Considering watercooling

Rob Turbo · 3 May 2013 at 21:21

I've been looking at a few watercooled builds and like the look of them, but it seems rather pricey for a decent setup and I don't really see how it's quieter than air cooling, you need fans on the radiators after all.

I currently have an Antec 302 with stock 120mm rear fan and 140mm top fan, 2 CoolerMaster 120mm Sickleflow fans on the front and one in the side, a CoolerMaster hyper 612s cooling an overclocked i5 3570k and a Sapphire HD 7850 2gb OC edition.

Changing the case is not an option, I like this one and can't fit a bigger one under my desk even if I wanted to. According to the case manual I could fit a Kuhler 620 or 920 but that obviously doesn't help with the GPU.

Would a 120mm radiator be any good to cool both a CPU and GPU? My only other option would be to fit a 240mm where the front fans are but then I'd have to find somewhere to fit fans to draw air through, possibly move my HDD into a 5.25" bay and fit fans in the HDD bay.

If I go watercooled do I ditch my extra fans or do I still need them?

Something Else · 3 May 2013 at 21:41

Water cooling if done right is quieter than air cooling when under load.

I know for a fact my 7970 is gonna be quieter under water as the cooling methods are more effective.

for a cpu and gpu id be looking at 120mm+240mm rad minimum. preferably 2x 240 for a 2 component loop.

your case isnt the best but you may be able to fit a 240 up front and a 120 at the back.

the 7850 isn't loud tbh even when overclocked, I used to have one with a healthy 1200mhz overclock and it still remained quiet when under load.

If your current cooling and quietness needs are fulfilled by your setup then keep it unless you just want water cooling.

a good idea would be a wc kit to start with.

Rob Turbo · 3 May 2013 at 22:55

Yeah the 7850 isn't loud but I was thinking if I was going watercooled it would be a good idea to do that as well, probably not a good idea at the minute considering at some point I'll be upgrading to a 79xx so would need a new GPU block to fit it.

I'd like to up my overclock a bit more but the temps shoot up when I go over 4.3ghz, I had it to 4.6ghz but it was too hot for my liking! Would a Khuler 620 do a better job than my 612s? I might go for one of them and leave proper watercooling until I move, pc will be in a bigger room then so a case upgrade will be more of an option and I'll have more money to spend once I've got the house finished!

mjallan123 · 6 May 2013 at 12:50

Cooling comes down to surface area and air flow.

With watercooling you are able to increase the surface area by using radiators and you can have undervolted fans blowing air. Like Something Else said, it's all about doing it right

A single 240mm for both the CPU and GPU would be pushing it, but you might be able to get away with it.

tintin82 · 6 May 2013 at 20:44

It's really about how much performace / reduction in noise you will achieve, and if you think its worth the price you will probably spend.

Last year i watercooled my PC and spent the guts of £400 in doing so. While it was fun doing it, and i learnt quite a bit, it quickly became frustraing. My XSPC case mounted pump vibrated through the case (so i had to mount it on a sponge), my clear tubing was clouding up after every 3 wks and needed changed, and a few other little niggles. So basically one day i looked at it decided that for the gains, it really had not been worth it. I have a 2500K and a 670 windforce.

The bottom line was that i was gaining 0.4ghz on the CPU with the noise levels the same. No gain on the 670 OC, however the card never downvolted itself as the 670 does when it gets over 70C i think. The cooler on the windforce is so quiet you hardly notice it anyways. And the loop did look pretty cool.

Was the above worth £400, no. So i went back to my trusted Titan Fenrir and run my 2500k at 4.4Ghz, nice and cool also. There is a lot to be said for keeping it simple! If its not broke dont fix it.

skylineboy · 6 May 2013 at 21:19

tintin82 said:
It's really about how much performace / reduction in noise you will achieve, and if you think its worth the price you will probably spend.

Last year i watercooled my PC and spent the guts of £400 in doing so. While it was fun doing it, and i learnt quite a bit, it quickly became frustraing. My XSPC case mounted pump vibrated through the case (so i had to mount it on a sponge), my clear tubing was clouding up after every 3 wks and needed changed, and a few other little niggles. So basically one day i looked at it decided that for the gains, it really had not been worth it. I have a 2500K and a 670 windforce.

The bottom line was that i was gaining 0.4ghz on the CPU with the noise levels the same. No gain on the 670 OC, however the card never downvolted itself as the 670 does when it gets over 70C i think. The cooler on the windforce is so quiet you hardly notice it anyways. And the loop did look pretty cool.

Was the above worth £400, no. So i went back to my trusted Titan Fenrir and run my 2500k at 4.4Ghz, nice and cool also. There is a lot to be said for keeping it simple! If its not broke dont fix it.

That is one opinion, my rig now runs cooler, quieter and is more aesthetically pleasing in my mind. Not to mention I enjoy watercooling the PC

OP: a decent 240 rad will suffice but I would look to add a 120 in for better performance