CPU sealed vs 'real' Liquid Cooling...

SparkyTechWire · 22 Apr 2013 at 19:06

Currently looking at the Intel liquid cooling on offer for £68...

Not sure if its worth buying or an alternative or if I should get a kit with such as OC's £170 bundle...

Uncle Petey · 22 Apr 2013 at 19:08

'Real' is the way to go if you can justify the expense

If you're going with closed loop, you can do better than the intel solution.

JonJ678 · 22 Apr 2013 at 19:11

The primary advantage of watercooling is flexibility. You can have as many radiators as you like and put them anywhere. You can cool whatever components you wish.

The all-in-one sealed units don't have that. I still don't get why anyone buys them. They are cheap I suppose.

Jokester · 22 Apr 2013 at 19:13

They tend not to give that much, if any, improvement over high end air either.

andy_mk3 · 22 Apr 2013 at 19:14

Jokester said:
They tend not to give that much, if any, improvement over high end air either.

The main plus point I've found is it doesn't dump the heat in the case, bringing case temps down a bit which helps other components somewhat

5960xNvidiaGamer · 22 Apr 2013 at 19:29

I don't see the point in full water, using a h80 ive been on 5ghz for 18 months, temps never go above 70 at full load on anything. Thats on 1.48v with a 2600k, water would be a little better temp wise, but why waste money for such a small difference. Not for me.

Helios1234 · 22 Apr 2013 at 19:35

andy_mk3 said:
The main plus point I've found is it doesn't dump the heat in the case, bringing case temps down a bit which helps other components somewhat

It depends how you have it configured. Earlier ALC units from Corsair were designed with the fan exhausting air inside the case. But it all depends on the way your case airflow is configured anyway. Air coolers are designed to push air towards the back where a fan will extract the hot air.

SparkyTechWire · 22 Apr 2013 at 20:10

So on a Binfelix Colossus case, can't watercool my graphics card (gtx560) would you say it is a waste? Or I good investment for in 2 years I could benefit from it?

ubersonic · 22 Apr 2013 at 20:18

Helios1234 said:
Earlier ALC units from Corsair were designed with the fan exhausting air inside the case.

Actually they weren't, that's just something Corsair made up to get better benchmark results :rolleyes:

those units were rebadged Asetek's and when Asetek originally sold them before agreeing to make them for Corsair instead they were all designed to vent externally (I have one of the ones that became known as the "Corsair H50" and the original instructions from Asetek specify this).

OptimaLnrg · 22 Apr 2013 at 21:20

Evga_Gamer said:
I don't see the point in full water, using a h80 ive been on 5ghz for 18 months, temps never go above 70 at full load on anything. Thats on 1.48v with a 2600k, water would be a little better temp wise, but why waste money for such a small difference. Not for me.

You must live somewhere cold because my old H80 with my 2700k @1.38 volts would peak around 89c during prime.

Something Else · 22 Apr 2013 at 22:19

Evga_Gamer said:
I don't see the point in full water, using a h80 ive been on 5ghz for 18 months, temps never go above 70 at full load on anything. Thats on 1.48v with a 2600k, water would be a little better temp wise, but why waste money for such a small difference. Not for me.

seems a little optimistic, your ambients must be horrible to live in. do you wear a coat?

5960xNvidiaGamer · 22 Apr 2013 at 22:42

OptimaLnrg said:
You must live somewhere cold because my old H80 with my 2700k @1.38 volts would peak around 89c during prime.

Live in the uk, i use 2 gentle typhoons. If your h80 was reaching that, either your case had awful airflow or something was faulty.

And no its not optimistic, its what i run it on. My case has great airflow, room is always freezing.

Wucked · 22 Apr 2013 at 23:13

JonJ678 said:
The primary advantage of watercooling is flexibility. You can have as many radiators as you like and put them anywhere. You can cool whatever components you wish.

The all-in-one sealed units don't have that. I still don't get why anyone buys them. They are cheap I suppose.

For some it's a stepping stone, an intro while learning about and finally building a proper loop. They're also cheaper than custom rigs, more aesthetically pleasing imo than high end air, allow better case airflow. And maybe the most attractive thing is that they're easier to set up, and once installed nearly maintenance free. They have their place. I. Really like my H100i, but its a stepping stone for me. Planning to go full water next build.

Helios1234 · 22 Apr 2013 at 23:30

ubersonic said:
Actually they weren't, that's just something Corsair made up to get better benchmark results those units were rebadged Asetek's and when Asetek originally sold them before agreeing to make them for Corsair instead they were all designed to vent externally (I have one of the ones that became known as the "Corsair H50" and the original instructions from Asetek specify this).

I know Asetek made them but Corsair always recommended their fans to be oriented that way. My point being that technically, the advantage of the ALC unit pointed out by the previous posted which is for hot air to be exhausted out of the case was something that went against Corsair's own recommendation.

Corsair did have reason for choosing that design originally though. If you read my original review of the H50, it did perform better with the fan as an intake because it draws in cool air but the important factor was to have an exhaust close by. So it wasn't "just to get better benchmark results", there was some method to it, although most reviewers never tested their ALC units in both configurations to find out.

SirConfused · 23 Apr 2013 at 01:16

I don't know whether it's the block i'm using but I have to say temp-wise I haven't really gained any improvement going from an AIO solution to a full loop.

For me though it was absolutely worth it as i've gone from noisy as hell to absolutely silent

.

Mayhems · 23 Apr 2013 at 08:20

The biggest main advantage of water cooling is that no matter how new the equipment is in you case your old water cooling in one way or another will work with it. if you cannot get a bracket you can make one. I still use rads and res's form over 10 /12 years ago.

andybird123 · 23 Apr 2013 at 11:48

SirConfused said:
I don't know whether it's the block i'm using but I have to say temp-wise I haven't really gained any improvement going from an AIO solution to a full loop.

For me though it was absolutely worth it as i've gone from noisy as hell to absolutely silent .

yep, the CPU block or even the CPU itself will always be the limiting factor in what CPU temps / overclocks you get - you do reach a point where you just can't get the heat away from the CPU no matter what you do with ambient air as the final arbiter

however, as you mention, one of the main benefits of a full loop is the ability to run it with virtually no noise

SirConfused · 23 Apr 2013 at 12:55

Since the OP's question has been answered i'm going to go a little OT here.

I'm hitting the 70's on my i7 D0 at 3.6, I know temp-wise i've got some room there but is that roughly what I should be getting with an EK Supremacy block?

Edit: saying that, prime is sitting at 55-65 currently so maybe the TIM was still settling when I last tested.

andybird123 · 23 Apr 2013 at 14:19

70's seems a bit warm for 3.6
the supremacy is supposed to be a very good block

50's-60's sounds better

chris-82 · 23 Apr 2013 at 16:48

I get this on my 2500k:

cpu @4.6 1.381v
at idle im seeing 27-30c
on prime 95 im seeing 53-58c
in gaming im seeing 40-44c

This is with a 560 rad,gpu (7950) oc'd 1150/1450 .