Is MB watercooling worth it?

lrlcr · 25 May 2011 at 13:32

I've got an msi GD65 with a 2500k on order and was planning on using my h70 to keep it cool. My last board I'm fairly sure I cooked the NB so I was contemplating building my first full WC loop doing GPU, CPU and MB.

I've seen that koolance do universal cooling blocks which will presumably fit (with a bit of research) but is this something that is worth doing or should I not bother.

Scon · 25 May 2011 at 13:37

%100 not, especially for Sandy bridge. There's just no point.

Plec · 25 May 2011 at 13:43

As above - the SB setup are so easy to clock with relitively little voltage increase for a substantial clock (e.g. i'm on 4.4 usuing 1.18V.)

Plus, you don't sound very enthusiastic about the thought of setting up a WC - which is usually an indicator in itself. It's a lot of effort to get it strated off - and that comitment is on going. As, upgrades can become time consuming/irritating if you upgrade CPU's, GPUs on a regular basis. So the excitement kinda needs to be there right from the off.

But, if it's something that's always interested you - then it's always worth considering (never dampen someones wish to experiment with new things) - but probably not if your just worried about your NB using a SB setup.

MumboJumbo · 25 May 2011 at 13:48

Would argue watercooling the mobo hasn't been needed since conroe and even then it wasn't really needed, more just a toy.

lrlcr · 25 May 2011 at 13:52

I'm reasonably enthusiastic about the whole thing, but I'd like to do it properly, generally I like to do things once and do them right. In my mind this would be gpu/cpu as a pare minimum, but ideally including ram and mb in order to run the whole thing as quietly and cooly as possible without needing massive amounts of case fans etc.

There aren't any full board blocks for the GD65 and i've got a msi frozer 3 6950 so it's not going to be quite as neat as I'd like, these are the main reasons for my lack of enthusiasm; particularly the gpu as once you start needing Vram heatsinks etc then you need more airflow which will be annoying.

PaulyD · 25 May 2011 at 14:01

Was only really of use when the NB was on the motherboard as these could get quite toasty when clocked hard, though half decent airflow across it would be sufficient, mostly be done for the looks rather than function

Now its integrated into the CPU there is absolutely no point. Also no point doing RAM either as just won't be required

Plec · 25 May 2011 at 14:02

lrlcr said:
I'm reasonably enthusiastic about the whole thing, but I'd like to do it properly, generally I like to do things once and do them right. In my mind this would be gpu/cpu as a pare minimum, but ideally including ram and mb in order to run the whole thing as quietly and cooly as possible without needing massive amounts of case fans etc.

There aren't any full board blocks for the GD65 and i've got a msi frozer 3 6950 so it's not going to be quite as neat as I'd like, these are the main reasons for my lack of enthusiasm; particularly the gpu as once you start needing Vram heatsinks etc then you need more airflow which will be annoying.

Ah, you're a prefectionist - if you're going to do domething at least do it properly and to the best of your ability (i can relate to that.)

If it's for the experience i wouldn't be put off too much by a few limitations regarding the MB. I'm all for someone experimenting with new ideas - there doesn't always have to be a need.

You need rjkoneill or jon678 (or simialr to) join the thread - as their, expertise and enthusiasm for water tempered with their logic for the actual need would probably help you out a lot in your decision making...

lrlcr · 25 May 2011 at 14:28

It's going to be in a haf-x, so I'm a bit worried about rad placement (not in terms of fitting it, but getting it where i'm happy to have it)

Equally I'm kinda set on one of the XSPC reservoirs with the integrated pump heads (either the single or dual ddc) as they seem to be the neatest solution by a long way.

I'm also seriously considering using stainless steel tubing and swagelock connectors in lieu of the usual plastic tubing. It'll be an absolute bugger to do, but the finished effect (lots of straight lines and neatly rounded right angles) would be massively worth it for me.

Plec · 25 May 2011 at 14:44

Clearly you are enthused - you need the resident water gurus (which i'm not) i mentioned earlier to notice your thread.

They'll happily advise someone whose done the leg-work already on the subject - and clearly you have.

They will be able to point you to possible solutions and alternatives for the setup you're ideally after. The fact that you already have an idea and expectations of what you want/need will help a lot. (As talking through a 'possible' water project verges on the absurd if someone has no clue of what there asking about.)

Have you read any of the 'water posts' in the projects logs forum; it's a sub forum of the case central - link? As you will find lots of examples and ideas there - may even enthuse you even more or put you off altogether.

lrlcr · 25 May 2011 at 14:50

They're kinda what have started this! I first thought about wc about 6 years ago, with my last pc, but I'm a lot more serious this time...

Need to put together a vague list of what i need here

OLDPHART · 25 May 2011 at 16:29

If your interested in watercooling 1st read up on it plenty of info on the net choose your parts read reviews to find out how they perform. Really you only need to cool your CPU + GPU, as cooling the NB does not give you much gain. My NB gets quite toasty so l just put a 50mm fan over it, while l watercooled my CPU + GPU.

Come back put a thread up with any questions you need answering.

Monkey Puzzle · 25 May 2011 at 20:32

PaulyD said:
Was only really of use when the NB was on the motherboard as these could get quite toasty when clocked hard, though half decent airflow across it would be sufficient, mostly be done for the looks rather than function

Now its integrated into the CPU there is absolutely no point. Also no point doing RAM either as just won't be required

Pauly has hit the nail on the head - there really doesn't seem to be any point in cooling the motherboard on boards where the NB is on the CPU, and low voltage RAM simply doesn't get very hot. I run my pc fanless, bar the temperature-controlled PSU fan (in a PSU that is placed so that it has no effect on motherboard cooling) and the RAM (DDR3, 1.65v) heatsinks are at maybe 40-50C from touching them, and the motherboard mosfet heatsinks are at maybe 60C.

Has always seemed to be more for looks than anything. Spending another £150 or so for motherboard and ram blocks that'll just dump more heat in the loop and reduce water flowrate (and hence mean your cpu/gpu run hotter) doesn't really appeal to me.

Happy to help if you want some advice on a water-cooling set-up btw - just start a thread with what you're wanting to cool, what you can realistically fit in the HAF etc and what you were thinking of doing etc and people will happily help. People tend to be a bit unhelpful if people just start a thread saying "spec me all the bits for a water-cooling set-up".