Water cooled vs Air cooled on the CPU ?

[Aedubber]

This might be a dumb question for you guys but i would like to try watercooling and wanna know if water cooling the cpu is a major difference in temps rather then having a fan on the cpu? Im not an extreme over clocker or anything like that but i do have a good setup i would like to adjust a little bit and tweak out. Would u say water cooling is worth the setup on temps over air cooled? Thanks

[Hondacity]

not really worth the upgrade...if you minor overclocks..like 4ghz on an e8600...or 3.6ghz on an i920

silent push pull air coolers are good for minor overclocks...

[MetalWaterBox]

There is no comparison between a good water setup and a air cooler. Water will have MUCH lower temps vs a air cooler. If you plan on not overclocking too much then yes a air cooler will be fine, BUT if you want to get into water cooling , it is FAR superior to air and in my opinion is worth every penny...not only for the cooling performance but also the low noise factor

[WaterFlex]

I went WC because i needed less noise

[JumpingJack]

Water cooling, when done right, is superior to air cooling in terms of just thermal performance. You will see dramatically lower temps than what you are accustomed to seeing. Water cooling has other features over air, not just for thermals. Noise is can be lower because fans can be set at lower RPM overall, and if you are really into the hobby, water cooling can be made to simply look great inside a good case.

However, the investment is, of course, much greater and unless it meets one of your needs then it is not worth the investment. Just seeing lower temps is not a good enough reason, in my opinion, to engage in water cooling. If your desire is getting that last extra stability at the highest sustainable clock speed, a silent running PC, and/or the asthetics then go for it otherwise, a good air cooler will suit you fine.

Word of caution, these simple all-in-one water cooling solutions that come pre-packaged and clamp on to the CPU/back plane (like the Domino A.L.C.) are not real water cooling and do not perform any better than a high end air cooler.

[Aedubber]

Thanks guys, ya i mean i have a list of the good products for WCing , i will get it setup next month or so then

[justin150]

Two points: water cooling is point cooling (ie only cools where there are water blacks) but air cooling is general. You will need some air cooling on a WC rig.

Done properly WC is a lot quieter than air cooling

[meanmoe]

Silence is by far the best feature imo. It allows you the capability of pushing your system as hard as you'd like, beyond air, without running fans that sound like turbines at 3000+ rpm or opening up the case and putting a box fan in front. It's efficient and allows a lot of flexibility

And as previously stated it does look cool. The con is that it can get expensive depending on what you do and it's addicting as hell. It's also significantly more effort. You can't just throw together a system in an hour anymore. Also, you'll start with a cpu only box and then end up throwing blocks on everything, then you'll start buying more blocks, then the newest blocks, more radiators, hacking up cases for the new radiators, sleeving psus, watercooling the ps3 and the xbox and then spend the rest of your time trying to figure out how to do it better. Definitely a can of worms. (or maybe I'm just a bit obsessive, but then it seems I'm in the right place)

For a starter, cpu only system, the swiftech kits contain good components and are easier on the wallet. Others may disagree and they're not top performers, but I think they're great and I have a water block/pump combo with a 120 rad/res combo on an htpc in my living room. Also on the cheap and simple side, it's also hard to beat an enzotech saphire+DDC350+EKtop+MCR220 and T-line with fill port.

Eventually, if you go down this road, you'll have a block on your ram, I'm not there yet, and I don't know why'd you'd do it, but I have every bit of confidence that eventually I'll have one. Again, maybe this is just me.

[jadeskye]

block your cpu and gpu/s and get some low rpm fans and bam, silence, much cooler then air and much cooler looking.

What more do you need? ^^

[DeathWalking]

Originally Posted by Aedubber

Thanks guys, ya i mean i have a list of the good products for WCing , i will get it setup next month or so then

I would run that list by us
I'd hate to see you end up with a TT system.

[Aedubber]

Well i forget who it was on here that gave me a sweet setup, it was pretty much the best, i was suggested to run 2 rads 1 for the cpu and 1 for the graphics card. Then run a nice reservoir with dual pumps and to go with distilled water setup.I will get the list here in just a sec

[Aedubber]

dual loops with 2 DDCs and a XSPC dual bay res. Use a 120x3 rad for your cpu and a 120x2 for your GPU. <--- Millertime gave me this info and i forget the companies name that makes the more effeciant rads that requie low rpm fans but those would be the ones i would run. I have the Koolance WC block already for my graphics card sitting here.

[shazza]

more effeciant rads that requie low rpm fans

Just wanted to comment on this, as it's popped up a couple of times lately. Some radiators perform "better" with low RPM fans than other radiators - doesn't mean they need to be used with low RPM fans. You can generally improve your cooling performance by putting higher speed fans on your radiator (totally depends on your desire for noise/performance).

Check out the reviews in the sticky for Information/Guides to Liquid Cooling at the top of the page - there you can look at the data provided by HESmelaugh and skinnee to see how different radiator/fan combos.

[millertime359]

Originally Posted by shazza

Just wanted to comment on this, as it's popped up a couple of times lately. Some radiators perform "better" with low RPM fans than other radiators - doesn't mean they need to be used with low RPM fans. You can generally improve your cooling performance by putting higher speed fans on your radiator (totally depends on your desire for noise/performance).

Check out the reviews in the sticky for Information/Guides to Liquid Cooling at the top of the page - there you can look at the data provided by HESmelaugh and skinnee to see how different radiator/fan combos.

+1

Swiftech, XSPC, TFC, TC, and HWlabs SR1s all work well with low RPM fans, but it doesn't mean you can't use higher speed fans on them.

The HWLabs high FPI rads work fine with slower fans, but will work better with higher speed fans compared to lower FPI rads.

Also, careful with the comparision between water-cooled and air-cooled temps. There are a lot of variables involved in getting low temps.

[Aedubber]

Yes miller will do..

[scamps]

Originally Posted by Aedubber

This might be a dumb question for you guys but i would like to try watercooling and wanna know if water cooling the cpu is a major difference in temps rather then having a fan on the cpu? Im not an extreme over clocker or anything like that but i do have a good setup i would like to adjust a little bit and tweak out. Would u say water cooling is worth the setup on temps over air cooled? Thanks

By chance I did some testing this weekend regarding air vs. liquid:
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community...d.php?t=653427

If necessary use a translating tool, but I hope facts are clear enough in german language, too:

[Aedubber]

Ya i see that, not bad at all

[iandh]

It's kinda hard to justify in some cases, like mine. I run a 720BE fully passive air on a mugen II, so it wins in the silence category, and it wins in the price category.

My chip tops out at 3.8-ish regardless of cooling, so it's a waste for me... if I had a golden chip or better binned chip such as a 965, I would probably have it under liquid.

[Aedubber]

Well me and Miller just went on a rampage and bought 95% of everything lol... Good way to spend about 700 bucks in 1 night