Possibly OT: is liquid cooling maintenance free?

[pigdos]

I'm just tired of having to blow out and vacumn my air cooled rig. Even
though I keep the case closed and have an air filter on the main intake fan
(a 120mm AC fan) it still gets dusty inside the case.

If you were to water cool your CPU and video-card and mount your radiator
externally could you seal up your case (i.e. to prevent dust build up)?

Are there coolants that don't require changing? I had always heard that pure
distilled water in an all AL and plastic coolant system would never require
changing (i.e. of the coolant).

 

[Guest]

I'm just tired of having to blow out and vacumn my air cooled rig. Even
though I keep the case closed and have an air filter on the main intake fan
(a 120mm AC fan) it still gets dusty inside the case.

You haven't closed the case enough, and you need to bring in more
filtered air through fans.

If you were to water cool your CPU and video-card and mount your radiator
externally could you seal up your case (i.e. to prevent dust build up)?

You would still have to cool the disk drives, including optical drives
that weren't used, since a truly sealed case retains heat much better.

Are there coolants that don't require changing? I had always heard that pure
distilled water in an all AL and plastic coolant system would never require
changing (i.e. of the coolant).

40-50% longlife automotive antifreeze mixed with distilled water should
be good for 10 years, but normal aluminum will still corrode (car
engines and boat hulls instead use a high-silicon alloy). A copper and
rubber or plastic system should have no problems.

I don't like liquid cooling unless it's designed and built very well
since water and high voltage can be a deadly combination. Be certain
everything is leakproof, even at high temperature and under some
pressure. Don't use tubing that can melt (no vinyl), and don't rely on
worm hose clamps (hoses compress and loosen them gradually) but spring
clamps instead. All power should be from a 3-wire _grounded_ AC
outlet, emphasis on "grounded" since some 3-wire outlets are not. It's
better to use a ground fault interrupter wall outlet as well, and any
radiator, pump, and even CPU cooling block should be connected to earth
ground as well.

 

[pigdos]

Thanks for the response. There are some vent holes in the case that I could
seal with duct tape. Could this be where all the dust is coming in? I'll try
this first before resorting to water cooling, it looks like water cooling is
way too much trouble for me to deal with.