To watercool or not... that is the question

[sweatdatechniq]

Hi guys,
I guess you could say I'm a newbie to the forums, maybe not to air cooling but certainly to watercooling.

I'm trying to decide whether or not it will be worth it to switch to water and whether the gains will outweigh the means. First let me explain a bit about my setup. I am currently decked out as far as air will take me. I am running a 2500+barton (stock 1.8GHz) OC'ed @ 2.2GHx (3200+) @ 37 idle/45 load on a A7N8X with slk-9000 and smart fanII @ 3500RPM. I also have excellcent air flow with 2 - 80mm at front (intake) and 2 in the back (exhaust), a side fan (intake) and a blow hole (exhaust). This is all in a chieftec/chenming 1030 case. Room ambient temps hover around 78°F or 28°C.

With the hot summer months right around the corner, my ambient temps will rise up to maybe 82-83°F. Given this, I have been contemplating a watercooled setup. Firstly, will the average watercooled setup be any more beneficial than my current setup in terms of performance. I know it will probably be quieter, but my setup is already pretty quiet.

I won't be building my setup from parts I purchase from home depot. I don't feel comfortable enough to do that yet. I have read up a little on the whole concept and it is something I definitely would like to get into. What kits out there do you guys suggest? Should I go Y-pipe? If so, should I go with the 3/8" tubing which, in turn, would impact my choice of pump. Given that I wish to maximize performance, what would be your guys' top reccomendations? I was looking at the Maze3 power kit from dangerden.com but am open to any other suggestions. Thanks for your help guys.

sweat

 

[Rafterman223]

Well, how much are you willing to spend. I would go for the Hydor L30 pump, it's quiet, cheaper than the enheims, and does well. Also I'd get a chevette core radiator, and probably a TC-4 waterblock from D-tek (http://www.d-tekcustoms.com/store.asp). I would only go with 1/2 inch tubing. That'd probably cost about $200.

 

[fiji]

Well, how much are you willing to spend. I would go for the Hydor L30 pump, it's quiet, cheaper than the enheims, and does well. Also I'd get a chevette core radiator, and probably a TC-4 waterblock from D-tek (http://www.d-tekcustoms.com/store.asp). I would only go with 1/2 inch tubing. That'd probably cost about $200.

$200, or you could go for a $40 dollar good (semi-low noise) air cool


you prolly wont get as low temps, or as quiet

but 160 bucks..

 

[Sartori]

The one thing stopping me from watercooling is the transportability factor. The last thing you want to do let loose a torrent of water in your machine. Something to think about.

As far as research goes, the best all around kit that I have found is the Innovatek H20 AMD Socket A WaterCooling Kit.

Here's a link to a review. http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20020102/index.html

And here's a link to a water cooling installation walkthrough. http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20020701/index.html

 

[Gautam]

With a setup like yours already in place, I don't think watercooling would help you too much, if at all. Your temps are in fact better than my wc system, which was by no means anything cheap. I have a TC-4, Maxijet 1200, and heatercore, btw. You can't really top a setup like that too significantly, but yet your SLK-900 does. Your ambient temps are of concern, though, and a watercooled setup is just as sensitive to them as an aircooled setup would be. Your temps leave headroom as it is; I usually overclock until I just exceed 50 °C at load. It seems like everythings already nicely in place for you as it is.

 

[ssgohan434]

The one thing stopping me from watercooling is the transportability factor. The last thing you want to do let loose a torrent of water in your machine. Something to think about.

As far as research goes, the best all around kit that I have found is the Innovatek H20 AMD Socket A WaterCooling Kit.

Here's a link to a review. http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20020102/index.html

And here's a link to a water cooling installation walkthrough. http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20020701/index.html

same here. that is the main thing im afraid of. im still not sure if i want to get one. sometimes i do and then sometimes i do not. anyways im not making any decisions before end of June because im moving and that would make a huge problem of transporting the water cooling setup.

 

[Sartori]

Heh. At least you don't have to worry about freezing.

Problem is though, watercooling does seem kinda neat........

 

[Maximus Nickus]

Hi guys,
I guess you could say I'm a newbie to the forums, maybe not to air cooling but certainly to watercooling.

I'm trying to decide whether or not it will be worth it to switch to water and whether the gains will outweigh the means. First let me explain a bit about my setup. I am currently decked out as far as air will take me. I am running a 2500+barton (stock 1.8GHz) OC'ed @ 2.2GHx (3200+) @ 37 idle/45 load on a A7N8X with slk-9000 and smart fanII @ 3500RPM. I also have excellcent air flow with 2 - 80mm at front (intake) and 2 in the back (exhaust), a side fan (intake) and a blow hole (exhaust). This is all in a chieftec/chenming 1030 case. Room ambient temps hover around 78°F or 28°C.

With the hot summer months right around the corner, my ambient temps will rise up to maybe 82-83°F. Given this, I have been contemplating a watercooled setup. Firstly, will the average watercooled setup be any more beneficial than my current setup in terms of performance. I know it will probably be quieter, but my setup is already pretty quiet.

I won't be building my setup from parts I purchase from home depot. I don't feel comfortable enough to do that yet. I have read up a little on the whole concept and it is something I definitely would like to get into. What kits out there do you guys suggest? Should I go Y-pipe? If so, should I go with the 3/8" tubing which, in turn, would impact my choice of pump. Given that I wish to maximize performance, what would be your guys' top reccomendations? I was looking at the Maze3 power kit from dangerden.com but am open to any other suggestions. Thanks for your help guys.

sweat

Hi sweat!
First off I'd like to take this chance to welcome you to the Forums, as with regards to your question I will be happy to answer it and it was probably best to PM me as I haven't had much Forum time lately.

First off the system you have looks to be very well setup to achieve your current temperatures, so you will have to spend slightly more money to achieve a noticeably lower temperature (5-10C) whilst maintaining a low noise level. You mention not wanting to purchase a kit so here are some links to pre-made kits that may be of interest, they are presented in order of performance:

• Corsair Hydrocool - Runs at Turbo Mode/Quiet mode. Both are very effective.
• Innovatek
• Our Complete Watercooling Listings

Tubing size does not always matter a great deal, personally I have gone with a Dual Loop 3/8th Tubing setup. Which yeilds my 3200+ at 39C (on die Temps) at load. But this is a homeade setup with a homeade Waterblock.
I really wouldn't worry about Tubing size espicially as the pre-made systems choose it for you! They are also ranked in order of performance. So you can clearly see for yourself how certain Tubing benefits the different setups.

Some quick notes as well, nearly all Pumps have many adapters available and therefore nearly all size Tubings can be used, Eheim Pumps are highly recommend as they are very reliable, they have a lifetime guarentee, they are nearly silent, and are great performers.

If you have any more questions or doubts about anything please feel free to contact me.

Good Luck,
M_N

 

[sweatdatechniq]

Thanks guys,
everyone has been so incredibly helpful inthis forum. I think at this point, it would be in my best interest to keep researching and learning more about the ins and outs of watercooling. It can really get complex. Once I feel as though I have a good handle on it, I will venture in with a custom setup as that seems to yield the best results and I think I'd have more fun with it. I still get queasy thinking about moving water instead of the rig but what the hey. That Corsair looks like it's pretty easy to install relatively. Does anyone have any experience with this setup?

sweat

 

[anvil82]

For watercooling, if you want it so you can overclock more, what is your current fsb set at, as well as your mobo, and ram.

If your ram isn't that great, or your mobo isn't a great overclocker, water cooling won't do much to help that.

 

[sweatdatechniq]

For watercooling, if you want it so you can overclock more, what is your current fsb set at, as well as your mobo, and ram.

If your ram isn't that great, or your mobo isn't a great overclocker, water cooling won't do much to help that.

Currently, I'm only on a 203MHz fsb @ 11.0x and the memory is xms pc3200 6-2-2-2-2 timings. How much more would a wc setup help me?