# When do you look into water cooling?



## liberty610 (Oct 11, 2009)

So I am starting to get into custom builds and learning more about PCs. I know why some people would need to water cool their systems, but I was curious. When do you need water cooling for your system? How do you determine weather or not to use it?

And what exactly does the water cooling setup involve?


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## tomcat1965 (Oct 19, 2010)

Water cooling is a system in which a cooling block is placed on the CPU, GPU or both and routed through a radiated to dissipate the heat. Usually a good aftermarket cooler will do fine on its own. Water cooling is a choice usually used when overclocking of the CPU or GPU is done.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

Very, very expensive too. I made a .doc file earlier, for another thread. Give it a quick read, it'll give you some idea of costs etc. It's attached to post #10 of this thread, it's on another computer, so I'm just putting in a link to that thread.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f25...lease-review-compatibility-for-me-522390.html


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

it's expensive for little gain for normal use


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Water cooling is a more of a want than a need. Air cooling can be just as effective and you have no worries about leakage and damage to the hardware.


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## liberty610 (Oct 11, 2009)

Alright, thats pretty much all I needed to hear. lol. I can steer clear of looking into that then haha. Thanks guys.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Agreed.

I always got taught that water and electricity dont mix and if you screw up a water cooling installation then you might end up needing a new system.


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## herpfan (Dec 28, 2005)

In the process of speccing a new build too. I was under the impression water cooling would be quieter than air cooling. I don't like the weight or looks of the monster air coolers people are hanging off the CPU. I think some of them weigh around 2 pounds now. The looks, noise, and weight are my reasons for looking into water cooling. I started wanting the H50 but now may go with XSPC Rasa.
Right now I'm stuck deciding between nVidia or AMD 3D and what type of SSD drive to try.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Any good liquid cooling system that I have encountered is just as noisy as air. You still have a radiator (heatsink) and a fan.
If you don't have a case window you can't see the CPU HSF.
SSD's are way overpriced and offer little more than a faster boot time.


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## herpfan (Dec 28, 2005)

Tyree said:


> Any good liquid cooling system that I have encountered is just as noisy as air. You still have a radiator (heatsink) and a fan.
> If you don't have a case window you can't see the CPU HSF.
> SSD's are way overpriced and offer little more than a faster boot time.


I like to dabble with newer stuff just for the learning experience and to future proof the system a little more. My biggest problem with the high performance air cooolers is that I know there is up to 2 pounds of stuff hanging off the motherboard. The further the center off mass from the motherboard, the more torque it creates at the mounting point. I can see your point though; the cons of SSD are keeping me from pulling the trigger.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Liquid cooling offers no future proofing. The key to PC hardware longevity is to have sufficient power for your hardware (a little head room never hurts) and keep the hardware clean.
Good quality air coolers have a mounting plate that distributes the weight of the heatsink.


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## TheSeeker07 (Feb 19, 2011)

I disagree w/ Tyree.... Generally SSDs are more reliable and faster than regular hard drives. I wouldn't buy one for a main drive, no, that's crazy they are too pricey in that range but to have all essentials on the SSD? Yes, that seems like a good idea to me. If you have the money that is... If you want cheap go cheap. If you want reliable do SSD.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

How are SSD's faster, other than boot times, or more reliable than standard drives?


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## TheSeeker07 (Feb 19, 2011)

Tyree said:


> How are SSD's faster, other than boot times, or more reliable than standard drives?


Boot times are the only reason to use a SSD, idk if I got that across with my last point. More reliable? They are meant to not be able to fail, like standard hard drives. I wouldn't go off purchasing a 250gb SSD, more like 50gb, just for a quick boot time and all necessary programming.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

TheSeeker07 said:


> They are meant to not be able to fail, like standard hard drives.


Please explain. To the best of my knowledge, any hardware is subject to failure at any time. SSD's are a good design for laptops but I see no advantages, other that the boot times, in a PC.


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## TheSeeker07 (Feb 19, 2011)

Tyree said:


> Please explain. To the best of my knowledge, any hardware is subject to failure at any time. SSD's are a good design for laptops but I see no advantages, other that the boot times, in a PC.


Opps, unlike standard hard drives* 

No moving parts.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

No moving parts doesn't make it more reliable. USB sticks have no moving arts and they have a very high failure rate....unlike standard drives.


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## TheSeeker07 (Feb 19, 2011)

I have never heard of anybodies USB failing to be honest, I've had mine for 5 years now and it still hasn't failed. Whatever you say though, just explaining my experience. No reason to debate about the reason they make them ;p


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## herpfan (Dec 28, 2005)

I think you two are gonna have to agree to disagree :smile: The benefits of SSD may not be a slam dunk right now, but without support the technology may not grow to its real potential. Haven't had a USB failure either but can see how since they are made cheaply and small to be carried and abused.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

All hardware is not created equal and everyone's experiences differ. 
Some lasts for yrs. and some for days. :smile:


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

you only have to check the threads here on the forum to see failure is a common occurance

the thread was posted on water cooling,get back on subject


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## srinath29 (Mar 31, 2011)

Hey does air conditioning cool the cpu??


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Home A/C cools ambient temps and that can be beneficial to the PC temps.


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## Jay_JWLH (Apr 30, 2008)

For me, it was simply a matter of bringing my CPU temperature down (and RAM) so that I could just overclock them hard out. So far I have just been facing a big bunch of BSOD's, so not good so far.

If you aren't looking at anything too serious, you can just get some kits to make the entire process very simple. Mine for example (Corsair H70) is completely closed loop, so I don't have to touch any of the liquids for the life of the product. However the setback now is that I wish I had considered something with a cooling block for my GPU as well (if possible, since it uses Silent Pipe II). Before you know it, you could be dealing with multiple blocks, and dealing with parts left right and center.

One thing to watch out for of course is noise. I applied some included cables which turned the RPM down, and now I just unplug one of the two fans, but believe me when I say that it can make some noise (if you are sleeping next to it anyway). If you can take into account the ability to adjust fan speeds, then you should be better off. I even recall pictures of external radiators as tall as a desk, external to the computer case.

Another consideration is how friendly your motherboard is to overclock settings, and if your CPU is multiplier unlocked.

As for SSD's, I don't doubt that they have a performance improvement, but that is just another want over a need. You may as well be looking at RAID instead. I have considered but not wanted to buy a SSD myself, however if I was I would keep it strictly for the purpose of the OS to help make that process faster. In return, I shouldn't need that much storage on it (leave that to platter based disks), hence a cheaper SSD to try out.
As for reliability, that too is improving with technology, especially with the whole TRIM thing. In the end, you would be smart to keep backups, and make sure you have a good warranty period (and maybe a good MTBF). As two people here have discussed, one of the benefits of a SSD is their lack of mechanical parts, so if I had one installed in my laptop I wouldn't be so cautious about how I treat my laptop until it properly shuts off (and the hard drive stops moving). As for the wear and tear of the parts inside, I'm edging towards the idea that SSD's wouldn't last as long under similar demands. Maybe that is a good reason why people aren't using them more often in servers for improved latency reasons (besides price)?


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