Dripping with style or floody disaster?

Finally got around to setting up some proper fan curves on the Aquaero. With the new radiators I'm now running the front fans at around 700rpm and the top fans at around 650rpm until the water gets up to 35°C, then the front gradually speeds up to around 1100rpm and the top to around 900rpm between 35°C & 39°C. Then between 39°C & 40°C the fronts spin up to the full 1300rpm and the tops to around 1100rpm. The rear exhaust never goes above 450rpm as I wanted to keep positive pressure in the case (the front fans also increase rpm before the top ones for the same reason :)).

So far it's only got to just over 39°C when properly hammering it and it's silent when below 35°C, so think I've got it somewhere near right even if there probably is still room for improvement. As long as it remains both quiet and under 40°C though I'm happy :)
 
It's good stuff the Aquaero. They just release Aquasuite 2016-2 in case you haven't already spotted it. The demo pages have been revamped and look a lot nicer.
My fan curves tend to be more on the theme of: Silent, silent, silent, PANIC!!! :D
 
Ah cool, will have to give that a download later :)

Haha mine was more along the lines of barely tolerable noise > full panic mode! Was lining up some better / quieter fans but glad I spent 20 minutes playing with the Aquaero instead, a far better solution than throwing £45 at 3 good quality fans :)
 
The Aquaero heatsinks are good too - maybe not strictly necessary but the sink for the 6 makes it look so much better and keeps the VRMs cooler too.

Next you'll be after a flow meter :D
The one gotcha is that you need the connection cable . It isn't included and although it looks like just a 3 pin fan header, it's a lot bigger. Phyobia seem to do a compatible one if that helps.

The more expensive version is good too - it has an additional internal temp sensor, a header for an external temp sensor and a USB interface but it's only necessary if you want to run it stand-alone. The cheaper version will only work plugged into the Aquaero's flow header.

Always need more toys...especially in the name of peace of mind!
 
When it comes to looks I found a much cheaper way of improving them: Hide the Aquaero behind a cover made out of an old PC case :D

A flow meter is very tempting though, there's always that nagging thought about 'what if the pump stops' so may have to invest in one next time the loop is apart :)

Aqua Computer seem to have a thing for selling everything in bits though, even their LED strips come without the cables needed to plug them in... Very useful!!

How to solve a problem like Aquaero...
IMG_20160106_174129.jpg


Hide it :D
IMG_20160109_134111.jpg
 
Looks much neater - hides the cable-spaghetti too! I'm mounting an Aquaero 5 LT in the space behind the motherboard tray roughly where you have your res. Should hide the cabling nicely.

If yours is a 5, the heatsink I linked to is wrong. Should be this one . Not as nice as the sink for the 6 but may help if you've boxed it in. You can monitor the fan VRM temps in Aquasuite to see whether you need to though.

I think the biggest insult with Aqua Computer parts is the Aquabus cables. "Yes, we include them...but only the 3 pin version. What, you want power to your device too?!". So you either have to buy a 4 pin cable, and waste the 3 pin, or power via USB and have two leads adding to your spaghetti.

Where'd your filter go? Problems?
 
No problems, those pics were taken before the loop was changed and the filter added :)

What sort of VRM temps do they usually run at? It's boxed in but does also get airflow from the PSU, which should help a little bit (that's partly why I left the gap around the top, apart from looking better). Will have to check to see what it's hitting next time I use it.

That's not a bad plan, mounting it behind the motherboard tray will also give you the added bonus of keeping it away from all the hot air from the other components as well as keeping it & the cables out of sight, so not a bad shout putting it there!

They are a bit of a joke doing that but EK definitely annoyed me more with the multi port top for the reservoir. "Oh, you actually plan on using it sir? Well you'll also need to purchase an internal tube. What's that, you want to use one of the top ports? That'll be a few more quid for an extender then please... Oh yes, and you'll also be needing a 9mm allen key if you plan on actually fitting the extender. We just so happen to sell one..." All the extra money was annoying, but the delays waiting for the internal tube and then again for the extender / allen key I didn't know I needed was beyond annoying!
 
If you've got some airflow you'll probably be fine. I'll check my temps tonight but mine is the 6 with a heatsink. The 5 LT is still balanced on the case being built so I don't know on that.
 
Ok, Temps on two Aquaero 6's with heatsinks for you:

20°C Ambient temp (room outside case) highest temp is the channel running pump at 8.6V or 3x120mm fans at 7.3V. These are both at 31.5°C

29°C ambient temp, no case (server cupboard) running 1 fan on each of two channels at 11.7V. Highest temp is 33.6°C

Can't get you Aquaero 5 LT temps (with heatsink) until I've finished that build but if it's anything like the Aquaero 6, you should have plenty of headroom.
 
Awesome, cheers mate, will fire her up later and see how hot they're getting. Could possibly improve it a bit by tidying up the cables to allow more airflow from the PSU though if it's getting too hot, unless it's boiling then a heatsink will definitely be ordered :)
 
Just checked and mine hit the mid 50's... Just going to assume that's OK and never look at it again! The temps did seem to go up and down very quickly as the fan speed changed though :/
 
In theory the VRMs (listed as Fan Amplifier in Aquasuite I think) get hotter as the fans are run slower. Or at least, I'm assuming that's the case as the manual says that if the VRM overheats it runs the channel at full speed for a while until it cools and if it still overheats it turns the channel off. I think the manual states the temps this happens at too.
I can't give a good comparison with a heat sink as I'm waiting on build decisions (which rad mainly) but if you tell me what's running off your hottest channel and at what speed/voltage, I'll try to mock something up to see the effect of the heatsink.
 
That certainly sounds correct. I played the most stressing game I own for an hour to get all the temps up and air inside the case hot and then switched back to Aquasuite to check the 'worst case' temps. While the fans were still at a fairly high speed the temps were all high 30's to low 40's, but as the fans slowed the temps quickly shot up on all 4 channels.

Currently I've got it like this:
1: 1 x 120mm fan at 50% - 100% power
2: 2 x 120mm fans at 50% - 100% power
3: 2 x 120mm fans at 40% - 85% power
4: 1 x 120mm fan at 40% - 50% power

Will give the manual a read later and check how close to max they're getting :)
 
Ok, have set that up with 3-pin Corsair SP120s....one of which has just developed an annoying tick. I'm running them at 50% on the controller slider which gives them 8.1V. With the Aquaero shielded as much as possible with cardboard and CDs in sleeves, the VRMs ("Fan Amplifiers") are reading just shy of 43°C....so it looks like it does help.

Manual (here) states on page 8:

In case an output amplifier
temperature rises to ca. 95 °C, the output is set to 100 % power. After cooling down to ca. 70 °C, normal operation will resume. If the temperature rises to ca. 100 °C, the output will be permanently disabled. To reactivate the
output, the aquaero (or the complete PC) has to be disconnected from power for a short period of time.
Click to expand...

So it may not be technically necessary to heatsink them...but it feels safer :D
It's not 'technically' necessary to watercool any of it either *shrug*
 
That's good news if they're fine running at over 70°C, plenty of headroom for when the ambient temperature (hopefully!) goes up another few degrees :)

Think if I had the 6 I would heatsink it as it looks a lot nicer, but not sure it'd be worth the effort on the 5, especially as it's now completely hidden. Will check again once we get a bit of sun in Wales just to make sure though. Very true about watercooling not being necessary, but it does look damn nice when it's done properly :D

On a completely different subject, if I chucked the PC up for sale how much could I realistically ask for it? Unless anyone on here wants to make me an offer :D

Got another build idea in my head that's 10 times as good as this one but would also completely drain my bank account 3 times over...
 
Not sure what you could sell it for - depends what someone is willing to pay. Could you not break it down, replace just the parts that need to be different and then sell the spares?

The Coolgate is out for my (friend's) build. Alphacool have just released a crossflow version of the much sexier UT60. I'd link to Alphacool's site but they're direct selling. You'll have to make do with this feeble review: http://www.legitreviews.com/alphacool-nexxxos-x-flow-series-radiators-announced_178851
 
Unfortunately I think the only components that I could carry across would be the PSU, CPU and the 360mm radiator. Planning on building it in a Parvum ATX case and with hard tubing, so even the watercooling fittings would have to be changed :(

Won't give away some of my more random / daft / innovative ideas, but this should give an idea of the theme :p

AsusBoard.jpg


XSPCblock.jpg


That ain't a bad looking rad, reckon the 45mm thick one would look pretty sweet as a top mounted rad. Hopefully doesn't take an hour to flush all the crap out either! :)
 
Given your location, you're going with..... an Italian flag colour-scheme? :p

Silly question for you: I'm looking at an Enthoo Evolv ATX....but I want to stick a honking great rad on the off-side panel. I'm thinking a Mo-Ra 420 with 4x320mm fans...cos the only thing that beats overkill is absurd overkill :D
The thing that worries me is that the side panel (the cable-spaghetti side, not the window side) seems to be held on with only a couple of pins at the back and some friction clips to hold it closed. Is it stronger than it looks in the pics or if I hang about 8Kg of rad on it is it just going to fall off? :eek:
 
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