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Unless I'm running a bong cooler, or like you say, running out of the tap (which would require hosing out of the bathroom, across the hall, and into our computer room), I don't see the benefit. I still need a mechanism to get heat off the CPU and into the condenser coil. I guess that could be heat pipes, though. In that case I'd need some copper tubing, some kind of capillary (like glass wool or filter paper), and a refrigerant whose phase change temp is between ambient room temp and the CPU's operating temp.Interesting suggestion but it seems like it would simply be replacing one water loop with two, for no detectable benefit, and possibly a loss of efficiency at the heat exchange coil. Definately. Like I said I'm a casemodder, and I've been, well, sculpting my case to have a sort of Frankenstein's lab look to it (magbast.blogspot.com if you want to see some pics I took last year when I was working on it) so the thought of using lab glassware like round-bottom flasks and Eherlenmyer flasks appeals to me. I was thinking about how sweet it would look to use some kind of rigid piping like brass or copper, but the idea of using glass tubing is neat, too. Sounds like cutting it would be very difficult and the material would be very expensive, too. But the idea of avoiding anything that looks like a "modern" watercooling setup in favor of something that looks like the computer The Phantom of the Opera would have used appeals to me greatly. I haven't OC'ed yet but I probably will, just to squeeze a little more performance out of some older hardware. Plus between the case, PSU, CPU, and video card, there's something like 4-5 seperate fans, and the machine is quite noisy. I'd like to get the CPU and GPU on the cooling loop and slow the case fan down with a variable resistor just to make the machine run more quietly.

Yeah, I knew the dual-flow/bathed coil idea was impractical, but the gurgle would rock. I catch rain water in barrels, and sometimes I let them gravity flow through my still coil and then out to flower beds. When you consider the fuss involved, it probably isn't efficient, but Rube Goldberg solutions have always appealed to me, and, after all, what's so efficient about all this mess called life, anyway? I've been tinkering with a solar still, an idea that was developed to supply potable water in underdeveloped communities...Green moonshine, anyone?As for cutting the glass tubing, it snips easily once heated over a gas/bunsen burner, and you can also shape fitting flares at the end
while it is hot and pliable. It's sold by the foot at lab supply stores.Prospero rocks--esp. love the globe and organ stop switches. Great job.

Actually what everyone should be prepared to do is a total reinstall once every 2 to 3 years.This means:(1) Keeping installation disks for everything (especially drivers)
(2) Keeping your personal documents in a specific folder (such as the windoz forced "My Documents" that is inane and difficult not to use)
(3) Having a backup of your personal documents updated based on your document creation rate (ie - how many documents can you afford to lose if the system crashes)
(4) Scheduling it. I will likely be down this afternoon and tomorrow morning as I like (perversly) april 1st to do this A {good\adequate} backup system is a second hard-drive (or portable hard-drive) and Norton Ghost - you can usually restore a crashed system in a couple hours and with 9.0 and later you can explore and pick files to restore as if they were on windoz explorer.The reason for doing the complete re-installation involves the numbers of software programs that are loaded and unloaded and the number of registry entries that get built up. These can cause conflicts or try to initiate programs that don't exist any more.To say nothing of collecting potential spyware and cookie items that betray your usage to information collection systems.It's also a good habit to help clean out your memory ...ps -- himem.sys is left over from DOS (still used by windoz 95 as the basic OS I believe) and the definition is in the {autoexec.bat} files in the root directory if memory serves (access with text editor to see).Reinstalling means no garbage on the machine (on that date).You will likely be surprised at how much faster the machine operates ...New computers are being shipped without any disks or at best a "system restore" disk that resets everything to the way it was when shipped (with all those programs you DON"T want and NONE of your personal files) - use with trepidation.Some manufacturers will send you discs if you give them your model and serial number and ASK for them.NOTE: for windoz 95 you may need the OS on 3.5 floppies and installation discs for the CD (if it has one) - with the drivers - as it is very BAD at having anything "plug and play" - and this may mean having a system floppy disc made with the CD drivers and other info (again in autoexec.bat and maybe in sys.ini) for startup, or you won't be able to use the CD to install software or anything else.Enjoy.

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I'm pretty sure that should be CONFIG.SYS, rather than AUTOEXEC.BAT .

Ok some tough questions. You will only get galvanic ativity if you have two disimilar metals in the circut physically touching each other, whether they are in an electrolitic solution or not. In plumbing we use die-electric unions between the steel boiler, and the copper piping to stop this. If you are using vinyl hose to attach components, then your ok. Don't ground it.Are you air cooling the water, or using refrigeration?

I plan to use just air cooling across the radiator. Cooling the fluid below ambient temps could result in condensation and moisture, especially in humid Missouri.Your suggestions have been most helpful, thanks.

Could be -- it's been a while (and I try to forget some of this stuff). I had to use DOS yesterday ({{shivers}})maybe autoexec turned it on and it was defined in config?

Yes, I was going to mention about the condensation.
I would like to see pictures when your done.Are you a gamer?And your welcome, I am glad that I caould finally give some good advice to you *edit* Oh wait, I see the pics now, nm. That orb doesn't interfere with the cpu? crop circles, lol.This message has been edited by riVeRraT, 04-02-2006 08:16 AM

Not a serious one, but my wife and I love World of Warcraft. Not that I've noticed. It messes up mic input on the sound card but I don't usually run Prospero with the globe on. Yeah, the paint design wasn't as cool as I had hoped so my new idea is to use a 5 dollar clock movement and stacked trasparent panels to create a clock-window on the side that looks kind of like this famous clock in Prauge:

Try running some benchmark tests with the orb on, and with it off. It is possible that it could mess with the communications on the mother board. I am a ameture radio operator, so I have some understanding of rf interference.Due to the error checking, it may not actually mess up the communication, but it might slow it down.Nice clock.

given that there is a power manager on my pc which can be set to hibernate things after x time, is there any harm in leaving everything switched on all the time: screen, pc, modem, printerOr is it better to turn it off after use. The system at home is used a couple of times a day at mostta

Leaving your computer on at rest will not use up that much power. Doing something like running the WorldCommunityGrid agent will draw more power but it is not too bad. I have been told that a computer at full load will pull as much as the lights in the room the computer is in. Then again I am not an electrician so I would take that for what it is worth which is 3-4th hand info.Leaving your monitor on should also not too much depending on your monitor. Most monitors have a standby feature that you can set (on the monitor itself, not the computer) which will power it down when it is not recieving input. Some monitors standby mode can also be controlled from your display properties in windows. I know people though with newer monitors that turn them off every time and just let their machine run.Printer, same deal. Most new printers also have a standby mode which you can configure. If not then it might be worthwhile to shut it off.You shouldn't harm anything by leaving it on either unless you live in an area or a house that has power problem. If you are worried about it you can get a power conditioner or a UPS to plug your computer and other computer related stuff into. Note I didn't say surge protector. A surge protector only protects you from the power spikes but does nothing to help your equipment when you have a "brown" out. A good UPS will condition the power going to your equipment and as a bonus will keep your computer on during a power outage from anywhere between 15-60 mins depending on the capacity of the UPS and how much power you are using. In the 3 years I have owned a UPS it has saved my ass twice. I never figured out why hitting CTRL-S regularly is such a hassel.That being said, the things are are most at risk from power problems are modems and the power supply of the computer itself. Most good power supplies are designed to kill themselves before they let anything happen to the computer. That also being said, I have seen everything from hard drives to sound cards, to whole motherboards get damaged after a surge in cheap computers.

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Of course, biblical creationists are committed to belief in God's written Word, the Bible, which forbids bearing false witness; --AIG (lest they forget)

One last thing.Leaving a windows machine on for a long time can just cause things to slow down because windows sucks. I usually reboot about once a week on my gaming rig. My linux box 'had' been up for over a year without issue under heavy load. No harm to the system though, just your patience.

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Of course, biblical creationists are committed to belief in God's written Word, the Bible, which forbids bearing false witness; --AIG (lest they forget)

Funny, I have the exact opposite experience. My windows gaming box runs constantly and rarely needs to be restarted; my Redhat MythTV box drops off the wireless network after a week and nothing short of a full power cycle gets it back on.

My take on what you say would be that it is better to turn it off given the amount I use it - although that presupposes that turning it off/on in itself doesn't cause problems given my usage. If there was more risk/wear leaving it on then I'd turn it off. I'll take the advice on a UPS anyway thanksI got this computer from a store and didn't get any discs with it. When you say reboot it do you mean save own files and reload software. Where would I get discs for it? There's not much on the computer as it is of worth - just XP and MS Office (although point taken on Windows being crap if that's what makes every MS based computer I've worked on slow down)