Moving away from watercooling!

Mr Mcgoo

Mr Mcgoo

Mr Mcgoo

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So I have decided to move away from water cooling and go back to air after 10 years of custom loops. It was a hard decision to make but the maintenance can take a large chunk of your day away which as it currently stands, I don't have. With me planning to upgrade to 15th gen intel shortly after release, I no longer look forward to the maintenance and part change/upgrades like I used to. Guess water cooling had it's peak in my life but now more simple routes are the way forward and with very little maintenance going air cooling you can't really lose. maybe i will return one day once my kids get older and but as it stands, I have a while to wait for that.
 
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Jay85 said:
Guess you could run with an AIO instead, they're really popular these days and the market is saturated with them.
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that's true but i think air is better. The only thing to fail on air cooler is the fan so less issues in regards to failing parts. i have used aio in the psat and not had much luck which is the reason i went custom cooling loop as i felt it would be more reliable. It was but also very expensive and very time consuming. Thanks for the suggestion :)
 
I watercooled for years going back to dual GTX580s up until RTX3090.
I then decided for my latest upgrade 7090x and RTX4090 to go air cooling and has been best thing i have done and no longer miss water
 
I never understood people complaining about maintenance. The bulk of my water-cooling setup hasn't changed for 15 years at least. I did 3d print an ABS mounting plate to allow me to use an old waterblock when moving to AM4 platform.

I guess the problem is people using colorants and dyes that then separate out and clog stuff up. I just run boiled water with Zerex purchased from 'TheOverclockingStore' many moons ago....I replace the water so infrequently I still have plenty left. I've probably flushed the rads 2 or 3 times at most and never had anything come out of them. CPU fins always been good. I'm more amazed the Laing D5 has been running all this time...easily 50K hours of service.

Other than that a dust blow out every few months which you would do with air cooling anyway.


The biggest nuisance would be buying GPU blocks just due to added costs, but my latest card isn't water-cooled at the moment as I just don't need to do it.
 
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Joe Jones said:
I never understood people complaining about maintenance. The bulk of my water-cooling setup hasn't changed for 15 years at least. I did 3d print an ABS mounting plate to allow me to use an old waterblock when moving to AM4 platform.

I guess the problem is people using colorants and dyes that then separate out and clog stuff up. I just run boiled water with Zerex purchased from 'TheOverclockingStore' many moons ago....I replace the water so infrequently I still have plenty left. I've probably flushed the rads 2 or 3 times at most and never had anything come out of them. CPU fins always been good. I'm more amazed the Laing D5 has been running all this time...easily 50K hours of service.

Other than that a dust blow out every few months which you would do with air cooling anyway.


The biggest nuisance would be buying GPU blocks just due to added costs, but my latest card isn't water-cooled at the moment as I just don't need to do it.
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Don't get me wrong, a well maintained loop can last a long time. i started at a gtx 980>gtx 1070>rtx 2070>rtx 2080 super>rtx 4080 super and loved getting new blocks and better pumps and reservoir fans and all that. But as time got on i spent more time with friends and family. Then cost of living slapped us in the face and now cost is a major issue.

thankfully i already had money saved for an upgrade but i could only get a gpu at the time and slowly saved enough for a 14700k and the intel 15th gen got announced and now waiting for that. That requires a new cpu block and a maintenance strip and clean and i don't have a day to do that. Going air cooled, while it can be louder and not as good at cooling, there is next to no maintenance. Besides i just got myself a gamemax twin600 that i will be putting 2 ml120 elite fans on and treated myself to a slighter smaller case, the montech king 95. I might go back to a custom loop in the future but who's knows :)
 
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Ive been considering it lately too, Ive not touched my loop for years, but the hassle and additional costs when wanting to upgrade really starts to drag, its not just getting the blocks, its the hours of research finding the right card, and making sure someone does a block for it. You cant just grab a gfx card then pop a block on later its all got to be planned.

Will see though, ive had the all clear to build a new rig after too many years so if im doing a whole build it may still have water
 
Depending on the CPU to be used, an AIO would be more advised. More failing parts but would keep high end CPUs at reasonable temperatures.
For a 7800x3D, any Thermalright at £30+ is plenty.
 
stuie said:
Ive been considering it lately too, Ive not touched my loop for years, but the hassle and additional costs when wanting to upgrade really starts to drag, its not just getting the blocks, its the hours of research finding the right card, and making sure someone does a block for it. You cant just grab a gfx card then pop a block on later its all got to be planned.

Will see though, ive had the all clear to build a new rig after too many years so if im doing a whole build it may still have water
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Agree on the time spent researching for the right gpu and compatible block being a drag. Watercooling was more than just a hobby for me. Tinkering with settings for that perfect balance of dba to performance and sometimes seeing what OC you can get now that your system is much cooler. After a while it just lost it's touch felt i was spending more time tinkering than playing games. Either way build log when you get the parts :)

Drumroll said:
Depending on the CPU to be used, an AIO would be more advised. More failing parts but would keep high end CPUs at reasonable temperatures.
For a 7800x3D, any Thermalright at £30+ is plenty.
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For now a 10700kf at 5ghz 1.25v and soon to be a mid range 15th gen intel. the cpu cooler i will be getting, today now looking at the time, is the gamemax twin 600 that matches thermalright peerless assassin se in performance. as long as i can stay below 80c on the cpu and 75c on the gpu then i'm happy. Before i would look at 50c gpu and 60c cpu. with a custom loop no problem. on air good luck without underclocking and undervolting. i already know i will get around 70c max of my gpu and about the same on the cpu when going back to air and i'm happy for that :D
 
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Mr Mcgoo said:
gamemax twin 600 that matches thermalright peerless assassin se in performance
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but never will cool a full power 13/14th gen intel 700/900

if your thinking a 15700k just going on the 14700k you will throttle under most loads.. if you want intel and as you are now plan to overclocking you need a 280/360mm AIO really
for most if not all AMD that the PA 120SE is fine. but the differance is about 190w under load compared to intel(been about 300w)
 
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Im also considering dropping the loop. Modern GPU (4090) has pretty high Delta in stress (up to 20 degrees over water). Which means that even with 3x420 in push pull you are getting ~50 degree gpu temp. Keeping the water below 30 degrees requires 700rpm which is just noisy.
Then with a card like strix you a getting 65 degrees in stress, slightly more noise but essentally 0 hassle.
 
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I did it several years ago, much easier to move PC around now if required and don't have to look at sourcing a new GPU block when they get changed and now with the EK drama and cost of blocks glad I'm not still down that rabbit hole.
 
I am considering it. I built my loop 10 years ago, have done minimal upgrades (2 gpus and 1 cpu socket) and minimal maintenance - the coolant and tubing I bought has just hit 3 years of sitting in my drawer :D

Nowadays, my priorities have changed so when the 3080 is no longer enough I think I will not bother with a block.

Will miss the silence though...
 
Disco_P said:
I am considering it. I built my loop 10 years ago, have done minimal upgrades (2 gpus and 1 cpu socket) and minimal maintenance - the coolant and tubing I bought has just hit 3 years of sitting in my drawer :D

Nowadays, my priorities have changed so when the 3080 is no longer enough I think I will not bother with a block.

Will miss the silence though...
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The most annoying thing now is coil whine.

For a fraction of a new loop, not your case as you already have most parts for a future upgrade, high end fans can allow for a silent system, and reasonable under load, unless trying to cool a high end Intel George Foreman grill.

Bottom intake to benefit the GPU, front or side intake to feed a top mounted exhaust AIO and can’t go wrong.

Anything based on an O11, new NZXT H7, Lancool 216/III, I can’t imagine a scenario where a T30 is required to run at more than 800/900rpm.

Watercooling still a must for some people living in very hot places. Here, a custom loop to keep a 7800x3D at low 50s or a £30 air cooler keeping it at low 60s won’t make any difference to performance. An AIO is likely to return even lower temperatures than a custom loop shared with a GPU.
 
So here is the before and after on my transfer from water to air.
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This seems like a current trend.. a lot of people cant be asked about the extra time it takes to setup/maintain etc a proper loop, beside the obvious extra cost. I can certainly see it become more and more infrequent choice - shame though, as its likely to reduce the investment in technologies and innovation in this sphere.
 
After testing my cpu and gpu for temps, i was surprised. My cpu temps under max load 170watts hit 72c after 30 mins of load. As for my gpu it's better than i thought at 60c and 70c hotspot 230watt 30 mins. Memory temps are good at under 58c max recorded. At 3000mhz 1.050v i got 75c and 86c hotspot with 67c memory which again is not bad at 320watts.
 
I went back to air a few years ago. So much less hassle. For a normal gaming setup I think it's only really worth doing now for the GPU for the silence.
 
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