Computer Cooling Help

[Trimoor]

Is it a good idea to cover up the excess holes on my computer case?
My case has a couple hundred little holes punched in the side panel.
This will restrict airflow to entering and exiting only through the fans, but is that a good thing?

I really need to cover the bigger holes.  Ladybugs are crawling in to die!

[lcddream]

you want to understand the way the air is flowing and why...if the air can't complete it's route because of holes, i would say cover the holes up....keep in mind if the best way to kool a comp case is many little holes....then why is noone doing it?

[DrewKaree]

Cover 'em up and don't give it a second thought.  While there may be a claim put forth that "the case was designed by someone, and the holes prolly ARE for cooling", there's one easy way to tell if that's the case (no pun intended).  Is there a fan at the back of the case near the top (roughly around the power supply) or at least a grid where a fan could go?  Is there a fan at the front of the case near the lower section of the front bezel or at least an opening where a fan could go?  If so, stop worrying yer pretty little head over it.  If you're seriously stressed over it, drop a larger fan in there to replace the small fan - something in a 120mm should do the trick 

Yeah, seal 'em up.  Oh, and one more tip.  Cut a piece of foam out and put it in front of any intake fans to help keep those dust devils out.

Want a BYO tip?  Two words.  Water cooling.

[Trimoor]

Cover them I will.

I very much want to try water cooling, but I can't find any resources on cheap parts.
Do you know where I could get a cheap pump, radiator, and water block?  The links in the tutorials I saw were all outdated, and no one ever responded on the forum.

[DrewKaree]

Depends on what you run for cooling - I had a buddy who got a demo model that had a sketchy pump, he used distilled water and picked up an aquarium pump and used that....also needed an enlarger/reducer piece (aquarium pump line is smaller than normal water cooling line)

I dunno if Maximum PC shows it on their site, but they had a reasonably priced water cooling setup they reviewed, and IIRC, NewEgg had a decent price on a setup as well.

[Trimoor]

Maximum PC shows nothing on water cooling, and NewEgg just has really expensive individual components.

It would only be for a 1.4GHz AMD, so I don't need tremendous cooling power.

An aquarium pump is fine for me.  Any links?
What about the block and radiator?
Adapters, hoses, and the like I can find.

[DrewKaree]

Maximum PC shows nothing on water cooling, and NewEgg just has really expensive individual components.

It would only be for a 1.4GHz AMD, so I don't need tremendous cooling power.

An aquarium pump is fine for me.  Any links?
What about the block and radiator?
Adapters, hoses, and the like I can find.

He didn't use a radiator.  What he did was use a 5 lb coffee can, with the tube from the components going into the top side and the intake going back to the components on the opposite side on the bottom.  He did it that way so (his theory went) when he heard the coolant spilling out, he'd know a bunch had evaporated and he'd have to add more. 

While crude, and not as nice as a store-bought solution, it did work, although not as well as expected  Oh, and the gunk that built up (quickly, too, I might add!) required changing the water - OFTEN!

He actually bought waterblocks...couldn't figure out a DIY for those.

I dunno about a radiator, but I found a few links on watercooling for ya:

PVC Reservoir for under $15

Setting up a watercooling system

A PILE of links from overclockers.com

[lcddream]

frozencpu.com has a bunch of stuff

they might be a rip off tho...i have no idea what this stuff is supposed to cost

[Trimoor]

$50 for a radiator?
That is a ripoff.

Okay, I can buy a pump from either petco or home depot, and I can drill a CPU block, but I still can't find a good source on a radiator.

Anyone?

[DrewKaree]

Junkyard.

Either an honest to goodness radiator, or a heater core.  I'm not exactly sure how a heater core works, so that may be a terrible idea, but some car guy here can tell you if it'll work or not, and I KNOW you can get 'em cheap!

[danny_galaga]

yep. i was gonna suggest something like that. when i first saw the liquid cooling set ups for pcs (this year actually) i thought - gee, they look a hell of a  lot like car heater radiators. and i bet the first ones were. from a wreckers theyll be cheap as chips. if they look a bit large get an oil cooler from a motorbike- again from the wreckers.
 nothing magical about how they work. if they can dissipate  kilowatts of energy from an engine they sure as hell can cool your pc! you'll no doubt have to adapt the hose fittings. if you've got a primus, i'd just get the right size K& S tubing (brass) and crimp the original radiator tube down and solder away. actually it's got me thinking now. the tropics are not kind to pc's...

[HaRuMaN]

There's a complete kit for this at Tiger Direct...  everything you need for under $100...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1020396&CatId=499

[DrewKaree]

Tiger Direct, hey?  Wouldn't it be easier to just take your money to the bank, exchange it for a bag pennies, and go outside and open the bag in the general direction of the gutter?

Sorry, I just hate Tiger Direct

[Trimoor]

That tiger direct package looks semi decent, except who in their right mind would use a radiator that dissipates it's heat inside the case?

I'll try to get a car radiator.  Luckily I have a junkyard fairly close by.

Maybe I should just run the tubes through the wall, and put the radiator outside in the snow.
No heat problems anymore

[namzep]

Tiger Direct's usually okay (as long as it's not a rebate type of situation).  Out of curiosity, why do you want water cooling for that setup?  As long as you're not planning to do massive overclocking it's overkill.

[menace]

I got a buddy to build the water block using 1/8" copper soldered into a block with fittings soldered on.  The pump will be a submersible aquarium pump and the tank is one of those small hexagon ones that i picked up at a yard sale--with the pump submersible and the water reservoir sealed there is no need for a radiator unless you are overclocking--the volume of water required to submerse the pump is enough to dissipate the heat--it will go up a degree or two but you can negate that with more water.

[danny_galaga]

He didn't use a radiator.

[DrewKaree]

Why take the coffee out?  Hot water going in, liquid going out....it's a watercooler/coffee maker, brought to you by the redneck version of the sharper image - The Dull Picture