Which coolant/mix would be best (liquid)

slocumjared said:

I really wish I could get my hands on some ln2, I have a machine shop so I could easily make all my own blocks just need some coolant to play with.

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Wait...huh? You want to try and put LN2 through blocks? Methinks you need to read more. Go to the extreme cooling forum and spend some time looking around.

Though if you have a good, viable, not multiple-tens-of-thousands-of-dollars idea that'll keep a fluid that boils at -196°C in some sort of loop on a PC, please, do share. Everyone would love to see it.



I'm starting to agree with Conumdrum that this thread isn't doing anyone any good at this point. I won't go and actually close it yet, but these "ideas" and "facts" about other coolants are just getting silly.

Bottom line of it all: At the end of the day, there is little to nothing that we could possibly run in a WC loop that would offer better cooling performance than distilled water at a comparable price.

Almost any form of a dye or additive will add to the cost of your fluid, and would most likely not provide you with an improvement in heat absorption.

There are a lot of factors involved in what works best for you and depends on how you want to use your system and how much time you want to spend maintaining it. In general for water cooling with performance in mind you want a low viscosity with a high heat absorption and dissipation quality that requires minimal maintenance and cost. Up to you to decide if the bling factor is worth possible changes to any of those goals of water cooling in much the same way of if you're not OCing is WCing really worth it compared to air cooling? For some people it is just for the looks.

Dyes that can make things look pretty can affect the heat capability, maintenance cycle and cost compared to water. ex. the FluidXP Nanofluid can give different temps than distilled, and even the cheapest will cost more then just distilled water. Of course with the possible issues with tubing (which I won't get into here) as well as the potential for sticking to small crevices and pins in blocks means you may need to change fluid more often and/or completely disassemble and clean the block faster than just distilled water with a biocide or coil.
LN2 or other methods of extreme cooling can give better heat capability at the expense of maintenance and cost. ie: You can't really run this for a daily usage.

Dyes and additives can possibly fog up cheaper tubes.

Anything aside from distilled/de-ionized water is more expensive and may cause temperatures to rise.

LN2 is only for extreme cooling and evaporates. It can NOT be used in a liquid cooling loop.

More waterblocks per loop with only a single pump can cause flow rate to drop which can raise temperatures.

Anything else I'm missing?

SkyChotik said:

Anything aside from distilled/de-ionized water is more expensive and may cause temperatures to rise.

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^^I believe the new marketing concept is the idea of fluids that are crafted at a molecular scale to have less surface tension and better flow leading to lower temps. Again, if it sounds to good to be true is probably is. You want solid documented evidence from an impartial 3rd party before believing it.


Multiple pumps on a single loop can make it hotter since the pumps add heat, however it can add redundancy in case one fails. Doesn't improve cooling or flow rate at a direct ratio either.

Separate loops for CPU and GPU can give better temps, but will cost significantly more.

Difference between distilled and deionized water is very minimal, in short distillation is from the boiling and evaporation of water to remove impurities and deionized is from other methods such as chemicals. This means generally distilled is more "pure" water and has no salt, minerals or biological microbes in it. If you can't get distilled, shouldn't be an issue with deionized, either way run a biocide for added safety.


Hmm..Other than that I'd say only big piece of advice is research research research before you decide on a purchase.