watercooling idea - comments please

[Vicken]

My goal is to have an almost totally silent system since it is in my bedroom. The only fan in the system will be on the power supply. The CPU will be watercooled.I already have a zalman thermal pipe on the video card and a zalman heatsink on the northbridge. My system is an AMD XP 1900. I have no plans to overclock. I don't care about temp's as long as it cool enough to run. My current temp is a hot 58C with just 1 panaflo fan on the heatsink. I have a full tower Addtronics 7896 (old style) case so there is plenty of room inside it.

I am curious if anyone tried this.

Parts:

3/8" tubing
submersible pump
large metal reservoir
peltier (unknown wattage) maybe a combination of smaller wattage ones instead of one big one?
water block
Alpha heatsink (fanless)

Solution:

bolt down alpha heatsink on top of waterblock with thermal paste in between
bolt down reservoir to the case with the peltier(s) sandwiched on the bottom. The hotside will be on the bottom of the case. Cold side on the reservoir. Thus turning the case into a giant heatsink.
Adding a flow meter and designing a power off board in case of pump failure.

Flow system

Waterblock --> reservoir and back again. Very simple design with least connections possible.

Should a radiator be added?

Comments? Is this feasible, or will it run too hot?

 

[Jeff7]

The hot side of the peltiers will need a heatsink too, otherwise they'll fry themselves.
I'd also recommend getting one case fan - maybe a quiet Panaflo or one of Zalman's 80mm fans. I've also used some NMB fans which are quiet. That way you'll have some airflow in the case - having the PSU fan as the only exhaust doesn't sound too good, as the only air that the PSU will get is toasty air from the inside of the PC.

 

[huesmann]

If you use a 55-gallon drum full of water as your reservoir, you can probably get away without a radiator.

 

[Vicken]

The hot side of the peltier will be against the bottom of the case. The case is all metal and a fairly large full tower. Are you saying that's not enough surface area?

"you use a 55-gallon drum full of water as your reservoir, you can probably get away without a radiator."

The biggest thing I would consider is a 5 gallon plastic container similar to those on drinking water fountains. I only move the case when I upgrade.

As for the fans, that is what I am trying to avoid. I like how people say I need an intake fan or exhaust fan, when I have running the current setup for over a year with no problems. Sure 58C is hot, but its still within spec. I truly believe you can run a totally passive fanless water cool system. I just need to think of an alternative design.

Another thing I was considering is ducting the heatsink fan out of the case by cutting a hole in the side panel, but I really want to get some watercool going. Just something I always wanted to do.