Why do you watercool?

whozyodaddy · Jun 22, 2005

Is it because of...

Sound?
Price?
Looks?
Bragging rights?
Temps?

I just bought my watercooling setup and realized my fans on the radiator will be loud so it kind of defeats the purpose of a quiet watercooling system :bang head

Although I plan to be using headphones anyway.

outhouse · Jun 22, 2005

cooler temps with a higher overclock and with better fans you can keep your rigs noise level down if you want a quiet rig

billiam · Jun 22, 2005

also need a quiet pump too

crimedog · Jun 22, 2005

much better temps, less noise, don't have the heat being spread around socket, cool factor. i have since moved on to phase change though and won't be going back

skou · Jun 22, 2005

whozyodaddy said:
Is it because of...

Sound?
Price?
Looks?
Bragging rights?
Temps?

I just bought my watercooling setup and realized my fans on the radiator will be loud so it kind of defeats the purpose of a quiet watercooling system
Although I plan to be using headphones anyway.

If you get a radiator that is big enough, you can use more, and quieter, fans.

steve

sicloan · Jun 22, 2005

Im getting into it for noise and for the cooling factor. Plus i think the "cool factor" plays a big part. Im doing some major mods to my case soon, so stay tuned.

Borgy · Jun 22, 2005

1st, noise then Temps

lowfat · Jun 22, 2005

The major thing is being able to have a low-noise system while still having moderately good temps. Secondly is the cool factor

inkfx · Jun 22, 2005

I dont really care about the noise of my system I just want it for the temps it gives and because nobody around here has ever seen watercooling so they get quite amazed.

voigts · Jun 23, 2005

If you get a radiator that is big enough, you can use more, and quieter, fans

This is exactly what I have done. I am not really into overclocking, I just hate the airplane-fans noise. So I have a BIXIII with six 120x25mm Deltas push/pull running at about 7 volts each. It is very quiet this way and still cools well. I am however about to delve into building a new setup and going to a small car rad without any fans on the rad whatsoever. Should be fun!

jenkx · Jun 23, 2005

Low temps, overclocking ability, low noise, cool factor, In no particular order.

bryan_d · Jun 23, 2005

I would say temps. My room sucks in the thermal department (No top insulation, window facing true south, and upstairs in CA.) My room proves heat does rise and green houses do really trap in the heat.

With air cooling I was rewarded with a broken Radeon 8500. I have much better temps with water and it gave me an opportunity to vent my creativity.

Bryan D.

skou · Jun 23, 2005

voigts said:
This is exactly what I have done. I am not really into overclocking, I just hate the airplane-fans noise. So I have a BIXIII with six 120x25mm Deltas push/pull running at about 7 volts each. It is very quiet this way and still cools well. I am however about to delve into building a new setup and going to a small car rad without any fans on the rad whatsoever. Should be fun!

Well, I've gone just a wee bit further.

I have 2, 6.5X11 heater cores, with 9, 92MM fans pulling air through them. These fans are a special ($.39) low power fan, that I can barely hear, unless I am right next to them.

steve

Acurax · Jun 23, 2005

Lower temps (load especially) for overclocking, noise as a secondary issue, and for the 'bling'.

citronym · Jun 23, 2005

im more into it because i enjoy looking down at my computer and seeing a sick *** wc. i love showing it to people, they get so amazed. good stuff

my temps are wonderful, especially considering what ive put into the wc. its a used maze3 cpu and BIX (which were given to me by a good friend), so all i had to splurge on mainly were pump and hoses. i spent like $60 including tools and misc parts. it was a lot of fun putting it together. that has pry been the most enjoyable part so far.

watercooling is a hobby, imo. something to do. everyone has hobbies...

outhouse · Jun 23, 2005

its bling bling too for most people. my rig is not good looking and if i went from a BIX1 that i have now and went to BIX3 and my temps were 4C lower i would not score higher or overclock any more then where im at. [ive tested 4C ambient lower] and i,m still in the top 10 of OC3Dmark03 if your cutting a few C figure out tha gains to cost ratio before you buy

gungeek · Jun 23, 2005

The primary reason is to extract more performance from the cpu and gpu without long-term damage or stability issues.
A strong second reason is noise reduction. Any heatsink fan smaller than 80mm is going passive or gets a waterblock in my systems.
It's definitely not bling, because you can't tell mine is watercooled unless I open the case door. The L30 pump is quiet and sits on a thick gel pad for isolation.

I'm also a working engineer and just wanted to play with liquid cooling. The mechanical engineering types at work now look in my direction when liquid cooling is discussed as an alternative. Normally I convince them it wouldn't help the situation. They have this idea it is a silver bullet solution for all thermal problems.

ukdan · Jun 23, 2005

On one of my rig's its for performance and the other is used as a home theater pc for plasma and projector, so noise was the main factor for that one.

diehrd · Jun 23, 2005

I do it because I have to if I want any decient over clock.

YouEatLard · Jun 23, 2005

I wanted to see if I could hit 3 Ghz with a XP-M 2500. Did the homemade overkill water setup. Hit 2.8 stable but above that when ever the proc would hit 42°C over 2.8 it'd lock. Thought about peltier, but I needed a new server and wanted the water on my 64 bit setup. So, now the 64 3200 sits cool and quiet.

Why do you watercool?

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