PDA

View Full Version : Went back to air cooling


nebben
02-19-04, 01:46 PM
Maybe it's because I don't have access to good tools, so my case was cut up with a dremel tool. Maybe I just didn't do it 100% right the first time....Maybe it is because I had a motherboard failure that may or may not have been related to liquid cooling or overclocking.

Anyway, I got out of the water cooling business since I wasn't willing to keep up on maintaining the system, and I sufferend a motherboard failure, and possible CPU failure (the pump never failed, and coolant was always circulating). I had overclocked an AMD AGOIA XP 1600 chip to around 1700MHz or something...pretty weak when compared to what some people were getting. Anyway, the system eventually just stopped working reliably, and then I wondered why I had spent so much on liquid cooling with the idea to overclock and save money on CPUs....It was a learning experience, and something cool to look at for a year and a half.

Otherwise, the liquid cooling stuff cost big $$ up front, the CPU/MB are now dead, and I could get a barton core'd new CPU at stock speed for less than 1/4 the cost of the water cooling setup/previous dead parts.

It was a lot of fun, but I've learned my lesson. A computer that weighs about 2x as much as a standard case with components isn't easy to get to LAN parties. It was delicate as I had to keep an eye on the tubing to make sure it stayed where it needed to be. It wasn't much quieter than a high quality low-noise fan/heatsink setup.

After all of this, I decided to go with a mini-PC barebones BIOSTAR kit. Cheap, cool, light, not untolerably noisy, and it should prove to be a low maintenance machine.

Good luck to ya'll.

-ben

Shadowcat
02-20-04, 04:46 AM
It is a shame that you did not have such a great experience. Yes the initial cost of watercooling is quite expensive.. but I intend for my watercooling system to serve my next couple of computers...

Ad Rock
02-20-04, 04:52 AM
This is not meant to offend in anyway but from what I can tell from your new choice of case you were not that into the OCing scene anyway. If you are looking too save money on chips that might not be the best reason to start OCing. It seems you are more a casual user and I could see why watercooling would not be for you. Anyway I hope you enjoy your new mini case :D.

johan851
02-20-04, 08:35 AM
Well, when my watercooling was down and I used aircooling for a couple months, I was amazed at how low-maintainance it was. I can't blame you, I guess, especially if you need ease of use. Mini-PCs are pretty sweet these days anyway. Sorry you had a bad experience...enjoy the simplicity in air cooling! :D