Finally Went Water

Mize

Mize

3dfx Fan
Legend
So last night I did something impulsive. I wanted (don't ask me why) and even quieter system than I already had (XP120 HSF, 19 dB case fans - BUT an x1800)...so anyway...
I went over to Microcenter and bought an overaly expensive Zalman Reserator 2 (fanless radiator) and some BGA ramsinks and <19db heatpipe northbridge HSF (Spirit II) since the Zalman kid doesn't have anything included for NB.

Took about 3 hrs to get it up and running. Dropped my cpu and gpu temps about 10 degrees C each. The pump is completely silent (but weak).

Now I realize how damn loud my power supply (OCZ) and hard drives are :(

The Danger Den section was nice...maybe extreme water is better than quiet?
 
personally i'm a fan of the littler guys with high quality stuff. Usually better tech support with the qaulity incase you ever have a question.

http://www.swiftnets.com/

Z R is about as quiet as you're going to get for a water cooling unit, though most good quality pumps that move decent volume literally dont make much noise, usually just hum quietly at a low RPM (low pitch compared to some "quiet" fans).


If you end up sticking with it grab a bottle of preserver/coolant from someplace and dump it in, usually very cheap. Even distilled water causes corrosion/deposits on the metal blocks after a little bit of time, kind of hard to avoid without something in the water. Zalman doesnt mention anything if i remember right.

See if the actual tray in the HDD is making the noise or if its the vibration going into the case, because thats something you can fix if its a case mounting issue usually with some rubber spacers.


As dangerous as it sounds i'm still waiting for someone to come out with an acceptable water cooled PSU as well ;).
 
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I've often thought about going the water cooling route, the hassle just never seemed worth it to me.

I think for now I'll stick with my near silent air cooling rig, I actually believe the loudest part is my PSU.
 
I've been to the water and come back, so to speak. Did the Reserator, now it sits gathering dust. Too much hassle overall considering the new generation of quiet fans and large CPU / GPU heatsinks. The upcoming gen of graphics cards may make it more attractive rumoured power consumption at the high-end are reflected down the product line.
 
nutball said:
I've been to the water and come back, so to speak. Did the Reserator, now it sits gathering dust. Too much hassle overall considering the new generation of quiet fans and large CPU / GPU heatsinks. The upcoming gen of graphics cards may make it more attractive rumoured power consumption at the high-end are reflected down the product line.
Click to expand...
Same experience, the novelty wears out pretty quickly.

epic
 
I've been looking at the Reserator 2 since I heard about it since it seems to be a good step-up on the existing kit (I've got the Reserator 1 Plus). I haven't found that the novelty wears off - I'm too hooked on the quietness. However the PSU noise is beginning to bug me too, despite being a 'quiet' supply. A quick google search brings up this piece of kit, but I've no idea whether it's any good. I'm not sure the Reserator 2 would be man enough to handle this along with the PSU and GPU as well... this may force me to become somewhat exotic if I wish to upgrade to Conroe + G80/R600 and stay quiet.
 
However the PSU noise is beginning to bug me too, despite being a 'quiet' supply. A quick google search brings up this piece of kit, but I've no idea whether it's any good. I'm not sure the Reserator 2 would be man enough to handle this along with the PSU and GPU as well... this may force me to become somewhat exotic if I wish to upgrade to Conroe + G80/R600 and stay quiet.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think the next-gen high-end might stretch the Reserator's capabilities -- though it would be pretty straightforward to add a second dedicated unit to cool the PSU.

What PSU are you using by the way?
 
It's a 300W QTechnology. You can't buy it anymore, but when I got it it was top-of-the-line in terms of quietness. I'd had enough of my PC sounding like a jet engine! At this point however I think I could probably cut a good amount of sound out of it by cleaning the fan and WD-40ing it. I can imagine it's pretty dusty in there.

If I do upgrade, I'm obviously going to have to get a new PSU, and this watercooled job looked good. I could even just attach my current Reserator to it as a dedicated supply, though that would leave my current machine somewhat lacking in cooling if I wanted to keep it together. I guess I might be in the market for something a little more bespoke, but then I'll be hunting for a quiet pump... the search goes on!
 
Oh yes I've got one of those QTech jobbies lying around somewhere... or maybe I fobbed it off on a mate when I built a PC for his dad. :) It was OK for the time but it's in a different league to modern quiet PSUs. I'm using a Seasonic S-12 330W in a server box I've just built and it's awesome -- dead cheap too (£35). By all accounts the recent M-12 series is very good too if you're looking in the 500W+ range, but they're a bit most co$tly.

When I was w/c'ing I modded my PSU by flipping the fan so it pulled cool air through the back of the PSU and exhausted it into the case. I built a duct to direct the hot air straight out the back of the case through the 120mm case fan hole. With the Res removing the heat from the CPU + GPU I figured I could ignore the cooling requirements of the other components in the case, so the PSU didn't need to perform its "usual" role in assisting in removing heat from the case. I wasn't wrong either!
 
The first reserator was universally known for having a very wimpy pump. How is the second one in that regard? Considering zalman has CPU, GPU, northbridge AND graphics ram waterblocks available for the R2 unit, if you hook up all that shit in series that'll cause major drag in the system... How does it work?
 
I don't have the NB block but I'm getting good flow with the gpu and cpu blocks. They do allow for a second external pump so I'm considering that little danger den (with 2.5 m maximum head). Still for this thing to beat a xp-120 + panaflow hsf by 10 degrees is pretty darned good.

The hard drive noise isn't too bad. I'm using a Lian Li "silent" case. It's the PSU that's bugging me...

I suspect that, so long as the increased pressue doesn't bust a seal on the radiator, all the R2 needs is a bigger pump to make some really nice numbers.

No novelty wear off yet here...
 
Try damping maps like those from Chieftec. They are thick flexible plastic on one side and foam on the other side. Previously my case went "cloink!" when I tapped it, now all vibrations are absorbed. Even my Raptor disk is hardly audible when seeking.
 
Well the case itself if pretty silent with rubber padded roller feet and a tooless HD rack.
Noise sources other than hard drives are:

1x 120 mm Nexus 19 dB case fan
2x 120 mm OEM case fan (probably should replace with Nexus or Panaflows)
1x Thermaltake Spirit II northbridge cooler (19 dB - very quiet)
1x OCZ PowerStream 520 W PSU. This is rated at 23 dB at 60% capacity, but I think it's the loudest part of the system now.
 
Mize said:
Well the case itself if pretty silent with rubber padded roller feet and a tooless HD rack.
Click to expand...
It's a start but in no way comparable to damping mats. A case is pretty much like a guitar: one small vibration turns into very audible noise. Good damping mats absorb a great amount of vibration in the air and in the metal.
 
Nick said:
It's a start but in no way comparable to damping mats. A case is pretty much like a guitar: one small vibration turns into very audible noise. Good damping mats absorb a great amount of vibration in the air and in the metal.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by damping mats. This case is foam lined to keep it quiet. I suppose silicone grommets on the HD rack-to-case mounts might help too...
 
WATER AND ELECTRICITY JUST DON'T MIX, IT'S NOT NATURAL!!!! :oops:


Sorry, I just still have this stubborn inhibition to water cooling. :???:
 
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