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Water Cooling: Pros & Cons....

T

TechHead87

Senior member
I'm thinking about installing a water cooling kit sometime soon. If anybody knows the pluses and minuses to dealing with water cooling, please let me know. I'm somewhat afraid of the fact that there's going to be liquid close to my parts, but I've heard some good stuff about this.

 
Good things:

Much higher cooling capacity
Can be much quieter
"cool" factor


Bad Things:
Expensive
Can be difficult to install
Very bad if it leaks


That pretty much sums it up 🙂

 
Note to OP. TankGuys said "Much higher cooling capacity", which is exactly right. That does not mean "much lower temps". A lot of people think water cooling will bring temps way down into the 20"s, that won't happen. Your cpu temps will run 5 to 15C over ambient.
 
you can also cool your gpu... currently there is no aftermarket cooler that will bring a 6800 series or a 800xt down to below 50 load only a gpu cooler would be able to do that.
 
I'd like to try water cooling, but the price is what is holding me back.

It does seems the install can also take some time and be a PITA, but that's part of the fun, right? 🙂
 
I put together my system that i have now in about 4 days...built it in about two waiting for parts to arrive then i let it run outside my system for about 2 days...
 
Watercooling is for those who love to work on their systems a lot and have bad @ss cooling. I used to have a pretty elaborate watercooling system and had a lot of fun with it.

If you are looking for a good cooling value then forget it. You will only increase your overclock by 100 MHz or so with watercooling, and only if you are willing to use a lot of voltage. So if you are looking for performance the money is better spend on upgrading video or cpu.
 
what about maintenance, changing the water, cleaning ect? Aside from the price that has always been one of my major objections to water cooling.
 
If you're thinking about setting up a system soon, head on over to Danger Den and snap up a Black Ice radiator -- for some reason, they're selling them off at ludicrously low prices, literally a third or a half below anything else I've seen.

-hc-
 
Does anyone know where "HardWarrior" went? He guided me through me WC process but after I got it he just...disappeared. Hmm. He's a genious though if you're really considering WC try to hook up with him for some info.
 
Originally posted by: Kensai
I would say to change the water every 6 months or so, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

At first you'll want to change your water often. I changed mine twice in the first week, then again a month later. New blocks and radiators usually have some metal shavings in them that can potentially corrode other things, so you'll want to get rid of them completely. When I changed the water for the first time the water was glittery. It was kinda sweet.
 
When I look at what I spent on water cooling, the problems I've had with it, and my cpu temps, I don't think I'd do it again. I'd be much better off today if I'd spent that money on a good air cooler and a better video card.
 
Water cooling is fairly cheap and very effective. I been using my basic set up for well over 5 yrs just changing water blocks, and gpu coolers as things change. so I would say teh cost is very cheap long term. no need to change the water as long as you use some adttive to combat corrison, just like cars need.

If anybody needs help with set one up or specific ?'s Pm I kinds busy but I will answer any questions. my cuirrent set up uses a chevtte heatercore with new hose barbs added, 120mm fan a dangerden waterblocks.

Clinth
 
First, don't make a decision based on practicality. Nobody in their right mind gets into watercooling because it's practical. It's not. On reasonably cool hardware, the latest generation of air coolers will do nearly the same job at a moderate noise level. You get into watercooling because you want to do so, because you want to tinker with your system, because you get a kick out of being hands-on with this stuff -- the added overclocking capability and low noise are just icing on the cake, unless you're a fanatic for either. Like I always say, some people rice out their Civics, and some of us put highly conductive fluids inside our computers.

Second, your hardware configuration makes a big difference. For example, if you plan on cooling a 90nm AMD chip and an X800 XL, the tangible noise/performance benefit from watercooling over high-end air will be minimal; neither part runs particularly hot, and the X800 XL won't overclock worth a damn regardless of cooling. On the other hand, if you're running a P4 660 and an X800 XT or 6800GT -- much hotter parts -- watercooling will deliver significantly higher overclocks at much lower noise levels.

-hc-
 
Everything has pretty much been covered by everyone else, so I'll just add from my own experiences.

I too had a bit of help from HardWarrior, he was very nice and very patient about it all.

I decided to cool my cpu, gpu, and chipset. For me it was definitely worth it. The initial investment is a little high, but most of it can be transferred to a new pc with the possible exception of the blocks themselves. The blocks themselves, however, are priced in the range of a good air cooler. In the end, it may not get your spu (especially venice and winchester cores) running cooler than good air cooling, but it will certainly get your hotter gpu's running much cooler. My 6800 GT maxes out at 51 on full load. I was using an Arctic Cooling NV5 silencer before that and maxing at 81-82 on full load.
 
I just got my first watercooling project up and going today, and I think it's worth it.

HeaterCore is correct is saying that Venice, Winchester and Palermo (90nm chips) do not see a significant drop in peak temperatures. My 3800+ Venice dropped from 51C aircooled to 47C watercooled under Prime95 torture tests.

What I have noticed is that my processor temperatures drop much, much faster when I go from full load to idle. My temperature delta is now 1C/1s rather than 1C/3s.

My system is also quieter. I can not hear my pump over the noise of my three 80mm Panaflo fans, which are very quiet themselves. This was my main goal, so I wasn't irked when I saw only a 4C drop in peak temperatures.
 
I think the prices are very reasonable (about $500 or less for a good kit im guessing?) after seeing myself spend like 100 on an xp-90, vga silencer, a nexus 120 fan etc. and im still stuck with the stock chipset cooler which is the hottest chip and noisest if it gets too hot. Since fans use air to cool, your temp will never be below room temp so summer heat won't be fun.
 
I think $500 would be hard to spend on a water system unless you're going with a peltier system. My system ran me half that price:

Swiftech DC pump $70
Swiftech AMD block $42
Aqua Twinplex GPU block $60
Airplex Radiator $75
ClearFlex Tubing $5
Misc Parts $14
----------------------------
Total $266


Had I gone with a cheaper radiator and forgone the GPU block, I could have gotten the whole thing for under $200 shipped. Higher than the price of a top end air cooler, but worth it in my book for the "gee-wiz" factor.
 
Originally posted by: ToeJam13
I think $500 would be hard to spend on a water system unless you're going with a peltier system. My system ran me half that price:

Swiftech DC pump $70
Swiftech AMD block $42
Aqua Twinplex GPU block $60
Airplex Radiator $75
ClearFlex Tubing $5
Misc Parts $14
----------------------------
Total $266


Had I gone with a cheaper radiator and forgone the GPU block, I could have gotten the whole thing for under $200 shipped. Higher than the price of a top end air cooler, but worth it in my book for the "gee-wiz" factor.
Click to expand...


ya i have no idea on the prices of water cooling. if it's even cheaper, then it is further in favor of my point. if i knew they were that cheap, i shoulda just went for that instead.
 
Pump $50
Heater core $25
cpu block $55
gpu block $39
chipset block $20
2-120 mm fans $24
Hose and fittings $30

total $243

I'll prolly spend another $25 on material to build a case for the rad that sits on top of my computer. That 6x12 heater core takes up a lot of space, so I'm going to put the core, pump and res in the box I build.
 
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