• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Best cpu water-block at the moment?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Arbiter Odie

Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2011
Well guys, I'm running out of air cooling options to cool my Bulldozer chip.

I'm actually starting to heavily consider water cooling. I read through the Beginner’s Guide to Water Cooling Your PC. It was very informative. It was also written several months back.
Has the best cpu waterblock changed? Or is it still the EK Supreme HF?


Thank you,

Odie
 
That comparison does not cover two of the biggest players in the game right now...

The apogee HD, and the XSPC Raystorm. Sop far Raystorm has gotten the best scores for low restriction (top actually) and the apogee has not been reviewed yet.

If you truly want the best today go with the raystorm, if you want the best tomorrow wait to see how the apogee performs
 
Skinneelabs testing had AC kryos (thick o ring), EK supreme HF, and Koolance CPU 370 all within .1 to .2C difference which is within margin of error of testing, so to me all 3 perform the same, thermally.

Martin tested Raystorm and was within .1 to .2C of CPU 370, again within margin of error of testing and he called them a tie.

So to me, those 4 blocks are all same in thermal performance, but like Dougshell pointed out, Raystorm is the least restrictive in flow. Restriction will be important (well if .5 to 1C is important to you) if using multiple full cover gpus

The thing is you can only make pins (surface area) so tall and so many, and block only so big, so unless something radical turns out to be better, most blocks are performing near same in terms of thermals, recently.

Swiftech, maker of apogee HD, claims their testing (click on world best thermal performance link on that page) shows HD to have 1C better temps than CPU 370 and EK sup HF. But I would have to see independent testing to confirm, since sometimes their results differ by 1-2C from others testing and sometimes not.
 
Skinneelabs testing had AC kryos (thick o ring), EK supreme HF, and Koolance CPU 370 all within .1 to .2C difference which is within margin of error of testing, so to me all 3 perform the same, thermally.

Martin tested Raystorm and was within .1 to .2C of CPU 370, again within margin of error of testing and he called them a tie.

So to me, those 4 blocks are all same in thermal performance, but like Dougshell pointed out, Raystorm is the least restrictive in flow. Restriction will be important (well if .5 to 1C is important to you) if using multiple full cover gpus

The thing is you can only make pins (surface area) so tall and so many, and block only so big, so unless something radical turns out to be better, most blocks are performing near same in terms of thermals, recently.

Swiftech, maker of apogee HD, claims their testing (click on world best thermal performance link on that page) shows HD to have 1C better temps than CPU 370 and EK sup HF. But I would have to see independent testing to confirm, since sometimes their results differ by 1-2C from others testing and sometimes not.

qft. outstanding post!!!
 
Skinneelabs testing had AC kryos (thick o ring), EK supreme HF, and Koolance CPU 370 all within .1 to .2C difference which is within margin of error of testing, so to me all 3 perform the same, thermally.

Martin tested Raystorm and was within .1 to .2C of CPU 370, again within margin of error of testing and he called them a tie.

So to me, those 4 blocks are all same in thermal performance, but like Dougshell pointed out, Raystorm is the least restrictive in flow. Restriction will be important (well if .5 to 1C is important to you) if using multiple full cover gpus

The thing is you can only make pins (surface area) so tall and so many, and block only so big, so unless something radical turns out to be better, most blocks are performing near same in terms of thermals, recently.

Swiftech, maker of apogee HD, claims their testing (click on world best thermal performance link on that page) shows HD to have 1C better temps than CPU 370 and EK sup HF. But I would have to see independent testing to confirm, since sometimes their results differ by 1-2C from others testing and sometimes not.

Thank you, that is exactly what I was hoping for.
I have a few more questions, is it okay if I ask them in this thread? :chair:
I was half asleep last night when I posted this, and didn't think to make it a general questionnaire.
 
Go right ahead and ask 'em here...it's fine to hijack your own thread! :D
 
Sweet! Okay great, here goes.

I'm trying to stay below $250 for my cpu closed loop (correct terminology?). I didn't anticipate my cooling problems, so I'm actually over my original budget already.

First, I think I'm going to go with a EK Supreme HF Copper revision, unless there is a strong reason not to.
http://www.petrastechshop.com/ekwaekhffuco.html

For the pump, I'm currently looking at http://www.petrastechshop.com/ladd1mcin12p.html.

Radiator: http://www.petrastechshop.com/swmcqposerab1.html with a bunch of high speed yate loons.

Reservoir? http://www.petrastechshop.com/swmcmirere.html

And I need to do more research on tubing and fittings.

So. Are the above parts sufficient to cool my mini-furnace?
 
EK supreme HF waterblock is one of best.

Only thing I would say about pump is with old tops, they are noisier imo (I have 4 of those, all now with aftermarket tops). The new ones have better flow, and more importantly and imo quieter tops, but $20 more expensive, so your call on that one. Talking about these, compare the flow specs, same pump just better designed top.

And the rad, mcr320 are best bang for buck, again like recent cpu waterblocks, typically less than 1C diff in recent rads.

Only other thing, if your getting high speed, ie loud fans, get a decent controller so you can run quiet when you want.

As for tubing primochill pro lrt is plasticizer free, works well, and make sure get 1/8 thick walls, ie like 3/8 ID 5/8 OD if using 3/8, etc.
 
Good solid parts, all of 'em. rge makes a good point about the pump.
Don't forget to get the hose barbs for that radiator--3/8" would be fine so there's no need to worry with adapting that 3/8" only pump to fit with the other stuff.

I would have recommended the QP-Res radiator and eliminate the separate reservoir, but it looks to cost $80 by itself right now, so your way is cheaper. I do like mine however.
*it's for vertical mounting only, not a good choice for top-of-the-case mounting.
 
Last edited:
Quick post: I'm going somewhere for a hour or two, I'll be back with more questions. Thank you for everything so far!
 
Also, just a note, shop around on prices, jabtech has some pretty solid deals, as does performance pcs and frozen CPU, see what you can do in terms of pricing, maybe split between 2 places (last order I did was half jab, half PPC, even with shipping it was cheaper that way)
 
rge: So the Swiftech MCP35X 12 VDC Pump is going to be the best option?

Also, I plan to mount the radiator all the way across the room, with mile-long tubing, so that the noise doesn't drive me nuts.

Diggrr: If I got the pump rge showed me, would that require any funky barb setups? Actually, let me just go research that part of the setup a little more. No need to ask if it's in the guide :p

Is it all right to use a non-used power supply, plug it into a outlet across the room with the radiator and pump, and have it run everything from there?

m0r7: I'll be shopping around, I was just using Petra's Tech Shop as a quick reference. They're the only one of the bunch that I've ordered parts from before.
 
You probably don't want to mount it that far away, you'll have to use a more powerful pumping solution to do that...which will increase your budget. The whole idea of using a radiator is that you have enough surface area that you don't need it to be loud...I'm not an ultra-silence guy myself, but there are people here who can hear footsteps on the sidewalk outside their house over their radiator fans.
 
yep, Swiftech MCP35X 12 VDC is one of the best pumps. And you can use standard G 1/4 threaded fittings, which is typically what is sold in all watercooling shops in USA whether getting barbs or compressions, just look for G 1/4 threaded in whatever tubing size you decide on.

If you mount the rad and pump inside a case you can make a very quiet liquid cooled computer like m0r7if3r said, assuming a rheostat to lower fan speed when not stress testing. Gaming, everything else, you will be fine with quiet fan speeds.

As for power supply across the room, you would have to jumper your 24pin safely (power to ground), psus dont work without 20/24 pin plugged in or jumpered.

One rheostat for full blast/noisy when you want better temps when stress testing, and quiet fan speed when doing everything else, I think you would prefer in long run vs all the problems of trying to make a far away cooling station.

Besides, my delta air to water is never more than 7-8C with my fan speed at 1000 rpms when gaming. Even if I crank fan speed to 1800 rpms push/pull, at best I get 2C better temps and completely unnoticeable on cpu since gaming doesnt fully stress it, and my gpu at 46C vs 48C isnt relevant either.
 
Hmm. I can't mount the radiator in my case (Antec 300 illusion), but maybe I can put it on top? And then put the case under my desk? With the fan controller?
Would that be quiet enough, while still providing access to my power supply?

I'm kind of new at this :-/

Thanks again,
Odie
 
http://www.swiftech.com/mcb-120radbox.aspx

swiftech makes that (koolance has a version too, it's a bit different and a bit more expensive, worth it for some, not for others) for mounting rads off the back of a 120mm fan slot. Run through the wc pictures thread (from the newest going backwards) and check out how other people have handled situations similar to yours. XS also has a pretty great buildlogs section fwiw.
 
http://www.swiftech.com/mcb-120radbox.aspx

swiftech makes that (koolance has a version too, it's a bit different and a bit more expensive, worth it for some, not for others) for mounting rads off the back of a 120mm fan slot. Run through the wc pictures thread (from the newest going backwards) and check out how other people have handled situations similar to yours. XS also has a pretty great buildlogs section fwiw.

There is also a more inexpensive option which I had also went with. It basically entails going to your local Ace (or other hardware store if Ace isn't available), and picking up a section of all thread (basically like a long bolt with no ends on it, I think in 3 or 4 foot sections) in the same thread size as your rad, and a package of nuts to fit that all thread. Then you cut the all thread to the size you want, and use the nuts to hold it in place. I think the total cost to do this was somewhere around $6, and gives you the option to mount the rad as close or as far away from the back of the case as you want. Using this method also holds my rear exhaust fan in place. I don't have any pics of the setup right now, but there is a nut at the end of each piece of all thread inside the case, up against the fan casing, and another on the outside of the case. I also put a nut at the other end of each piece, then tightened it down against the rad, to keep the all thread from turning while I tighten down the other end, so that it didn't puncture one of the tubes.
 
Back