At what point should I consider water cooling & some case questions

[Totori]

Hi!

I'm going to be buying a PC this weekend and this is one of the questions I am not really sure about.

I plan on getting a 4770k and a 780 Ti or an equivalent card. Should I be looking into water cooling? I really have no idea!

Some questions I have as an amateur PC builder that plays to OC but nothing too extreme:

• Is it an easy thing to install?
• Is a watercooling unit for both the CPU and GPU?
• Is there any sort of maintenance or anything?
• Any general reasons why I shouldn't go water?
• Any recommendations on which product I should go for?

Another question I have: What should I be looking for in a case? I really have no idea. Performance and easy of installation are my important factors.

Thanks!

 

[rpjkw11]

As a general rule, larger cases are easier to work in and are cooler. My personal preference has always been for full towers for those reasons. I'm also an airhead using a Phanteks PH-TC14E with a Phanteks Enthoo Primo. Admittedly, such a large case isn't necessary; I was using an NZXT Phantom 630 and a Cosmos II before that. My 4770K is mildly over clocked (4.1) and temps are low.

If I ever try WC I'll vet the Swiftech H320 kit, but that's well into the future since I have no need.

 

[dma0991]

• Is it an easy thing to install?
• Is a watercooling unit for both the CPU and GPU?
• Is there any sort of maintenance or anything?
• Any general reasons why I shouldn't go water?
• Any recommendations on which product I should go for?

1. How easy it is depends on how knowledgeable or how good you are with tools. Do up some reading on watercooling builds and take note on how its built step by step.

2. You can cool both or either one.

3. If properly done, you would need to flush the loop every 6-12 months. You could go longer if you want to but I think it should be done at least once a year.

4. The benefits of custom watercooling is definitely there, but it won't come easy. Ask yourself if you're ready to do planning, plumbing, leak testing and periodical maintenance. It isn't as simple as air cooling and you cannot forget about maintenance after you've installed it.

5. There are kits available(XSPC is a good place to start) or you could choose the individual parts yourself.

 

[smackababy]

The only reasons to watercool you PCs using a custom loop are: you have an extremely high value of noise reduction or you enjoy it as a hobby.

It is expensive, at times cumbersome, and I will never have a PC on air as long as I can help it.

A common loop with a water cooling friendly case isn't hard to set up (about as hard as putting together furniture, I'd estimate). The only real maintenance, as stated above, is flushing your system every so often. If set up correctly, this takes very little time and effort.

Product preference is based entirely on people's experience. From what I've seen, a lot of the water cooling guys are far more zealous than even the most die hard Nvidia / AMD fanboys. Personally, I avoid EK due to their products having excessive tool marks and them continuously denying it. Research everything extensively from multiple sources! There are some snakes out there (or, at least used to be).

 

[guskline]

Totori: My rig 1 below is my first true custom water cooling system. I've used AIO (all-in-one) coolers such as Corsair H60 and H 100, Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer, Pro and Extreme and Kraken X60. The AIO systems give a little better cooling than most air coolers but a true water cooling system is a different beast. Expect to pay at least $200 for parts just to cool the cpu (typically a cpu water block, a radiator, radiator fans, a pump, a reservoir, tubing and fittings. Now that I've been at it awhile it isn't that daunting. HOWEVER, it adds up $$ wise. A typical gpu cooling block is $100 to$150 added onto the base. Cases seem to grow in size as you add more components.

My specific components for water cooling not listed below are 2 XSPC 360 radiators (a RX 360 and a EX 360) a Swiftech 655-d pump, a Swiftech Apogee HD cpu block. a Ek 670 full water block and a XSPC 670 Razor full water block, a XSPC Acrylic D5 bay reservoir, 1/2"I.D.,3/4" O.D. tubing distilled water as coolant and a silver coil to prevent bacteria growth. All of my fittings are barb fittings either straight or 90 degree. I use 6 Corsair SP HP 120mm fans and uses a NZXT 6 channel fan controller.

Personally, I love it and am so glad I custom cooled my OC'd 3930k and 2 670s in sli but it wasn't cheap and I bought some of my cooling parts second hand. My cpu on the hottest core rarely exceeds 60C not matter what benchmark I run. My gpus idle in the 30s and when running Furmark or Valley might get to the mid to high 40s!

Most of my new parts came from FrozenCPU in NY.

BrightCandle, who posts here regularly was a great help to me when starting out. He is a Master of calculating needed rad space.

PS My system is extremely quiet when my fans are running at the slowest speeds.

To address some of your questions, you need a separate water block for your cpu and a separate one for the gpu.

Maintenance is perhaps every 6 months to a year draining the system ( which isn't that hard. I rebuilt mine a few times by adding a second gpu block and a second radiator. Once you got the hang of draining it, it was real easy.

Most serious water coolers recommend only distilled water as it has the best coefficient of cooling. I added a small pure silver coil that keeps bacteria growth down.

If you are thinking of going this route, buy the biggest case that will have the most radiator space you can afford. Trust me. Once you get into this you will want to add a second gpu which will require more radiators which means a bigger case.

 

[nitrousninja]

If I ever try WC I'll vet the Swiftech H320 kit, but that's well into the future since I have no need.

I did it with the H220 for my CPU/GPU and it made life easy. It's really easy to add stuff but the head unit can limit you on some motherboards or cases due to it's size.

For fun is a good enough reason to water cool.