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A beginners guide to watercooling

@ 2007/08/14

In order to do a major project whether it is renovating a house, doing some custom bodywork on your car or modifying your computer, you need to have an idea what it is your want the finished product to look or work like. This is not a trivial step. You need to look at your project from multiple angles and take into account a lot of factors. Designing a custom cooling system for your computer is just one of these tasks that require careful consideration before you pick up a screwdriver or acquire parts.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/15

agreed, but risk for WC/Subzero is much higher compared to air cooling; and the benefit from WC for either high end or low noise has pretty much gone;

also reason why we don't as many water cooling reviews as we did few years ago

Comment from Kougar @ 2007/08/15

From my experience I do. I've seen more cascades fail to condensation working it's way past the seal than I have watercooling loops fail... and I do not even keep track of "exotic" cooling solutions. It is far easier to secure and double check a hose clamp than it is to keep condensation completely out of a CPU or GPU subzero setup.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/15

don't find the risks significantly higher compared to WC

Comment from Kougar @ 2007/08/14

Subzero cooling will give higher speeds... but subzero cooling costs more to buy into than high-end watercooling and most configs are not suitable for low cost 24/7 operation. Not to mention it carries a higher risk of shorts due to condensation leaks.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

Since both of you are saying CPU performance does not matter at those speeds, then why would you prefer a cascade or other form of even more exotic cooling instead??

because if you are going to spend more money on cooling with the goal for extreme CPU speeds, subzero cooling will give better return in raw CPU speed.

Comment from Kougar @ 2007/08/14

Already used the Ninja and their "silent" fan that clicks slightly at speed. It was at it's limit at 3.5Ghz, and 3.5Ghz was not viable for extended use due to temps.

True, definitely don't need to run the system at it's highest overclock 24/7, but before the G0 Q6600 upgrade I ran the E6300 at 3.5Ghz at 1.44v. "Silent" enough all the fans can be set to their lowest speeds while still keeping temperatures low, but letting F@H and other apps run in the background.

Since both of you are saying CPU performance does not matter at those speeds, then why would you prefer a cascade or other form of even more exotic cooling instead?? I can understand air is a more viable alternative for slower and non-quad machines, but once you start hawking "extreme cooling" water is a much more viable option instead.

And Supreme Commander lags like a beast at 1.86Ghz. 3Ghz was an extreme improvement in SupCom and F@H both.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/14

Scythe Ninja + 120mm@5v C2D @ 3ghz. dead silent. you don't notice the difference between 3<>3.5ghz in anything but benchmarks.

sorry, WC has lost its performance appeal the moment raw CPU power stopped being the bottleneck for higher PC performance. For games it's VGA holding you back, for overall system usage it's the HDD.

most mainstream applications don't need a 3ghz C2D, they are happy and work fast with 1.66ghz C2D

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/14

Nobody needs to run CPU @3.74 Ghz when they are sleeping

Only a handful needs that speed awake

Comment from Kougar @ 2007/08/14

My rig is silent enough I can manage to sleep next to it at night two feet away, since it does not fit in the desk and I have no room here elsewhere for it to go. I had to make it "silent" to get some sleep at night.

While not silent in the literal sense of the word, I'd like to see an air cooler run a 3.5Ghz+ C2D or C2Q at ambient noise levels without cooking the CPU. Slapping a "silent" fan on a Thermalright 120 Extreme isn't going to match the performance, but it's going to cost almost $100 anywy.

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/08/14

Here we go again; silent water cooling

When you have to use a fan; nothing is silent

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/14

CPU overclocking can be done silently on air, cheaper, less risk. Those extra 300Mhz (at most) will not make a difference, those C2D chips fly on stock cooling already.

Comment from Kougar @ 2007/08/14

I would beg to differ. More users are jumping for the self-contained WC kits like the Bigwater, or especially the Corsair Nautilus. Then others jump for the Freezone and the Eliminator instead of building a higher end WC system.

I have no desire for sub-zero cooling, most aren't efficient for 24/7 use compared to water. Water is good for keeping the heat down so that higher volts are not needed to stabilize the chip, and doing so at near silence.

My 100% overclock never would have been viable on high-end air cooling no matter the cooler, let alone Orthos stable for 25 hours. I am not even sure my Q6600 @ 3.0 Ghz would be Prime stable at a mere 1.2 vCore either.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/14

Back in 2002 Gamer wrote this guide: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=gethowto&howtoID=4

today he no longer uses water cooling, either he air cools the CPU to get a good and easy overclock, or uses phase change to go for extreme cooling. WC is imho on the way out, enthusiast who want silence go for large CPU Coolers, those who want performance go for subzero.

only for VGA cooling there is noticeable merrit going for water cooling, it's easier to install than subzero, and offers a nice boost over air cooling performance, unlike the small difference in CPU overclock between high end air cooling and water cooling.

my 2 cents.

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