Finally did it - Watercooled my Sonata

miker · Post by **miker** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 3:27 pm

I just can't leave well enough alone. Several people told me it was impossible to fit all this into a tiny Sonata case, but I made it work

I can tell you it was a close fit, there is about 1/8 in from the radiator fan to the waterblock knobs.

I got a used Waterchill on the [H] forum for a pretty good price, and then I bought some Tygon tubing to replace the crap it came with. The pump is a Hydor L20. Low flow, but low noise. I can't hear it when its on the foam there. The pump has suction cups that I will only use when transporting the PC.

Pics tell the rest of the story I guess. Any more questions, please let me know.

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 3:31 pm

Pretty impressive fit, thats a small setup! is that 3/8" tubing?

Now, take that pump out and mail it to me so I can compare it to mine

miker · Post by **miker** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 5:09 pm

Yep 3/8 ID, 1/2 OD Tygon

I am considering a Black Ice Pro Rad, looks even smaller and is supposed to be really good.

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 5:25 pm

who says its really good? I'd say its pretty not good even before you get to the overpriced part. if you change rads at all get a double length rad and mount it on top, or maybe a Chevette heatercore

miker · Post by **miker** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 5:57 pm

I want everything contained within the case. If I wanted super cool, I would go with the heatercore. Those things are pretty ugly, though.

I just want competent and passably effective.

BTW, that's one of those OEM Panaflo 120's on the rad, that I got from Lenny. Nice fan. Thanks Lenny!

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 8:45 pm

miker wrote:BTW, that's one of those OEM Panaflo 120's on the rad, that I got from Lenny. Nice fan. Thanks Lenny!

You're welcome - glad to see it put to such great use!

I'm learning a lot about watercooling (with emphasis to silence instead of overclocking overhead) from this thread and Zhentar's.

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 8:51 pm

great! my flowmeter/ thermal diode reader have been shipped, so soon I should be able to bring lots of wonderful WC info

pangit · Post by **pangit** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 2:03 am

Zhentar, I'd love to see your full setup in the "General Gallery" section. Watercooling is something most of us here haven't tried yet, and you seem to have more experience than most. Other w/c forums concentrate more on overclocking rather than silencing, so it would be good to see the silencing side being covered in more detail here. It's becoming cheaper all the time and is an increasingly viable alternative to fans for quiet PCs.

One radiator idea I saw in a magazine recently, a guy has an old fridge radiator mounted outside his house, for totally passive watercooling during the winter!

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 2:32 am

Looks great!
So when does the GPU waterblock go on?

Did you notice a large benefit from what you had before? Noise and cooling wise?

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 2:52 am

Is the radiator fan sucking or blowing? [Looks like blowing]

Shouldn't sucking through the rad be more efficient/make less noise?

Cheers,

Jan

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 5:06 am

Unfortunatly I don't have a decent digital camera right now; but I'm gonna buy a disposable or two when I do all my measurements and modes next week, so I'll get up some pictures then. Until then, I do have this picture of my system before I moved: http://timcluff.home.mindspring.com/wc1.jpg

Sucking is more efficient for airflow, but not for noise. I haven't tested it with my radiator, but judging by my experience with PSU fans, there's probably a considerable difference. Note that many overclockers go for a fan on both sides, push/pull, and do notice a considerable improvement over just a pull; but since this doubles the number of fans its another undesirable change. Thats why I recommend a double length heatercore like mine; by doubling the surface area you'll need half the airflow; but you've got twice the area for fans you'll get an airflow improvement even with the quietest fans possible.

miker · Post by **miker** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 5:08 am

I plan on switching it to sucking as soon as I get the GPU block (to answer Mr_Smartepants' question). I still wanted to maintain some outward airflow to help the ZM80 on my Ti4200 until then. I will probably also go with a NB block, but that's further down the road. Plus I'm not sure all that tubing will fit

I will have to switch the fan to my other Panaflo OEM since I mangled the intake-side screw holes on the first one trying to figure out how to mount it all.

miker · Post by **miker** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 5:57 am

Mr_Smartepants wrote: Did you notice a large benefit from what you had before? Noise and cooling wise?

Actually the temps are not what I had hoped, but they are better than the SLK800U by about 2C load, and maybe 3C idle. Mostly I am just happy to eliminate another fan. GPU block will solve my last problem on the ZM80 just not being up to the task for my airflow.

miker · Post by **miker** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 5:22 am

Quick note, I moved the hoses to/from the radiator up off from direct contact to the ZM80, and my temps dropped another 8 degrees.

LOL.

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 6:12 am

Well, as long as you've bumped it, I'll post another note: if you have a dual fan setup, seperate the fans to have seperate chambers to prevent airflow short circuits. One of my fans stalled, so the other blew out most of the air through that fan and my temps rose a lot.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 9:55 am

miker wrote:Quick note, I moved the hoses to/from the radiator up off from direct contact to the ZM80, and my temps dropped another 8 degrees.

Are they restricting water flow or just picking up the heat fro the ZM80? If the latter, the ZM80 must be putting out an awful lot of heat!

miker · Post by **miker** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 2:01 pm

It was the direct heating of the water. Both into and out of the radiator. I was shocked.

miker · Post by **miker** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 10:51 am

Update. I got a new video card (Radeon 9800) and a Swiftech MCW50 water block. CPU temps rose 1oC and another heat source was eliminated from my case. PSU fan is noticeably slower now.

Overclocked to 2204Mhz, (Essentially a Athlon 3200+ now)
Temps are in the low-mid 50's after overnight folding.

sbabb · Post by **sbabb** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 12:10 pm

Nice job miker!

Time to update that signature