Make your own Water Cooling System

Make your own Water Cooling System
Posted :: Jul 13, 2004 by Impact

If you followed our guide on how to build your own waterblock, you might be wondering "Now that I have a waterblock, what about the rest of the system?" Well, you've come to the right place. This article will take you through what parts you will need and where you can find them for your home made water cooling system.

Pump: Every water cooling system will need a pump. The pump pushes water through the tubes. You have two options for the type of pump you use. An In-Line pump has a tube coming in and a tube going out. It normally sits on the floor of your case and is exposed to the air. The second option (that I used) is a submersible pump. They are normally cheaper, but you need to have a reserviour. I was able to grab an aquarium pump from a local pet store that pumped 70gph (Gallons per hour) for 15$. It worked very nicely and was extremely small (around 1.5" cube). The smaller the pump, the easier it will be to fit inside your case.

Reserviour: You can use anything that holds water as a reserviour. If you feel like using an old bucket you have, be my guest. For my system, I was trying to make everything fit inside my case, to do this, I needed a small reserviour that would hold my pump, and would be sealable (to prevent leaks). The easiest solution I found was a 4" Cube Plastic Electrical box at Home Depot. It came with a screw-down top, and a piece of foam to line the edge (and when screwed down, it made a water tight seal). I drilled two holes in the top and ran two tubes through it (one out from the pump, and one to return the water). I also made a small groove on one of the edges so that I could run the power cord for the pump out. The foam filled in the gaps around the pump cord well enough that it didn't need to be sealed.

Radiator: Your best bet for a radiator is to use an old car's heater core. If you can, find an old '86 Chevy Chevette heater core. They are some of the smallest you can find and will normally fit in a computer case. Unfortunately I found one that I thought would fit, but was about .5" too wide. You can find a heater core at any junk yard for around $10-15.

My heater core. Slightly too large, but a very good cooler for $10.

Another view of the heater core.

Grab a good, large (120mm) fan and attach it to your heater core. If you want to make the most of the fan you will need to make a baffle. This will allow the fan to get rid of the dead spot right behind the middle of the fan. I didn't mind so I just screwed my fan into the heater core directly.

Another view of the heater core.

The order of components doesn't matter all that much, but to keep your case as cool as possible: Pump --> CPU Waterblock --> Other Waterblocks --> Radiator --> Pump.

Since my radiator was too large, I ended up having to have it sit outside my computer. I opened a PCI slot and ran the tubing out the back of my case (and back in the same way). With my DIY cooling system I averaged around 31-33 degrees celsius idle and 33-35c under full load. Your temperatures will vary depending on radiator, pump speed, waterblock and room temperature. Here is a finished picture of my computer with it's brand new, home made, water cooling kit.