Oh the pain

[Swagman]

For the past few days my wife has been complaining that this ( Ubuntu) machine has been freezing up and switching off at random times. I work nights and everytime I used it it was ok... But yesterday.... I got the same symptons. Wifey was overjoyed of course !!

"SEE, SEE, I TOLD YOU"!!

SO I dragged the machine out from its niche and checked the water levels.. All ok.. SO I forced circulation by blowing in the header tank... All ok.

So I connect it all back up for the bl00dy ting to switch off 2 mins after boot up. So I drag it all back out and put it on the table with the side off. Connect just the power source and bootup. I then put my finger on the cpu water block to test temp (it's usually just warm) and nearly took the skin off my finger..

MuYAAaaaaaaaaaaaar !!

The water pump has b0rked.

Well that's the final straw with water cooling. I installed it when I built this machine about 2 years ago thinking that finally my machine wont sound like an airport.

Reality is.. There are still fans on the radiator.. The fan in the psu.. Northbridge fan... GPU fan.. Fans next to the hard drives !!

And where does that water evaporate to in a closed system ?

Bugger that.. Ordered an Arctic Cooling (AC-FRZ-64P) Freezer64 Pro

So...

I'm relegated to my ancient P3 running Win 2kpro until it's delivered (It's my old NLE machine).. and it's sooooo slow !!


Anyone else disillusioned with water cooling etc ?

[RichardLinx]

I've never used a water cooling setup. I'm locked down to one laptop, unfortunately. How big is your setup with water cooling?

[Eisenwinter]

I'd like to experiment with dry ice cooling, but I doubt I'll be able to actually obtain dry ice, lol.

[pelle.k]

thinking that finally my machine wont sound like an airport
The new core 2 duos are virtually dead silent. Don't go for the high end ones and you'll be ok. (make sure it's a 45nm core though).
I bought a gf8600gt a while ago, and it's cooled passively using heatpipes. I'm sure you could buy a gf9XXX just like that now.

Watercooling is only worth it if you like to OC your box.

[init1]

I'd like to experiment with dry ice cooling, but I doubt I'll be able to actually obtain dry ice, lol.
I think they have it at the grocery stores where I live. I've never actually bought any though.

[MaxIBoy]

I'd never go for dry ice-- I'd be worried about it suffocating me in my sleep.


Something I've been thinking about is thermoelectric cooling, in combination with a fan-cooled radiator outside the main case. Those things can push the temperature down below that of the room.