Is watercooling still worth it?

iviv

iviv

iviv

Soldato
Joined
2 Jun 2007
Posts
6,839
Location
Mornington Crescent
Hey guys,

I'm starting to look at a new PC build based on Ryzen and Vega once it's out, and I've just been trying to work out how to cool it. I've always been air cooled, with AIO coolers on my recent builds, and cases built around lots of fans (Antec 900, DF85), since more fans = more air flow and must be cooler!
However my 4790 has always had heat issues even running stock, I've tried remounting it but that didn't do much for the temps. But this, combined with the noise from the fans has made me consider switching to full water cooling for both CPU and GPU. Overclocking's always something I've done, though not to any extreme level with any of my setups which is why I've generally shyed away from doing it previously, but is it worth the extra cost of going water if I do want to try and push the Ryzen CPUs? The main reason I'm asking now is that snce I'm going to be a totally new build, this is the time to jump on with the water when I'm still picking out cases, etc, and can get items which will make things easier for watercooling.

Also, the same question above also applies to the GPU. I've never overclocked one of these before, I'll be running a dual montor setup, one 1080p and one 1440p 144ghz freesync, so I would like to think I can probably belt most games out at close to max settings at that resolution as is, but if overclocking is going to squeeze out a few more frames and it's not too tricky then I'm willing to give it a go. But how long does it generally take for waterblocks/cards to come with the blocks already attached?

Looks aren't important to me, so I won't be going with any fancy lighting of coloured fluid or anything, I just want something cool (temperature wise) and functional.

Sorry for the vaguely rambling post!
 
Your probably looking at a few weeks after release when cards come with them pre-attached. Blocks may or may not be available on release, depends how much lead time EK get.

Watercooling is still the best thing if you want the best performance coupled with, low noise and temps. However a decent AIO (for CPU) and a good quality AIB card won't be too far behind (from experience).
 
AIO on gpu and cpu here from custom. Custom is really not worth it when i can slam a corsair and evga kit on and be able to remove stuff hassle free. Its great.
 
AIO is indeed catching up to custom loop in multiple domains, but custom loop still has the edge on aesthetics and customisation.

Whether it's worth it is entirely up to your value on quick swapping, maintenance, aesthetics, time/cost-investment etc.

As per watercooled VGA cards, they already exist, check out EVGA Hybrid, MSI Seahawk etc. Or NZXT G12 if you are capable of installing AIO yourself.
 
Thanks for the answers guys. Honestly, aesthetics don't matter to me at all, the PC's going to be sitting under a desk, so as long as things are functional then it doesn't matter to me how they look. If AIO coolers are getting good enough now then I might just stick with one of those for simplicity, the main thing that had put me off was the fact that my current one (An Antec H20 950) is doing a useless job on my stock 4790k. I can't render videos without limiting the rendering program to only use two cores, and even then they are running at 80c. I've tried reseating the heatsink but that didn't do anything for the temps. It could just be an unlucky cpu, or cooler, though I can feel the heat being kicked out by the fan. I figured going for a full water setup with a triple sized radiator would get me the best temperatures, and I don't tend to upgrade that often so it wouldn't be too important for me to be able to swap out parts. But if I can get close enough for much less cost and complication with AIO then I'll probably stick with one of those.
 
iviv said:
Thanks for the answers guys. Honestly, aesthetics don't matter to me at all, the PC's going to be sitting under a desk, so as long as things are functional then it doesn't matter to me how they look. If AIO coolers are getting good enough now then I might just stick with one of those for simplicity, the main thing that had put me off was the fact that my current one (An Antec H20 950) is doing a useless job on my stock 4790k. I can't render videos without limiting the rendering program to only use two cores, and even then they are running at 80c. I've tried reseating the heatsink but that didn't do anything for the temps. It could just be an unlucky cpu, or cooler, though I can feel the heat being kicked out by the fan. I figured going for a full water setup with a triple sized radiator would get me the best temperatures, and I don't tend to upgrade that often so it wouldn't be too important for me to be able to swap out parts. But if I can get close enough for much less cost and complication with AIO then I'll probably stick with one of those.
Click to expand...

TBH it might be the AIO that's not serving you justice, especially with a hot chip like the 4790K.

You don't really need a custom loop for 360, 360/280 AIO already exist and perform pretty well, Like the Fractal Design S36, NZXT X61 (X62 might be too expensive if silence and aesthetic is not a concern), Corsair H100i v2 etc.
 
Thanks for the heads up, I'll probably settle with AIO then, and wait for a decent aftermarket Vega cooler, with all the hype around those cards I can't imagine it being too long before there's some good coolers out for them.
 
tbh watercooling has never been objectively "worth it". it's more a case of "i want to do it and can do it" - I enjoy watercooling and will continue to do it as long as it's feasible but never recommend it to anyone other than people who want to watercool.

obviously with enough rads, temps can be keep very low and noise too but the performance gains are fairly minimal

however i advise against AiOs just cause of their poor reliability, price and risk. big air is so much better if you have the space
 
Disco_P said:
tbh watercooling has never been objectively "worth it". it's more a case of "i want to do it and can do it" - I enjoy watercooling and will continue to do it as long as it's feasible but never recommend it to anyone other than people who want to watercool.

obviously with enough rads, temps can be keep very low and noise too but the performance gains are fairly minimal

however i advise against AiOs just cause of their poor reliability, price and risk. big air is so much better if you have the space
Click to expand...


this is very true, intact it's surprising how far air cooling has come along.

I tested on my 7700k earlier a h115i, with 4 corsair ml140 fans in push-pull with the corsair unit in performance mode.

against a noctua u14s, with two fans (single tower) both have mx4 paste.

the noctua, was actually some 4c cooler on average, whilst being much quieter, turning the corsair to 'quiet' mode made it much quieter, but temps went up another 4c making it even worse again than the noctua.

worth noting this was an hour of realbench, then 3 quick cinebench runs, a lot of the youtubers/reviewers only seem to bench for 10-15 minutes, so the water temp doesn't get as high, while the air cooler heats up to temp much quicker.

I'm interested to see how the new corsair units with gen 6 pumps at 360mm perform though, could be much better than current offerings.
 
zornyan said:
this is very true, intact it's surprising how far air cooling has come along.

I tested on my 7700k earlier a h115i, with 4 corsair ml140 fans in push-pull with the corsair unit in performance mode.

against a noctua u14s, with two fans (single tower) both have mx4 paste.

the noctua, was actually some 4c cooler on average, whilst being much quieter, turning the corsair to 'quiet' mode made it much quieter, but temps went up another 4c making it even worse again than the noctua.

worth noting this was an hour of realbench, then 3 quick cinebench runs, a lot of the youtubers/reviewers only seem to bench for 10-15 minutes, so the water temp doesn't get as high, while the air cooler heats up to temp much quicker.

I'm interested to see how the new corsair units with gen 6 pumps at 360mm perform though, could be much better than current offerings.
Click to expand...

Which case & where did you install your AIO?

AIO is more likely to get suffocated by a restrictive case than an air cooler.
 
zornyan said:
used it in a corsair 780t, and my phanteks evolv atx, temps were near on the same between both.
Click to expand...

Not sure for 780T but Phanteks Evolv is notorious for the suffocating airflow and should never really be used for watercooling since they're more prone to performance loss due to restriction.

Anyways, another point for aircooling if you use it in a case like those.
 
Thanks for all the pointers guys. Based on all your advice, I'll be keeping my 4790 and sticking the NH-D15 onto it, see what that does to my temperatures. Hopefully it'll be enough that I can actually afford to overclock it a little and it'll be good to run for a couple of years, and I'll just grab Vega when it's released. Thanks again for all the help!
 
deFiniLoGy said:
Not sure for 780T but Phanteks Evolv is notorious for the suffocating airflow and should never really be used for watercooling since they're more prone to performance loss due to restriction.

Anyways, another point for aircooling if you use it in a case like those.
Click to expand...

the 780t has basicslly just a (fairly open) mesh filter at the front and top, it's one of the 'high airflow' corsair cases, can't see it being restrictive at all?

one thing I notice is reviews put the AIO normally 1-3 c cooler than the air coolers, but fail to account for heat soak after time.

like, when I do some rendering for an hour the temps of the AIO will climb up slowly bit by bit, but for an initial benchmark for the first 30mins or.so temps are cooler, where as obviously the heat sink doesn't take as long to normalize it's temps.

I would love to try a custom loop, and compare all 3 for myself, but admittedly I don't have the balls to risk several thousand pounds worth of equipment in the event I (likely) **** something up and get a leak.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom