Putting a CPU or GPU Rad directly in a stream..?

Soldato
Joined
19 Nov 2015
Posts
4,905
Location
Glasgow Area
I've often wondered. Plenty properties around me that have a stream in the garden, some very near the house. Is there anything stopping you just getting some hose extensions, a beefy pump and banging the Rad directly in the stream? Surely that would cool to epic levels? I know about condensation issues if you cool the CPU below ambient, but this is pretty easily taken care of with some putty and time as is done in phase change cooled PCs. Really not that hard. Just wondering if anyone has done this? I think I would definitely try this if I had a stream in my garden. Temps would be sick. No fan noise either. And you can house the pump outside so completely silent.
 
or indeed, if you live somewhere with no metered water charges (Scotland) then you could make your own "stream" with an outdoor tap. This I could actually do where I am now... Hmmm
 
Things like this are really trying to solve a problem that isn't there. Pumps can be turned down, fans also - running a long hose to a radiator outside is only ever going to be a source of problems at some point... unless you desperately want things to run at 10c there really is no need. What ever happens you shouldn't use a standard rad and just chuck it in a river.

I'd think it's significantly easier to run it to a chiller stashed elsewhere in your house...
 
Infact, further thinking out loud. Why not just go whole custom loop connected directly to the tap?? The water here is cold and super super soft. Hardly anything in it. I don't think it would damage or gunk anything up for years, wouldnt need a pump either. Just run the tap.
 
Things like this are really trying to solve a problem that isn't there. Pumps can be turned down, fans also - running a long hose to a radiator outside is only ever going to be a source of problems at some point... unless you desperately want things to run at 10c there really is no need. What ever happens you shouldn't use a standard rad and just chuck it in a river.

I'd think it's significantly easier to run it to a chiller stashed elsewhere in your house...
But I'd be able to tinker and overclock like Crazy. Pointless yes but fun, a lot.
 
But I'd be able to tinker and overclock like Crazy. Pointless yes but fun, a lot.

You would still reach limits that are likely to be the same as a good full custom loop. Don't expect it to be clocked like crazy even if it's a bit cooler than traditional water unless you're using LN2 and running extreme voltage probably not huge gains. Would also be ill advised to do that for long periods on the hardware.

Buy a chiller if you really want...
 
Im thinking this. Would run super cool (basically infinetly cool as the tap water here is pretty much 8-14 degrees all year.)
Picture1.png



No issues with sediment because the loop for the PC is still closed.
No fan noise
No cost as water isn't metered
Really very easy to do and cheap. Just build an enclosed box for the rad.

I'm kinda failing to see a downside here? I know most people don't consider this because of water charges but we don't have that here. So seems a no brainer. Just leave the tap on 24/7. With cold water constantly rushing past the rad I very much doubt you could ever get the CPU too hot while overclocking.
 
That's a ridiculous and extremely wasteful idea. We may not have water meters up here but water is not endless, it has to come from somewhere and up until now we have had very little rain this year compared to normal rainfall for the time of year. I believe that you could also be fined if you are caught. If I remember right, a few years ago a farmer was done for wasting water. The water company noticed abnormal water usuage and eventually tracked it back to a farmer who had the water running 24/7 for some reason or another.
 
That's a ridiculous and extremely wasteful idea. We may not have water meters up here but water is not endless, it has to come from somewhere and up until now we have had very little rain this year compared to normal rainfall for the time of year. I believe that you could also be fined if you are caught. If I remember right, a few years ago a farmer was done for wasting water. The water company noticed abnormal water usuage and eventually tracked it back to a farmer who had the water running 24/7 for some reason or another.
I'm in the west of Scotland. We have excess water to the degree that everyone of our water collection bodies has an overflow that is constantly running into the sea... As I type two of the M8 lanes are closed due to flooding.. And i'm talking about using a trickle. So really I'm not buying that card. The fans to cool the radiator normally would use more energy (harm the environment) than a trickle of water that would go into the sea anyway. So yeah. Not buying it.
 
Hmm the more I think about it. The more I think the idea is sound but the main issue will be condensation. It would be really tricky to control. And probably not worth it.
 
I'm in the west of Scotland. We have excess water to the degree that everyone of our water collection bodies has an overflow that is constantly running into the sea... As I type two of the M8 lanes are closed due to flooding.. And i'm talking about using a trickle. So really I'm not buying that card. The fans to cool the radiator normally would use more energy (harm the environment) than a trickle of water that would go into the sea anyway. So yeah. Not buying it.
I'm guessing they are pre-treated reservoirs, and you haven't factered in the cost of water treatment, delivery and upkeep. You could easily be using over 5ltrs of water a minute, 300 litres hour. This is irresponsible in the extreme. What happens if a fire truck pumps water causing back flow or for whatever reason the water is cut off?
 
I'm in the west of Scotland. We have excess water to the degree that everyone of our water collection bodies has an overflow that is constantly running into the sea... As I type two of the M8 lanes are closed due to flooding.. And i'm talking about using a trickle. So really I'm not buying that card. The fans to cool the radiator normally would use more energy (harm the environment) than a trickle of water that would go into the sea anyway. So yeah. Not buying it.

You think the water goes from your house directly back in to the res/sea? LOL.

If you turned on a tap full time in to a drain its a complete waste of natural resources however you cut it, not to mention as per my other posts completely unnecessary. It does not simply work like: Colder = more speed, you'll be wasting water and if you want more performance much more electricity due to higher voltage. You are still unlikely to get much more performance over a good custom loop with liquid temps in the 10c region, the heat simply wont escape the metal block in to it fast enough without something like LN2 past a certain point.

If you flow stream water round your loop i'd also factor in the cost of replacing ruined blocks every few months and of course the new CPU all the time because you're running massive voltage to often. If you put the rad in water in a box its not exactly going to cool overly well.
 
Hmm the more I think about it. The more I think the idea is sound but the main issue will be condensation. It would be really tricky to control. And probably not worth it.

You'd get more meaningful results with a proper phase change setup still potential condensation issues.
 
Tried it round 2003/4? In summary a waste of time and resources, that was on Athlon XP's and Duron's which ran a lot hotter and I used a Peltier which ran even hotter still. It's not going to give you anything significant long term and in the end just isn't worth the agro.
 
Tried it round 2003/4? In summary a waste of time and resources, that was on Athlon XP's and Duron's which ran a lot hotter and I used a Peltier which ran even hotter still. It's not going to give you anything significant long term and in the end just isn't worth the agro.

Surprised - I messed around with a Peltier based setup awhile back and got good results but eventually abandoned it as even trying to avoid the dew point it was hard to keep clear of condensation issues.
 
Consider watching home water cooling on linus tech tips.
You could in theory run a dual system. So stick you rad in a pool of water and then use a pump to circulate that water to rads outside your house (deals with the wastage issue). It is mainly a benefit if the room your computer is in, is quite small and therefore heats up quickly.
I think you will still need a fan in your case for your motherboard cooling though.
 
Surprised - I messed around with a Peltier based setup awhile back and got good results but eventually abandoned it as even trying to avoid the dew point it was hard to keep clear of condensation issues.

Back in the day a combination of dialectic grease in the socket, neoprene and silicon sealent were the tools to have, along with a dehumidifier running 24/7. Given the noise of the dehumidifier and the constant paranoia of running the Athlon like that (if anything failed it was going to be toast), I went back to conventional loops and then air - simplicity is highly under rated.
 
Might have read the post wrong I thought you were saying it ended up with higher CPU temperatures - yeah there is more heat to remove as some power going into the peltier will also turn into heat but the end result was significantly lower CPU temperatures. The aggro though yeah just not worth it for any kind of long term running.
 
I had the heat of the TEC/CPU dumping into into a mains water fed open loop, it basically ran tap>block>drain as the flow resistance on the small diameter DD cube caused back pressure and blew joints. This was because the DD cube I had couldn't handle the heat load of a TEC (Maze 2.1 heat plate set-up). The gain from using a TEC was minimal, but for the agro of covering the socket in silicon/dialectic grease/neoprene it wasn't worth it. You have to remember this was very ghetto back in the day as water cooling in the UK wasn't mainstream, 1 UK store was just starting to import Swiftech from the EU. I imported the parts from the US or various random sources and waste of water I didn't see a massive increase so after playing about and working out that the cost of the power and dehumidifier running probably justify a better CPU so I went back to a non TEC set-up. Oh and if the water ever went off I was screwed :D
 
I got a load of Swiftech stuff via a similar named company that has now gone under I believe. My setups were probably even more ghetto lol. Been playing around with some 12706 peltirs recently but not sure I'll ever look at doing that for a PC setup again.
 
Back
Top Bottom