A Noob at water cooling

[Brentx]

In a month or so I am going to be purchasing a 3200+ Athlon64 off of newegg and a MSI K8n Neo Platinum mobo along with it. Since I am getting a brand new system, I would like to take a new approach at cooling... watercooling. I am not necessarily going to be going crazy with the OC'ing (even though i hear the 3200+ Newcastles with CG stepping OC very, very well) but would like a system to be quiet, and look cool . I have a few questions before I start though, since this will be my first time watercooling a computer, and you guys seem to be the experts on this stuff. What components do I need for a watercooling setup (specific brand... etc)? Also, what exactley does the resivior do in a WC'ing setup? Right now I have a Raidmax 868 Scorpio case, will I need a new case to fit all the watercooling stuff in? And, are there any kits I can buy for cheaper, since I am not necessarey looking for performance, but for it to be quiet. Thanks in advance!

PS - Is there anyhting you can get to make the water glow with a UV light? I hear there are chemicals out there to do this... but dont exactley know if it is safe.

 

[w00p]

I've got a nice overview pic of the ThermalTake Aquarius II from Xoxide.com

Don't ask me either, but I just inputted that image, and the only things I know:
- It seems you need a rather big and roomy case
- It seems you need a rather big and roomy budget
- It really isn't that quiet, some WC systems are louder than an average aircooling kit (rant to follow later)

Rant about WaterCooled cases.

I keep hearing that watercooling is a quiet solution. To myself, I think its nothing of a solution, infact, its simply an expensive setup that equals what the average stock computer has. Nothing but CPU cooling and vga cooling. Offcourse, its a very effective way, but saying that watercooling is a silent manner of cooling for overclocking, is, in my eyes, a big pile of donkeyturd.
Take a dell PC. It has a stock HS and HSF on the CPU and vga (if it even includes one powerfull enough that it has to be cooled)
For the rest of the case, theres nothing. No case fans, no airflow (apart from the sheer breeze caused by the PSU), nothing!
The same happens when you assume that nothing but watercooling is enough.
What happens to your ram? northbridge? HDD's?
If you even dare to overclock your fsb, you're sure to burn a whole through the planet using your northbridge and ram...

A good aircooling setup consists of a nice overall airflow, wich passes by your HDD's, then your mobo (ram, northbridge HS) and passes by your CPU, so theres a bit of semi-fresh air to get pumped into the CPU HS, to then leave the case via the exhaust, be it a case in the back or your PSU. Aside from the airflow, you will probably cool the CPU and VGA via a heatsink+heatsinkfan.
A bad aircooling/decent aircooling for a stock PC consists of nothing but a little HS on the northbridge, cooling on the CPU and vga in the form of heatsinks+heatsinkfans.

A good watercooling consists of a decent overall airflow, to cool the HDD's, go past the ramsticks, northbridge, to then leave via the exhaust. Then, watercooled CPU and VGA will cool the warmest parts of the PC.
A bad watercooling/decent watercooling for a stock PC consists of a CPU and VGA that are cooled by waterblocks.

I hope my view has come through to you...
NOTE: I know I left the PCI/AGP slots of out the scene while describing the airflow, offcourse these are cooled too, but I forgot them almost while writing it and was too lazy to edit the text so I just added this note...

 

[Brentx]

Thanks for the input. Infact, I think you have completely changed my mind on the whole watercooling aspect . It sounds to me, at least for what I will be using my PC for, I shouldn't invest the $200+ dollars into something that silent fans could do. Think you could recommend any good and silent Socket 754 fans? I was thinking this: Thermaltake Venus 12 . Also, how do you pull the fan off of your chipset/GPU? I have done it before but its is a pain in the arse! Is there any easy way to do it?

 

[w00p]

I don't know much about it, so I'll just base this statement on the stats on the newegg page:
It looks quite decent and very silent for the air it pushes around. In addition to the 3.5inch bay controller, I'd say I'm convinced it'll be a good buy...

Oh, and don't get me wrong, aircooling hardly gets the same performance as watercooling, but watercooling doesn't take away the need for an airflow.
BUT, the price doesn't make up for the performance gain IMO. This may be because I'm poor, and 15 p), but this is only as a gadget to replace your CPU HS when you're going entirely extreme and don't want to install a tornado on your CPU. If you consider the performance similarity between a tornado and watercooling, yes its silent, but don't expect a watercooled case to make no noise, you still need quite some airflow, thats all.

 

[Bios24]

I'm about to go water, and here's why: Quiet Overclocking.

If you want to overclock, there are two ways: noisy cheap air, or quiet pricey water. In the end I'm hoping my case will only have 3 120mm fans total, all silent, and I'll still be able to overclock my cpu and video card.

Now if you aren't overclocking, you can make a fairly quiet setup on air, and there's no real need to watercool.

 

[Senater_Cache]

This should be in the Watercooling section.

Watercooling is great in many respects.
1.You can have it be really quiet
2.It is very well suited for overclocking.
3.It is something not everyone else is doing, and looks really cool.
4.It can be very educational and extremely fun, It makes a great hobby. haha

If you are a temperature nut like me, you should do it!

In your situation I would get all the stuff from one site so there is no confusion about Diameters and such.
great sites (and brands in themselves) are:
DangerDen
Dtek
Swiftech

I prefer the DangerDen products but all are very good.
For a lower budget check out DangeDen's Maze4 setups.

In your position I would do a custom kit configuration on one of the sites.

have fun
SenC.

 

[rogerdugans]

Don't ask me either, but I just inputted that image, and the only things I know:
- It seems you need a rather big and roomy case
- It seems you need a rather big and roomy budget
- It really isn't that quiet, some WC systems are louder than an average aircooling kit (rant to follow later)

Rant about WaterCooled cases.

I keep hearing that watercooling is a quiet solution. To myself, I think its nothing of a solution, infact, its simply an expensive setup that equals what the average stock computer has.

Water cooling is definitely NOT for everyone- in fact there are many situations when it would be a worse idea than a good air cooling solution.
H2O does have a lot of good points as well, and adds even more versatility to a system.

If you enjoy messing with hardware and modding computer systems, water may be for you; if you hate the idea of cutting up a computer case and modifying such things....well, there are a few external systems (Hydrocool, Exos) that you could use, but that is about it.

To hit the 3 points originally made in the quote:
1) Roomy cases are generally preferred but they are not necessary. Many of us have done small systems with H2O- I have an mATX LAN rig that does very well with water cooling.

2) Big budgets are not necessary, although the costs do tend to be higher than for air cooling. Good systems can be built for under $100 if you shop well and are creative. You can also spend $400 very easily if you choose, but that is NOT necessary.

3) Water cooling, like air cooling can be optimized for noise level or performance: HIGH Performance H2O systems deliver better performance than air at the same noise level.
Silent H2O systems create less noise at the same performance level.

I have built both types of systems, but my favorite method is to go for High Performance and use fan controllers to cut noise levels when desired.

Air cooling has come a very long way since the days of passive heatsinks on the top performing cpus, but water cooling has as well...and it is still an emerging technology that has much greater cooling potential than air cooling does.

Many people do not want to deal with the perceived dangers or hassles of water cooling, and I will not lie and say that these dangers or hassles do not exist- they do.
They are fairly minimal though- in fact, I feel more secure about my water cooled systems than I do my air-cooled ones!

Air cooling is the best choice for most computer users, even here at a hobbyist forum like this one, but for those who enjoy modding cases/systems and want to add even more cooling performance capability and versatility to their system liquid cooling is something well worth looking into.

 

[Senater_Cache]

well said.