Water Cooling Recommendations

[Lucid Faia]

I'm building a system soon and was thinking about taking the route of water cooling. Thing is, I'm not particularly conversant when it comes to cooling, but plan on doing some overclocking with my upcoming build.

So, if you have any good suggestions for a water cooling kit, post them here.

 

[aigomorla]

uhhhh.. theres like threads on this topic everywhere. you should really use the search button. :X

But to answer your question anyhow, you didnt even state a budget, and how many things on the loop you plan on cooling.

 

[essasin]

Since you didn't post any specs of the system...how many blocks...what case and most importantly your budget

Cathar G7
Iwaki Pump
Thermochill 120.3
Tygon 1/2 in
Aqua bay res

 

[atybimf]

Originally posted by: essasin
Since you didn't post any specs of the system...how many blocks...what case and most importantly your budget

Cathar G7
Iwaki Pump
Thermochill 120.3
Tygon 1/2 in
Aqua bay res

That'll run you a bit high :laugh:

 

[Luckyboy1]

Water cooling done poorly and with cheap kits is a waste of time in my opinion. Great air cooling with great case cooling will give you just as good of results as poor water cooling without the risks enherent in water (which are overblown by the way).

Not so much to make you a fanboi of Danger Den, but just for good artlicles and movies on how it is done go here...

http://www.dangerden.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.1

Not all the video links work, but there's plenty 'O instructions with plenty 'O pictures to give you good ideas as to what it takes to get the job done well.

After you've water cooled well, you'll never go back to air cooling. While total case cooling and power issues are still important with water cooled rigs, having the water cooling makes so many things more stable and easy to work with, it's just so much better than even the best of air cooling. Why?...

1) Water cooling WELL by itself takes you 85% to the possible limits of cooling technology. Do a Peltier WELL added to that and you get to about 95% of the limit of benefit from possible cooling technology and it is expensive not just to buy, but to run as well. Go from water cooling to compressed gas cooling WELL and it will take you to 98% of the limits cooling can benefit a given chip. Going liquid nitrogen even according to the technical people at Craig Computers gets you the last 2% and that is all. So water by itself done WELL is "the solution".

2) Cooling down the CPU also cools the mommaboard. This reduces heat transfer to your very heat sensitive system RAM and even more heat sensitive video RAM as well. Water cool the GPU and you will reduce mommaboard temps as well. A few Intel's benefit from a water block on the chipset, but ask Danger Den by calling them if that applies to you. Just because they make a cooler for something doesn't automatically mean you'll benefit from it. Always call them once you've finalized plans to see what imput they'll give you. Quite often, they can save you time, money and trouble. Well worth the phone call if you ask me.

Cooling down the mommaboard will make it so when you overclock, you can do so while not opening up RAM timings so fast. This way you get a better yield from any overclock. Even if you don't overclcock the CPU or GPU, you can still benefit by having tighter RAM timings at stock speeds or close to stock speeds than on air cooling as well as longer lifespan of components.



3) Water cooling is quieter, but not quite silent when done WELL. The smaller the radiators you use and the smaller the pumps in general, the louder it will be. Passive cooling gives how would I politely say this?... passive results?

 

[Luckyboy1]

Oh yeah, one more point!

Water cooling WELL is not cheap to setup. But look at the investment in pumps and radiators, fans to cool the radiators, reserviors and most of the hosing and clamps as a long term investment. These parts should be chosen with extra care because you will use them for years to come.

After that, maybe, and just maybe when you go to a new board you'll need a new water block. Quite often, you won't need any changes to the water block. Sometimes, all you'll need to buy is a new top for the water block so it will fit. Ease and completeness of fit is critical in water block design. A water block may be slightly more efficient than the next, but if it doesn't mount with ease like the Danger Den ones do, it is mostly a theoroetical benefit and can lead to disaster, like with any other ill fitting or hard to mount air product. Skimp on the water blocks and forget the benefits of water cooling as well. the cheapy blocks and even some of the more expensive ones are fully 50% less efficient at transferring heat as the Danger Den water blocks. I'd say the copper ones give you the best bang for the buck. Going to silver plating yields little extra and even Danger Den will tell you that as well.

 

[Lucid Faia]

I guess I should have posted the specs of the system before posting; I apologize. After reading everyone's insights, I think air cooling will be ample for my needs.

Thanks to all who posted.

 

[essasin]

once you go water you don't go back

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Luckyboy1
Oh yeah, one more point!

Water cooling WELL is not cheap to setup. But look at the investment in pumps and radiators, fans to cool the radiators, reserviors and most of the hosing and clamps as a long term investment. These parts should be chosen with extra care because you will use them for years to come.

After that, maybe, and just maybe when you go to a new board you'll need a new water block. Quite often, you won't need any changes to the water block. Sometimes, all you'll need to buy is a new top for the water block so it will fit. Ease and completeness of fit is critical in water block design. A water block may be slightly more efficient than the next, but if it doesn't mount with ease like the Danger Den ones do, it is mostly a theoroetical benefit and can lead to disaster, like with any other ill fitting or hard to mount air product. Skimp on the water blocks and forget the benefits of water cooling as well. the cheapy blocks and even some of the more expensive ones are fully 50% less efficient at transferring heat as the Danger Den water blocks. I'd say the copper ones give you the best bang for the buck. Going to silver plating yields little extra and even Danger Den will tell you that as well.

rofl lucky boy stated it well, the overall price tag on my complete setup is close to around 300 dollars. Thats the price of a X2 just on cooling!! :X but cost of cooling, 300 dollars, the ability to take my x2 to 2.8ghz prime stable for 24 hours at 1.49 volts AND not break higher then 38 on load when room temp is in excess of 82F , Priceless

 

[Luckyboy1]

Well, at least the guy found out that doing it porrly wouldn't yield much!

Still, once you've gone with water cooling, air seems kinda... well, retarted! I'm sorry, I wish I could state it in a more politically appropriate way, but once you know what good quality water cooling will do, then having air only is just plain not cutting it! With air you have a choice...

1) Cool and loud. At this level, you can finally get a few overclocks in, but for all the heat you get from your efforts and having to back way off on RAM timings and even go out of 1:1, well, it's barely worth it from a performance standpoint. At least you know your cooling system is working. How could you miss the sound of that leaf blower going in your case?!

2) Still loud, but not as loud and not as cool. At this point, you might as well leave the overclocking at home because for the shortened lifespan of it all, stressing things like this is not a good idea.

3) You can run vewy quiet as Elmer Fudd would say! You may be within specs at stock speeds for this fun, but getting anything like decent lifespan from components and reliable service from your box all around is not a good bet.


Still, the guy was smart enough to know himself. He's not willing to do the work and/or spend the intitial investment which is a long, long term investment. It's better to discover that about yourself now than after you've tried to kid yourself and blown as much as a couple hundred bucks on cheap water cooling solutions that don't get you much farther than air.

Does this make the guy wrong for feeling that way? Of course not! What's right for me may not be right for someone else.