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Is water cooling right for me?

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Brutal-Force

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
I am doing a i5 build and plan to get it to 4.0 or higher. Currently I am using the computer in my sig.

The i5 will replace my current system which also is my Living Room HTPC. My current system has 7 fans which are not incredibly loud, but when its quiet at night or I am watching a movie where they are wispering the fans are audible.

Now to the question.

1) Is a water system dead quiet? I see there are radiator fans, and I have seen upwards of 6 fans on one radiator. Can it be done with less?

2) In water cooling, how is the Dust Build up? Being that the fans are on the radiator.

3) How messy is it really? Do I have to do a coolant replacement every 3 months or can it go longer w/o.

4) What would such a standard cooling system run on an i5 with 8GB Ripjaws and a GTX 260?

5) Would a standard cooling Case like the ones from http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3829132&CatId=1510 be crap compared to building one from scratch. Or would it make a good plug and play option?

Trying to weigh pros and cons any advice would be appreciated.
 
1. assuming we are talking about a triple 120mm rad, then you can run as low as 3 fans and be fine. since your after quietness you will need the higher end rads with low fpi (fins per inch). the black ice SR-1 series, XSPC RX series, thermochill, and the new ek rads are all low fpi and will work well with the lower speed fans.

2. dust build up is about the same as air, more if you have more fans. since building my external setup using 18 fans i haven't cleaned it and the dust build up isn't that bad. if you have an air compressor then cleaning things will be easy.

3. most do water changes every 6 months. you could get away with a year if you do it right. dye's tend to clog up blocks so for longer periods i would use only distilled water and a biocide.

4. so what do you want to cool? cpu, and gpu? if it's just cpu then a setup for what your looking for would run about 300-350. adding the gpu to the mix anoth 50-100.

5. i own that case and there isn't much room for rads, you can fit a double on the bottom, and a single 120mm rad inside at the back. if you don't mind external you can hang a triple 120mm rad off the back. i would go with a triple if you want cpu and gpu otherwise a double 120mm should be fine with i5 (but i'm not 100% sure on that, don't know what kind of heat they put out).
 
So more or less I am up against Case size, so my Mid ATX case probably won't cut it.

And yes I am after silence. So I would figure around 400 dollars for a reduction in noise and an increase in cooling.

Hypothetically speaking, I would probably do maybe another what.... 200 mhz OC on a i5?

I guess its what I was figuring, Water is more for Max enthusiasts and not so much for those of us on a budget. I am not poor, but I do like to go after the bang for my buck and the noise really isn't that intolerable.

Thank you for the quick response.
 
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