Pacify Your PC - Part 6 : Got water cooling?

[HEXUS]

Up at the Quiet PC headquarters, Paul talks to us about watercooling and the way forward if you want silence and better cooling performance than just air...

Watch the show.

[NightshadowUK]

Gotta say I think that was the most professional HEXUS.tv show I've watched to date. Nick was dropping some knowledge, some good cut-aways were used AND it made me giggle - good stuff.

[Skippy]

Thanks m8!

[Lee H]

heh - good episode.

Skippy... are you the same paul I've emailed about a certain liquid cooling chassis from Zalman?

[Skippy]

I am

[Lee H]

Ahhh... now I can put a face to the name

[Skippy]

and what a face it is too!!

[strike-down]

and what a face it is too!!

I know! Shocking, isnt it?

But really good episode Looking to watercool my PC soon, and have been looking at the zalman reserator. Got any numbers performance wise?

[Skippy]

I know! Shocking, isnt it?

Tell me about it. I scare the crap out of my wife every morning You'd think she would have got used to me by now

I don't really have any number to be honest m8. If you look around I'm sure you find some reviews of it!

And before anyone says "will Hexus be reviewing one?", errrr, lets just say we have not quite managed to get that sorted yet, have we Nick

[Pob255]

And before anyone says "will Hexus be reviewing one?", errrr, lets just say we have not quite managed to get that sorted yet, have we Nick

It's probably his giant hairy hands getting in the way.

I hope the next episode covers the basic steps to set up a water cooling system for thoes who cannot afford a case with it built in.

Must say the zalman looks nice but it's on the pricey side.

And that's a scarey amount of knowledge Nick, seeing as to how clueless you played it with the air cooling.

So ether you we're playing it dumb or you actually paid close attention to Paul Watkinson when you talked to him?

Paul, aka Skippy, what ever you do don't let him near liquid nitrogen, I wouldn't be surprised if this recent cold snap was nicks doing.

[Hicks12]

i only managed to watch half of the video so sorry if this is included.... PSU silencing? are you going to cover this or not , i liked the water cooling as i want to get into it later so will watch the rest soon but PSU make the most noise for me and i dont have the cash to spend out on a new one so any recommendations?

[GoNz0]

i only managed to watch half of the video so sorry if this is included.... PSU silencing? are you going to cover this or not , i liked the water cooling as i want to get into it later so will watch the rest soon but PSU make the most noise for me and i dont have the cash to spend out on a new one so any recommendations?

change the fans ?

i did it on an old cheap psu a few years back

[Nub1]

Nick I hope you're getting to keep that system, so quiet unlike my Antec900 storm. If you're going to do a step by step on water cooling I'd love it too. A future project for me I hope.

@Hicks
Episode 3 mentions the psu.

[Pob255]

Yes I doubt they'd go into changeing the psu fan as that has attached risks, I swaped one in a thermaltake TR2 it was fiddly and not as simple as swaping a case fan or fitting a new cpu cooler (I had to solder on a new plug)
Also it does invalidate the warranty and if you end up reduceing the air flow you risk damageing your psu and pc.

Buying a more quiet psu is the best advice for a simple basic solution, modding your psu is more advanced and higher risk.

[Hicks12]

YEh i wasnt planning on moding it like that, just would like to know if there is any different silencing things to use like boxes and foam mounts etc.

[Skippy]

I did talk about silencing PSUs in one of the earlier shows but it seems it didn't make the final cut. Anyway what I basically said was that although changing the fan in your existing PSU seems the easiest and cheapest option in some cases that could be the last thing you should do and here are some reasons why!

Firstly, the PSU will require a certain amount of airflow too keep it cool. Generally if you want to make something quieter you have to reduce the fan speed which in-turn may reduce the airflow (depending on the replacement fan). Therefore if you reduce the airflow it could cause the PSU to overheat and ultimately fail!

Second, opening up a PSU and unscrewing things can be very dangerous! If your screwdriver where to slip and touch the wrong components in the PSU you could get an almighty shock. Anything more than 20ma and you'll be pushing up daises!! One reason for this is because the capacitors (a components used in a PSU) holds a charge even when the PSU has been turned off. Although over a period of time the charge will dissipate. Take a look at this Google search if there are any doubts!

Finally, and if the second reason was not good enough you will invalidate your warranty, just as Pob255 said.

I hope this helps.