Idiot Light

[plonq]

Cars have idiot lights that come on to tell you when it is too late to change your oil. My computer could use one of those. What it does instead is start giving off a loud buzz/hum when I have been an idiot and let its coolant levels drop too low. It caused me concern and it scared the cat.

I'll have to keep a closer eye on this thing so that I can top it up before it's down to sucking on air again.

Comments

[fuzzytoedcollie.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out how a CPU consumes coolant while it's running. Maybe a leaky bit gasket? Matter conversion at the input to the shift registers? Cold fusion?

Do you see a blue glow when you look into the depths of your computer?

[atara.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's a blue and green glow.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

The system isn't 100% airtight, so I assume it is losing fluids through evaporation -- unless my GPU has a drinking problem that it hasn't told me about.

The next time I need to refill it, I will probably flush the system out and replace it all with new fluid. I don't imagine all the components of the coolant evaporate at the same time, so each time I top it up I am probably hurting its cooling abilities a bit.

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

I so sick of the fan noise that my new computer is making. I've already replaced two of the fans with more expensive, more efficient and only slightly quieter fans. Unfortunately I seem to have a problem with resonance.

I want to try out a liquid system. But I've read so many horror stories. Not to mention I'd be breaking the golden rule now. If it's working, don't...err...mess with it.

..but...so...annoying...

Wouldn't be too hard to write an app that would monitor fluid level and warn/shutdown on low. All I need is a cheapy sensor and a serial port.

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

downside...80M runtime with the app tho'.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

Other than the fact that my first water pump turned out to be a lemon, my experience with water cooling has been largely positive.

I knew that I was long overdue to check the fluid levels, but for some reason opening the case and unscrewing the cap on the reservoir sounded like too much work.

It's surprising how much of the fan noise comes from the GPU and CPU fans (mine are water and passively radiant cooled respectively). I still have six fans in my machine (4 case fans, a power supply fan, and the fan that cools the water system), but it is a decidedly quiet computer.