Nalcyon Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 I may be headed for a bad idea but it also might be fun. I recently replaced my old prepackaged water cooling unit with a cooler master v8, (which works so much better,) and now I have this water cooling unit sitting around. At a garage sale last weekend I picked up several sheets of 1/2 plexiglass and so now I am having weird ideas such as.... What if I used this plexiglas and made a reservoir that was the size of the side panel on my computer, had it uplit in red led's, and ran a perforated air hose in the bottom of it hooked to a separate pump to make bubbles rise to the top, and had the pump from the water block dump into the top, and then return from the bottom? That would look cool but then, What if I just used MY AQUARIUM? Obviously with this setup I couldn't run coolant in the water because i am rather fond of my fish, but what if you had the water block dumping into the top of the aquarium and picked it back up from the bottom? Put the filter before the water block? You would only need passive cooling of the liquid with both of these solutions but my concern is the function of the coolant. Does it just help the water disperse heat? Or is it integral to the water "pulling" the heat from the cpu? Am I headed for corroded internals with this setup? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fight Game Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 Sorry I can't answer any of those questions, but I gotta say this would be pretty neat... You better not be setting us for a rickroll Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nalcyon Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 I think I am going to fool around with this this weekend outside of the computer case, (maybe use my old pent IV) and a large body of water without fish in it. I think the reason you can get by with passive cooling is because of the amount of water. These little pumps don't move that much water and if you have a container that holds even 1 gallon of water it is hard to imagine the cpu heating up that much water. Of course like I said this is all assuming the coolant is not integral to pulling heat from the cpu. And no rick roll'z on this one. But beware if I post links for this finished project... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 Thats been done before, I remember seeing it back in the day. EDIT: I didn't read your whole post, Iwas referring to the side panel bubbler not the aquarium aspect. The aquarium idea has been though of many times as well, the general concensus is that it would fill algae/scum/fish matter and essentially not work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielT Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 (edited) Um lets say you had a problem mounting the water hoses, whate happens if the hose sucks up a buncha rocks from the bottom of the tank and cogs the system? You will also have to keep the tank really really clean as to not gum up you water block with fish poo and other gunk because if the filter clogs it could starve your block of water and over heat the CPU. Edited July 14, 2009 by gabrieltessin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibby_geek_guy_69 Posted July 15, 2009 Posted July 15, 2009 Its not the amount of water that governs whether the cpu will cook it or not...Its the surface area of the water, and how well the water can dissipate the heat to the surrounding air. Depending on the thermal conductivity of the fish tanks material will govern how well it works. Remember a radiator has all those fins which are all SURFACE AREA.... or are you talking about leaving the radiator and just adding a fishtank? Also, you will get surface deposits in/around (the mouth) the loop... Andrewr05 - Have seen the one you were talking about before too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nalcyon Posted July 15, 2009 Posted July 15, 2009 Its not the amount of water that governs whether the cpu will cook it or not...Its the surface area of the water, and how well the water can dissipate the heat to the surrounding air.Depending on the thermal conductivity of the fish tanks material will govern how well it works. Remember a radiator has all those fins which are all SURFACE AREA.... or are you talking about leaving the radiator and just adding a fishtank? Also, you will get surface deposits in/around (the mouth) the loop... Andrewr05 - Have seen the one you were talking about before too! Speaking of the surface area it just seems, (without scientific backing,) that there would be enough volume of water in an aquarium to cool itself. You have hit on another concern that I have been trying to "figger" out in my mind, what to do about the fact that you are pulling dirty water into your water block? You can put the filter before the water block but you are still going to get some water that could potentially damage the unit. Maybe you could flush out the pump every now and again? And I should have known nothing is new, its all been done before! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibby_geek_guy_69 Posted July 16, 2009 Posted July 16, 2009 I Never said that it wouldn't work - just trying to make sure that you understood that it was total surface area that determined the cooling ability of a heat sink (Which is what the fish tank would become) What if you used an aquarium pump instead? I Still think that once you get buildup on the heatsink its gonna dwindle in efficiency.... Maybe if you polish it like crazy crap wont stick to it as much? Also, fish have . in water.... Also - how will the fish respond to the fluctuations in temperature?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nalcyon Posted July 16, 2009 Posted July 16, 2009 I Never said that it wouldn't work - just trying to make sure that you understood that it was total surface area that determined the cooling ability of a heat sink (Which is what the fish tank would become) What if you used an aquarium pump instead? I Still think that once you get buildup on the heatsink its gonna dwindle in efficiency.... Maybe if you polish it like crazy crap wont stick to it as much? Also, fish have . in water.... Also - how will the fish respond to the fluctuations in temperature?? Ya the thing I can't get around is the waterblock on the CPU getting dirty all the time. As for fluctuations in temperatures, I was thinking of keeping betas in the tank. They don't really require filtration, the tank would be way more area than they would need, they are hardy fish, and this sounds horrible but they are cheap to replace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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