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Hailea HC-500A Water Chiller Review

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proxess 20th July 2010, 08:52 Quote
And when your PC is off, you can have a nice cool cup of water!
liratheal 20th July 2010, 08:54 Quote
I was genuinely concerned someone at the BT offices had snapped and reviewed an office water cooler.

Looks like a nice bit of kit, though.
memeroot 20th July 2010, 09:09 Quote
we need more testing on other chips.... with the 6 core being so highly priced 400 quid might make a i5 750 competitive for gaming... regardless it'd be a keeper between systems - also could you cool multiple systems?
mi1ez 20th July 2010, 09:32 Quote
I saw the title and it took me a couple of seconds to realise this wasn't an office water cooler.... Fail.
Bad_cancer 20th July 2010, 09:35 Quote
Nice review.

But although I do agree with the principle of the 5970 (It being the fastest card and all), It still only cracks around 48° at peak.
Whereas the 480 can hit 80°c at peak.

Now I think that to put this baby through it's paces would require at least 1, if not 2, 480s and then see how they perform on the loop, just to see what it can really do.

Just my 2c. :D
Pete J 20th July 2010, 10:11 Quote
Sweet! I've just been playing a bit of Alien Swarm and for some reason my lead GPU got up to 107C - hence I'm now on the lookout for some extreme cooling. This may be the answer.
Lizard 20th July 2010, 10:19 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bad_cancer
Now I think that to put this baby through it's paces would require at least 1, if not 2, 480s and then see how they perform on the loop, just to see what it can really do.

Unfortunately, as we gave the GTX 480 such a bashing, Nvidia (and its partners) don't want to send us cards anymore ;)

It's something that would be interesting to try though.
Phalanx 20th July 2010, 10:26 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lizard
Unfortunately, as we gave the GTX 480 such a bashing, Nvidia (and its partners) don't want to send us cards anymore ;)

How petty. If they made decent stuff in the first place they wouldn't get such a (well-deserved) slating!
Fingers66 20th July 2010, 10:36 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by memeroot
...also could you cool multiple systems?

I too would be interested to know if it could cool multiple systems (in parallel). Imagine having one cooling setup for multiple rigs...

Would it simply depend on the flow rate?

Water cooled folding farm anyone? It would work out more efficient than independent w/c setups for each rig.
Lizard 20th July 2010, 10:41 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fingers66
Would it simply depend on the flow rate?

That would be the principle limiting factor yes, although that problem could be got around by installing multiple pumps in the loop or a big monster AC pump.
memeroot 20th July 2010, 10:43 Quote
"Unfortunately, as we gave the GTX 480 such a bashing, Nvidia (and its partners) don't want to send us cards anymore "

"Sweet! I've just been playing a bit of Alien Swarm and for some reason my lead GPU got up to 107C - hence I'm now on the lookout for some extreme cooling. This may be the answer."

get the box over there man!

;-)
Fingers66 20th July 2010, 10:43 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lizard
That would be the principle limiting factor yes, although that problem could be got around by installing multiple pumps in the loop or a big monster AC pump.

Hmmm, would one big pump for all rigs work?

We are geting into the realms of modular water cooling now. A number of micro-ATX rigs with SLI GPU's, all watercooled and running through one pump and heat chiller? You could even do it with a rack mounted farm...

(pokes Ph4lanx)
Bad_cancer 20th July 2010, 10:52 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lizard
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bad_cancer
Now I think that to put this baby through it's paces would require at least 1, if not 2, 480s and then see how they perform on the loop, just to see what it can really do.

Unfortunately, as we gave the GTX 480 such a bashing, Nvidia (and its partners) don't want to send us cards anymore ;)

It's something that would be interesting to try though.

So childish... Honestly I would have thought that it was because you drilled / dremelled it, rather than the fact that you told the truth :p

Ah well...send the chiller over to pete j then, that way we can get an opinion :p
PureSilver 20th July 2010, 11:00 Quote
I like it! I just wish it wasn't so spectacularly ugly, and I'm looking forward to the first mod that rehouses the entire shebang in either the base of a V2000, or in it's own case. Seems to solve a lot of the problems with phase-change - namely, that your GPU reaches the surface temperature of the sun, and you have to smother the CPU socket in Vaseline - without crushing the performance.
javaman 20th July 2010, 11:49 Quote
Haven't seen the review for feremi's driver for folding yet but 4 x GTX480 with this isn't an impossibility. Electric bill would be scary tho!
Krikkit 20th July 2010, 11:56 Quote
Did you really get a maximum CPU temp of 95'C with a quad-rad WC loop? Seriously?
Lizard 20th July 2010, 12:03 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krikkit
Did you really get a maximum CPU temp of 95'C with a quad-rad WC loop? Seriously?

Yes, but don't forget that's with a 6-core CPU overclocked to 4.72GHz and a Radeon HD 5970, all at full load.
Jipa 20th July 2010, 12:09 Quote
Yes, it works. Would I want another 340 watts of heat constantly pumped into the room air? No!

Nice review of a very special product.
andrew8200m 20th July 2010, 13:00 Quote
My system holds an i7 920 at 4.2ghz (-41c load), 4.6ghz (-39c), 4.96ghz (-35c, MAX board FSB 236) which is nice, and cost me less than this water cooler unit :P

Curious to see how cold an 980X or 970 would sit on this system.

Putting that to one side... Keeping an overclocked 5970 and an 980x at those speeds and temps is very respectable I must say!


Andy
Evildead666 20th July 2010, 13:08 Quote
I was always under the impression that going below ambient opened up a can of condensation or two ?

Was there no possibility of condensation anywhere ?
I would have thought that with liquid entering the CPU block at 14°C odd, it would have droplets of water forming on the tube, and maybe on the cpu block ?
cgthomas 20th July 2010, 13:43 Quote
Looing good, I would've considered one if it was noise-free (or at least like a few case fans) and if it was in the region of +/- £300.
Always thought of building something similar myself. The basterds beat me to it. I guess I can forget that patent now :( ;p
robots 20th July 2010, 14:01 Quote
The noise kills it for me. My PC is all air cooled and it's practically silent. The PSU is completely silent, and the CPU and case fans are Sharkoon golf ball 1000's so they are barely audible. It's also using a SSD.

The only real noise is the graphics card when it kicks up, but that only happens in the middle of gaming when I have my speakers turned up anyway.

So if I was to 'upgrade' to a water cooling setup, although I could get everything cooler and overclock higher, I would definitely be looking to at least match this kind of volume.
Lizard 20th July 2010, 14:06 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evildead666
I was always under the impression that going below ambient opened up a can of condensation or two ?

Condensation wil occur yes, but this isn't a problem if it stays on the tubing/waterblock and doesn't bead. Beading is when the condensation reaches a level where it gets so large it drops off the tubing. At that point, you're in a world of hurt, unless you have protected your PC.
douglatins 20th July 2010, 14:12 Quote
95C for WC setup WTFFFFFFF is wrong???????????????????????????????????????
memeroot 20th July 2010, 14:13 Quote
from the review....

"You can avoid beading one of two ways: either protect your components with a moisture absorbing material such as neoprene pads, or set the coolant temperature to be above the dew point (the temperature at which condensation starts to form) of the room. You can calculate the dew point in your room using this calculator. Fortunately, the HC-500A allows you to control the coolant temperature in 1°C steps, via the small screen and the three buttons on the front panel."
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