Introduction:
Water cooling, once an extreme practice in the past, is now a viable, reasonable cooling solution. For years, the automotive industry has utilized the powers of liquid cooling. But for many people, they still see liquid cooling for a PC as an idea only for the extreme over clocker or computer enthusiast. But these days, water cooling simply makes sense, especially since it is much cheaper to buy or build a kit. There are tons of reasons to go with a liquid cooled computer instead of an air controlled one. Whether you want a silent PC, a flashy way to show off your rig, a great key to over clocking components, or simply a cooler computer room - water cooling is the way to go.
A Danger Den brand VGA water cooling block
This article was written to introduce you to water cooling and how to go about putting together or purchasing a kit. This guide will not show you how to install the components, but will tell you how the cooling process works, and how to go about purchasing something to get you started.
Parts:
The water cooling process itself is actually fairly simple. It only has a few parts, and the concept is very easy to grasp, especially with the use of the following diagrams and descriptions.
Here is a large diagram of a simple water cooling set up. Next, I will describe each part.
Reservoirs:
As you can see, water starts in a reservoir, or holding tank. Reservoirs are not always necessary, but are usually a good idea if you have water evaporating or simply for anesthetic reasons. Reservoirs can really be anything, as long as they hold water and allow more water to enter as some water exits to go cool your system. Many people make their own reservoirs, as demonstrated in tribaloverkill's work log (Seen Here).
Tribaloverkill is a master of what he does, but a reservoir can be as simple as an old Snapple bottle or as complex as one of tribal's designs. Many are available for sale in online stores, such as Xoxide (www.xoxide.com). Here is a sketch of a simple reservoir.
Pumps:
Now, if you look at the diagram again, you will notice that from the reservoir, the water passes through the pump. The pump is just like in an aquarium, and provided that it has the right sized barbs and provides enough water flow, you can actually use an aquarium pump for this job. I only recommend this, however, if you are building your own cooling system. These days it is very easy to buy a complete kit or buy parts to make your own online. A pump takes water from the reservoir or the water circulation and well, pumps it. It takes it in through one barb, and pushes it back out through another one at a high speed. It is this speed that cools your system, the water whisks over the water block cooling your CPU, and then quickly passes through the radiator. That, however, comes later. Here is a sketch of a standard pump:
Water blocks:
The next component in a simple water cooling setup is the water block(s). Water blocks are the part that actually come in contact with your components to be cooled. Usually made out of copper or aluminum, they are made to conduct heat very well. The water runs over them and pulls the heat from the hot component through the aluminum or copper and transfers it into the water flow. When purchasing water blocks, you will want to buy copper ones if at all possible, since copper is such a good conductor. Water blocks are available for lots of components - you can cool your CPU, your video card, your hard drives - I have even seen water cooled PSU's (Here's a link for one)! Once again, here is a simple sketch of a water block:
Radiators:
And, finally, in a simple water cooling setup, the final journey of the hot water is in to the radiator. After the water is whisked away from the components being cooled, it then passes through the radiator. Radiators are also usually made of out metals with good heat conductivity properties. Radiators generally have a passageway of tubes and what not that the water passes through to help cool it down. Radiators very commonly have fans mounted to the top of them. The heat from the water transfers to the metal, where it is then sucked out by the fans and exhausted elsewhere. Here is a quick sketch of a radiator:
Now that we know what our general parts are to a liquid cooled system, we will discuss further details that could influence your decision when deciding whether or not to and how to get into liquid cooling.
Barb Sizes - Making the Choice
Different water cooling setups will have different barb sizes, which means differently sized pipes and tubing. The larger tubes you have for your setup, the more water flow your system can handle. If your cooling system has wide tubing, like, say 1/2" tubing, it can handle more water in a shorter period of time, meaning that your parts will be cooled much quicker than if you had say 1/4" fittings. Many manufacturers are now making their systems with thinner tubes, like 1/4" and 3/8". These two aren't necessarily bad, but the bigger the better, for the most part. Unless you are planning on cooling multiple computers with one setup, you probably won't need any bigger than 1/2". 1/2" systems are fairly hard to come by, so 3/8" is usually a good width to purchase. You will want to avoid weak, skinny little systems because they won't provide much water flow - thus meaning your parts won't be cooled as efficiently.
Choose Your Coolant
Another thing to think about when purchasing a water cooling setup is what type of coolant you will use. Now, don't forget, when you water cool your computer you are literally running water or another fluid through it. What does this mean? More risk, and more maintenance. But this can be cut down on greatly by using different liquids or using additives with water. Don't ever forget when setting up your rig that water can ruin your expensive components by shorting them out - we don't want that. There are many products on the market that are anti-current conducting fluids, meaning that they won't short out your parts. Also, if you use pure water in your set up, algae, a nasty green formation could grow in your pipes and on your stuff. Gross! No body wants that on their showy new computer. So, to stop this problem, many people add something like anti-freeze to their coolant to stop the risk of something growing into their system. Also, you may want to find a fluid that is anti-rusting as well - you don't want rust on your water blocks or in your water stream now, do you? Many liquid cooling system manufacturers simply sell products to use for your cooling system, I recommend buying one of those and using it purely in your system, or adding it into a mixture of water.
Dyes and Coloring - Spice it up a bit!
Many people choose to dye or color their water in their system for anesthetic reasons - to make it match their case, to make it glow in the dark or under UV light - whatever. There are many commercially available solutions, such as UV reactive dyes and coloring. However, since I don't use UV lights on my computer or need it to glow at night, I simply used food coloring, available in any grocery store. In fact, since it was around Easter time when I set up my cooling, I actually bought some food coloring dyes used for dying Easter eggs. Just make sure to dissolve it very thoroughly in a cup or something first before adding the coolant. If your water cooling already has coolant in it, you will want to add just a bit of water to the tablets to make sure their concentration is very high. Just pour it into your reservoir and wait until it begins to flow through your system.
A UV reactive coolant available at Xoxide
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article provided some valuable insight into the world of water cooling. Water cooling is a great way to cool your PC, and not only does it look cool, but it provides perfect temperatures for over clocking as well as enables you to have a nearly silent PC. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.
Happy cooling!