My Liquid Cooled CPU Project Page
I was first inspired to liquid cool my CPU one day when I was searching the internet for a liquid cooled head for my odyssey, which I never found, instead I came across lots of sites for liquid cooling CPU's. I printed lots of information from http://www.agaweb.com/coolcpu on advantages of water cooling, over clocking, how to build your own water cooler, and other very helpful topics. My system is now liquid cooled and running easily at 100MHz with an Intel Pentium chip rated for 90MHz. I can't push it any faster or it won't run properly. I was told the Pentium 90 chip was really a Pentium 60 chip in the first place. My CPU cooler is very simple in construction, consisting of a piece of a cap for 4" PVC pipe, a fish tank power head pump, a small transmission oil cooler, and some 1/4" hose. I will briefly describe my system and then outline how I made mine. (very similar to the one on the site in the link above) NOTE: I removed the water-cooler and am back to running Windows 98 due to my lack of experience with Linux.
My System
(As I type this on my parents computer I am running downstairs and pulling out cards because I can't remember half of the components in my computer.)
NOTE: I only upgrade when I have extra money and get frustrated with parts that I got cheap or free.
-Houston Technologies motherboard with Intel i430 VX PCIset chipset
-24MB EDO Ram
-Diamond 56k Supra Express v90 Voice/Fax modem (Free)
-SoundBlaster 64
-10/100MbPS network card
-S3 Trio ViRGE 4MB PCI Video
Card ($100)
Constructing the Water Cooler
I started out with the block off cap from the 4" PVC, I cut the raised cube off with a saw and drilled two holes in it to fit the 1/4" clear hose. The hoses are a tight fit but I siliconed them in to prevent any possible internal water leaks.
My pump unit is a
fish tank power head. It is very quiet, can be submersed under water, and
plugs right into a 110v outlet. It is submersed in a ice cream pail.
For transferring the heat in the water to air, I used a transmission oil cooler from a half ton pickup. I also picked up a 6" desk fan to put in front of the oil cooler.