How to upgrade my system to watercooling? & how much?

Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2008
Posts
1,911
Location
Scotland / Blairgowrie
My room is currently under decoration and to save space im going to put my pc in a wall. therefore air cooling really isnt a solution. I was just wondering before all this happens, how easy is it to upgrade a system to watercooling? My CPU temps are 85 full load in a lancool K62 but the air temp kinda high because im in the kitchen.. when it was in the dining room it was max load around 70-80 (stock cooler). Im looking just to cool my CPU and graphics card ( ATI 5770 cpu is core i5)

I would like to know what will i need, how much it will cost ( cheapest preferably ) and how do i install it ? any websites that give you detailed instruction on how to make your pc watercooled?

also do you have to replace the fluid after so many hours?
 
Last edited:
sounds like your best suited to a premade loop or a kit! look what ocuk have to offer in the watercooling kits section
 
Have you really thought this through? PC in the wall? How will you get to the optical drive or plug in a USB key? Or do you mean it's going to be behind a door or something? You will still need air to cool the computer ultimately and although you caould use water-cooling to get the heat out of the major components and along a nice long set of tubes to an accessible radiator, you cannot water-cool everything. You will still need air at the end of the day.
 
Watercooling still requires airflow...

This. I seems to be a common misconception, that water cooling a PC doesn't require airflow. All the water does, is get the bulk of heat away from the components faster than air does. You still need to expel that hot air out of the case somehow.

I am struggling to see how this will work, with a PC in the wall. Can you explain a bit more what you mean?

Either way, you will still need to have airflow around the case to get rid of the heat. So not a wise idea I would say, putting the PC in the wall.
 
To do it really what u would have to have is an in hole and a out hole. Then using ducting route it to the front of the fans (will probably mean removing the front part of the case. So that air is pulled from outside its going to need to be tight to the pc). In terms of connectors u are going to have to either get urself some extension cables or make ur own connector box by buying the connectors u need from a electronics store and wiring them up urself. Ur project is doable but it's going to take a lot of research and a lot of work (to really make it look special).
 
I guess i didnt put that much detail in soryr my fault!

My plan is to have a small hole in the wall where my pc fits in neat, maybe about 2-3 inch gap on the sides to give it some room. there will be a large gap on top for the games,books etc. It will have a door opening and closeing. The wires coming out the back of the pc of course and will come down, underneath the case and through a hole in the wall to the back of my desk then into the monitor etc. I will still have airflow through the case, the 2 fans on the top of my case exhaust hot air, and 1 at the front.. Because its inside an enclosed space i fear that it will heat up a lot quicker. There for thats the reason why i want to watercool my major components. just CPU and graphics cards. I dont need a mega pump. Something that will do the job good. Iv never had experance in watercooled pcs.
 
I really like the idea of a computer built into a desk. Motherboard & psu in a case just about large enough to hold them mounted under the desk surface, radiators attached to the sides, hard drives somewhere.

Computer in a wall would be fine, radiators in the wall would be less good. 1/2" tubing running several meters to a conveniently placed radiator could work.
 
Yeah, you could really need the radiator outside of the hole to really get rid of the heat. Otherwise, you have the problem that Mike has mentioned.

Stick them outside the hole, and all should be ok. You'd need a lot of tubing however.
 
Back
Top Bottom