Liquid Cooling

[Bearcat]

The last time I considered liquid cooling it was not mainstream.. I was surprised to see that it appears that liquid cooling has gone mainstream now with kits out from Antec, Thermaltake, Corsair and others.. Has anyone tried these systems? If so how arte they.. How is the installation.. It seems the price has dropped considerably as well... I am curious to know how these things are.. I am still working on my upgrade and getting my ducks uin a row as far as what I want and my price point.. but I am now considering liquid cooling more seriously than previously.

[Bearcat]

I own both H50 and H80 from corsair

 

Easy to install , nice coolers , quiet etc

 

I was looking at the H-80 and the Antec 920 Both of them had so so reviews on Microcenters site.. but there were only 2 there ... in both cases one was good and one was not so good.. so it is hard to tell. I currently have 7 fans on my box.

[BudgieSmuggler]

I had a system from Corsair a few years ago, the radiator was OK but the reservoir was crappy plastic and eventually developed a leak.

 

This time I setup a water cooling system (mainly to avoid serious overheating issues, not for overclocking) and got separate reservoir, radiator and pump from Amazon and Danger Den (plus that sexy EVGA 580 with integrated water jacket) and it seems a lot nicer.

 

Not to say the options from Corsair etc. don't look OK but I think discrete components is still better for cooling performance as well as quality at the moment ..

[Paganus]

I'm still air cooled too. This site has a fairly complete comparison.

 

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2664&page=7

[Slayer]

I've got the Corsair H100. It kicks a$$. As far as quality goes, well corsair doesn't even make the newer ones. CoolIt systems makes them for corsair as OEM and has droped out of selling directly to customers. The quality is very good. My previous liquid coolers were CoolIt's with peltiers etc....very good product. I have had zero probs with my H100 and it took all of 5 minutes to install.

[Bearcat]

Thanks guys .. anyone else fee free to keep it coming..

[Kuky]

I like water cooling very much... first time I've done it was some 5 years ago and I am planning to stick with it until maybe one day there is no longer need to overclock but even then lower temps and quieter PC is just very nice thing to have if you can.

 

By the way, I have custom loop (not a sealed kit) and I am cooling CPU and GPU, and if you can go water cooling, go for it, only downside if you don't have a sealed kit is when you upgrade something you have to flush the water out and it is bit annoying but I do it every few months to a year so its alright, this actually gives chance of replacing the water and cleaning the system a bit which makes it last longer.

[EtherealN]

I have an H70 in my system. It is fairly loud, but this is mainly due to an unforseen mounting problem with my old HAF chassis - one of the fans make slight contact to the door fan, which causes some vibration. I'm not sound-sensitive myself so I never bothered removing the one of the fans in the door that makes contact. Keeps processor very cool - even with overclocks it stays nicely around 60 degrees.

 

This kind of water cooler isn't really "better" than the best air coolers, but what it does give is absense of worry about clearance for the RAM DIMMs, and I also have it mounted such that it takes cold air directly from outside the chassis. This is personal preference though - disadvantage is that you then expel the hot air into the chassis, but with a HAF chassis this isn't a worry for me. Main thing about them for me is how clean they make the innards, and they also (compared to equivalent air coolers) make sure I don't have a near-kilo of copper weighing on the motherboard. I don't really think this is a problem in most cases since the backplates are usually pretty good, but it is worth remembering that almost all of the high-performance air coolers actually violate motherboard socket load specifications quite severeley, leaving us at the mercy of the backplates.

 

This unit is now approaching two years of almost completely continuous operation (I never turn the computer off), and I've not had any issues so far.

 

One thing I would add is that it might be worth considering to replace the fans on a unit - I've had this thought myself, since the ones this came from aren't the most efficient nor the least noisy. But since I'm not noise-sensitive I just never bothered. Reviews might let you know if the newer ones are better on the noise front - I think the H70 is pretty much no longer produced.

Edited August 10, 2012 by EtherealN

[BudgieSmuggler]

I have an H70 in my system. It is fairly loud, but this is mainly due to an unforseen mounting problem with my old HAF chassis - one of the fans make slight contact to the door fan, which causes some vibration. I'm not sound-sensitive myself so I never bothered removing the one of the fans in the door that makes contact. Keeps processor very cool - even with overclocks it stays nicely around 60 degrees.

 

This kind of water cooler isn't really "better" than the best air coolers, but what it does give is absense of worry about clearance for the RAM DIMMs, and I also have it mounted such that it takes cold air directly from outside the chassis. This is personal preference though - disadvantage is that you then expel the hot air into the chassis, but with a HAF chassis this isn't a worry for me. Main thing about them for me is how clean they make the innards, and they also (compared to equivalent air coolers) make sure I don't have a near-kilo of copper weighing on the motherboard. I don't really think this is a problem in most cases since the backplates are usually pretty good, but it is worth remembering that almost all of the high-performance air coolers actually violate motherboard socket load specifications quite severeley, leaving us at the mercy of the backplates.

 

This unit is now approaching two years of almost completely continuous operation (I never turn the computer off), and I've not had any issues so far.

 

One thing I would add is that it might be worth considering to replace the fans on a unit - I've had this thought myself, since the ones this came from aren't the most efficient nor the least noisy. But since I'm not noise-sensitive I just never bothered. Reviews might let you know if the newer ones are better on the noise front - I think the H70 is pretty much no longer produced.

 

A couple of comments. The previous corsair system I had was definitely louder than fans. Basically it sounded like an aquarium .. This time I got a large radiator with low velocity fans and a pump with adjustable speed and it is definitely (a bit) quieter than separate fans. Plus no more graphic card fans to wind up to ludicrous speed each time I run a game.

 

With regards to heat efficiency, the previous setup I had turned out not only to be noisy but not really any better temperature than separate fans. My current setup is much better though, it was getting to the point my graphics card would regularly hit 100C (thermally limited by the driver) in summer even in relatively light load. With the water cooler it is about 30C cooler most of the time. I would def. recommend water cooling for graphic cards these days especially if you can get a decent integrated water jacket (eg. EVGA). Not so much required for CPUs now, they tend to be more efficient these days and usually not as much of a performance bottleneck compared to GPU.

 

If you do water cool, I suggest check for leaks occasionally. My previous one only leaked a few drops onto the graphics card but it was enough to cook it.

[EtherealN]

Well, regarding the source of the noices I experienced, I tested this through removing the screws on the door and holding it separate - and then the noice disappeared.

 

Graphic cards are a different deal, some are stupid loud, some are not. I typically go for multiple-fan units (and most definitely not the "standard" centrifugal fans) specifically for this. I have literally never seen my graphics card go above about 56 degrees celcius! (I keep monitors in background at all times, because I'm anal.) There are well-doing aircooling solutions for both CPU and GPU, but there's crap ones as well. It's just that in the case of GPU's, the difference between the two is huge.

[Slayer]

A couple of comments. The previous corsair system I had was definitely louder than fans. Basically it sounded like an aquarium .. This time I got a large radiator with low velocity fans and a pump with adjustable speed and it is definitely (a bit) quieter than separate fans. Plus no more graphic card fans to wind up to ludicrous speed each time I run a game.

 

With regards to heat efficiency, the previous setup I had turned out not only to be noisy but not really any better temperature than separate fans. My current setup is much better though, it was getting to the point my graphics card would regularly hit 100C (thermally limited by the driver) in summer even in relatively light load. With the water cooler it is about 30C cooler most of the time. I would def. recommend water cooling for graphic cards these days especially if you can get a decent integrated water jacket (eg. EVGA). Not so much required for CPUs now, they tend to be more efficient these days and usually not as much of a performance bottleneck compared to GPU.

 

If you do water cool, I suggest check for leaks occasionally. My previous one only leaked a few drops onto the graphics card but it was enough to cook it.

 

Should use non conductive fluid and never have to worry about a leak

 

http://www.xoxide.com/fluid-xp-extreme-coolant-green.html

 

either that or Primochill....Fluid XP I can personally vouch for I saw my friends graphic card soaked with the stuff with the PC on and no poof...just a mess...

[fzfq3m]

Should use non conductive fluid and never have to worry about a leak

 

http://www.xoxide.com/fluid-xp-extreme-coolant-green.html

 

either that or Primochill....Fluid XP I can personally vouch for I saw my friends graphic card soaked with the stuff with the PC on and no poof...just a mess...

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK there isn't such thing as "Non-Conductive" fluid, even distilled water will get ionized again when in touch air (afaik).... that's why Koolance label it's fluid as Low-Conductivity, right?

 

I think that leak testing is essential when water cooling, and it doesn't take much to do it... just a few hours (12 Hours would be desirable to be 100% sure).

 

I rather prefer spending 24H while leak testing than spending hundreds of $ replacing my GTX580 :D just because it got fried... just thinking a loud

 

Regards

[docfu]

I have a Corsair H70, I believe.

 

The only thing I recommend is that you plan your PC carefully. I went through a great effort to get mine into the case that I chose but so far it's been 5 months and no major problems.

 

Keep in mind you need space to run the two hoses and there is only so much you can rotate and bend.

 

(Non-standard ATX, 12" Cube)

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

I've been using water cooling for several years now. I built three water-cooled PC's and had a little water-cooling system on one of my video cards.

 

Here's few pictures of my current watercolled PC based on Thermaltake Kandalf case. The feature I like the most with this case is the fact that the heat exchanger is outside of the case. The whole front door is one large radiator with three fans pushing the air.

 

[Kuky]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but AFAIK there isn't such thing as "Non-Conductive" fluid, even distilled water will get ionized again when in touch air (afaik).... that's why Koolance label it's fluid as Low-Conductivity, right?

 

Air contains gasses only, no metals (but there is some dustin in air), so to be technically correct there will be some "contemination" during process of installing and filling the water cooling system but if done properly this is very minimal and negligeable amount that will be introduced into distiled water.

 

Most things you ahve to wory about is leakage and algae so you need to be careful when installing and you have to use chemical specific for water cooling to provent algae. In the end, every now and then you should flush the system and use new distiled water + chemical / water cooling additiv)

Edited August 14, 2012 by Kuky

[WildBillKelsoe]

do you have to put compound between a liquid cooler and CPU? or just contact liquid cooler and CPU? Never had one, only heatsink is what I know. How efficient is it? What coolant is used? Can I use car radiator coolant like Mobil etc..??

[Wolf Rider]

you can use a drop of blue vitriol (copper sulphate) which is the algaecide used for backyard pools... additive not needed unless mixed metals are being used, such as a copper rad and an aluminium water block and Tectalloy (or similar) fixes that

 

 

 

it is still necessary use to use TIM between the CPU and face of the waterblock, the same as an air cooler

Edited August 14, 2012 by Wolf Rider

[Kuky]

You need thermal compund on the CPU same as with any heatsink. Also I always use swiftech additive made specific for water cooling and stay away from people puting some other stuff into their coolant like some dye's etc.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Kuky

[Wolf Rider]

http://tectaloy.com/tectaloy_concentratecoolants_xtragold.html

 

does the green look familiar?

 

same metal rad (copper or brass) and waterblock (copper) is the best solution, with distilled water and a drop of copper sulphate.

 

inhibitors and dyes only serve to detract from the heat removing ability of water

 

 

here'sa link to an all in one site, which may prove helpful => http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?202394-Information-Guides-amp-Reviews-Tests-amp-Galleries

Edited August 14, 2012 by Wolf Rider

[fzfq3m]

Air contains gasses only, no metals (but there is some dustin in air), so to be technically correct there will be some "contemination" during process of installing and filling the water cooling system but if done properly this is very minimal and negligeable amount that will be introduced into distiled water.

 

Most things you ahve to wory about is leakage and algae so you need to be careful when installing and you have to use chemical specific for water cooling to provent algae. In the end, every now and then you should flush the system and use new distiled water + chemical / water cooling additiv)

 

LOL I was too lazy to explain further :music_whistling:but yes the ionization occurs due to contamination, although I remember to read somewhere that CO2 can also ionize distilled water, not sure about this though... in other hand, as we can't just use distilled water and have to add some chemicals (corrotion inibitor and anti-algae) then we are "contaminating" the water, right?

 

Anyway, I agree with you... the water loop need to be flushed periodically due to degradation in the anti-algae/corrosion inhibitor properties.

 

Regards

[CubPilot]

My first attempt at water cooling. I went with a Swiftech H2O Edge kit in a CM HAF-X case cooling the CPU, full vid card cooling, and North Bridge and S Bridge a bit.

 

 

:pilotfly:

Edited August 15, 2012 by CubPilot

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

My first attempt at water cooling. I went with a Swiftech H2O Edge kit in a CM HAF-X case cooling the CPU, full vid card cooling, and North Bridge and S Bridge a bit.

 

 

:pilotfly:

Looks good!

[CubPilot]

Looks good!

 

Thanks. It is much better that the CPU only Anatek closed loop water cooler that was on it originally. That sucker would result in ~90C + @ 100% use when overclocking an i7 920 to 3.6 GHz in a CM Centurion mid tower case.

 

When I installed the Swiftech unit I also went up to a full tower CM HAF-X case as i wanted to have the rad inside, it just works out better for me that way. Now with the CPU @ 4GHz + HD 5870 w/full water block + a small water block on the N Bridge I never go over 70C @ 100% load. The lower vid card is air cooled and only runs my MFCD's for A-10C (not in Crossfire mode). There's still some life left in the old i7!

 

 

:pilotfly:

Edited August 16, 2012 by CubPilot