Project Watercooled HDD - Improved ZFZ model - err...maybe?

The alternative to direct air cooling

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gonsped
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Project Watercooled HDD - Improved ZFZ model - err...maybe?

Post by gonsped » Sun Jul 11, 2004 11:47 pm

Finally decided to go watercooling....for the first time and to the max.

This will include PSU, HDD, GPU and CPU.

I had a look at Zero Fan Zone's website regarding his HDD cooler and thought I could improvise upon the design.

Image

If you can make out the pencil layout which I scanned - the idea is to have the liquid coming in the left hand side (viewing from the back of the HDD), cooling the LHS, then it will proceed at the end of the channel through an M configuration, to cool the top of the HDD, then finally back down to cool the RHS.

What do you guys think of this rather complicated design?

The HDD will further be placed inside a container with soundproofing so I need as much cooling as possible and hopefully this extreme cooling can cool even the hottest, loudest and fastest spinning drives to date.

I am not so sure whether to create this or buy Silenstar's dual watercooled HDD for U$110.

Either way its going to cost me U$130-150 for either of them as I don't have the:

* hacksaw
* rasps
* sandpapers
* drill bits
* drill bench
* butane soldering gun (i have soldering iron but that's not hot enough)

to cut the custom waterblock.

I'll have to buy those equipment but funnily enough, I have a dremel, router, circular saw, jigsaw and everything else but what is required to cut this copper :D

chylld
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Post by chylld » Mon Jul 12, 2004 3:40 pm

nice pictures :)

most of the heat from a harddrive is emitted from the sides though, i wouldn't be too keen on having the complexities of the waterflow on the top part.

TheDarkHacker
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Post by TheDarkHacker » Mon Jul 12, 2004 3:48 pm

accually it is my understanding that most of the hard drive heat emittes from the top and bottom. i may be wrong but i dont know

bchung
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Post by bchung » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:24 pm

TheDarkHacker wrote:accually it is my understanding that most of the hard drive heat emittes from the top and bottom. i may be wrong but i dont know
It is generally regarded the main paths of conduction from a HD are from the sides. But come to think of it, I never did a controlled experiment to prove it.

TheDarkHacker
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Post by TheDarkHacker » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:30 pm

i have seen hard drive coolers that cool the side or on the top/ bottom. someone should test that

gonsped
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Post by gonsped » Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:49 pm

Its a little hard to cool the bottom as its open circuit down there not to mention there is nowhere near enough surfaces to conduct the heat.

I noticed the sides of the HDD do become hot but also when I placed my hdd in suspension in the case, on warm days, the top of the hdd do become pretty hot. Hot enough you don't want to place your hands on it.

I'd prefer to cut my own block but - lol - my metalwork experience is like 8 yrs old from high school :D

Not to mention this is going to be one expensive block with the copper + the equipment I need to buy. :-/

TheDarkHacker
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Post by TheDarkHacker » Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:58 pm

the koolance hard drive water block goes on the bottom where the circuits are and this is how they did it. here is the link http://www.koolance.com/support/manuals.html click on the hard drive cooler installation flash guide at the bottom

gonsped
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Post by gonsped » Mon Jul 12, 2004 7:07 pm

OMG!! That looks REALLY irreversible. :eek:

I don't want to thermal paste anything as a watercooling block should be as reusable as possible.

chylld
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Post by chylld » Mon Jul 12, 2004 11:06 pm

i think koolance need to rethink their method of hard drive cooling. even if the best place to cool a hard drive is not the sides (although i think it is) it is just so much easier to achieve optimum cooling with a minimum of fuss and mess. cooling the hard drives using its sides will get the temperatures down more than enough, and it's not like you're going to overclock your hard drive anyway. (?)

also - wouldn't that void your hdd warranty?

innovatek had the right idea a long long time ago - 2 blocks mounted on either side of the hard drive, connected by a tube, such that the assembly fits nicely into a 5 1/4" bay.

TheDarkHacker
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Post by TheDarkHacker » Mon Jul 12, 2004 11:08 pm

i agree the koolance block is flawed

gonsped
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Post by gonsped » Tue Jul 13, 2004 1:42 am

Aqua computer in Germany have some side cooling HDD slots which I presume fit in a 5.25" bay. At 80 Euros a pop - they ain't cheap. They got a top cooler for 40 Euros though - that looked interesting.

The reason for my technical drawing was to reduce the temperature of the HDD as low as possible because I will further place the HDD assembly into a soundproofing box - which will guarantee any drive to get hot.

By cooling the top and the sides, hopefully it could cool even the hottest and noisiest drive to date.

There is little point when cooling and silencing a PC require you to purchase a quieter drive. The waterblock and the sound surpressing box should perform that duty. This will make the system considerably more flexible.

toltery
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Post by toltery » Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:07 pm

gonsped wrote:Its a little hard to cool the bottom as its open circuit down there not to mention there is nowhere near enough surfaces to conduct the heat.

I noticed the sides of the HDD do become hot but also when I placed my hdd in suspension in the case, on warm days, the top of the hdd do become pretty hot. Hot enough you don't want to place your hands on it.

I'd prefer to cut my own block but - lol - my metalwork experience is like 8 yrs old from high school :D

Not to mention this is going to be one expensive block with the copper + the equipment I need to buy. :-/
I saw this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MESE:IT

Putting a block right on the bearing like that seems like a decent idea. (You have to click on the picture links down at the bottom to see it)

Gooserider
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Post by Gooserider » Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:32 pm

Nice design but GROSS OVERKILL! A hard drive puts out less than 20W MAXIMUM, and either a side or a top cooler will do all that is needed to take care of it. Putting the drive in a box won't get it significantly hotter as pretty much any sort of cooler will get the heat away well enough.

Gooserider

Straker
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Post by Straker » Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:01 am

you can do a "scientific experiment" to see where most of the heat is coming from, touch the top and then the front or side (or use a normal digital/IR thermometer). :P
Might sound silly to WC something that's only putting out 7-8W of heat, but if your GPU + CPU are also on water, those drives (and at that point, possibly fans for the airflow that only the drives need) are probably far and away the loudest part of the PC. Also means that's only adding 7-8W for your rad to get rid of too...
if you had nice pressure (ie two CSP750s), it'd be awesome being able to stuff 4 HDs in a big, closed rubber/foam box with two waterblocks.

Edwood
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Post by Edwood » Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:33 am

Yeah, I'm thinking going with a zero fan set up too.

The probelm is the power supply.

I've only seen Aqua Compter's and SilentMaxx's water cooled PSU's. I stay far away from SilentMaxx's products nowadays, but it looks like the same PSU though. :(

I was thinking of using two Reserators. And divide the load between the two Reserators.

-Ed

Gooserider
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Post by Gooserider » Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:08 pm

It doesn't matter where you put the cooling on a hard drive to any significant degree. The platters inside circulate HUGE amounts of air, and will rapidly conduct any heat from hot spots to wherever the coolest part of the drive is. (basic mechanisms of thermal transfer)

Gooserider

dean.collins
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Post by dean.collins » Sat Mar 19, 2005 11:04 am

I use the dual silent star hard drive coolers with the zalman reserator.

They cool from the sides in a hush box, a little expensive but highly reccomended.

I had a problem with 1 of them leaking from the rear connector but it was my fault in that I didn't tighten it enough so once it heated up it started to leak.

Cheers,
Dean

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