 

Water cooling can have a massive impact on weight, consider;

Water
Tubing
Pumps
Radiator
Extra fans to cool the radiator

However it shouldn't put you off doing it!!!

As for the case, how about a P182? I've just got a P182SE and intend to build a basic water cooling loop into it, and looking at the case I doubt it will be that hard to do!


Sam.

 

Thanks Sam.

Yea, atm it will be staying air cooled - but I'd like the option to go watercooled in the future. I currently have the P180 and although it's very quiet, nowadays that's no longer the primary concern. It weights 16 kilos on it's own - with a system installed take that up to 26/7kg. That's a lot of weight to pull around. Also, because of the compartments, i've struggled with cable management a lot and not sure how I'd do water cooling without making sacrifices.

Really I need something like the coolermaster ammo, except 1/2 the weight again. A handle would be a godsend . In the future I'm considering build a uATX system that can be transported via motorbike, that should be a laugh when I come to it .

 

I'd say watercooling can add some significant weight, especially if you add more than one radiator.

 

I'd double and more the weight of a standard air cooled setup. And that might be roughly where'd you be. Its a shocking difference imo once filled!

 

In that case I'll probably leave it. I still like the gigabyte aurora 570 case though, 8kg .

 

Every litre of water you fill the system with weighs 1kg, so that isn't much of a problem. The big thing is radiators and blocks imho, they weigh quite a bit simply because they're densely packed bits of metal, with a far higher density.

If you want a light PC you need to look at getting yourself an Aluminum case, as it's quite a bit lighter than steel, but after that you're pretty much stuck, because 99% of the time weight isn't a relevant issue with PC components. (In fact I often judge a PSU by it's weight for a general idea of quality pre-testing.)

 

I'm finding with the P182 it's the heaviest part of my system!

Some of the lian-lis are only 4 kilos, but none of them seem to 'have it all'. I'll probably get one over christmas because I don't relish carrying the P180 round much more. It's just *too* heavy.

 

Couple of system design points to optimise for low weight:
1) 3/8" tubing - the performance gain/weight ratio for larger bore tubing isn't worth it for your system.
2) T-line rather than reservoir - slightly less convenient, but saves a fair bit of weight.
3) Small radiator, big fan - radiator performance is determined by the amount of air you can put through it, so something like a PA120.1 coupled with a high performance 120x38 fan is probably something like the optimum.
4) Bolt everything to the case for travelling - bit noisier if you can't soft mount the fans and pump, but you don't want heavy things flying around inside the case.
5) Avoid full cover GPU blocks if you can - much heavier and puts a lot more stress on your GPU card.

 

If 1/2" tubing is an issue; I'd be more inclined to use 7/16" tubing rather than 3/8"

I also wouldn't advise dropping down to a 120x1 radiator for a CPU + GPU loop; I'd use minimum a 120x2.

actually not much weight difference between full-cover blocks and the stock sink on the 8800GTX; and a further plus is that the adjacent slots are also available.

 

It doesn't really sound worth it compared to air cooling guys unfortunately . My CPU overclocked ridiculously idles at 30 and goes up to 40 at load, on an artic cooling freezer 7 pro. And it's practically noiseless.

There is a buzz from my computer but I don't know which fan that is, possibly GPU.

Still not sure what case tho