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How much higher could you overclock your CPU on water?

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How much higher could you overclock your CPU on water?


  • Total voters
    54
  • Poll closed .

Revivalist

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Location
Fresno, CA
I thought it would be helpful to know how much higher people have been able to overclock their CPU when going from air-cooling to water-cooling.

Remember: The choices above refer to the difference between highest on air and highest on water.

In order to make this poll the most helpful, let's only report what is “stable” (passes any test repeatedly: SuperPi 32M, occt, all 3DMarks, etc.).

Since most of our specs are already in our sig, we can also report the following:

Highest “stable” overclock on air
CPU: 2.60GHz (Vcore: 1.70V)
-- Cooling equipment: Cooler Master Ultra Vortex (heatsink with 92mm fan)

Highest “stable” overclock on water
CPU: 2.70GHz CPU (Vcore: 1.80V)
-- Cooling equipment: Storm G4, BIX III, MCP655 pump, 1/2" tubing
 
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none.

I could produce acceptable temperatures with my AthlonXP 2600+ (tbred) at 1.85v using air...it's just cooler with water...though I haven't volt modded my board.
 
telexen said:
none.

I could produce acceptable temperatures with my AthlonXP 2600+ (tbred) at 1.85v using air...it's just cooler with water...though I haven't volt modded my board.
You mean you don't think you could overclock higher if you your CPU on water?
 
Haven't really messed with the new system yet, but the Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu (whew) HSF I had on there for break-in was around 38-42C.

With water, I am currently running 18C idle, and 22-24C under load.

I really want crank this thing up. :p

775 550 @ 3.7 atm...
 
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You mean you don't think you could overclock higher if you your CPU on water?

Water allows better overclocks because it transfers heat away from the CPU quickly, especially at higher temperatures where 'max load' temps are the OC cieling.

I would love to see a two graphs representing heat transfer as a function of CPU temperature. One graph air, the other graph water. Those graphs side-by-side would speak volumes.
 
The new a64 chips run so cool anyway that I don't believe that watercooling offers any advantage in the OC area.
My vid card and northbridge saw the greatest drops in temp when I moved to water, but I haven't tried to exploit that as I was already happy with my setup the way it was.
 
clocker2 said:
The new a64 chips run so cool anyway that I don't believe that watercooling offers any advantage in the OC area.
My vid card and northbridge saw the greatest drops in temp when I moved to water, but I haven't tried to exploit that as I was already happy with my setup the way it was.
I noticed the most significant change on my video card as well. I was actually a bit disappointed with the results on the CPU. . . But I recently went for a TEC on the CPU and I'm much happier now (-2C idle / 18C load) . . .

By the way, does anyone know who exactly I should pm for making this an official poll? I was really hoping to get some actual data results. I thought that would also be helpful for people who are contemplating the benefits of moving to a water setup.
 
I got a full 200MHz (2.3GHz to 2.5GHz) going from my Thermalright SK6+ to water about three years ago on my AthlonXP. Both fully Prime95 stable. Air cooling options these days, however, have seemed to develop quickly enough to close the performance gap. The chief reason to pick watercooling is the noise level in most cases.
 
I wasn't able to get any more out of my newcastle 3500+, my 6800gt gained a few mhz, but nothing noticable.
 
Highest “stable” overclock on air for Sempy64 2800 rev E
CPU: 2.5GHz (Vcore: 1.6V)
-- Cooling equipment: Cooler Master Ultra Vortex (heatsink with 92mm fan)

Highest “stable” overclock on water for Sempy64 2800 rev E
CPU: 2.73GHz CPU (Vcore: 1.71V)

-- Cooling equipment: 6002, Ford Escort Heatercore, Via Aqua 1800 pump, 1/2" tubing

I plan on upping the volts, when I get a chance, to 1.8 to see what it will do. It would be cool to see this CPU do 2.8-2.9 :). 2.8GHz is almost stable as is.
 
You left out the option of "zero".
Heat was never the issue with my 3500 Winnie, I think RAM was/is (or maybe the onchip memory controller).

Edit:
Ooops, sorry didn't see the "no additional OC" at the bottom.
 
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4.2GHz on air, 4.4GHz on water, and i still don't know how much higher i could go with water but I have other components limiting my OC right now (damn mobo).
 
well ive never gone water, but i have had water temps (winters are fantastic seasons, arent they.. 25C load) and i was able to stabily get my venice to 2.75ghz on 1.58VCore.. right now, i cant even get 2.6ghz stable on 1.62VCore.. so im going to say that i can have 100-200mhz oc on water..

Careface*
 
148 opty and my board is holding me back I got like 400 mhz higher on water from STOCK air so I voted 400....... the temp on load was the big diferance for me. Seems much easer to stabalize on water....

Hey revivelist how is that pelt setup? do you get lots of condensation? how about freez thaw situation , any problems?
 
clocker2 said:
You left out the option of "zero".
Oops. Good point. It looks like these would have been more realistic options . . .

No additional overclock
Less than 50MHz more
51-100MHz more
101-200MHz more
201-400MHz more
401-600MHz more
601-800MHz more
801-1000MHz more
Over 1001MHz more

I'll mention it to Krag and see if he can still do anything about it.
 
JustChill said:
148 opty and my board is holding me back I got like 400 mhz higher on water from STOCK air so I voted 400....... the temp on load was the big diferance for me. Seems much easer to stabalize on water....

Hey revivelist how is that pelt setup? do you get lots of condensation? how about freez thaw situation , any problems?
I'm really likin' this pelt setup. So far so good as far as condensation goes. I really made sure to insulate this thing -- lots of dielectric grease, lots of conformal coating, and 4 neoprene pads. (Basically, I used up the whole dangerden insulation kit.) There' pics in this thread if your curious . . .
 
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