Water Cooling: Yay or Nay?

**chris_uk_83** · April 02, 2007, 04:54 AM

I've been wondering for a while if I should water cool my pc. The noise of the fans annoys me, even though I've got quiet fans installed already. I've been looking at this

http://quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/watercooling

and the earlier Reserator 1 as well (which is cheaper but provides less cooling) for a while now.

I was wondering if any of you have had experiences with water cooling and whether it's been a good or a bad one.

**Yogi Bear** · April 02, 2007, 05:20 AM

Its good if you know what your doing, if you have no idea you risk damaging or destroying your entire system. If you decide to get water cooling i strongly suggest you get help from knowledgeable friends or a local pc shop to do it for you.

**OTZ** · April 02, 2007, 05:35 AM

I've had a water cooled PC for 5 years now, and there's never been a problem. I started off with an aquarius water kit, but after 6 months I was confident enough to design my own set up...it's really not that difficult to do, and the slience factor is a huge payoff in my opinion.

**chris_uk_83** · April 02, 2007, 08:06 AM

I'm tech savvy enough not to fry my machine with the water cooling. And I know that I should run it for a good 24 hours outside the case to check for leaks!

Do you know if the cooling power is better/worse than air cooling or where to find any heat generation/removal stats for components/cooling?

**Vanquisher** · April 02, 2007, 08:11 AM

The cooling power is a heck of a lot more efficient than air, which is why it's the mediumm popular with overclockers.

**Doono** · April 02, 2007, 08:31 AM

It's only more efficient if it's done correctly a number of cheaper cooling kits are acctually less efficent than a properly air cooled system(those ones you chose looks like good quality though.), it's also absurdly expencive to do. If the sound bothers you try larger fans before trying water cooling. Go with 120mm ones. also if your using the stock heatsink with your CPU get a 3rd party one. You could probably achieve a level of silence for a fraction of the cost of water cooling.

But if money isn't an issue go with it, you should monitor the water blocks for corrosion quite often though.

**OTZ** · April 03, 2007, 05:58 AM

Water cooling isn't really that expensive - if you're thrifty enough you can do it rather cheaply. The only expenses I had were for the water blocks - the rest managed to salvage. In my second water cooled build, the radiator was a heater core from an 87 Mustang (only cost was the labour to tear the sucker out), and I found the pump at a yard sale for $3. My third set up is all store bought though, and yes it is definitely more expensive than air cooling, but the silence is priceless, and there is a definitive "cool" factor to H20 set ups.

**Incinerate_IV** · April 03, 2007, 05:33 PM

Watercooling is pretty nice if you are into overclocking, but if you're just seeking quietness, then save the money and just get a good Zalman CPU cooler. Remember watercooling require fans too, the same ones you put in your system.

**westy159** · April 03, 2007, 06:56 PM

I am correct in saying that there is a misconception when it comes to liquid cooling, many believe it to be water that is pumped around when it is actually a different liquid?

I can imagine water quickly coming equal to the components highest temperature rather than cooling the component.

So is this correct?

**Incinerate_IV** · April 03, 2007, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by westy159

I am correct in saying that there is a misconception when it comes to liquid cooling, many believe it to be water that is pumped around when it is actually a different liquid?

Actually, distilled water is probable the liquid that's being pumped around on most watercooling systems (that's what I use). Some people also add some other stuff to prevent corrosion/algae.

Originally Posted by westy159

I can imagine water quickly coming equal to the components highest temperature rather than cooling the component.

So is this correct?

A good watercooling can handle up to 700 watts of energy, the 120 watt CPU it's cooling is nothing. The water temperature will probably only rise 2-3 degrees. And that will be quickly cooled by the radiator.

**drak10687** · April 03, 2007, 07:44 PM

um, I was under the impression that water has one of the highest specific heat capacities... (the heat energy required to raise something by 1 degree C/K) ... thats why they use it to cool nuclear reactor cores ... or they use the messy stuff that they used in Chernobyl...

**Lee1026** · April 03, 2007, 10:20 PM

Remember the physics of the situation? The radiator will let out only as much heat as a heatsink of similar size.

**invictus** · April 03, 2007, 10:40 PM

Well i recently added in a liquid cool system to aid me in the fight against over heating. My vid card would reach temps of above 70 degrees C. Now i havent seen them in the 50's. So i would go with a yes. -Leon

**Zephyrus** · April 03, 2007, 10:47 PM

Now, after you cool the computer from the heat witht he water cooler, and you cool the water cooler with the radiator, what happenes when the radiator gets overheated? (Interesting question, no?

)

**sdjenkyn** · April 03, 2007, 10:55 PM

Save your money and stick with air, I added a zalman to my cpu and temp went from 60's to 20's c. rest of the case is 120's and a 180?mm set up for forced air flow. Its not really silent but its actually quieter then older case's i've owned. Plus I still dont like the thought of liquid in the case.

**King Edward I** · April 05, 2007, 02:28 AM

well I have a virtually silent PC, or I can up all the fans fr performance, on silent mode, its inaudible and the cpu (e4300 @ 3Ghz) idles at about 30C, so not really hot, just as good as water, under load temps rarely break 50 unless its dual instance of TAT and orthos, in gaming its about 41. I have a TJ09 with 5 120mm fans in and a tuniq with a high CFM silverstone undervolted so its silent

.

Just get a fan controller