Water Cooling Question

[lil domii]

hi everyone,
i know that water cooling is less noisy, takes up less room and cools more efficiently. but how much do the temperatures drop on average from standard air coolers? i want to have a go at decent overclocking when i build my new rig
(not what it drops down to, how much it cools down )
thanks,

Dom

 

[stoneys-nutz]

Hello lil domii,
I overclock all my rigs, (check my specs), but i have yet to be convinced that water cooling is worth the expense, my temps never go above 50C under load and that is on air cooling.
If you can keep your temps down to an acceptable level, then it doesn't matter how you do it.
I like the fact that if my cooling goes wrong, it can be fixed with another fan or heatsink, in minutes.
Dont get caught up in the hype.
Any way, thats my 2 bobs worth, good luck.

 

[smarteyeball]

hi everyone,
i know that water cooling is less noisy, takes up less room and cools more efficiently. but how much do the temperatures drop on average from standard air coolers? i want to have a go at decent overclocking when i build my new rig
(not what it drops down to, how much it cools down )
thanks,

Dom

Stick with air for your first time around to get the hang of Overclocking. It's cheaper, easier and you can still get a good overclock.

Watercooling is only necessary when going for very high (4ghz+) overclocks with voltages that exceed the 'max safe' values.

 

[skunksmash]

as others have said, its not a big drop really, 5-6c some claim up to a 10c drop.......

i also would never go WC, my air config is 2nd to none (if you dont mind a little noise, but while gaming with the headset it makes no odds)

i have a CM590 case with a full front grill, ive removed all standard CM 120mm fans & replaced all of them with server fans (2x 120x38mm delta's @ 135CFM each...... 3x 92x38mm AVC @ 100CFM & vantec @ 113CFM

all wired into a ''lamptron military bay bus controller''.....

while idle i run only one fan, the CPU fan @ 20%, & the rig is silent @ the flick of a switch im pulling 300CFM through the front of my case...:eek::eek: @ about 50db

this setup cost peanuts compared to a decent WC setup & mine probably performs better...

now this is a far less hassle & ''better performing'' setup than water, its just obviously louder... but a WC setup is not silent unless you keep your rad in another room, the 3x 120mm fans are still audible...

check out my idle & load temps...

idle....



load...

 

[Everlong]

I've seen different outcomes with watercooling. If you don't set it up properly, then you get bugger all in terms of temp drop. If setup properly, then you can get quite a considerable drop in temp.

The PC a mate of mine has has watercooling in it, just one to cool the CPU. He had his radiator next to his PC under his desk, so was still sitting at 30C idle and in the 40s for load temps, which is pretty much what I get on my CPU on air cooling. He then moved his PC on to his desk and put his radiator on to his window ledge and that's when the temps really dropped.

At idle his i7 920 sits at 19-20C, it's been overclocked to 3.4GHz. At load, it gets to about 35C when running prime95, which leaves a lot of headroom for more overclocking when he upgrades his RAM from 1333MHz.

I'll try and get some screenshots when I see him.

Edit: He's posting the screenshot himself.

Edit: Just watched him take that screenshot and when prime95 has stoppedbenching , the temps drop back down to idle in pretty much a few seconds.

 

[kungpow1975]

Im the guy "Everlong18" was talking about, at Idle my CPU sits at 15-22c and at Load the highest any core gets to is 37C.

 

[lil domii]

ok, thanks everyone, sorry for the mid-late reply, i have taken in wht you said, and will just get a £10 air heatsink.

Dom

 

[lil domii]

Im the guy "Everlong18" was talking about, at Idle my CPU sits at 15-22c and at Load the highest any core gets to is 37C.

View attachment 17202

on air cooling?

 

[kungpow1975]

On watercooling

 

[skunksmash]

I've seen different outcomes with watercooling. If you don't set it up properly, then you get bugger all in terms of temp drop. If setup properly, then you can get quite a considerable drop in temp.

The PC a mate of mine has has watercooling in it, just one to cool the CPU. He had his radiator next to his PC under his desk, so was still sitting at 30C idle and in the 40s for load temps, which is pretty much what I get on my CPU on air cooling. He then moved his PC on to his desk and put his radiator on to his window ledge and that's when the temps really dropped.

At idle his i7 920 sits at 19-20C, it's been overclocked to 3.4GHz. At load, it gets to about 35C when running prime95, which leaves a lot of headroom for more overclocking when he upgrades his RAM from 1333MHz.

I'll try and get some screenshots when I see him.

Edit: He's posting the screenshot himself.

Edit: Just watched him take that screenshot and when prime95 has stoppedbenching , the temps drop back down to idle in pretty much a few seconds.

hello harry........

yes there's certainly more than a few crap WC loops about.

Im the guy "Everlong18" was talking about, at Idle my CPU sits at 15-22c and at Load the highest any core gets to is 37C.

View attachment 17202

Welcome kungpow1975......

those are some nice temps mate, what kind of cooling setup is built on the rad..??, how far away is the rad from the tower..??

 

[kungpow1975]

Its the "Black ICE GT eXtreme 480" 480mm Radiator, with a "Laing DDC-1T Ultra 18w" Pump, and The "Laing DDC Top Reservoir", with a EK-Supreme Plexi S1366 Block. The Radiator Has 4x Xigmatek 120mm orange/White Fans (See Pics Below!!!).

As you can see the radiator is right next to the tower.

 

[Everlong]

He was too lazy to take a new photo. He currently has his radiator sat on his window ledge with the fans blowing cold air from the window through his radiator

 

[kungpow1975]

Heres the new pictures as Harry pointed out that i was too lazy.

Radiator

CPU Block

PUMP and Reservoir

 

[martin10522]

Damn,how much is water cooling?

 

[lil domii]

Damn,how much is water cooling?

cheapest i have seen is £50 - £60.

 

[smarteyeball]

Damn,how much is water cooling?

cheapest i have seen is £50 - £60.

Good rule of thumb = the cheaper the kit, the worse the performance.


Nice looking rig there KungPow.

 

[kungpow1975]

Thanks Smarteyeball, i have to give everlong18 some credit as he helped me build it.

 

[lil domii]

C-CWCH50-1 Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50-1 CPU Cooler LGA775, LGA1156, LGA1366, AM2 : novatech.co.uk
that is the watercooling i found on novatech after hours of looking around (actually, it was the only one there )
for around the same price is this http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-U12PS2.
lol which one is better smarteyeball/skunksmash?

 

[kungpow1975]

Hi, as a Watercooling user it may seem a bit weird for me to be saying this, but a Air cooler for around £60 will be much better than any watercooler for the same price, so i would reccommend the air cooler. What smarteyeball said about watercooling is correct, the more you invest in it... the better it is. i would say go for air cooling if your budget is around £60

 

[kungpow1975]

My old Aircooler before i switched to watercooling was excellent.

it was the "Asus Triton 81". Its £37-£45 at the moment and is dual fanned. The only problem is it has fixing clips instead of screws. but once you figure out how to secure them, it goes on fine and it keeps the CPU relatively cool