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Koolance PC4-1036BK 1,000 watt cooling system
- Thread starter dekard
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$BangforThe$
[H]ard|Gawd
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Good luck its should be sweet. Use the koolance fluid as it is formulated to work with the aluminium Rad. Did you buy the 2 pcs. kit or the case kit.
So, I got all the equipment in last night, and I'm loving it! Its a lovely case and I think it will last me quite a long time. Besides the fantastic quality and appearance of it, I've got lots of room for expansion and it lends its self to neat and tidy builds due to the design. The temps are great.
Whats that you ask, how does it cool? Pretty darn good. Its running almost 5c cooler than the pc3-725bk I had previously. Of course, it has a 3x120 rad instead of the 725's 2x120. Also, the flow rate is noticeable higher. I would easily believe the 6L\min spec posted on Koolance's site. Finally they have switched the direction of the fans. No longer do they draw warm air into the rad. These bad boys pull cool air from outside the case and use it to cool the entire motherboard tray also. This is much more effective.
I like the new pump and radiator design. The appearance is fantastic, the design is simple. I think this should be on the short list of drive bay units. The construction of the thing is just first rate. Also, I love that they are including a fan speed controller. This output is slaved off the output controlling the 3x120mm's on the rad. So, it can be manually set like the 3 x 120's or you can put it in automatic mode and it will sense the water loop temperature and go up and down based on that. Here's a bit more information on how this works.
So, thats the good, how about the bad?
The pc4-7xx series from Koolance has nearly silent pumps. They are dual pumps and backup each other so you have much lower chance of an overheat damaging your system. The new, improved pc4-1k series has a single, large pump. So, you have lost the backup (may not have really ever been needed) and the noise is significantly higher. Let me explain.
One the pc4-7xx series, which I owned previous to this unit, you could barely hear the pumps at all. In a quiet room with no other pc gear running the loudest noise was the 2x120 spinning at about 1,000 rpm. Everyone did a double take to see if it was running. In comparision to my wife's system running 2x120's that are speed controlled to lower their noise you simply could not hear it. Her system was roughly 3x the volume of the pc4-7xx.
This beast is twice as loud as that. The whole problem is the pump. Sure, its pumping 6L a min, but does it have to be this loud? How about a switch to lower the speed of it. I can be brushing my teeth 3 rooms away and clearly hear it running. So, I'm thrilled with the case and the new triple 120 radiator but the pump has to go.
I'll be looking into lower the voltage going to the pump to slow it down a bit. If that isn't realistic I'll start looking into replacing the whole pump \ radiator assembly to get the noise level down. I'm simply not going to live with it this noisy.
I won't return the case though because all in all, I love this setup. As far as I'm concerned this is a 9\10 system. Once I correct that one issue I'll give it 10\10.
Whats that you ask, how does it cool? Pretty darn good. Its running almost 5c cooler than the pc3-725bk I had previously. Of course, it has a 3x120 rad instead of the 725's 2x120. Also, the flow rate is noticeable higher. I would easily believe the 6L\min spec posted on Koolance's site. Finally they have switched the direction of the fans. No longer do they draw warm air into the rad. These bad boys pull cool air from outside the case and use it to cool the entire motherboard tray also. This is much more effective.
I like the new pump and radiator design. The appearance is fantastic, the design is simple. I think this should be on the short list of drive bay units. The construction of the thing is just first rate. Also, I love that they are including a fan speed controller. This output is slaved off the output controlling the 3x120mm's on the rad. So, it can be manually set like the 3 x 120's or you can put it in automatic mode and it will sense the water loop temperature and go up and down based on that. Here's a bit more information on how this works.
So, thats the good, how about the bad?
The pc4-7xx series from Koolance has nearly silent pumps. They are dual pumps and backup each other so you have much lower chance of an overheat damaging your system. The new, improved pc4-1k series has a single, large pump. So, you have lost the backup (may not have really ever been needed) and the noise is significantly higher. Let me explain.
One the pc4-7xx series, which I owned previous to this unit, you could barely hear the pumps at all. In a quiet room with no other pc gear running the loudest noise was the 2x120 spinning at about 1,000 rpm. Everyone did a double take to see if it was running. In comparision to my wife's system running 2x120's that are speed controlled to lower their noise you simply could not hear it. Her system was roughly 3x the volume of the pc4-7xx.
This beast is twice as loud as that. The whole problem is the pump. Sure, its pumping 6L a min, but does it have to be this loud? How about a switch to lower the speed of it. I can be brushing my teeth 3 rooms away and clearly hear it running. So, I'm thrilled with the case and the new triple 120 radiator but the pump has to go.
I'll be looking into lower the voltage going to the pump to slow it down a bit. If that isn't realistic I'll start looking into replacing the whole pump \ radiator assembly to get the noise level down. I'm simply not going to live with it this noisy.
I won't return the case though because all in all, I love this setup. As far as I'm concerned this is a 9\10 system. Once I correct that one issue I'll give it 10\10.
DaCoOlNeSs
[H]ard|Gawd
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why not just switch the pumps between systems?dekard said:
The design is radically different between the systems. One has a drive bay pump and radiator and in the other the pump and radiator is mounted on top of the system. Anything is possible if you mod [h] enough, but I think that would require an unreasonable amount of work.DaCoOlNeSs said:
I'm planing on disassembling the drive bay unit tonight and seeing how easy it would be to mod a resistor into the circuit to reduce the speed of the pump. If I can get it substantially quieter that way I'll do it.
WE WANT PICS! WE WANT PICS!
oh and yea someone laughed when they thought i made a mistake in my rad/ fan assembly, so im glad to hear im not the only one realising that pulling cool air from above the case, thru the rad and over the mobo and out the back actually IS a very efficient way to do top mounted rads. aweeesome.
and yea i know how you feel, by FAR, the loudest thing in my case is the D5 pump. i can hear it and its killing me. the psu is second but ima change the second fan on it as well. and last is the ticking from the undervolted NB fan... and that well, ima go passive on it shortly or water.
oh and yea someone laughed when they thought i made a mistake in my rad/ fan assembly, so im glad to hear im not the only one realising that pulling cool air from above the case, thru the rad and over the mobo and out the back actually IS a very efficient way to do top mounted rads. aweeesome.
and yea i know how you feel, by FAR, the loudest thing in my case is the D5 pump. i can hear it and its killing me. the psu is second but ima change the second fan on it as well. and last is the ticking from the undervolted NB fan... and that well, ima go passive on it shortly or water.
I'll get some pics up probably tonight. I wanted to do it this morning but I couldnt find where my wife had put the digital camera. lol...el rolio said:
Is the d5 pump similiar to the one supplied with the koolance pc4-1k stuff? I've gone to great efforts to silence this system. Wc the NB even since that was the loudest thing on mine. And then I pop the whole lot into this chassis and it sounds like I didn't do anything! lol.. I'll get it sorted out soon enough.
Ok, so I completely disassembled the pump unit tonight and I've got pics for your enjoyment. The pump is a Liang ddc pump. The labeling on it is all factory and it looks unmodified.
First an over view shot of the whole case, partially disassembled.
Here's a overview of the pump, rez and circuitry.
finally, here's a detail of the pump itself and partial shot of the circuitry and plumbling in the background.
So, there are the pictures. All in all, I think the style of the case is fantastic. I'm thrilled. I'm still working on the noise issue with the pump, and I tried quite a few things with some interesting results. I've got company at my house right now, once they leave I'll post back with details on the methods I tried to quite it and what I intend to do next.
First an over view shot of the whole case, partially disassembled.
Here's a overview of the pump, rez and circuitry.
finally, here's a detail of the pump itself and partial shot of the circuitry and plumbling in the background.
So, there are the pictures. All in all, I think the style of the case is fantastic. I'm thrilled. I'm still working on the noise issue with the pump, and I tried quite a few things with some interesting results. I've got company at my house right now, once they leave I'll post back with details on the methods I tried to quite it and what I intend to do next.
yea thats the thing isnt it? the DDC's ARE supposed to be the QUIET ones.... whilst the D5's are known to be a bit louder. as for the pot, well yea its there but with the OC im pushin i can slow my fans down to silent and i can make my tubes as short as possible, but with a STORM block in the mix, there is no way i can turn the speed down. plus i tested it once, down to 3 the difference wasnt worth the loss in flow. its just a loud enough hum. nothing else in the system is over it. i need to find a way
but yea dek, whatcha plan to do? replace it with another ddc? and yea that case is DAMN awesome. !
but yea dek, whatcha plan to do? replace it with another ddc? and yea that case is DAMN awesome. !
When I held the DDC in my hands it was significantly less noisy when mounted in the Koolance pump\res case. I tried placed some open cell foam under the pump and it didn't make any noticeable difference. I'll work on other options as soon as I've got more time. Or, I'm open to suggestions for a THIN solution. There's very little room to work with.el rolio said:
revenant
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chiming in late here.. wow.. sweet setup! that looks like the niced of the koolance offerings.. well, largest and most powerful.. possibly best performing also. hopefully so. 
Waaaay off topic, but it tickles me to see you're using the same glass-topped POS desk that I am.
Shame to hear about the pump noise issues, that case is on my short list if I can't find a suitable water cooling solution for my Antec P180, and noise reduction is my main goal.
Shame to hear about the pump noise issues, that case is on my short list if I can't find a suitable water cooling solution for my Antec P180, and noise reduction is my main goal.
Lol.. I love this desk.. it was a engagement present from my best man... bigger nerd than I.Croak said:
And if you are concerned about the noise, don't forget you can get the same case in a 7xx series. No noise problem there. And if you want the 3x 120 rad just wait a bit, I know I'll get this pump straightened out soon.
Definately the best performing.. I'm sitting here with it idling. The loop temp is 29c, cpu 36, mb 34, vc 37.... All those temps are at a medium (6) fan speed... When I crank it up to 10 fan speed I get a loop temp of 26c, cpu 33, mb 30, vc 35....revenant said:chiming in late here.. wow.. sweet setup! that looks like the niced of the koolance offerings.. well, largest and most powerful.. possibly best performing also. hopefully so.
They are fantastic. 120 mm, 12v... They can ran from silent (speed 1) to barely noticeable (speed 6) to a powerful set at the highest speed. I'm thrilled with the setup and I love the 'automatic' fan speed control. Basically that will run the fans at the lowest possible speed. See the chart in my post above for details about speeds and cfm.Tman said:
revenant
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^^ mine are the same.. at level 7 they make a little "wind" noise, but at 6 they move some decent air and are barely audible! pretty nice..
As far as I can tell they are identical to the fans used in the 7xx series case. I intend to get the v1000 and the v2000 in the same room in the near future for some size comparision pictures. I think its very interesting to note the difference between the cases.revenant said:
revenant
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yeah, that would be cool.. to see them side to side. the v2000's disk capacity is awesome.. would make a nice home-brew nas.
Here's a couple of shots of the case. I think this gives you a nice idea of the size compared to the desk and allows a nice sense of the presence of it.
This is a close up of the control panel on the top of the case. Its a little washed out from the flash but I wanted to get the detail on the case. its so wonderfully constructed.
A shot in the side window showing off the lighting. This is just a single blue cathode tube suspended at the top of the case. I've got 6 lazer led beam's that should be arriving in a couple of days. I'm also admiring a friends use of a the green thermaltake fluid that is uv reactive. I helped him install 2 uv cathode tubes and the effect is stunning. Especially when you stick with the uv reactive koolance tubing! It glows blue and the liquid a bright flourescent green color. Intense!
This is a close up of the control panel on the top of the case. Its a little washed out from the flash but I wanted to get the detail on the case. its so wonderfully constructed.
A shot in the side window showing off the lighting. This is just a single blue cathode tube suspended at the top of the case. I've got 6 lazer led beam's that should be arriving in a couple of days. I'm also admiring a friends use of a the green thermaltake fluid that is uv reactive. I helped him install 2 uv cathode tubes and the effect is stunning. Especially when you stick with the uv reactive koolance tubing! It glows blue and the liquid a bright flourescent green color. Intense!
revenant
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yeah, the koolance Y connector 3/8s to 2x 1/4" reducer thingy. I have a couple sitting unsed in my parts drawer... if I ever go with AC or koolance blocks they'll come in handy.
I have a couple sitting unsed in my parts drawer... if I ever go with AC or koolance blocks they'll come in handy.
revenant
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yes, nice setup indeed... must be nice to have that power and be dead silent also.. or very close to it...
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Croak said:
I bought three of them (almost like that one), one for Chad, one for Justin and one for me.
Not only are you now a member of an elite club of glass desk owners...we have jackets