Which is better?

Which do you think is better?
Water cooling, which makes your processor very low temps, or Air cooling, which is a lot cheaper, and still works really real if you dril into the side of your case and put in extra fans.
I currently use one 120mm output fan and one 120mm input fan, and I haven't drilled my case yet.

Just post your thoughts, and experiances.

Water cooling is definetely superior. a radiator has alot higher cooling capacity than a heatsink. Though water cooling is more expensive it is worth it.

Thank you,
Daniel

I would tend to agree with arabarabian here but i would also say that good thermal disipation will do you no good if your other components suck-so if you have the money get water but if you have to start cutting corners on parts definatly go air-its still good colling especially with these high performance HS like the SLKs and the swiftecs.
And there is that little paranoia factor with WC i mean cmon PUTTING WATTER IN A CASE FULL OF HUNDEREDS OF DOLLARS THAT WILL DIE WITH THE SLIGHTEST LEAK
i dont think i could do it sheesh.

Water is good but as Zerileous says you don't want any leaks. But enough people are using it now with alot of success. The problem with air cooling is you can only have small heatsinks and you also have to removed the heat from the case by air. So air cooling really relies on fans.

Thank You,
Daniel

Another good thing about WC is the reduction of noise. If you're really sensitive about noise, then get a good WC setup (well-known and reviewed and used). However, I prefer air simply because, like Zerileous, I am paranoid about leaks and having water kill my system, not to mention that I am a broke college student and can't afford it. You can still have a good air-cooled setup that will give you decent temperatures.

Can't you also be paranoid about a fan failing?

But I guess if a fan fails, less damage will be done then the water.

Ben721 said:

Can't you also be paranoid about a fan failing?

But I guess if a fan fails, less damage will be done then the water.

Click to expand...

Hehehehe....I'm also paranoid about that as well, but at least the HS will be on there and the CPU will be less likely to fry.

Better as in ultimate performance?

Water cooling, of course
There is no doubt that water cooling has the potential to remove more heat at lower noise levels than air cooling.

Better as in Bang for the Buck?

Air cooling, of course
The top air cooling solutions are competitive with (although they don't win they DO compete!) water cooling and can be done for less money most of the time.

As in reduced paranoia?
No clear winner in my mind:
cpu fan fails and you can lose a chip in seconds
With water cooling- a failed pump will usually take at least minutes for a cpu to die- possibly hours. Failed radiator fans will usually take at least hours before enough heat to cause damage accrues.
Leaks are unlikely unless you make serious mistakes (or use a poly top water block) and even if you DO get water on components in your system it is unlikely to cause permanent damage. Not impossible but unlikely. The worst situation that could happen is a massive leak or tube blockage that prevents any coolant flow: this can kill a chip in seconds or minutes.

So to my mind water cooling adds more safety margin but also more possible points of failure.

Both take a lot of time and effort to really get right unless you get lucky- and getting an air cooled system to perform as well as a water cooled system at similar noise levels may take even more time (and money!) as just going with water cooling.

You may guess that I use both.....
I do prefer water cooling overall but the engineering elegance of a well done air cooling solution also appeals to me.

personally, to define "better"... i would look at the heatsink and watercooling roundup... http://overclockers.com/articles373/

after which, i have to say that a friend of mine bought a $400 swiftech WC kit and it doesn't even compare to my $100 slk800 + tornado combo... sure, mine is louder (although i DID put a rheostat on it - i can stand it now)... but mine also runs 15°C cooler than his...

I agree with roger.

I definently agree with roger's opinion. I would almost always go for the best bang for your buck. I also agree about the water. The thing about water is that it will always be cooler than air, but I don't want to spend like 100-200+ just to cool my rig, and I guess I am paranoid about the water leaking, and destroying my whole setup. Thanks for all the replies .

I spent 85$ on mine and right now, loaded, my 1700 is 36c. I also cant hear it over my air cooled system. The cool-ness factor comes in too. Blacklight on a UV sensative wc system is just sweat.

I thinks its quite hard to fry a chip a modern mobo. Most of them have sensors that monitor the cpu fan so if it fails it would shut down the pc instantly. Thus no frying your chip.

My mobo has that system so i think ill stick to air cooling.

Yup, my mobo has that too, and the temp usually is at like 48c at load. So I don't worry about the chip frying.

Air cooling can only cool as low as the air thats blowing.

Watercooling can cool as low as you want with a little help from our friend Mr.Refridgeration.

You could also crank the fan speed or add more fans though.