Watercooled Case Gallery

[LuckyBenski]

Yeah mine started off bright red like that
But over time it darkened
Ended up a deep purple colour

Wouldn't really recommend it
Unless you're OK with replacing the coolant
After a while

Though must admit it took a while
For the colour to start changing

This used to be clear coolant! It started out by going slightly aquamarine in the first few days. Then over a year it went to quite a nice crystally clear blue. Then this is about 3 years in.

I think Alphacool said it was normal for it to react like this (it wasn't growth), but still wasn't too impressed. Since moved to Mayhems fluid and coloured LEDs.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

This used to be clear coolant! It started out by going slightly aquamarine in the first few days. Then over a year it went to quite a nice crystally clear blue. Then this is about 3 years in.

I think Alphacool said it was normal for it to react like this (it wasn't growth), but still wasn't too impressed. Since moved to Mayhems fluid and coloured LEDs.

Yeah finally managed to get almost all of
The purple out of mine recently
Just using distilled water now
With a splash of antifreeze in there
Will see how that fares
And just use leds for colour from now on

 

[matt100]

If you don't want or need a colour I can't begin to think why you'd use anything but deionised water.

I've run systems for several years at a time with zero issues.

Antifreeze seems like a mad idea tbh

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Oh its definitely possible I am mad

It's only a very small amount of antifreeze
In over 1.5 litres of water
Didn't have any biocide or corrosion inhibitor
but did have antifreeze handy
Pretty sure it won't cause any problems

There's been plenty people used antifreeze before
In much higher concentration too

 

[matt100]

Oh its definitely possible I am mad

It's only a very small amount of antifreeze
In over 1.5 litres of water
Didn't have any biocide or corrosion inhibitor
but did have antifreeze handy
Pretty sure it won't cause any problems

There's been plenty people used antifreeze before
In much higher concentration too

Sure but I'm suggesting you don't need anything.

A half decent clean out and deionised water and I've never found anything growing and I've been at this for 20 years.

Current system has been sealed for 3 years.. nothing but DI water.

 

[[HB]Rugrat]

Yeah mine started off bright red like that
But over time it darkened
Ended up a deep purple colour

Wouldn't really recommend it
Unless you're OK with replacing the coolant
After a while

Though must admit it took a while
For the colour to start changing

It is only a bog standard clear Corsair premixed coolant. The LEDs are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that pic to make the red appear more vivid, but it is quite bright. I've used it before and it didn't noticeably fade but I don't think I've ever used the same coolant for more than about 6 months (I get bored and like to change colours frequently!).

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

It is only a bog standard clear Corsair premixed coolant. The LEDs are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that pic to make the red appear more vivid, but it is quite bright. I've used it before and it didn't noticeably fade but I don't think I've ever used the same coolant for more than about 6 months (I get bored and like to change colours frequently!).

Yeah if you change it that often
Shouldn't really have any issues with it then

 

[superjo]

That looks great - what coolant are you using?

CFX opaque HOT PINK

 

[Deleted member 280263]

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9800X3D @ Alphacool Core 1

RAM: 32GB 6000mhz CL30 Vengeance RGB

MB: Asrock X870E Nova

SSD: Corsair NVME MP510 480Gb, SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB, 2TB 970 Evo

HDD: Toshiba 3TB P300

GPU: RTX 3080 FE @ Corsair Waterblock

Cooling: 3x360 (Alphacool ST30, EK 360PE, XSPC TX360 Crossflow), D5 pump, ZMT tubing

PSU: CoolerMaster 800w Gold

CASE: Lian Li 011 Evo RGB Black

Tons of custom LED Neon Strips

WOW! That looks awesome mate!

Do you mind if I ask what kind of temps do you get on both CPU/GPU? What % do you have your pump vs rad fans and case fans set to please? Just trying to get a base line for what people run, as I'm looking into my first AIO (which I know this isn't) and I'm trying to get a rough idea of worst come worst temps based on higher draw/heat hardware, vs my own, i.e. so I'll know I'll be fine with what I've got and when I upgrade in the future

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 280263]

Seems image got deleted somehow

I think this maybe the cleanest, most asthetically pleasing watercooling setup I've seen! Damn! Very nice dude!

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

WOW! That looks awesome mate!

Do you mind if I ask what kind of temps do you get on both CPU/GPU? What % do you have your pump vs rad fans and case fans set to please? Just trying to get a base line for what people run, as I'm looking into my first AIO (which I know this isn't) and I'm trying to get a rough idea of worst come worst temps based on higher draw/heat hardware, vs my own, i.e. so I'll know I'll be fine with what I've got and when I upgrade in the future

Thanks!

There's just no way to compare
A custom loop temperatures
With an aio
More radiators, thicker radiators, much more
Coolant in the loop,more fans etc
But then you have hundreds of extra watts
From the gpu being dumped in there
If it was a separate loop just for cpu
Then you could get a best case scenario for a
Similar cpu against an aio
Though still not an apples to apples scenario

 

[Deleted member 280263]

There's just no way to compare
A custom loop temperatures
With an aio
More radiators, thicker radiators, much more
Coolant in the loop,more fans etc
But then you have hundreds of extra watts
From the gpu being dumped in there
If it was a separate loop just for cpu
Then you could get a best case scenario for a
Similar cpu against an aio
Though still not an apples to apples scenario

Sorry, yeah I agree, it was kind of silly for me to ask, but it was more a case of, if a crazy spec build such as his reaches X temp, then I know if the AIO I buy doesn't, then the temps/silence that I achieve are ones that I should be happy with an AIO, versus feeling disappointed?
As you say though he has 2 things to cool at once, so it is different entirely, I just figured because this is a serious spec custom cooling setup, that he will probably still beat what an AIO will, CPU wise? But then again maybe there's not much in it due to having the GPU to cool as well?

Thanks for your input

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Sorry, yeah I agree, it was kind of silly for me to ask, but it was more a case of, if a crazy spec build such as his reaches X temp, then I know if the AIO I buy doesn't, then the temps/silence that I achieve are ones that I should be happy with an AIO, versus feeling disappointed?
As you say though he has 2 things to cool at once, so it is different entirely, I just figured because this is a serious spec custom cooling setup, that he will probably still beat what an AIO will, CPU wise? But then again maybe there's not much in it due to having the GPU to cool as well?

Thanks for your input

Yeah his gpu from memory
Is around the 350w area
So that just makes the 2 different scenarios
Unlikely to provide any sort of accurate comparison
Even though he has more cooling potential

 

[Deleted member 280263]

Yeah his gpu from memory
Is around the 350w area
So that just makes the 2 different scenarios
Unlikely to provide any sort of accurate comparison
Even though he has more cooling potential

That's fair enough mate, but if he does still get under 90C etc and near silence on the CPU then I'd be very happy if that was mine
I'm only looking to make the switch to an AIO to try and achieve near silence.

 

[loonyk]

WOW! That looks awesome mate!

Do you mind if I ask what kind of temps do you get on both CPU/GPU? What % do you have your pump vs rad fans and case fans set to please? Just trying to get a base line for what people run, as I'm looking into my first AIO (which I know this isn't) and I'm trying to get a rough idea of worst come worst temps based on higher draw/heat hardware, vs my own, i.e. so I'll know I'll be fine with what I've got and when I upgrade in the future

Thanks!

mcnumpty2323 is right, it never works the same.
I'm running pump at 3000rpm (D5) it's around 60%. I'm getting 1.2-1.5L/min flow.
Currently playing STALKER on max settings at 3440x1440, i'm getting 50c on CPU, 40c GPU, Coolant/Air temp delta is 8c (air 22c, coolant 30c)
Running STEEL NOMAD - GPU 48c, with GPU TJunction 54c
CPU hits 64-65 when compiling shaders (seems like it's fairly heavy on CPU)

From my experience, some AIOs can perform better than custom loop. But AIOs are not as flexible or expandable, so you get stuck with what you get.
Also you can't upgrade or put more rads into loop if you wish so, plus most of well performing AIO's are using very high FPI radiators, so you need to get fans running fast to push air through.
On the other hand thicker low FPI rads are easier to push air though, so you can run fans at lower speeds to keep noise levels low.

My CPU is next after GPU in a loop, but from various videos its pretty much doesn't make any difference.
Splitting the loop is probably a good idea...

hope it somehow helps

 

[Deleted member 280263]

mcnumpty2323 is right, it never works the same.
I'm running pump at 3000rpm (D5) it's around 60%. I'm getting 1.2-1.5L/min flow.
Currently playing STALKER on max settings at 3440x1440, i'm getting 50c on CPU, 40c GPU, Coolant/Air temp delta is 8c (air 22c, coolant 30c)
Running STEEL NOMAD - GPU 48c, with GPU TJunction 54c
CPU hits 64-65 when compiling shaders (seems like it's fairly heavy on CPU)

From my experience, some AIOs can perform better than custom loop. But AIOs are not as flexible or expandable, so you get stuck with what you get.
Also you can't upgrade or put more rads into loop if you wish so, plus most of well performing AIO's are using very high FPI radiators, so you need to get fans running fast to push air through.
On the other hand thicker low FPI rads are easier to push air though, so you can run fans at lower speeds to keep noise levels low.

My CPU is next after GPU in a loop, but from various videos its pretty much doesn't make any difference.
Splitting the loop is probably a good idea...

hope it somehow helps

Thanks for your help, that makes a lot of sense It'll be interesting to see what real world temps vs noise I can achieve with an AIO, temps wise I don't mind too much as long as it's as quiet as I'd like

Is it true the AM5 X3D's run cooler than the 5800X3D? I was also led to believe, that the 7800X3D runs hotter than the 9800X3D?

 

[loonyk]

Thanks for your help, that makes a lot of sense It'll be interesting to see what real world temps vs noise I can achieve with an AIO, temps wise I don't mind too much as long as it's as quiet as I'd like

Is it true the AM5 X3D's run cooler than the 5800X3D? I was also led to believe, that the 7800X3D runs hotter than the 9800X3D?

If you run it default it probably will hit 75-80c on 360aio in cinebench etc... In gaming you probably could sit at 55-60c.
All depends on fans. Let's say Arctic P12 fans or Noctua or BeQuiet fans you could run at 1300RPM with hardly having any noise. With some LED fancy pants fans, because blade size is smaller, you might have to run fans at higher rpm, which will be noisier.
I'm running my 9800x3d with Curve optimiser via bios -30 with PBO on. CPU is running at 5320Mhz.

 

[Deleted member 280263]

If you run it default it probably will hit 75-80c on 360aio in cinebench etc... In gaming you probably could sit at 55-60c.
All depends on fans. Let's say Arctic P12 fans or Noctua or BeQuiet fans you could run at 1300RPM with hardly having any noise. With some LED fancy pants fans, because blade size is smaller, you might have to run fans at higher rpm, which will be noisier.
I'm running my 9800x3d with Curve optimiser via bios -30 with PBO on. CPU is running at 5320Mhz.

I'm going to be aiming for near silence as much as possible so I don't mind if it runs slightly hotter, but steering away from anything close to thermal throttling.

So when you get an AIO, if you didn't install any OS side apps, which I'd really rather not do, nor rely on; does the AIO load PWM variables in via the header signals? Or does the manual just tell you what to type in the BIOS what's recommended to get you started?
I much prefer having the BIOS do everything, as it cannot crash like some buggy/bloated app within Windows, plus it means whatever OS I run will never depend on a Windows app to cool my CPU.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

It's useful to use software first
To get it to where you want
In cooling versus noise level
Once you're happy you can set the same curve in the bios
It's more time consuming to do it All in the bios as got to keep rebooting to make
Tweaks

 

[Deleted member 280263]

It's useful to use software first
To get it to where you want
In cooling versus noise level
Once you're happy you can set the same curve in the bios
It's more time consuming to do it All in the bios as got to keep rebooting to make
Tweaks

Yeah, I can understand the benefit of doing it with software, I think I will still do it the old way, as I'm already used to that torture with air that way I just 'know it works' once I have it dialed in.
I'm guessing then that the AIO doesn't override any BIOS entries when you plug it in? And nor does the software if I chose to use it?