PH3N0M

I'm rather curious and hopefully someone here can give me the pro's and cons of doing what I have in mind.

My liquid cooling setup is in the mail. I've seen the non-conductive liquid listed on websites but my question is, would I notice lower temps if I were to use something like antifreeze and how would it be?


If antifreeze is a bad idea, what coolant would you recommend from this page?

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g30/...FQ_xDAodCS8qBw

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Cooling-Liquid

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kris23

ive been curious about that as well...... not sure how well its thermal conductivity is or its effects on vinyl tubing or the pump rotor though.....

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Dark Lord

i can tell you one thing about it, it does not have a non corrosive additive in it.

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OldBuzzard

If you are concerned about leaks go with the non-conductive fluid. I'd stay away from the "Non Conductive Ultra Pure Water" though. Even if IT is pure, there will be contamination (dust, and etc.) on your components that will mix with it if it spills, and then it becomes conductive.

If you aren't so worried about leakage, I'd go with whatever fluid that the MFG of your cooling system markets/recommends.

In either case, I'd stay away from using anti-freeze.

I've been water cooling since the first Koolance EXOS was released, and have never had a leak. I wasn't real sure about the original clamps that Koolance used, but they never leaked, so it was good I guess. They went to compression fittings later, and I really like them.

When my original EXOS finally died, I thought about going to a non-conductive fluid with the EXOS 2 that I replaced it with, but given cost, and the fact that I never had any leaks to worry about anyway, I stayed with the Kolance fluid.

Back when I was 'investigating' on whether or not to go with non-conducting fluid, I read up a lot on it. It wasn't 'quite' as good as water based fluid for conducting heat, but not enough to really matter in actual use. Kind of like the bench marks where one video card gets 200 FPS and the other gets 205 FPS

It is a little more viscous than water, so it will put a bit more load on the pumps(s), but then again, I'ts not like you are trying to move molasses, and any current water cooling system should handle it with no problem.

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Mac Daddy

Noted OB and nice post

My thoughts as well we are both car guys and it is used in Rads as an alternative to water.

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Lowfat

The best coolant is 100% distilled water. But only if you have a 100% copper loop. I would suggest adding either of these though

Petra's Tech Shop
Petra's Tech Shop


Adding a bit of antifreeze won't impede anything but too much most definitely will.

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kris23

the silver description made me lol

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Judas

actually using anti-freeze is a horrible idea..

Anti-freeze "repells" the absorption of heat and cold. The only reason that it's used in vehicles is simply to increase the boiling point of the water and lower the freezing point of water. Most vehicles run in the range of 90-120*C.... water would boil out of the vehicle at those ranges, adding anti-freeze keeps it from boiling out.

Also durring the freezing temperatures of the winters, it's not so much about the cold temperatures.. it about starting a vehicle in those temperatures and quite often with the fans, airintake sucking in alot of air, the windchill on that air drops the intake temperature significantly to the point of instantly freezing the liquid in the vehicle.

Adding straight anti-freeze would be like adding straight liquid plastic, they have as much conduction in thermal heat. water with specific minerals has the highest rate of conduction of thermal heat. PURE water actually doesn't absorb as much heat.. but it's a hell of alot better then anti-freeze.

No computer system has a need for anti-freeze. Not unless your operating in the temperature ranges that it's designed for, and frankly i can't see you pumping over 90*C cpu temps or finding a liquid that can sustain sub -35*C

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Mac Daddy

I was thinking primarily of the non corrosive properties it is always mixed in ratios with water. Pure water in an automotive cooling system will usually rot it out prematurely as it would with some materials used in a computer water cooling system.

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Judas

I've never encounter water causing rotting of the cooling systems in vehicles, unless the minerals present in the water have corrosive properties.... now heavy deteroration occurs when temperature exceed the 90*C range... Anti-freeze has a bit of a grease like property that does coat the walls.

But for sub temperatures.... i can't see there being an issue

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Mac Daddy

Try running pure water for the summer and switch back in the Fall .. see how long your water pump lasts

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Judas

Pure water would still heat up to the point of causing some serious issues.

plus the pump doesn't do well under those extreme temperatures without the anti-freeze's "lubrication".

I know other systems that transfer heat around the same temperature as computers that with pure water, works far better and doesn't cause any problems.

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Mac Daddy

Don't speculate try it

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procupine14

Here's the deal. Some people that I know have tried anti-freeze in their loops before. My suggestion....DON'T. The problem is that in the cases of some water cooling systems anti-freeze will not only make a heat problem worse but is also too thick. Water pumps on liquid cooling systems are designed to pump water and/or liquid substances that are close in viscosity. The water pumps usually end up either a.) not being able to pump the liquid because it is too heavy (anti-freeze mind you) or b.) end up doing it but you risk reducing the life of your pump dramatically in some cases.

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Tyrsonswood

Not advocating using anti-freeze in computers, but this stuff is not designed to be used full strength, even in cars, which is what it is meant for, it's supposed to be mixed with water. (1/3 AF, 2/3 water, except for extreme long term cold weather where it's better at a 50% mix)

I don't know why people would think using this stuff in a computer is a good idea.... not even sure why they would want it in their homes to be honest, the stuff is highly toxic.

I would think both of these things would be covered by reading the damn label on the product before buying........ But we all know how that goes.

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Judas

lol i know someone that used straight antifreeze....they had one screwed car...... it gelled...... = ed

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PH3N0M

When applying the CPU water block, would you recommend using Arctic Silver? I applied a thin layer already but if needed, I'll remove it.

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procupine14

That's what I use. Go for it!!

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HTPC/file server: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit - AMD Phenom x4 9850 - 4GB OCZ DDR2 800 (2x2GB) - 1TB WD Black - 4 x 1TB Hitachi DeskStar in RAID 5 - ATi TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner - HIS Raedon 4850 512MB - ASRock N68C-S UCC mobo - OCZ ModExtreme Pro 500W PSU

GF's Gaming PC: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit - AMD Phenom 9850 - 4GB OCZ DDR2 1066 - 500GB Western Digital GP - HIS Raedon 5770 1GB - ASUS M3A78-EM - Zalman 650W PSU

Media Streamer: Win 7 Pro 64-bit - AMD Athlon x2 3200+ - 4GB SuperTalent DDR2 800 - 250GB SeaGate Barracuda - MSI K9N6PGM2-V2 - ASUS Raedon 5450 SILENT - FSP group 250W PSU

MGaz

there are two type i've used (in my car). first the green stuff and then the pink/red stuff.

I switched to the pink/red stuff because it was suitable for aluminum heads/engines, because the green stuff doesn't protect against corrosion to aluminum.

Also, if you ingest anti freeze, in will Cristalize in your blood and kill you.. Not sure if that still applies to the pink stuff as they are based on different things.

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NUCLEARWINTER

distilled water is best, but recommended to mix with an additive. usually glycol-based(same stuff in antifreeze). my watercooling kit came with some to control any bacteria and algae from forming inside of all components. without it, you must change water every once in a while. otherwise algae will grow ,which in turn would inhibit heat transfer, and reduce the effectiveness.

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