Psi*
Tech Monkey
I have water cooled and air cooled CPUs & they both require maintenance. For water, that means ensuring that some of the coolant hasn't disappeared over time. To me, this seems inevitable regardless of purchasing a "sealed" self contained system or the obvious assembled system using plumbing connections of some type.
I do not have 1st hand experience with a sealed system, but I have noticed a few pleas for help from a very few whose CPU "has been over heating" & they had a sealed system. In my opinion, I don't see how any affordable system can be produced that is hermetically (or whatever) sealed with a sterile coolant. I expect leaks that may take several months to cause an appreciable drop in coolant, but the time unit will be in months vs several years.
For an assembled plumbing system, the drop in coolant will be quicker tho still in months. My experience is if it about a year & ma-a-aybe a little longer. That may not be considered too bad, but then there is the issue of topping off. And, it is never just topping off.
Working with clear tubing you can typically see plenty of "foreign material" flowing thru as well as attached to the insides of the tubing. No telling what is inside the CPU heat exchanger and I am sure that the radiator is as least as bad. I am convinced that this will happen within 2 years.
Soooo, a complete dis-assembly is in order.
Flushing must be made of all nonreplaceable parts ... CPU heat sink & radiator. Good luck with that! Just consider how one would accomplish this given that we don't do this sort of thing very often. Thus, the "ma-a-aybe a little longer" comment above as I will put this off as long as possible. For me, this is when the system starts shutting down due to over heating ... too often.
Upon dis-assembly, it is realized that all tubing must be replaced. Not the easiest thing to find locally. The 1st question is, "what OD/ID is what I have?" Figuring that out tends to cause one to avoid online purchase just because the likely hood of getting the wrong size is evident. *Appropriate* plastic tubing might be found at Homedepot or the like, just as likely not. Replacing any fitting are also expensive I would add.
Also, while dis-assembling you see lint accumulation between the fan(s) & radiator. Who knew? Clearly this is something that should have greater attention a couple of times in the year. My systems do not sit on the floor & I live in a clean environment ... no animals.
On assembly and in retrospect now, I wish I would have boiled all of the components & at least ran very hot water thru the pump. Pumps. I wonder if they can tolerate bleach as well as temperature tolerance? Well I only flushed the radiators & CPU heatsink with bleach. Then flush with tap water for several minutes to get the bleach out. Most of the flexible plastic tubing in these systems cannot tolerate bleach.
Then there is the fluid replacement. Get the "wetter" & antifreeze from the auto store as well as picking a gallon or 2 of distilled water from a grocer. Need enough distilled water to flush out the tap water used above ... don't need to start a new culture in the system any sooner than necessary.
So throw the system back together & fill with properly mixed coolant .... NOT! Tubing needs to be cut to proper lengths and square cuts. Do this just like you done many time before when you plumbed your house.
Upon assembly & with coolant added, a little tricky since it must be drawn out of the mix bottle ... 1 of the distilled water bottles. Don't let air in & flush a bit more to purge air bubbles. Rotate the whole case around to help purge the air bubbles. Keep that tube in the coolant supply bottle!!! There done!
No. Check for leaks. And, you do have a cooling system that can be powered up without powering up the computer, right?
Soooo, you can finally reassemble the system and power up the computer knowing that you have a fresh system for at least another year. Well, keep the sides off just so you can monitor the coolant level for at least a month.
Of course with a sealed system you save yourself all of this by just throwing it away.
I do not have 1st hand experience with a sealed system, but I have noticed a few pleas for help from a very few whose CPU "has been over heating" & they had a sealed system. In my opinion, I don't see how any affordable system can be produced that is hermetically (or whatever) sealed with a sterile coolant. I expect leaks that may take several months to cause an appreciable drop in coolant, but the time unit will be in months vs several years.
For an assembled plumbing system, the drop in coolant will be quicker tho still in months. My experience is if it about a year & ma-a-aybe a little longer. That may not be considered too bad, but then there is the issue of topping off. And, it is never just topping off.
Working with clear tubing you can typically see plenty of "foreign material" flowing thru as well as attached to the insides of the tubing. No telling what is inside the CPU heat exchanger and I am sure that the radiator is as least as bad. I am convinced that this will happen within 2 years.
Soooo, a complete dis-assembly is in order.
Flushing must be made of all nonreplaceable parts ... CPU heat sink & radiator. Good luck with that! Just consider how one would accomplish this given that we don't do this sort of thing very often. Thus, the "ma-a-aybe a little longer" comment above as I will put this off as long as possible. For me, this is when the system starts shutting down due to over heating ... too often.Upon dis-assembly, it is realized that all tubing must be replaced. Not the easiest thing to find locally. The 1st question is, "what OD/ID is what I have?" Figuring that out tends to cause one to avoid online purchase just because the likely hood of getting the wrong size is evident. *Appropriate* plastic tubing might be found at Homedepot or the like, just as likely not. Replacing any fitting are also expensive I would add.
Also, while dis-assembling you see lint accumulation between the fan(s) & radiator. Who knew?
Clearly this is something that should have greater attention a couple of times in the year. My systems do not sit on the floor & I live in a clean environment ... no animals.On assembly and in retrospect now, I wish I would have boiled all of the components & at least ran very hot water thru the pump. Pumps. I wonder if they can tolerate bleach as well as temperature tolerance? Well I only flushed the radiators & CPU heatsink with bleach. Then flush with tap water for several minutes to get the bleach out. Most of the flexible plastic tubing in these systems cannot tolerate bleach.
Then there is the fluid replacement. Get the "wetter" & antifreeze from the auto store as well as picking a gallon or 2 of distilled water from a grocer. Need enough distilled water to flush out the tap water used above ... don't need to start a new culture in the system any sooner than necessary.
So throw the system back together & fill with properly mixed coolant .... NOT! Tubing needs to be cut to proper lengths and square cuts. Do this just like you done many time before when you plumbed your house.
Upon assembly & with coolant added, a little tricky since it must be drawn out of the mix bottle ... 1 of the distilled water bottles. Don't let air in & flush a bit more to purge air bubbles. Rotate the whole case around to help purge the air bubbles. Keep that tube in the coolant supply bottle!!! There done!
No. Check for leaks. And, you do have a cooling system that can be powered up without powering up the computer, right?
Soooo, you can finally reassemble the system and power up the computer knowing that you have a fresh system for at least another year.
Well, keep the sides off just so you can monitor the coolant level for at least a month.Of course with a sealed system you save yourself all of this by just throwing it away.
