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Water cooling a Raid Card?

7K views 33 replies 13 participants last post by  maxoptimus 
#1 ·
So I was wondering if anyone has done this?

I have an Adaptec 51645 raid card. It gets hot. 60-80c its suppose to be around 55. needs like 200Cfm for cooling..

Can I just use a normal VGA block and mount it?
 
#2 ·
if it fits.
 
#5 ·
It uses the Clip On heatsinks.... good luck finding a WB that will mount...
 
#6 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by DuckieHo
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It uses the Clip On heatsinks.... good luck finding a WB that will mount...

Couldnt a clip be made for the water block.. I mean sure might be a bit of effort.. but couldnt it..

I just hate seeing the temps at 70+ and its not summer here yet either..
I'd like to keep the controller cool and healthy as it costed over 1k
 
#12 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by Lt.JD
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I'm thinking that their is to much heat in the case... so the PCI fan isn't going to help. If your thinking bout W/C maybe watercool those 5870's...

The ambient room temp is at 18c the case panels have been off last month or so.

And everything in there is getting water cooled, just my gf is making me wait to start... darn her. I think she will say ok tom as its my B-Day!
 
#13 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by Lt.JD
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I'm thinking that their is to much heat in the case... so the PCI fan isn't going to help. If your thinking bout W/C maybe watercool those 5870's...

It's not the case temps. Hardware RAID controllers get hot. They are designed for tight servers with high-speed fans.

Are the two chips the same height? Are there any components higher than them sitting between them?

What you can do is find a large 4"x5" heatsink and drill mounting points. I did this for the PERC 6/i.

(I think this is a picture of my PERC... but can't tell since it's blocked at work,)
 
#14 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by DuckieHo
View Post

It's not the case temps. Hardware RAID controllers get hot. They are designed for tight servers with high-speed fans.

Are the two chips the same height? Are there any components higher than them sitting between them?

What you can do is find a large 4"x5" heatsink and drill mounting points. I did this for the PERC 6/i.

(I think this is a picture of my PERC... but can't tell since it's blocked at work,)


Yap thats a Perc 6 you got the right pic.

@OP on my servers raid card i got two of the enzotec Copper heatsinks and stuck them on using 3M thermal tape, that dropped the temps a lot.

Also maybe consider selling the 2 5870's and grabing a single 5970, that would free up a more slots and allow you grab one of those dual slot pcie slot fan things that lian li do.
 
#15 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by kiwwanna
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The ambient room temp is at 18c the case panels have been off last month or so.

And everything in there is getting water cooled, just my gf is making me wait to start... darn her. I think she will say ok tom as its my B-Day!


Quote:


Originally Posted by DuckieHo
View Post

It's not the case temps. Hardware RAID controllers get hot. They are designed for tight servers with high-speed fans.

Are the two chips the same height? Are there any components higher than them sitting between them?

What you can do is find a large 4"x5" heatsink and drill mounting points. I did this for the PERC 6/i.

(I think this is a picture of my PERC... but can't tell since it's blocked at work,)


That is picture of PERC... how hot is too hot for a RAID card?
 
#16 ·
I like the heat sink idea. Would it be hard to get water blocks make to specs for the raid card? Not sure what goes into making them. My uncles family owns a fairly large machine shop 30 miles aways from me called Precision Enterprises‎.
Just a thought, if its not to much work.
 
#18 ·
Operating Temperature

0°C to 55°C* (with 200 LFM airflow; without battery)
0°C to 40°C* (with 200 LFM airflow; with battery)

this is for my card, and I'm using a battery.
Yet my temps are in the 70's and its gonna be another 10-15c warmer here soon..
hense why I wanna get this done.
 
#20 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by Starbuck5000
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Too hot is when you can you only boot the raid card from a cold boot(Problem I used to have)

Wow that sounds like an issue...

Quote:


Originally Posted by kiwwanna
View Post

Operating Temperature

0°C to 55°C* (with 200 LFM airflow; without battery)
0°C to 40°C* (with 200 LFM airflow; with battery)

this is for my card, and I'm using a battery.
Yet my temps are in the 70's and its gonna be another 10-15c warmer here soon..
hense why I wanna get this done.

Yea it seems like your playing with fire running over spec. constantly. Hopefully Duckie can help you out.
 
#22 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwwanna View Post
I have a fan on it. It pushes a lot of air on hi. Still in the 70's with this.

[/IMG]
hmm.. the purple dual fans push air on card and that big silver one pulling air out of case? If so, it is.. um.. not efficient in terms of airflow. Also, the purple one is too close to card, so card's rads are in dead zone of bearing ball.
 
#23 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by tarnumf View Post
hmm.. the purple dual fans push air on card and that big silver one pulling air out of case? If so, it is.. um.. not efficient in terms of airflow. Also, the purple one is too close to card, so card's rads are in dead zone of bearing ball.
The silver box originally pulled air out. I switched the orientation so it blows cooler air in, then the purple blows it at the raid. Dead zone or not It should do some good. Either way thats why I'm trying to figure something better. I cant move the purple or the raid card so ..
 
#24 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwwanna View Post
Operating Temperature

0°C to 55°C* (with 200 LFM airflow; without battery)
0°C to 40°C* (with 200 LFM airflow; with battery)

this is for my card, and I'm using a battery.
Yet my temps are in the 70's and its gonna be another 10-15c warmer here soon..
hense why I wanna get this done.
Those are probably case temperatures... not card temps.

If your uncle owns a machine shop.... just make a custom heatsink!


Get a 6x3x.375" of scrap aluminum or copper. Ask him to cut the fins, mounting points, and cutouts for tall components.
 
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