E
Emeric
New member
Just curious, I'm exploring that option.
Thanks,
Thanks,
Meshuggah
New member
I've been known to pee on my computer some saturday nights... 
Gidge
Lapdance Test Dummy
H
Hawking
New member
I've played with liquid cooled systems quite a bit. If you're looking for performance gains, it gets a bit involved. But if you're looking for a quiter option than the normal CPU cooler, it's the way to go. You can buy an entire setup now for about $150.
A few pieces of advice though...
1. Get a system that includes everything (unless you're real keen on fabrication). Or at the very least, try to get all the parts from 1 company. That way you know everything will work together.
2. Don't buy a system with a tiny radiator. The smaller the radiator, the smaller the fan. Smaller fans have to spin faster to move the same amount of heat. It defeats the whole purpose (noise).
3. Not all cooling blocks (the part that mounts to the CPU) are created equal. Read the reviews before you buy.
4. Don't worry about liquid cooling anything else except the CPU. If your northbrigde has a fan, you can liquid cool that also, but it's usually not necessary. Forget about RAM cooling, it's useless. Video cards can be overclocked if cooled properly, but overclocking is generally not a good idea for DAWs.
5. When you move the CPU heat outside the case (with the radiator) you are also doing away with the need for a lot of other fans, since the case temperature drops dramatically. This is perhaps one of the biggest advantages of liquid cooling. Feel free to experiment with lowering case fan speeds to reduce noise.
6. While you are setting it all up, run a monitoring program to keep an eye on the temps. Then run something that will put the CPU under load to make sure the system can stay cool over prolonged periods of time (see #3).
Do a web search on liquid cooling before you make any decisions, there's plenty of information out there. Keep in mind that there are 2 basic liquid cooling setups; Active and passive. Active means that there's a refrigerant involved that actually makes the CPU colder than room temperature. These systems are more expensive and more complicated than their passive counterparts. Active systems are where you will see performance gains (as long as you are privy to overclocking techniques). Passive systems never get colder than the temperature of the surrounding air. This is still cooler than a standard CPU fan, so stability usually increases even if you're not overclocking. Passive systems are cheap and simple. If it's your first time playing with water inside your computer, it's definatly the way to go.
Either way you go, passive or active, you will certainly see a decrease in noise, and you'll probably see an increase in stability. I wouldn't recommend overclocking a DAW though (which is the reason for liquid cooling most of the time), there are almost always stability issues.
A few pieces of advice though...
1. Get a system that includes everything (unless you're real keen on fabrication). Or at the very least, try to get all the parts from 1 company. That way you know everything will work together.
2. Don't buy a system with a tiny radiator. The smaller the radiator, the smaller the fan. Smaller fans have to spin faster to move the same amount of heat. It defeats the whole purpose (noise).
3. Not all cooling blocks (the part that mounts to the CPU) are created equal. Read the reviews before you buy.
4. Don't worry about liquid cooling anything else except the CPU. If your northbrigde has a fan, you can liquid cool that also, but it's usually not necessary. Forget about RAM cooling, it's useless. Video cards can be overclocked if cooled properly, but overclocking is generally not a good idea for DAWs.
5. When you move the CPU heat outside the case (with the radiator) you are also doing away with the need for a lot of other fans, since the case temperature drops dramatically. This is perhaps one of the biggest advantages of liquid cooling. Feel free to experiment with lowering case fan speeds to reduce noise.
6. While you are setting it all up, run a monitoring program to keep an eye on the temps. Then run something that will put the CPU under load to make sure the system can stay cool over prolonged periods of time (see #3).
Do a web search on liquid cooling before you make any decisions, there's plenty of information out there. Keep in mind that there are 2 basic liquid cooling setups; Active and passive. Active means that there's a refrigerant involved that actually makes the CPU colder than room temperature. These systems are more expensive and more complicated than their passive counterparts. Active systems are where you will see performance gains (as long as you are privy to overclocking techniques). Passive systems never get colder than the temperature of the surrounding air. This is still cooler than a standard CPU fan, so stability usually increases even if you're not overclocking. Passive systems are cheap and simple. If it's your first time playing with water inside your computer, it's definatly the way to go.
Either way you go, passive or active, you will certainly see a decrease in noise, and you'll probably see an increase in stability. I wouldn't recommend overclocking a DAW though (which is the reason for liquid cooling most of the time), there are almost always stability issues.
E
Emeric
New member
Thanks for the info Hawking. This is not for the purpose of overclocking, so passive would probably do it. Total silence is the goal. I would need a liquid cooled power supply as well, I don't want to have any fans running at all. Computer noise drives me nuts. I've got a Zalman flower cooler, enermax 'quiet' power supply, Seagate Baracudda IV's and it is still too damn noisy.
Think I'm going to buy a 4-track.
Think I'm going to buy a 4-track.
H
Hawking
New member
I've never seen a liquid cooled power supply.
There's an option that I have seen though, and it's cheap too.
You get your computer as quiet as you can, liquid or not. Add some sound deadoning material to the inside of the case and make sure that everything is mounted nice and tight so there's no vibrations. So now you've got these 2 big noisy holes on the backside of your computer. One is the fan for the power supply. The other is usually a case fan. Flip the case fan around so it blows in (they usually blow out). Go to your local hardware store and buy some small dryer vent hose. The flexible silver stuff. Now, whereever your computer is located, punch 2 holes in the wall about 16 inches apart. Plumb the hoses from the fans to the hole in the wall. The idea is to dump both the heat and the noise inside the wall instead of inside the room. The 16 inch difference in hose placement (if you haven't already figured it out) is to draw air from a different source than your dumping to. Since walls are usually built with studs 16 inches on center, you'll be drawing are from one bay and dumping into a different one. Keep in mind that this usually only works with interior walls because of the insulation in exterior walls. If you've sealed your computer up tight enough, very little of the sound gets into the room and you can save a bundle of money on super-quiet parts in the process. Someone somewhere makes a kit for this but I have long since forgotten who or where. The kit was geared more towards keeping the computer heat out of the room, but the noise advantages would be great.
There's an option that I have seen though, and it's cheap too.
You get your computer as quiet as you can, liquid or not. Add some sound deadoning material to the inside of the case and make sure that everything is mounted nice and tight so there's no vibrations. So now you've got these 2 big noisy holes on the backside of your computer. One is the fan for the power supply. The other is usually a case fan. Flip the case fan around so it blows in (they usually blow out). Go to your local hardware store and buy some small dryer vent hose. The flexible silver stuff. Now, whereever your computer is located, punch 2 holes in the wall about 16 inches apart. Plumb the hoses from the fans to the hole in the wall. The idea is to dump both the heat and the noise inside the wall instead of inside the room. The 16 inch difference in hose placement (if you haven't already figured it out) is to draw air from a different source than your dumping to. Since walls are usually built with studs 16 inches on center, you'll be drawing are from one bay and dumping into a different one. Keep in mind that this usually only works with interior walls because of the insulation in exterior walls. If you've sealed your computer up tight enough, very little of the sound gets into the room and you can save a bundle of money on super-quiet parts in the process. Someone somewhere makes a kit for this but I have long since forgotten who or where. The kit was geared more towards keeping the computer heat out of the room, but the noise advantages would be great.
E
Emeric
New member
"You get your computer as quiet as you can, liquid or not. Add some sound deadoning material to the inside of the case and make sure that everything is mounted nice and tight so there's no vibrations."
That is the direction I'm sort of moving in. I've put enough coin into 'quiet' cooling solutions, maybe coupled with some sound deading material on the inside and outside of the case, and then put a cheap box over top of that with a exhaust fan (and then a box over top of that.. and so on...
)
I've contemplated the exhaust idea as well, not sure how to implement well in the structure I'm in.
Thanks again for the thoughts / ideas.
That is the direction I'm sort of moving in. I've put enough coin into 'quiet' cooling solutions, maybe coupled with some sound deading material on the inside and outside of the case, and then put a cheap box over top of that with a exhaust fan (and then a box over top of that.. and so on...
)I've contemplated the exhaust idea as well, not sure how to implement well in the structure I'm in.
Thanks again for the thoughts / ideas.