Fan cooled vs water cool

s09rano

Junior Member
May 17, 2003
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Which is better, fan cooling is probably more economic but water cooling is quite i guess. What are some good cases for water cooling kits, what about kits any recommendations
 
Apr 17, 2003
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i have been debating the same issue and have come to the conclusion that (IN MY CASE), water cooling is not worth the cost and trouble. the cheiftec/antec/enermax towers are a good choice for water cooling because they provide a lot of space to work in and to place the pump and other components of the kit
 

BG4533

Golden Member
Oct 15, 2001
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I think air cooling is good for all but the most extreme overclocking. For nearly all stock processors it is possible to use a quality HS and fan to create a near silent cooling system at the fraction of the cost of watercooling. I have my XP1700 OCd to 2GHz at 1.65v cooled by a Thermalright SLK800 and a 39CFM fan at 5V that is inaudible from 2 feet away. My load temps are 40c. This would cost maybe $30 to replicate, where water cooling would be hundreds and would probably be louder.

Brian
 

amcdonald

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2003
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I've not been able to justify watercooling. The risk of failure is what keeps me away.
If there's any failure of equipment or user error, water could destroy the entire system.
If the fan on my slk900 fails, the system will overheat and shutdown. No big deal.
Plus watercooling is relatively very costly if you want quality equipment (which is a good idea for the above reason).
And its really not going to be quieter, considering that fan noise can be eliminated by a rheobus & quality fans. HD's and CD drives will make the same noise an air-cooled system and a water-cooled system.
 

justinm

Senior member
Mar 7, 2003
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Main difference between air-cooling and water cooling is that with air-cooling, the temp will never go below room temp (which some of you already know) and that water cooling lets the temp go below room temp. This is why more overclockers use it. And its getting to where you can buy the whole kit for $100 anyway, so the rate of failure depends on the qualtiy of the kit.

Originally posted by: BG4533
. This would cost maybe $30 to replicate, where water cooling would be hundreds and would probably be louder.

Brian

Thats wrong.
 

Mingon

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2000
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Main difference between air-cooling and water cooling is that with air-cooling, the temp will never go below room temp (which some of you already know) and that water cooling lets the temp go below room temp

Thats extremely wrong :p you will never go below ambient without phase change.
 

BG4533

Golden Member
Oct 15, 2001
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Originally posted by: Mingon
Main difference between air-cooling and water cooling is that with air-cooling, the temp will never go below room temp (which some of you already know) and that water cooling lets the temp go below room temp

Thats extremely wrong :p you will never go below ambient without phase change.

With water cooling you could throw some ice in the water to get you below ambient. That could be considered phase change cooling though. Peltiers can get you far below ambient and are not phase change cooling.

 

justinm

Senior member
Mar 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: Mingon
Main difference between air-cooling and water cooling is that with air-cooling, the temp will never go below room temp (which some of you already know) and that water cooling lets the temp go below room temp

Thats extremely wrong :p you will never go below ambient without phase change.

Oppps, I meant at or near ambient temps. And for a good watercooling case, an Antec 1040 server case is a good choice b/c its got a lot of room and stuff for the pump and stuff.

 

cainsdive

Senior member
Sep 4, 2002
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I too am looking at water cooling for my second comp as I want to OC. Looking at getting the Abit IC7-G:D:beer: So far I like DangerDens setup. But like most am woryed about springing a leak:Q
 

Mingon

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2000
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Peltiers can get you far below ambient and are not phase change cooling.

Even peltiers only get you just below ambient, we are talking about needing 120watt peltier just to cool a 3ghz P4 to around 8c - thats still a lot of heat to dissapate of the back end of the TEC