Keep your PC cool with water? It's possible
Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, Jakarta
Ever since the dawn of computers, heat has been the number one enemy for microprocessors. Back in those days, if a PC got too hot, the system will hang, locking you out of whatever program you were working on. In some cases, overheating can cause permanent damage to the computer, resulting in expensive repairs and replacements.
In the worst-case scenarios, a computer with a broken or inactive fan could actually burn up, destroying the processor, motherboard and anything else that is installed. The more processing power used by the operating system (calculate massive spreadsheets, render animations or play complex 3D games) would result in higher temperatures.
Today's PC's, however, are equipped with thermal paste, heat sinks and fans to ensure that the brains of the computer are protected. Thermal paste is used to further promote heat transfer away from the chip to a heat sink (to whisk it away) or fans (to cool it down). In addition, should the temperature of the processor go beyond a set limit, some motherboards would immediately shut down the computer.
To further optimize your PC, it would be advisable to add another fan onto your hardware casing or at the very least, use the computer in an air-conditioned room. For the ultimate computer geeks however, you could also use a water-cooling system.
A water-cooling system is similar to the one used in a car. It circulates water through the engine to bleed off heat at the radiator before being passed through the engine again. This system does basically the same thing but instead of a hot engine, it steals the heat away from various computer components.
With a pump on the bottom of the system, water would circulate from the reservoir to each individual component via small water hoses. A small heat exchange is attached to the processor (either Intel's or AMD's), graphics card (usually a 3D accelerator) and even a hard drive allowing the water to course to the main radiator before it is circulated again.
What are the benefits? Water provides an efficient and effective medium for cooling computer parts and is almost always guaranteed to keep the temperature low even if the processor capacity is at its maximum. In fact, water-cooling systems is a favorite among over-clocker junkies.
Over-clocking a computer basically means to push the limits of the processor. An AMD Duron 700 MHz computer, for example, can be set to go beyond 1 GHz. The main drawback is of course the heat from the processor as it is "forced" to go beyond its threshold speed. As long as the processor remains cool, the over-clocked computer would continue to work, albeit relatively unstably in some cases.
Needless to say, over-clocking a computer perpetually is NOT recommended for the faint of heart.
In addition to their efficiencies, water-cooling systems are extremely quiet compared to casing fans. I have an AMD Duron 1.1 GHz processor with four fans inside the casing (1 each for the processor, graphics card, front exhaust and back!) giving my computer the same noise a jet engine makes when taking off! A water-based system would only have the sound of a the small whirl of the liquid pump.
The dangers of water-cooling systems are obvious, one small leak would quickly destroy the expensive computer, be it by soaking the components or by over-heating the processor when the water runs out. But for some, it is an acceptable risk as a quiet, ultra-fast computer for a relatively low price is the goal of many computer hackers.
You can get further information about over-clocking and water- cooling systems from Tom's Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com). You can even download a specially made video that shows the ease of setup of the system on an existing computer system. You can purchase specialized casings online built especially for water- cooling. Try www.koolance.com; www.coolpc.com for some ideas.