Is Water Cooling best in my situation?

[vaccarjm]

I live in socal and it gets pretty warm in my room. My x2 3800 gets 38c on idle but 60c when running both cores at 100%. Granted my room temps are really high and the PC is no where near the window. Im using the big typhoon as well. Was thinking about swapping the fan or reapplying the thermal paste since i think i put way to much.

Water cooling could be an option for me. I have about $250 to spend. Any suggestions??

My case stays around 40c even when my room temps are 80F. I have a tj06 case with lots of fans going.

 

[ElTorrente]

Well, if it gets to 60C that isn't necessarily a big deal, as long as it's stable. If it's stable, then don't worry about it.

If you are planning on overclocking faster than you are currently running, then yes watercooling would certainly help you. If you do decide to get into watercooling, don't skimp- you have to get good quality stuff to see a significant advantage over something like the big typhoon.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Check out the Asetek Waterchill if you're looking for quality WC . . .

 

[ElTorrente]

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1
Check out the Asetek Waterchill if you're looking for quality WC . . .

NO. DO NOT waste your money on this!

Believe me, for the money this kit costs, you can put together a MUCH nicer and better performing system.

DON'T BUY A KIT!!!!! If you absolutely must buy a kit, get a Swiftech H2O Apex. However, you should avoid kits altogether.

First of all, don't hang around Anandtech if you are looking for good watercooling information. You want to go to OCForums or Extremeoverclocking forums and learn from the people there.

 

[Greenman]

Water won't bring down your idle temps very much, but would help your load temps.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Greenman
Water won't bring down your idle temps very much, but would help your load temps.

Idle temperatures do sink a bit, less so the more heat sources in your loop. Of course, the entire range of operating temps, peek-to-peek, for a water-cooled PC depends on surface area and the CFM you have whistling by.

OP: You'll be able to get rid of some fans using water and you'll get slightly better temps, but TBH your temps aren't at all bad right now. One positive thing water would give you under your circumstances is a higher operational ceiling should it get really hot in your computer room. You?re considering water-cooling the CPU only?

 

[racinjimy]

Originally posted by: ElTorrente
First of all, don't hang around Anandtech if you are looking for good watercooling information. You want to go to OCForums or Extremeoverclocking forums and learn from the people there.

let me add xtremesystems.org to that list........................

read the stickies

 

[vaccarjm]

thanks for the suggestions

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: ElTorrente

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1
Check out the Asetek Waterchill if you're looking for quality WC . . .

NO. DO NOT waste your money on this!

Believe me, for the money this kit costs, you can put together a MUCH nicer and better performing system.

DON'T BUY A KIT!!!!! If you absolutely must buy a kit, get a Swiftech H2O Apex. However, you should avoid kits altogether.

First of all, don't hang around Anandtech if you are looking for good watercooling information. You want to go to OCForums or Extremeoverclocking forums and learn from the people there.

It's interesting that you'd say not to expect "good" water-cooling information here and then proceed to TELL the OP what to do. I spend a fair amount of time here and at OCforums trying to help people when it comes to water, and I'm not an idiot on the subject. You might take some time consider what you're saying before you cast aspersions on an entire forum, especially when you haven't been there very long.

 

[vaccarjm]

hardwarrior.....could you suggest to me what parts to get? Lets say if you had a $200 budget? Im not looking for anything crazy....just something that works and is reliable.

 

[HardWarrior]

What do you want to cool, CPU and GPU?

 

[vaccarjm]

cpu only.

I have the leadtek 7800gtx extreme that has a cooling system on it.

 

[HardWarrior]

I've got to head back to work now, so I'll look up something for you this evening. Can I assume that you'd like some expandibility build in?

 

[govtcheez75]

listen to HardWarrior. He's very informative.

I bought a Corsair Cool watercooling kit from a guy that has a review site. He tested a few different kits and assured me that this was pretty much the best one of the "noob kits". I was in the same boat as you since I've never tried WC before. It was very easy and lowered my load temps by about 12-14 degrees from an XP-90 with a hard blowing fan. I can't compare, since i've never really owned any other form of water cooling but based on what I've seen, I would recommend this kit. You can get it for under $200.

...just a note, this kit is pretty much a bunch of Swiftech parts assembled and painted black (instead of Swiftech blue).

*edit* I just noticed that I said it lowered my idle temps by 12-14 degrees. I meant load temps. My idle temps only dropped by 4-5 degrees.

 

[NotquiteanooB]

vacarjm:
There are kits and then there are kits. Some good, some not so good. Like Govtcheez, I've put in 4 of the Corsair Cool kits. They are basically clones of the SWiftech kits, only less expensive. Load temps have dropped 11*C (50 to 39) Kits were easy to install, getting the air out of the first install was a bit of a problem, but after learning a better system for burping the air; the other installs were great. It is definitely worth the bucks to water cool. The noise level from 4 PC's in a small room was almost painful. Now the room is quieter and the ambient temp has dropped from 28*C to 23*C

 

[HardWarrior]

I agree with gov. The Cool will supply great parts, offer good performance and not force you to deal with multiple shipping cost and different vendors. It also happens to cool just what you want and allows for expandibility.

Edit: The reason why so many people turn their noses up at kits is due to the fact that not too long ago kits were crap. While that fact has changed many still jerk their knee's whenever someone says "kit." You'll also find that, for some reason, many water-cooling people are openly hostile to techniques and FRU's that they don't use. Call it "water-cooling politics."