Currently on water...Go back to air?

wannaoc · Nov 28, 2003

I've been on water for a while now and I basically see the same temps and while I keep it quiet about the same o/c. The last air cooling I had was an slk-800 and since then it seems there have been alot of advancements to the cooling and the noise of air cooling products. Things like the Zalman 7000 series seem to cool really well, are actually quieter than my radiator setup, and seem like they are worth a try.

I like to build my systems for pure silence while running. The Zalman 7000cu cooler is my choice for my cpu. The Zalman passive heatpipe deal is for my radeon and I will probably put the new Swiftech chipset cooler to cool that. While I do want it to be silent I want good enough cooling to be able to overclock to at least what I have now.

I figure going back to air isn't a bad idea but I thought I'd see what everyone else thinks. Not to mention I can get a smaller case after I lose all the tubing and radiator bulk I have now. So what you think?

nut581 · Nov 28, 2003

I went back to air after about 4 months with water .. for exact same reason you said above .. silence

.. and portability.

although I lost about 200mhz overclock by going back to air, the noise level is the same (if not less) than my water setup. I use SK7 with SF2@3000rpm, and it's noiseless to me .. so I'm happy

..

johan851 · Nov 29, 2003

Whoa, this is crazy talk.

What are the specs on your H2O rig wannaoc?

Korndog · Nov 29, 2003

i wanted to go back to air too
not for the silence (it was far from silent with all air) but because it was too might maintainance and leaks suck..
last time my system leaked though, i borrowed my cousin's slk700 and a 50cfm fan. It was A LOT loader, but i didn't care, but what was bad was that i was getting like 45c for stock!!
i would consider keeping watercooling, except with some changes like putting ur fans at lower voltages and i don't think wc adds a lot off weight to your system.. atleast i can't tell. if u have a big res, a Tline would cut off a lot a weight.

wannaoc · Nov 29, 2003

The reason my w/c is about the same as air is: I run the fans at 7 volts and it cools the cpu, chipset, and gpu. Its just alot of heat for the fans and my rad to get rid of. Turning up the 4 120mm fans to 12 volts is out of the question simply because its too loud for what I want.

Noise is my big concern with water or not. Even running the fans at 7 volts there is still the "whir" from the blades. Combine 4 fans together and the sound gets up there. I did try and use the chevette core which only uses 2 fans at 7v but it couldn't get rid of the heat from the three sources at all so I had to go back to my caprice single pass.

I did like waking up this morning to a nice cold computer room and havinig my case temp of 18C and CPU temp of 31C with my water though.

nut581 · Nov 29, 2003

wannaoc, try the combination of side blowhole and ducting the fan to slk-series HS .. they work wonder ... with the new sp-97 coming out soon (and a review done recently, they beat the 947U by ~3 degrees under full load), air is just as competitive as low-end water setup ...

Jimbob7 · Nov 29, 2003

i wouldnt get a zalman if you are overclocking. Although having said that i havent used one maybe some people just had badluck

Samoyed · Nov 30, 2003

The best air there is is better than a sucky H20 however the solution to that is just dont get a sucky H20 system. The one I use is very good and is a hell of a lot quieter and 10C cooler than my screaming Coolermaster HHC-001 HSF.

Standard HSFs simply cannot remove heat fast enough to OC the latest CPUs to really well. The best HSF I have seen is the CoolerMaster P4 version that takes an 80MM fan and has heat pipes and is all copper

Soja · Nov 30, 2003

How high of an fsb can you get with the stock hsf? How well does the rad work with 2 120mms?

Caffinehog · Nov 30, 2003

wannaoc said:
Noise is my big concern with water or not. Even running the fans at 7 volts there is still the "whir" from the blades. Combine 4 fans together and the sound gets up there. I did try and use the chevette core which only uses 2 fans at 7v but it couldn't get rid of the heat from the three sources at all so I had to go back to my caprice single pass.

Woah, man! Something's not right with your system. I watercooled a dual AMD rig, overclocked, and the chipset, without fans. (Until I realized I'd forgotten to plug them in LOL!) And even then, with good fans, the pump was the loudest part of the system. With my other system, my WD SE hard drives drown out even the pump, and the SE's aren't particularly loud.

What pump do you use? And what size tubing?

And keep in mind that your power supply may have the loudest fan in the system. This could warrant some modding, or replacing it with something like an Enlight.

lee · Nov 30, 2003

amazing - my system is air-cooled w/9 fans but most are running at about 1700 rpm's and the noise level is quite acceptable.............6 80mm case fans, 400w antec psu w/2 smart-fans & a 92mm vantec stealth on my cpu and its prolly the quietest system of any i've owned.............cpu runs 41C at load which is just fine for AMD...........a good case is a "must" if you're gonna run on air, though......................

Turd Furguson · Nov 30, 2003

Yeha the SE drives are kind of loud IMO. My loudest fan in my system is a Panaflo L1A. Of course I did a little project here earlier in the year to get the best temps and be as quiet as possible.

So far my findings have been SLK900U w/ 80mm
L1A as exhaust
Removed the 92mm fan in my 430w Truepower. (You cannot believe how much the fan whines when it barely spins. I also got about a 3*C lower LOAD temp with the fan removed.
Zalman NB heatsink
Zalman Heatpipe

I run some pretty hot and fast equipment my friend. Most ppl can't believe I have really good temps with my setup but its all about planning and how much you feed your obscession for quietness.

fallguy · Dec 1, 2003

Hmm, my watercooling is very quiet, and portable. I took it to 3 lans so far, not one prob. One was 700 miles away... no probs.

Im not going back

XunknownX · Dec 1, 2003

All those going back to air can PM me and send me there H20 equipment.

rxtrom · Dec 6, 2003

I was thinking of going back to air too, anyone know for sure when the sp-97 is comming out?

clocker2 · Dec 6, 2003

If you do indeed go back to air cooling I would not recommend the Zalman 7000 cu HSF.
I have one on my 2600+.
It is VERY heavy.
If you use the supplied speed controller, it WILL run fairly quietly, but cooling will be marginal.
Plugged into my Asus board and using SpeedFan to run it, the fan will operate at 80% all the time and temps will be OK, but not great.
I'm getting about 32-35 idle temps and 35-38 load.

nodark · Dec 6, 2003

wannaoc said:
I've been on water for a while now and I basically see the same temps and while I keep it quiet about the same o/c. The last air cooling I had was an slk-800 and since then it seems there have been alot of advancements to the cooling and the noise of air cooling products. Things like the Zalman 7000 series seem to cool really well, are actually quieter than my radiator setup, and seem like they are worth a try.

I like to build my systems for pure silence while running. The Zalman 7000cu cooler is my choice for my cpu. The Zalman passive heatpipe deal is for my radeon and I will probably put the new Swiftech chipset cooler to cool that. While I do want it to be silent I want good enough cooling to be able to overclock to at least what I have now.

I figure going back to air isn't a bad idea but I thought I'd see what everyone else thinks. Not to mention I can get a smaller case after I lose all the tubing and radiator bulk I have now. So what you think?

I switched from water to air and my cpu temps went from about 10-12C over case temp to 20-25C over but I no longer worry about watercooling related worries (leaks, bacteria, failing pump).

unix and linux · Dec 6, 2003

I got introduced to the game a week ago. I luv watercooling. P4 idles 15 celcius on very cold mornings, 18 celcius-24 celcius late mornings and max ever load i ever seen is 30 celcius(only lasts 5 seconds then is quickly reduced to 29 celcius or 28 celcius). I have P4 3.0ghz 800fsb.
And also the system is dead silent...no sound at ALL!

You say ur scared about ur pump failing? Urmm what about your fan failing? Usually reliable pumps such as Einheimer 1048 will last 4 years atleast if you keep it on 24/7. Thats more than your fan can handle.

You say about your leaks? Put Nylon/Steel clamps and if you want teflon tape around the barbs. IT WONT COME OUT. On my setup it is super tight, even if i pulled the tube hard it wont come out.

You say about bacteria? 5 drops of SuperCoolant or water wetter etc will prevent that. Usually its maintence free for upto 3 years atleast.

If you do all of this, it will be maintence free.

You talk about portability? Iam sure a 600 gram zalman copper cooler is portable too? If you secure everything its very portable especially if you use a tline.

bananablack · Dec 7, 2003

i drive a bmw. guess ill go back to a kia to save gas.

rxtrom · Dec 8, 2003

True i see the point!!!

Currently on water...Go back to air?

Member

Member

Insatiably Malcontent, Senior Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Übercaffinated Member

Member

Member

Member

Disabled

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Registered

Member

Similar threads