Watercooling radiator block aquarium?

[desura]

Has anyone done a Watercooling setup where they simply stuck the radiator block in an aquarium? Like a ten gallon tank. Don't even have a fan, just a pump.

 

[dud]

Has anyone done a Watercooling setup where they simply stuck the radiator block in an aquarium? Like a ten gallon tank. Don't even have a fan, just a pump.

I've never heard of it done ... but does not mean it hasn't. The heat transfer (from the radiator) would be greatly improved over air but what are you going to do once the water in the aquarium heats up itself? Air is less dense but there is plenty of it all around us. A 10 gallon tank seems huge until you consider that you are limited to only 10 gallons. The water in the tank will eventually heat up and reduce the cooling efficiency of the waterblock ...

 

[thilanliyan]

Would enough heat conduct through the glass and the top of the tank to dissipate enough wattage? No idea, but interesting concept. I think my dual 290s would probably boil the fishies lol

 

[moonbogg]

Yes my two cards would instantly cause a 10 gallon steam explosion. Maybe if I stuck the rad in the ocean, but then the fish would...

No but really, if you are going to do that, just stick the whole rig under water. People have done it.

 

[MongGrel]

Well, submerged in mineral oil at any rate. Have been some pretty fancy ones here and there in the past.

 

[ReignQuake]

Not in a fish tank but passive and at least is the GIGANT range from Aqua Computer, it will hold the reservoir pump and controller. Pick your size and hose your rig up.

http://shop.aquacomputer.de/index.php?cPath=7_31_2026&XTCsid=pgt5c6d97igce60e4he1d260koikuslv

 

[DesiPower]

I've never heard of it done ... but does not mean it hasn't. The heat transfer (from the radiator) would be greatly improved over air but what are you going to do once the water in the aquarium heats up itself? Air is less dense but there is plenty of it all around us. A 10 gallon tank seems huge until you consider that you are limited to only 10 gallons. The water in the tank will eventually heat up and reduce the cooling efficiency of the waterblock ...

Replace a gallon of water with ice every day or twice a day

 

[aigomorla]

yeah my daiichi nuclear reactor needs the salt water as a cooling platform.

 

[Rubycon]

Temporarily, yes it will work great. Long term? Nope. Not going to happen.
Add up everything you have covered with a block, wattage-wise. Bet it's over 200W (assuming full load).

Put a 200W heater in that 10 gal aquarium and watch how fast that water heats up way past ambient.

If you have a spare chiller (again of sufficient capacity!) this will work.

In rural areas where multiple wells are common one could pull water from one well, run it through a titanium water to water exchanger and return the water to the second well. The computer's circuit water would then be circulated through the other side of the exchanger. (closed circuit)

This way you could have sub ambient coolant levels but in humid climates you would need a mixing valve to prevent surfaces from approaching ambient dewpoint which is never a good idea around electronics.

 

[master_shake_]

Not in a fish tank but passive and at least is the GIGANT range from Aqua Computer, it will hold the reservoir pump and controller. Pick your size and hose your rig up.

http://shop.aquacomputer.de/index.php?cPath=7_31_2026&XTCsid=pgt5c6d97igce60e4he1d260koikuslv

/me looking at that page

hey those are pretty co.................HOLY PRICE!!!!

D:

 

[desura]

Temporarily, yes it will work great. Long term? Nope. Not going to happen.
Add up everything you have covered with a block, wattage-wise. Bet it's over 200W (assuming full load).

Put a 200W heater in that 10 gal aquarium and watch how fast that water heats up way past ambient.

If you have a spare chiller (again of sufficient capacity!) this will work.

In rural areas where multiple wells are common one could pull water from one well, run it through a titanium water to water exchanger and return the water to the second well. The computer's circuit water would then be circulated through the other side of the exchanger. (closed circuit)

This way you could have sub ambient coolant levels but in humid climates you would need a mixing valve to prevent surfaces from approaching ambient dewpoint which is never a good idea around electronics.

Well, I game rarely and at that I only game for a 1-2 hours at a time. Also, this would be the cpu only and most cpu 's are 65 watt nowadays, right? Even at full blast all the time 65 watts would actually be a little underpowered. Though I do agree with that including the video card in there would heat things up considerably...it is also considerably harder to install a water cooling block on a video card and that procedure requires that you freeze the video card and then pry off the cooler...

So I think it could be done.

 

[MrTeal]

Well, I game rarely and at that I only game for a 1-2 hours at a time. Also, this would be the cpu only and most cpu 's are 65 watt nowadays, right? Even at full blast all the time 65 watts would actually be a little underpowered. Though I do agree with that including the video card in there would heat things up considerably...it is also considerably harder to install a water cooling block on a video card and that procedure requires that you freeze the video card and then pry off the cooler...

So I think it could be done.

Your problem is still that for its size, the aquarium is going to have pretty terrible heat transfer to ambient. You would probably be much better off just running the fluid through a few low fin density radiators mounted horizontally, and relying on convection.

Honestly though, it's kind of a solution in search of a problem. Pumps aren't noiseless, and a good silent fan operating slow almost is. If you're just talking about the CPU, three Gentle Typhoon AP12's running slow will be almost inaudible over the pump and even background noise and still do a good job cooling 65W with a 360mm rad. If you don't water cool the GPU, both pump and rad fans will be drowned out by the GPU cooler.

Not sure why you think you need to freeze a GPU to pull off the cooler though. Lefty loosey some screws, pop off the cooler, wipe it down with some isopropyl, and toss on your full coverage block. Done.

 

[Rubycon]

Passive systems tend to be huge and if you have a few hundred watts they get really large. Or you have to accept mediocre cooling. Which is OK if you're running stock frequencies.