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Forums - PC Discussion - Air vs Liquid cooling: For PC enthusiasts specifically

Bro don't do liquid cooling cause if you pour liquids on your computer it might break.



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Liquid is superior but it requires a lot of research and understanding to properly utilize. Unless you use a pre-fabricated liquid cooling system like those from Corsair...which are not really any better than air cooling.


If money isn't an issue, I'd suggest starting with an air cooler and then start researching and gaining a good understanding of what it takes to properly work with liquid cooling and then replace your air cooler with a liquid system.

Also, liquid cooling gives you the option of cooling your graphics cards too. In a well balanced system, it will be much quieter and cooler even when heavily overclocked compared to air cooling.



The rEVOLution is not being televised

You should probably wait for the new Intel CPU's if your system is still good enough.



Wii/Mario Kart Wii Code:2793-0686-5434

Unless your system is already top of the line, the extra cost and extra effort of a proper liquid cooling system is not as effective as a simple hardware upgrade. When pushed to max, any glitches mid game makes the theoretical improvement in benchmark performance meaningless. But having done it myself, I must say it's more fun than the games lol.



A PC I build in 2011 utilized both CPU and GPU liquid cooling. This one -http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=130806

I had some issues with keeping everything clean in trying to fit 2 radiators and tubing for dial GPUs and CPUs so after a week I took out the CPU liquid cooler and 1 of the radiators and kept the GPU liquid cooling setup.

As far as proper liquid cooling for CPUs, it's massively overrated. Unless you need 5+ ghz on your CPU 24/7 (you really don't) you will save yourself time and money getting a corsair H100 or a high end Noctua air cooler. They will cool your CPU properly at any normal overclock and won't be too loud doing so.

However for GPUs, I was shocked at the difference water cooling made in terms of temperature and noise. It literally cut down the temperature by 20-30 degrees and noise was completely eliminated which can be very loud when GPU reaches high temps. I would do GPU cooling again for sure.

So to sum it up:
CPU water cooling - works fine but not really necessary for most people
GPU water cooling - not necessary but desirable if you got it



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CGI-Quality said:
disolitude said:

A PC I build in 2011 utilized both CPU and GPU liquid cooling. This one -http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=130806

I had some issues with keeping everything clean in trying to fit 2 radiators and tubing for dial GPUs and CPUs so after a week I took out the CPU liquid cooler and 1 of the radiators and kept the GPU liquid cooling setup.

As far as proper liquid cooling for CPUs, it's massively overrated. Unless you need 5+ ghz on your CPU 24/7 (you really don't) you will save yourself time and money getting a corsair H100 or a high end Noctua air cooler. They will cool your CPU properly at any normal overclock and won't be too loud doing so.

However for GPUs, I was shocked at the difference water cooling made in terms of temperature and noise. It literally cut down the temperature by 20-30 degrees and noise was completely eliminated which can be very loud when GPU reaches high temps. I would do GPU cooling again for sure.

So to sum it up:
CPU water cooling - works fine but not really necessary for most people
GPU water cooling - not necessary but desirable if you got it

I like that 2011 set-up you had there!


Yeah. Id still probably have it but I had unexpected bills hit me and I had to sell a lot of my toys... It was a fun while it lasted. Overall I'd say watercooling is not worth the money but worth the fun factor of setting it up.



What are you trying to run that a $2000 PC can't run at stock but will run overclocked?



Essentially, this is just thermodynamics.

The "liquid" in the liquid cooling is just transfering the fluid to a radiator, which is like a heatsink only if you want it to be useful, it will be like 3 120mm fans long or something like that, which is bigger than any heatsink and has a higher cooling capacity.

It's a bit more complex because the airflow can be better, resistance etc.

Thus you're getting more surface area being cooled and lower temperatures as a result, with lower volume. Generally unless you want a super ultra fast computer it's not worth it, because it's better to invest in better components. As a 300+ dollars in watercooling would better be invested in a better GPU, another GPU etc.

However in your case, it might be worth it, and more importantly ) it's extremely fun to set up.

Pro's Water
1) Maximum Cooling Capacity (meaning everything will have a higher maximum speed)
2) Less Noise
3) A lot of fun to tinker with and looks bad ass.
4) Better temps, thus theoretically longer component life.


Con's
1) A lot of money
2) If you screw up, you can leak on your components and then bam! you're screwed. Also, if pump breaks you can be screwed too.
3) You might be dissapointed if you have something like the NHD14, 

Edit
If you want even better do liquid nitrogen, and get a personal assistant to poor it onto your cpu while you're playing :P.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B46J1-e8Cqg



Personally I would go with an air cooler. When I was building my PC I did a lot of research on the topic and my conclusion came to be that water cooling its too big of a hassle with not much results. Sometimes air even performs better. I currently have a hyper 212 evo cooler which is not enthusiast by any means but it does keep my temps very low for the 3570k. No issues so far. Also do you have a microcenter around? They have some prett sick deals. I managed to get the 3570k for $169.99 and they give you $40 off Mobo with purchase of CPU.



Never felt the need for liquid cooling even though I'm using two GPUs, two GTX 470s at that... so yeah. But I guess if you really are an enthusiast who overclocks stuff to hell and back...