Water Cooling, a brief history....
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:48 am
When water cooling became a geek thing i was one of the first.
This is a history of failure and success.
Also I have a rare thing in the computer world.
I built a rig that was WAY ahead of it's time and is
still faster than most 8 years later.
Due to this fact I got to test cooling components for the long term.
Kingwin:
was an early and seemingly good unit.
There were too many compromises to be of any
long term use. The hoses were the only thing to survive the
first year. Pumps failed, the unit lost it's prime repeatedly.
I tried all the kingwin variations, all were excellent till
time caught up with them.
--problems--
#1, water pumps failed early and often.
#2, the heat exchangers on the GPU and CPU clogged up
and are impossible to clear up.
#3, to many features, all failed early.
#4, Surgical rubber water hoses. Best part of the unit
but time has caught up with them and they have begun
to crumble and leak, I replaced them all.
Thermaltake:
Better over all but far more complex to set up.
VERY poor water reservoirs but otherwise better.
Prone to cavitation and resulting loss of prime.
The larger 12mm hose version is better than the 6mm.
--problems--
#1, water pumps failed after a few years.
#2, the radiators clogged up and are hard to clear up.
#3, the CD bay water reservoirs suck big time.
--good points---
#1, Excellent CPU and GPU heat exchangers.
#2, While flowing adequately the pumps and radiators are
excellent and over kill for most rigs.
#3, Good reliable plumbing and fittings.
Now that all that crap has been junked the only vestige remaining of the
original Thermaltake stuff are the fans, fan controls and CPU heat exchangers.
The pumps are now excellent Swifttech pumps and the plumbing
is stuff I purchased from "Omni Hydraulics" Soft clear vinyl hose.
Also the radiator is now a deactivated air conditioner unit from the town dump.
The reservoir is home made, but the Thermaltake external unit was good and could
be used.
Moral of this story is that if you got to do it, use the better Thermaltake external
cooling system with 12mm plumbing. Doing it yourself is MUCH better but you
need a machine shop.
HH
This is a history of failure and success.
Also I have a rare thing in the computer world.
I built a rig that was WAY ahead of it's time and is
still faster than most 8 years later.
Due to this fact I got to test cooling components for the long term.
Kingwin:
was an early and seemingly good unit.
There were too many compromises to be of any
long term use. The hoses were the only thing to survive the
first year. Pumps failed, the unit lost it's prime repeatedly.
I tried all the kingwin variations, all were excellent till
time caught up with them.
--problems--
#1, water pumps failed early and often.
#2, the heat exchangers on the GPU and CPU clogged up
and are impossible to clear up.
#3, to many features, all failed early.
#4, Surgical rubber water hoses. Best part of the unit
but time has caught up with them and they have begun
to crumble and leak, I replaced them all.
Thermaltake:
Better over all but far more complex to set up.
VERY poor water reservoirs but otherwise better.
Prone to cavitation and resulting loss of prime.
The larger 12mm hose version is better than the 6mm.
--problems--
#1, water pumps failed after a few years.
#2, the radiators clogged up and are hard to clear up.
#3, the CD bay water reservoirs suck big time.
--good points---
#1, Excellent CPU and GPU heat exchangers.
#2, While flowing adequately the pumps and radiators are
excellent and over kill for most rigs.
#3, Good reliable plumbing and fittings.
Now that all that crap has been junked the only vestige remaining of the
original Thermaltake stuff are the fans, fan controls and CPU heat exchangers.
The pumps are now excellent Swifttech pumps and the plumbing
is stuff I purchased from "Omni Hydraulics" Soft clear vinyl hose.
Also the radiator is now a deactivated air conditioner unit from the town dump.
The reservoir is home made, but the Thermaltake external unit was good and could
be used.
Moral of this story is that if you got to do it, use the better Thermaltake external
cooling system with 12mm plumbing. Doing it yourself is MUCH better but you
need a machine shop.
HH