Worth installing water cooling if not gamer?

[CROE]

I am on the verge of buying the EKWB X360 kit, and perhaps a EKWB GPU-block for my 7950 (really cheap).

But as I have been looking into water cooling for the past week, I have noticed how many people are selling their water cooling setup (market on national forum etc). All of them motivate the sell by saying they don't want to maintain the setup, with the changing of water etc.

But is it really that much work? And if it is: is it really worth doing water cooling if you are'nt a gamer?

My situation is that I really like my computer quiet, when studying etc, and rarely game (except for some Rocket League every night on 3440x1440). I also motivate getting water cooling so I don't have to upgrade in a while (overclock the old 2500k), as well as getting the silence I really long for.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Mr.Scott]

Some people are lazy. You have a little more maintenance than on just air.
Don't expect total silence. There are just as many fans involved as an air cooled system.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Depending on the case if you want to Oc and be quiet get a Noctua NH-D14/15 it will be quiet and you wont have to maintain it.

 

[caddi daddi]

I like them quiet when i game so it's water, but you have to enjoy tinkering around.
for stock, listen to manny^^^^^^^^^
I'm all water cooled I just like it and enjoy tinkering with it.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

If you don't want to do much work, want to overclock, and want absolute silence then go for a Noctua CPU cooler and case fans.
Control them all via PWM from the CPU fan header with a powered splitter and you'll be set.

That said, if you don't mind the extra cost and maintenance of a water loop, you're talking bigger cooling and just as much silence as what I just mentioned.

 

[CROE]

Some people are lazy. You have a little more maintenance than on just air.
Don't expect total silence. There are just as many fans involved as an air cooled system.

So what's the maintenance really? Just change the water every once or twice every year?

What would be the easiest way to change water if I get the X360 kit?

Depending on the case if you want to Oc and be quiet get a Noctua NH-D14/15 it will be quiet and you wont have to maintain it.

I have an Cooler Master EVO 212, is the Noctua NH-D14/15 really that much better? If I run my fans on 50% it's way to loud. I want to use Noctua's low-noise adapters and run the Vardar radiator fans at ~700 RPM in idle (PWM does'nt work on lower than 50% speed?), and case fans at 500-700 RPM. On load I will have all on full RPM I guess.

I like them quiet when i game so it's water, but you have to enjoy tinkering around.
for stock, listen to manny^^^^^^^^^
I'm all water cooled I just like it and enjoy tinkering with it.

Well, I guess it would be fun to do the setup, but I have no idea if I will keep the interest. But as I like silence I guess that is a big motivator.

If you don't want to do much work, want to overclock, and want absolute silence then go for a Noctua CPU cooler and case fans.
Control them all via PWM from the CPU fan header with a powered splitter and you'll be set.

That said, if you don't mind the extra cost and maintenance of a water loop, you're talking bigger cooling and just as much silence as what I just mentioned.

I already control all my three Noctua NF-A14 via PWM and Speedfan, as well as my Cooler Master EVO 212, and it's too loud. I run everything at 50% right now and my temp is 44°C/111°F, and everything is at stock clock. Dust filter and no dust inside as well...

So what you're saying is that a full EKWB X360 kit is'nt quieter than a Noctua CPU-tower with Noctua case fans?

My idea was that the water loop would enable really low RPM's on my fans..

 

[Janus67]

The noise you will hear with a water cooler is the pump which can be whiney and the fans unless you replace them. Odds are if you replaced the fan on your 212 Evo it would meet your needs. Most people recommend the Noctua products because they perform very well and are quite quiet

 

[CROE]

The noise you will hear with a water cooler is the pump which can be whiney and the fans unless you replace them. Odds are if you replaced the fan on your 212 Evo it would meet your needs. Most people recommend the Noctua products because they perform very well and are quite quiet

So the EK-DDC 3.2 PWM pump will be noisy on low RPM? As well as the EK-Vardar F3-120 on Noctua's low noise adapters and running at 50% speed (~700 RPM)?

I did install a Noctua 120mm PWM fan (not redux) on my 212 EVO, but it did'nt make it any better.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

D5s are quieter than DDCs so look for a D5 kit if anything.

120.3 should be about right for you CPU and GPU since both are combined 295w and most 120.3 rads are rated at 300w @ around 2200RPM. Basically the lower your fans are, the higher your Delta-T will be but nonetheless, even if you ran your fans at low speed, you still should get good H20 temps at a quiet setting.

Make sure you clean your components once you get them because they can leave leftovers from the manufacturing side of things which will save you the trouble down the road. Distilled water and a kill coil/dead water is all you need.

 

[ProgramGuy]

I second the part about being lazy. I got into water cooling because I like to tinker and I actually look forward to doing maintenance. Its not that difficult and if you setup your rig right, it doesn't take that much effort. I'm not in the camp where the noise level is everything, so if I can squeeze out some more performance at the expense of a slight increase in noise... I might give it a try.

 

[CROE]

D5s are quieter than DDCs so look for a D5 kit if anything.

120.3 should be about right for you CPU and GPU since both are combined 295w and most 120.3 rads are rated at 300w @ around 2200RPM. Basically the lower your fans are, the higher your Delta-T will be but nonetheless, even if you ran your fans at low speed, you still should get good H20 temps at a quiet setting.

Make sure you clean your components once you get them because they can leave leftovers from the manufacturing side of things which will save you the trouble down the road. Distilled water and a kill coil/dead water is all you need.

Is there a big difference? I have'nt found any better kit than the X360, it's even more bang for the buck than buying used stuff, I've experienced.

Do you think a thick 420 rad added to my setup could help if it was passive cooled? Or would'nt it do any difference? If it would take some load of the 360 rad I could have its fans on low RPM.

I'll buy a load of distilled water and rinse the components thoroughly. I head somewhere that you should use hot water when cleaning the rad, what do you think?

I second the part about being lazy. I got into water cooling because I like to tinker and I actually look forward to doing maintenance. Its not that difficult and if you setup your rig right, it doesn't take that much effort. I'm not in the camp where the noise level is everything, so if I can squeeze out some more performance at the expense of a slight increase in noise... I might give it a try.

What do you guys think of this setup? I have'nt totally decided if I will buy the cheap GPU-block or not tho, so perhaps I'll do this setup but without the GPU-step.

 

[ProgramGuy]

Your setup looks alright with one slight modification that I would make. I wouldn't go from the pump output to the CPU and then go into the GPU. There is nothing wrong with that, but it could look cleaner going from the pump to the GPU then CPU... IMHO. Just a thought, you could flip the rad and have the connections at the top, and then have the rad output going to the top of the reservoir. That could get rid of some of your longer tubing runs.

 

[CROE]

Your setup looks alright with one slight modification that I would make. I wouldn't go from the pump output to the CPU and then go into the GPU. There is nothing wrong with that, but it could look cleaner going from the pump to the GPU then CPU... IMHO. Just a thought, you could flip the rad and have the connections at the top, and then have the rad output going to the top of the reservoir. That could get rid of some of your longer tubing runs.

Yeah, that would be a better solution, but then I would have to do a long tubing run from the top of the rad to the bottom of the res. Because there isnt any top mounting hole, right? https://shop.ekwb.com/ek-res-x3-150

I see a whole in the top, but I quess that's for filling it, and if I could use that one for tubing I would have nowhere to fill it.

 

[mimart7]

A 320 rad is not enough to cool a cpu, and gpu. You'll need to another 240 rad. Your loop will become heat soaked in short order, without the additional radiator.

 

[DNRDustin]

Make sure you clean your components once you get them because they can leave leftovers from the manufacturing side of things which will save you the trouble down the road. Distilled water and a kill coil/dead water is all you need.

Do the radiator dance obviously, but.... Tear down brand new blocks? What about the pump?

 

[CROE]

A 320 rad is not enough to cool a cpu, and gpu. You'll need to another 240 rad. Your loop will become heat soaked in short order, without the additional radiator.

"Do you think a thick 420 rad added to my setup could help if it was passive cooled? Or would'nt it do any difference? If it would take some load of the 360 rad I could have its fans on low RPM."

 

[Conumdrum]

The rad has to have fans. Low speed is better than none.

 

[Lochekey]

I would grab either two 360 rads or a 360 and 240 rad. Look for something on the thinner side (45mm) with low fpi. This setup will allow you to cool your system well and still maintain a low noise level by running your fans on low. Check out an example rad below.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=172047&d=1449525745

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Your setup looks alright with one slight modification that I would make. I wouldn't go from the pump output to the CPU and then go into the GPU. There is nothing wrong with that, but it could look cleaner going from the pump to the GPU then CPU... IMHO. Just a thought, you could flip the rad and have the connections at the top, and then have the rad output going to the top of the reservoir. That could get rid of some of your longer tubing runs.

+1

Good idea plus the long tubing passing the card will make the loop look silly and unnecessary added length to the loop. This will also allow the bubbles built up to be released which will help utilize the whole rad.

Here, have a 90 degree fitting on the top of the rad going down to the reservoir. On the reservoir's end, you'll also have a 90 degree fitting where that long tubing will meet from the rad above. You might need a extension fitting to make it fit right.

A 320 rad is not enough to cool a cpu, and gpu. You'll need to another 240 rad. Your loop will become heat soaked in short order, without the additional radiator.

320/420 is fine. As long as he's not adding another heat source to the loop.

Do the radiator dance obviously, but.... Tear down brand new blocks? What about the pump?

Basically do the radiator dance and rinse with some distilled water through the blocks and pumps. Just be careful and if you're comfortable, open up the CPU block and the pump and check and see if its clear of debris and not out of place and make sure the pump's O-ring is in the right place. Just don't get the pump PCB wet.

Here's a few examples of my pumps.

 

[CROE]

I will go with the 360 rad, and maybe add another 240 or something later on. The thing is that there is'nt anywhere to mount it, the top has a cover which I don't want to remove, if I do that the case is completely open without any dust filters etc. So I will go with the 360 rad, it'll do fine in idle I think. The rad is also 60mm thick...

Yeah I will use distilled water and clean all the parts, thinking about using this to clean the system as well. Worth it?

Also, what coolant should I use? There is a "EK Koolant" concentrate in the package, but the ultimate solution seems to be only distilled water with biocide and/or a silver kill coil. Could I use the coolant in the package or should I go for biocide or silver coil? I can't find either biocide or silver coil in Swedish stores, which is a problem if I should use that. I found silver kill coil 99.999% pure on Amazon UK for 10£ which I could ship to my sister in London, otherwise it looks rather expensive to ship biocide or silver coil to Sweden.

I found AntiCorro in this Swedish store, which also states its algea prohibiting, should I use that?

EDIT*

Made a new pic of the setup, what do you think?