Suggested water cooler options?!

[pcolson]

Hey, i'm looking to implement a water cooled unit, that is very quiet, BUT wont have much access for ventilation. Basically, i'm going to build a media/gaming system that will fit directly within my livingroom cabinet (closed door, no back or vents for the air to circulate).

You obviously start to think water coolers, if so, can you let me know your thoughts? Perhaps you can suggest a different solution? I've not bought any kit yet, but thinking it will be a high grade processor, same for the graphics card(s) etc. Most likely running 4-6 large drives for HD content, that sort of thing. So its going to use quite a bit of power, but again, the tricky bit here is no ventilation, and needs to run silently.

Any comments would be great!

Peter

 

[SieB]

You will still need some ventilation, in order for it to stay cool you need to give it cool air to suck in and cool the rads and for the warm air to be vented out or else it's just going to be a hot box and overheat and be a waste of time water cooling.

 

[Diablo]

Exactly as SieB says, you need some access to cool air, or you are just going to be adding more and more heat to the space. If you can, drill a couple of 3/4" holes in the back of the cabinet, get a powerful pump, and some long tubes, and take the radiators away. If you got some silent fans (low rpm 140mm for example) and a big radiator you ought to be able to cool it all effectively.

 

[pcolson]

Ok cool, so basically l need to find a way to vent both the hot and cold air. I'll see if its possible to do within the cabinet, otherwise i'm going to need tubes going everywhere.

Thank you all for your replies!

 

[C3mods]

Ok cool, so basically l need to find a way to vent both the hot and cold air. I'll see if its possible to do within the cabinet, otherwise i'm going to need tubes going everywhere.

Thank you all for your replies!

They make fans especially for cabinets for just that type of situation. I don't remember the name of the site, its like coolerguys.com or something like that, it shows some of the stuff. Its basically for people with in cabinet entertainment systems and htpc cooling.

 

[S_I_N]

lol as a cable tv tech I can atest to the fact that one would prolly not want to setup a rad outside the cabinet Now I am not saying you are like this maybe ur not but its normally the least cleaned area of the home. I have seen dust monsters behind centers that could swallow me whole. Nor do I recommend shutting in any electronic components. There are normally holes in the rear for cables and such to pass thru all you would need to do is get air incoming to pass thru the rear that should aid in helping to cool stuff. Simply making the front door have some kind of mesh would greatly aid this. Also I would not water cool this as the expense to outcome would not be as beneficial. A decent air cooler will work better in this case.