Hi all

I'm thinking about setting up a water cooled rig for my server with the main requirements being that the system is AS quiet or MORE quiet than my present server setup (server details to follow).
A second requirement is that i would like to use koolance hard drive water blocks for each of my four drives to try and get just a little more longevity out of them.

Heres a rough spec of the case and cooling kit i've been looking at.

1) Yeong yang server cube case
2) Overclockers hideout combined reservoir and pump 145 gph
3) Danger den maze 3 on AMD cpu 1.13 ghz
4) 2 x black ice extreme radiators (over the top?)
5) 2 x Sunon Low volume 69 CFM 120 mm fans
6) Either 4 koolance Hard drive waterblocks or 2 with another 2 2nd hard drive kits.

Why choose that stuff?

(Each number corresponds to number above)

1) I'm looking at the yeong yang because of its double wide space inside the case
2) The combined reservoir pump is appealing but i'm not sure if the water pressure will be sufficient for the 5 waterblocks and two radiators. Will i need a second pump?.
3) Danger den seems to get good reviews??
4)Hard dives kick out a lot of heat when working hard, hence the addition of the second radiator (Is a combined heat dissipation rate of nearly 7000 B.T.U's overkill?)
5)Low volumeof air but quiet action
6) I would like to remove the drives from the icydocks they are in at the moment (too noisy).

Monologue over!

I realise the pump may be a bad choice all things considered and would welcome any suggestions for a pump and a reservoir. Also im crap at maths and would appreciate any pointers on tube thickness, 1/2 inch or 3/8 inch? (bearing in mind the koolance HD waterblocks are 3/8 inch) taking into account pump speed, pressure, etc. Lastly i'll be mounting the radiators UNDERNEATH the case with the fans on the inside part of the case (cutting a 120 mm hole is no problem for me) blowing air OUT of the case. Obviously i will need to get longer legs for the base and attach them. Maybe a ligthing rig underneath as an afterthought?

System specs

AMD 1.1 ghz
512mb sdram
Abit kt7a Raid mobo
geforce 2 gts gfx
Creative Encore 12x with decoder card for dvd ripping
Hauppage wintv pci for tv recording
1 x 5gb maxtore 5400 rpm
1 x 10gb IBM 5400rpm
1 x 30gb Maxtor 5400rpm
1 x 12gb maxtor 5400 rpm

thanks in advance for any help or pointers

Couple quick thoughts. I will be late for work.

Your 5 blocks can be run in series or in parallel.

5 blocks in parallel will be too much for one pump. It loses efficiency at each junction.

To run in series you will either need to cool your cpu with water pre-heated by the HHD's (not good). Or cool the HDD's with water pre-heated by the much hotter cpu (obviously somewhat less than efficient!).

I would consider going with two pumps:

Pump one - 3/8 tubing supplying CPU and perhaps GPU in parallel. You didn't mention GPU, but may give you benefit.

Pump two - 3/8 tubing "Y" split into two 1/4" lines. Each 1/4" line has two HDD coolers in series.

If you need to free up some cash scrap the Black Ice radiators. They are good, but way, way, way over priced. We can get you equal performance outta much cheaper solutions!

That is all I have time for now! More later.
I will let lcpiper look after you in the meantime.

thanks for the advice

i was intending to run everything in series but with the radiators not working in series. ie

radiator-reservoir-pump-cpu-radiator-reservoir-pump-hard drives and so on. how does that sound?

however 2 independent systems has an attractive logic as well.

Question?

if i got an inline water temperature sensor for both of the independent sytems and i decided to utilise a DIGI DOC could one unit monitor both independent systems.

this may sound like a bit much, but its all research for my gaming computer which i will watercool after getting to grips with my server.

This is going to be a Fun one

I have to tell you that I am a Fan of the YY-Mini Cube case. You got a hella lot of good room in there.

I am not overly fond of the combo res/pump that you are considering. A reservoir only does a couple of things for you. It can make filling and bleeding easy, or difficult. A reservoir can hold a sub. pump. And a reservoir can slow down how long it takes for your cooling to hit it's maximum operating temperature. With very large external reservoirs you can get a little extra convection cooling going also, but you get some evaporation and loose portability. I like inline setups better then submersible. All of the pump heat in a submersion system goes into the water, but on an inline, some of the pump heat goes into the air do to convection cooling. Maintenance is usually a little easier too and you can keep your portability. If you use a fill tube you don't even need a reservoir which will also save bucks. That case has a lot of room on the back for fans and radiators and good intake in the front too. These are just thoughts to consider.

A point of interest is that you have to be very carefull with the sizes of the hose connections as advertised. Some say 3/8" but don't tell you if this is 3/8" outside diameter, or inside diameter. All of the Koolance gear that I know of is actually 1/4" ID equipment so you will have to check it out for sure.

Those Koolance HD coolers cool the bottom/top of the drive, but HDs actually get the hottest on the sides. A better HD cooling setup is this one from Innovatech, ( $45 each). But they will cost you a lot more money total if you are cooling four drives.


I have to get ready for work, I will get back in here in a bit.

EDIT: Back

I am thinking along the lines of two separate setups;

An Eheim 1048 3/8 ID from Pump > (GPU) > CPU > Radiator w/fill line.

And an Ehiem 1048 3/8" ID from Pump > HD > HD > etc > Radiator w/fill line.

You can start with fewer HD blocks and add them as you go. It will also be possible to add an additional radiator between pairs of HD blocks if you wish.

A simply "T" fitting can be used to run probes into the water tubing at different points for the DigiDoc.

The full listing would be:

2 X Ehiem 1048 pumps - $115
2 X Radiators - $90
1 X Maze3 - $40
4 X Innovatech HD blocks - $180

Already $425 without accessories or shipping, big bucks, it's the HD's that are going to kill you here. They are the only reason that you need the additional pump, rad, and all the blocks.

Changing tracks:
4 X Koolance HD blocks would be $120
1 X Maze3 - $40
1 X Ehiem 1250 $70
1 X Swiftech Radiator from Directron $36 (duel 120mm fans)

Run in Parallel. Base cost is down to $265 add shipping and accessories and you will come in at around $325, you may be able to shave $15 buy going with the Ehiem 1048 but with all the fittings for the parallel setup you will need a pump with plenty of Head pressure.