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Liquid Newb

L

Liquid Flames

Junior Member
Hey All,

I've read the liquid cooling stickies - both the one about "water cooling for newbies" and the one about "which custom is right for me". The information in those threads seems a little dated so I've still got questions.

Yes, I'm new to liquid cooling. My next PC build will be my first liquid cooled build. My overall goal is to reduce noise and get rid of the need for a giant heat sink and dust magnet fans on the CPU. I will not be overclocking.

So, even though there is a sticky about which one is right for me, I still can't decide. Should I go with a closed loop system like Corsair's H100 or build my own piece by piece? Also, what if I want to take the H100 a step further and include my video card in the water loop? Or the RAM? Or anything else that might have a fan on it? Space is not an issue as I'll be building with the Corsair Obsidian 800D case. I just can't seem to make up my mind and being that I'm new to this I don't want to take the plunge of trying to piece together a system with lack of experience.

What do you think?

-Liquid Flames
 
Liquid Flames said:
My overall goal is to reduce noise and get rid of the need for a giant heat sink and dust magnet fans on the CPU.

Should I go with a closed loop system like Corsair's H100 or build my own piece by piece? Also, what if I want to take the H100 a step further and include my video card in the water loop? Or the RAM? Or anything else that might have a fan on it?

Space is not an issue as I'll be building with the Corsair Obsidian 800D case.

Budget is not a factor

What do you think?

-Liquid Flames
Click to expand...
You want nice quiet cooling, space and budget not an issue...
> Click Here < if you dare :colbert:
 
If you want flexibility for your water loop(s) and the best performance, you're going to have to go with a custom setup. While the Corsair H100 isn't a bad system, it makes too many compromises to perform anywhere near what a good custom loop can.

For instance, Corsair went with mixed metals, a copper block for the cpu and an aluminum radiator. So, to combat the galvanic corrosion that would inevitably happen with such a setup, a glycol solution is used for the coolant. Unfortunately, glycol-based coolants, while good at preventing corrosion, are less than ideal as a heat transfer medium....the glycol mix performs worse than a pure distilled water coolant.

Then Corsair used a thin, higher fpi (fins per inch) radiator. Not bad in and of itself, but another compromise. To get a higher fin count radiator to perform well, one must use higher cfm fans with a good static pressure. Works well, but at the cost of noise.

A thicker, lower fpi radiator can achieve similar performance with lower cfm fans that run quieter. And you'd also pick a radiator that's copper/brass construction, not aluminum.

Then there's the cpu block itself. The Corsair cpu block with its integrated pump, like all one-piece pump/block combos, does not extract heat from the cpu as well as a good separate cpu block does, like the Swiftech Apogee HD, or XSPC Rasa, or Koolance 370, among others. And you lose the ability to change blocks as you want; you're stuck with what's under the pump.

And the list goes on. The prebuilt loops are a good alternative to pure air cooling, but they pale in comparison to loops built of separate components.
 
If* your not including other components in your water system. Just fyi a build that i did a long time ago i used the Scythe Ninja on a 3700 A64 socket 754. That mofo was Huge but i loved it, I didn't get it for overclocking, just to be quiet, tho it was so quiet i could leave comp idle and it could run without the fan on and temp stayed bellow 40 LoL so i overclocked it to 2.6 or 2.8 dont remember just because it was tooo stable lol. that was a while ago tho im guessing they have different and better models out now, didnt look

just another random noise hint, cases that have there own fan guards built into the case are usually if not always more noisy then the smooth circular standard type of fan guard u can buy anywere. I don't even use'm anymore. i just get a wall air conditioning replacement filter from walmart for couple buck n cut an apropriate size out to put infront of the fan, keeps the dust out too 😉
 
meh..

<--- people soon will start shelfing me in the antique section...

I would say almost the same conditions apply, just use the more modern parts for the guides.

The general BASIC still holds true.
Larger the rad, the slower the fans.
The shorter the loop the better performance.
 
Thank you all for the replies. I've done quite a bit of research the past day or so and that with your information here I think I'm ready to start buying parts. I decided, as suggested here, to not go with the Corsair H100. As mentioned, while it's easy to install and a complete kit, there are compromises made in it's construction.

Thanks again for the info!
 
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