Water Cooling a PC

1
Water Cooling a PC

• A comprehensive guide to water cooling a personal
  computer.

Chad Rudd ENGL 105 Final Presentation April
2008 Stockton, CA
2
Introduction

• The CPU and heat generation
• Normal CPU cooling methods
• What is CPU watercooling?
• CPU construction and thermodynamic theory
• Why water is better than air
• Components in a CPU cooling loop

3
Introduction (cont.)

• Implementation of the cooling loop
• A very brief overview of overclocking
• Where to find more information
• Questions and answers

4
The CPU and Heat

• CPU stands for Central Processing Unit
• The brains of any personal computer.
• Generates a significant amount of heat which must
  be removed.
• Failure to remove this heat will result in severe
  damage to the processor.
• Example of CPU heat generation with fan cooling
• Max design temperature for an Intel e6420 is 61C
  or 141F.
• Idle temp 23C
• In graphics based game 55C
• Just 6 degrees from max temp!

5
Modern AMD CPU
6
Motherboard with CPU Socket
7
Normal CPU Cooling Methods

• Most computers ship from the factory with a
  heatsink and fan assembly installed on the CPU to
  remove heat.
• Fans are loud and inefficient
• Fan-cooled CPUs operate within a few degrees
  Celsius of their maximum temperature rating
• Drastically decreases the lifespan, speed and
  ability to overclock the CPU

8
What Is CPU Water Cooling?

• CPU water cooling is the process of removing heat
  from the CPU using a liquid based cooling loop.
• The liquid used is normally a mixture of alcohol,
  antifreeze and pure, distilled water, with water
  making up the majority of the liquid mixture.
• It is an increasingly popular hobby and involves
  a lot of innovation and creativity.

9
What Is CPU Water Cooling?

• By replacing the fan with a water cooling system,
  it is possible to increase the performance of the
  chip drastically while decreasing operating
  temperature.
• Allows overclocking of CPU
• The manual increase in voltage and CPU bus
  frequency
• Higher bus frequency faster speed of CPU and
  overall system performance
• With the correct system settings and sufficient
  CPU cooling capacity, it is not uncommon to see
  gains in speed of 50

10
Diagram of Typical Cooling Loop
11
CPU Construction

• CPU Construction involves a 250 step process
• First step is to create thinly sliced silicon
  wafers from cylindrical bars of silicone called
  ingots.
• The ingots are made in a way similar to making
  rock candy.
• Individual molecules of pure silicon are
  attracted to and collect around a single point.
• Various processes are used to layer and alter the
  silicon
• Millions of transistors are imprinted onto the
  layers giving the CPU its computational power.

12
The Fun Stuff Thermodynamics and Electrical
Theory!(so you dont think I am making this
stuff up)

• Electrical components create heat as a byproduct
  of their operation.
• This heat gereration is based on the equation
• I² x R
• That is electrical current squared times
  resistance of the material heat lost to
  atmosphere
• No material in existence has zero resistance, not
  even silicon

13
Why is Water Better Than Air?

• Every material has a different thermal
  conductivity
• Represented by the constant k
• Can be found using the equation
• Thermal conductivity represents the ability of a
  material to absorb heat
• The k value of some common materials

24 Times Greater!
14
Construction of a Cooling Loop

• Created with 5 main components
• Water Block
• Tubing
• Radiator/Fan Assembly
• Pump
• Reservoir

15
The Water Block (heatsink)
16
The Water Block

• Purpose
• To remove heat from the CPU
• and transfer it to the water
• flowing through it
• Design
• Bi-directional flow
• Labyrinth channeling
• Smooth, flat bottom
• Copper or silver
• Requires Thermal Grease!
• CPU specific
• Interchangeable tube barbs

17
Buying a Water Block

• Can be purchased online from water cooling
  hobbyist sites
• koolance.com, swiftnets.com, newegg.com
• Range in price from 50 to 100
• Do not attempt to make your own!

49.99 swiftnets.com
54.99 koolance.com
18
Tubing
19
Cooling Loop Tubing

• Purpose
• To provide a fluid flow path to and from the
  cooling loop components
• Design
• Clear
• Flexible
• Should be able to make sharp turns without
  kinking
• Ranges in size from ¼ 1
• Various sizes depending on personal customization
• ½ is sufficient for most applications

20
Hose

• Tygon tubing is the best in the industry
• Price 2-3 per foot
• 6 feet should be more than enough
• Can be purchased from industrial/medical supply
  distributors or over the internet
• Check www.tygon.com for distributor info
• Cheap hose cannot make sharp bends without
  kinking
• Price .50 per foot
• This is one time that you shouldnt worry about
  saving money, buy the best or you will regret it!

21
Radiator and Fan Assembly
22
Radiator

• Purpose
• To transfer heat from the cooling loop liquid to
  the atmosphere
• Radiator Design
• Large, finned surface area for maximum heat
  transfer
• Bi-directional, dual pass flow
• Sizable enough to mount somewhere inside or
  outside of computer case
• May come with an optional mounting bracket
• Some radiators have interchangeable tube barbs

23
Fan

• Purpose
• To provide airflow across the radiator in order
  to transfer heat from the cooling loop to the
  atmosphere
• Design
• 80mm, 92mm, 120mm
• 12V power supply
• Connects directly into a power supply lead inside
  the computer
• Internal bearings reduce motor friction
• More bearings quieter operation
• More bearings steep price increase
• Some fans may come with an optional speed
  adjustment dial

24
Radiator Fan Assembly

• Professionally designed radiators will have
  mounting holes for 80-120mm fans.
• Mounting brackets may be available
• They vary greatly in size and design

55.99 koolance.com
25
Alternative Radiator Source

• An inexpensive source of radiators is your local
  auto parts store
• Automobile heater cores are mass produced and
  very cheap, especially for domestic cars like
  Ford and Chevy
• If a heater core is used, fans can be mounted
  with zip ties or twistable wire

VS.
GDI by Proliance 399026 Heater Core 24.42
Amazon.com
55.99 koolance.com
26
Radiator Fan Assembly Example
27
Pumps and Reservoirs
28
Pumps

• Purpose
• To push water
• Design
• Centrifugal
• Uni-directional
• AC (120V) or DC (variable)
• In-line or submersible
• Varying capacities (GPH)
• Optional speed adjustment

29
In-line vs. Submersible Pumps

• - Submersible pumps
• - Quieter
• - Cheaper
• - Can be a creative challenge to implement
• - In-line pumps
• - Do not require a large reservoir
• - Smaller
• - Longer lifespan
• - Less chance for failure
• - Easy implementation

30
AC vs. DC Pumps

• DC Pumps
• Speed ? Voltage
• Cheaper
• More readily available
• Wont electrocute you
• Can be wired up to start automatically when
  computer is turned on
• AC
• Get a DC pump

31
Buying a Pump

• Professionally designed water cooling pump are
  70 or more and tend to be limited to in-line
  design
• An inexpensive source for Submersible DC pumps is
  in the marine industry
• A 360 GPH submersible pump costs as little as 15

77.99 koolance.com
15 rule-industries.com
32
Reservoirs
33
Reservoirs

• - Purpose
• - To provide makeup volume
• - To provide expansion volume
• - Visual indication of leakage
• Design
• - Air tight
• - Various sizes
• - Various designs
• - Internal or external installation

34
Reservoir Example
35
Cooling Loop with Submersible Pump
36
Cooling Loop with In-line Pump
37
Implementation

• Plan out your system
• Submersible or in-line pump
• External or internal mounting
• Ensure all components have the same size tube
  barbs or have adapters ready
• Important Familiarize yourself with safely
  wiring electrical components into your PSU
• Test fit pieces outside of case
• Install water block, pump and radiator in
  accordance with their included documentation

38
Implementation (cont.)

• Install tubing
• Use plastic hose clamps at each tube barb
  connection
• Fill reservoir with a 75/25 mixture of pure,
  distilled water and anti freeze to prevent algae
  growth
• You may have to lift reservoir to the highest
  point in system to completely fill
• Run cooling loop for several hours with computer
  turned off and check for leakage
• This may require you to install pump to a power
  source outside of the computer

39
Implementation (cont.)

• If there are no signs of leakage after several
  hours, it is safe to turn system on
• Monitor temperatures in BIOS to ensure CPU is
  operating within CPU specifications
• Monitor temperatures from Windows Desktop
• Speedfan and Mother Board Monitor 5 are two free
  programs you can download and use
• Overclock!

40
A Very Brief Overview of Overclocking

• Now that you have sufficient heat removal the CPU
  can be overclocked
• Overclocking involves the step increase of CPU
  Front Side Bus (FSB) frequency and core voltage
  in the BIOS
• FSB speed is directly proportional to the rate at
  which the CPU processes information
• Consult your motherboard documentation and
  internet hobbyist sites for more information

41
For More Information

• water-cooling.com
• koolance.com
• swiftnet.com
• Motherboard technical manual
• CPU technical manual
• google water cooling cpu
• www.chadrudd.com/eng105

42
Questions?

• The CPU and heat generation
• Normal CPU cooling methods
• What is CPU watercooling?
• CPU construction and thermodynamic theory
• Why water is better than air
• Components in a CPU cooling loop
• Implementation of the cooling loop
• A very brief overview of overclocking
• Where to find more information
• Questions and answers

43
Sources Used

• Background Images
• Slide 1 http//www.bleedinedge.com/crew/ryderocz/
  mods/cooling/installed.jpg
• Slide 2 www.techpowerup.com/ Asus A8R32 Review
• Slide 3, 4 www.watercooling.com/gallery
• Slide 7 http//www.dansdata.com/images/danletters
  064/board.jpg
• Slide 8 http//grodrig.vtrbandaancha.net/personal
  /f3.jpg
• Images
• AMD Processor, Slide 5 http//www.amd.com/us-en/
  assets/content_type/DigitalMedia/fx_high_rez.jpg
• Motherboard, Slide 6 http//www.engadget.com/200
  7/05/16/gigabyte-intros-churchill-mini-dtx-motherb
  oard/
• Heatsink and fan, Slide 7 http//studynotes.net/
  Essentials-Computer-Components-5
• Silicon, Slide 11 picture of silicone
  http//www.sinyo.jp/prod.html
• Water blocks, Slide 15, 17 www.koolance.com and
  www.swiftnet.com
• Thermal grease, Slide 16 http//en.wikipedia.org/
  wiki/Thermal_grease
• Tygon tubing, Slide 18 http//specialtech.co.uk/s
  pshop/files/detail/tygon.jpg
• Radiator Fan Assembly, Slides 21, 24, 25
  www.koolance.com and http//www.hartware.de/media/
  reviews/273/oc_duo.jpg
• Radiator Fan Assembly Final Example, Slide 26
  http//www.moddedcomputers.com/images/radiator_mou
  nted_rear2.jpg
• Pump Pictures, Slide 27, 28, 31
  www.koolance.com

44
Sources Used (cont.)

• Works Cited
• CPU Construction, Slide 11 Michael S. Malone,
  The Microprocessor A Biography, (New York
  Hamilton Printing Co., 1995), 40.
• CPU Construction, Slide 11 tweak3d.net How
  CPUs are Made, Tuan Solace Nguyen,
  http//www.tweak3d.net/articles/howcpusaremade/5.s
  html.
• Thermal conductivity chart, Slide 13 Thermal
  conductivity, http//hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.e
  du/hbase/tables/thrcn.html
• The Fun Stuff Thermodynamics and Electrical
  Theory! And Why is Water Better than Air?, Slides
  12, 13 Michael J. Morane, Fundamentals of
  Engineering Thermodynamics, (New York John Wiley
  Sons, 1996), 48.