Fanless PC Advice
- Thread starter upstatemike
- Start date
Yes for the koolance units it would be possible to add longer hose it appears, it also has a serial cable that would need to be lengthened that attachs from the exos unit to a card where the hoses enter the pc.
As for putting it outside in the winter..well maybe where you live but up here in Canada when its -35 I wouldnt chance it
As for putting it outside in the winter..well maybe where you live but up here in Canada when its -35 I wouldnt chance it
upstatemike
Senior Member
I thought the colder the better? Besides, isn't there ant-freeze in those hoses?Ripper99 said:As for putting it outside in the winter..well maybe where you live but up here in Canada when its -35 I wouldnt chance it
In the top of the exos cooling unit that sits on top of the pc case their is a small thumbscrew you can loosen and you fill it with coolant they sell in packages, buy a big package and store it in a bottle when you need to add it..my computer runs 24/7 for 2 years or so now and I have only refilled it 2 times...and still have 3/4 of a plastic water bottle of coolant left.
From the exos unit coolant gets forced down the one tube and pass's through the back of the pc to blocks attached onto your processor, vid card and hard drives if you choose to cool them also..at the same time the other hose is sucking and pulling the coolant back to the exos cooler..its just doing a loop and passing through the cooling blocks.
As for the colder the better that might be applicable in overclocked machines but aren't you just trying to cool and keep an htpc quiet? These systems are affordable and do the trick..as for liquid nitrogen systems I'm not sure why someone needs that much cooling in a system..even crunching numbers with a dual processor for months on end I cannot imagine using a more expensive cooling system would help at all.
**Went back and re-read your post and see you have 3 servers and 2 workstations, the workstations would be easy to mod but depending on your servers and cases things might be tougher..if they have dual or quad processors well that would be alot of tubing and likely require something more elaborate, if they are 1U servers you could have problems with space..3U and up server cases wouldnt be a problem but then you have to have alot of hoses running to your server rack..might be easier to just have the servers in a closet where you won't hear them.
From the exos unit coolant gets forced down the one tube and pass's through the back of the pc to blocks attached onto your processor, vid card and hard drives if you choose to cool them also..at the same time the other hose is sucking and pulling the coolant back to the exos cooler..its just doing a loop and passing through the cooling blocks.
As for the colder the better that might be applicable in overclocked machines but aren't you just trying to cool and keep an htpc quiet? These systems are affordable and do the trick..as for liquid nitrogen systems I'm not sure why someone needs that much cooling in a system..even crunching numbers with a dual processor for months on end I cannot imagine using a more expensive cooling system would help at all.
**Went back and re-read your post and see you have 3 servers and 2 workstations, the workstations would be easy to mod but depending on your servers and cases things might be tougher..if they have dual or quad processors well that would be alot of tubing and likely require something more elaborate, if they are 1U servers you could have problems with space..3U and up server cases wouldnt be a problem but then you have to have alot of hoses running to your server rack..might be easier to just have the servers in a closet where you won't hear them.
Mike, you really don't have to go to those extremes for cooling an H20 setup. I have two H20 rigs now - my primary HTPC in the theater room running a Reservateor Zalman setup, and a custom setup as my primary desktop.
the HTPC was for performance under pressure and the desktop was because my CPU is encased in my desk that has no ventilation. The hoses run out of the enclosure to a radiator exposed to the ambient air. Both are whisper quiet. The hard drives (Raid 1 Raptors) are now the loudest pieces (no big deal).
Keeping up with water levels is no big deal at all.
Make REAL sure there are no minute leaks in any of the hose connections.
Put a software CPU temp monitoring software on all PCs and centrally manage them with alerts. Cross check that central PC with another slave. I use the MLWMI plugin to do this in the MainLobby world. Homeseer has quite a few plugin choices that can do same. Don't know if CQC has written a PC monitor software yet, but Dean could easily do that.
I have triggers setup to shutdown an overheating PC before it gets critical. thankfully never had to try this out. Most Bios settings also can be set to kill the PC if things get toasty. Just not as graceful as a software based solution. I actually use both, with the bios one set for "real hot" and the software one for "getting real hot".
BTW, the MLWMI plugin also allows for remote booting of PCs if you want to watch a movie and don't keep that PC running 24x7 via a Wake On Lan message.
If you are using the PC for Video processing, look at H20 solutions as the CPU gets extended workout. If you are using it only for HA, then look at air cooled solutions like the Zantech case (real nice stuff). HA doesn't have high extended CPU periods but the fast processors are great for snappy performance when needed. 3.0Dual core is now at the good price / performance point.
H20 is more difficult than air cooled for PC maintenance. Takes twice as long to swap a component. And, you have to be Real sure no leaks, any time you move things around. But, great for moving the heat somewhere else.
the HTPC was for performance under pressure and the desktop was because my CPU is encased in my desk that has no ventilation. The hoses run out of the enclosure to a radiator exposed to the ambient air. Both are whisper quiet. The hard drives (Raid 1 Raptors) are now the loudest pieces (no big deal).
Keeping up with water levels is no big deal at all.
Make REAL sure there are no minute leaks in any of the hose connections.
Put a software CPU temp monitoring software on all PCs and centrally manage them with alerts. Cross check that central PC with another slave. I use the MLWMI plugin to do this in the MainLobby world. Homeseer has quite a few plugin choices that can do same. Don't know if CQC has written a PC monitor software yet, but Dean could easily do that.
I have triggers setup to shutdown an overheating PC before it gets critical. thankfully never had to try this out. Most Bios settings also can be set to kill the PC if things get toasty. Just not as graceful as a software based solution. I actually use both, with the bios one set for "real hot" and the software one for "getting real hot".
BTW, the MLWMI plugin also allows for remote booting of PCs if you want to watch a movie and don't keep that PC running 24x7 via a Wake On Lan message.
If you are using the PC for Video processing, look at H20 solutions as the CPU gets extended workout. If you are using it only for HA, then look at air cooled solutions like the Zantech case (real nice stuff). HA doesn't have high extended CPU periods but the fast processors are great for snappy performance when needed. 3.0Dual core is now at the good price / performance point.
H20 is more difficult than air cooled for PC maintenance. Takes twice as long to swap a component. And, you have to be Real sure no leaks, any time you move things around. But, great for moving the heat somewhere else.
