A bad, but effective WC experiment

[xvi]

A bad, but effective WC experiment (Edit: ICE!)

Specs:
ASUS 580X AM2 something or other
Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition
CoolerMaster AQUAGATE Mini R80
CoolerMaster Dual Storm 80mm
Regular silicon thermal paste

Story:
Found the cooler at a local electronics recycler quite a while ago. It leaked even just sitting around, so I cleaned out what I could and it seems to have fixed it.. As I've been thinking about some more serious water cooling gear, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about first. I had no compatible mount and no reservoir, so it's just sitting on the CPU and I used a Ziplock container to hold extra water.

The only way it would fit meant running the block/pump's outlet hose over the memory. It was moved to the back to compensate.

First boot in to BIOS shows that temps are holding.

Idling in BIOS, the temps leveled off about here. Temperature difference between CPU and "radiator" water was pretty good.

Under full load for 10 minutes and temps are actually looking a lot better than I thought a 80mm radiator and crummy block could do.

And finally, about an hour of crunching with the radiator fan at full speed.

Conclusion:
The good:

• Roughly the same\better temps as stock cooler
• Quieter than stock cooler
• Watercooling on the cheap if you can find one

The bad:

• Heatpipe towers are the same price, cool better, and don't risk leaking.

p.s. I know my water will evaporate if left out in the open like that. I'm putting the stock cooler back on tonight. Don't worry.

Will update rather soon with temps for the stock cooler.

Update: I LIED!
Further testing had to happen. What kind of testing? Well..

ICE!

Thanks to my handy-dandy infrared thermometer, the ice appeared to be -6c.

Add ice to ziplock reservoir, watch temps drop. All recorded temps (unless otherwise noted) are under full load from BOINC.

CPU temp measured through lmsensors.
CPU-in measured from the side of the reservoir.
CPU-out measured from base of radiator near intake.
Rad out measured from base of radiator near output.
Delta is difference between CPU temp and ambient temperature (the goal being sub-ambient).

cpu temp ambient CPU-in CPU-out rad out delta
no ice 41 21.5 19.5
ice 22 21.5 0.5
more ice 21 21 0
ice2 7 10.8 0
ice2 19 6.4 13 -19
idle 18 19 9.8 15.3 -1
load-fanoff 19 19 5.5 11.4 0
18 19 5.5 10.9 -1
18 19 5.9 10.4 -1
moreice 17 19 4 7.4 8.4 -2
17 19.5 4 6.7 7.9 -2.5
17 19.5 3.5 6.4 7.4 -2.5
17 19.5 4.1 6.5 7 -2.5
18 19.5 4.6 6.8 7.2 -1.5
18 19.5 6.8 8.7 8.8 -1.5
19 19.5 6.8 9.1 10 -0.5
20 19.5 8 10.1 10.1 0.5
21 19.5 8.5 10.8 11.3 1.5
ice gone 23 19.5 9.5 12.6 12.8 3.5
24 19.5 11.2 14.4 14.2 4.5
26 19.5 12.8 16.2 15.8 6.5

I had the fan on for the first bit of the experiment. I eventually realized that I had sub-ambient water going in to the radiator and it was actually being heated up! Turned the fan off and results increased.

Final thoughts:
It took all the pre-made ice I had (about three containers full) to keep this thing cool for less than 30 minutes. There's no way this could be sustained without an army of icemakers.

 

[Kast]

Is that a HD6850 ?

Edit:Now I can see your specs. Looks exactly like a 6850 that I sold.

 

[xvi]

Is that a HD6850 ?

Edit:Now I can see your specs. Looks exactly like a 6850 that I sold.

It's a HD 4850. Sig rig has the 5870. I see what you mean though. They're pretty close.

 

[xvi]

Update. ICE! Ice as in frozen H20. Check the original post for some (just barely) sub-ambient CPU temps.