Watercooling

[Luke]

I've never really looked at water cooling, but what's the minimum I'd have to spend too set it up (GPU is optional), and what product would you guys recomend etc?

Cheers
Luke

[Stephen!]

For a basic loop you're looking at around £150.

[Chippiewill]

An alternative to water cooling (Cheaper, safer and more convenient) are water based CPU coolers like the Corsair Hydro series, they offer a very good middle ground and you tend to get much better value for money in terms of degrees saved.

I personally have a H100 but I've heard good things about Antec's H20 series.

[peteyt]

Is it easy for water cooled systems to leak? I'd like one one day as they are apparently better and quieter than fans but would hate to have it one day leak and need to replace stuff

[GoldenMerc]

Is it easy for water cooled systems to leak? I'd like one one day as they are apparently better and quieter than fans but would hate to have it one day leak and need to replace stuff

Think so

[Recursion]

Unless you're overclocking and are really hitting the limits of the highest performance air coolers around, I seriously wouldn't even bother with watercooling, so much more money and hassle for little gain otherwise.


Is it easy for water cooled systems to leak? I'd like one one day as they are apparently better and quieter than fans but would hate to have it one day leak and need to replace stuff

You still need fans. Radiators wont dissipate heat out of the water very efficiently without any form of air flow.

[Luke]

Looking at the CPU watercoolers, the Corsair ones look pretty reasonable, no real setup. Think I'll invest in that

Cheers guys

[Recursion]

http://i.imgur.com/1hDtn.jpg

[Luke]

Choppiewill suggested the water cooled CPU things, i took his advice and decided to get one of those.

[Chippiewill]

Ohh quick thing

If you get the H100 or any two fan one make sure it fits the case..

[Stephen!]

And set it to either low or medium because the fans are LOUD at full speed.

[Tomm]

I just built my new PC with watercooling a few weeks ago (when sb-e was launched). Cost £380 for a CPU only loop (waiting for Southern islands/Kepler for a tri-sli/3 way xfire and then putting them under water as well + adding some additional rads)

Would strongly recommend it. Not only does it actually make building the computer more interesting as lets face it, after you've been building PCs for ages it gets a bit repetitive just doing essentiallythe same, quite simple, thing over and over but it allows you to really push the overclock on your CPU. At the more reasonable OC I run at 24/7 (4.75ghz, 6 core 3930k with 1.4 vcore - probs can lower this a bit more but can't really be bothered to spend ages finding the lowest voltage) it only hits mid 60s during prime95. I've pushed it further but the voltages are not reallyappropriatefor 24/7 use as I don't really want to go over 1.4v. If I had a better chip (Going to be throwing the dice in the silicone lottery with IB-E,hopingfor better that time) then I'd most likely be able to get a higher 24/7 overclock.

I'm using 6x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm @ 12v in a p/p config on the RX360 and its still really quiet. If I could be bothered to hook up a fan controller then you could lower the fan speed and get the noise down even more whilst still keeping a good overclock (Remember, I'm only at mid 60s at my 24/7 overclock so could safely let it go quite a bit higher).

In terms of leaks it is a risk, yes. However, if you take care when setting it up and run a long leak test then the chances of it leaking are very slim. Also if you don't have any ethical issues with doing so, then assuming you just use distilled water in the loop (so that there is not some coolant stain on the component from your UV reactive bright blue coolant you used) then you can just RMA any components that may get damaged as its highly unlikely they would be able to tell the cause of the damage ;)

It really shines on GPUs though. Fit a waterblock on your GPU and you'd be amazed at how much you can push it, especially with the dual gpu cards.

Oh and one final thing, it sure as hell looks nice in your case :D

[Jutnux]

http://www.dvhardware.net/news/aerocool_top_gun.jpg

For the average user watercooling is completely useless. If you're going to overclock a little bit then get some bigger fans. The only time you'd really water cooling is if you were overclocking quite high. Just get a big exhaust fans and some big radiators and you should be fine.

And on the topic of the water-cooling liquid leaking, yes it can. However, most coolans now-a-days are advertised as a non conductor, but I still wouldn't trust it. Do what other people in the thread have said and get a Hydra fan.