Real differences from high end air > water?

[Perfect_Chaos]

That's what I currently do. Although with a 120.3 cooling my Q9450. the GPU is using the stock HSF. That way it's not a pain the the butt to swap GPU's and it's still very quiet when browsing the net, etc. When I start gaming I have headphones on anyway so noise isn't an issue.

I used to watercool the NB and GPU's but I couldn't be bothered when I changed GPU's - it would also have meant buying another block.

Well i know a dual rad should fit fine on my case? how do you think that would affect temps instead of a 120.3?

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

could anyone answer the above?

is it worth doing?

 

[Hades]

could anyone answer the above?

is it worth doing?

I think it should still be fine. If you're just cooling the CPU then it should be sufficient. The benefit of a 120.3 for me is that I can run the fans very slow and very quiet. A 120.2 should still be ok even on quiet.

 

[JonJ678]

A 120.2 will dissipate roughly 2/3 as much heat as a 120.3, astonishingly. The recommended for an i7 is dual is adequate, triple is brilliant.

8800gt run cool. A 120mm radiator would cope with both with no problems whatsoever. The i7 and both 8800s on a dual radiator would still outperform air with a decent pump behind it.

As stated in I think the first response, the issue is cost. If you can find the money to use watercooling, definitely do so. The antec 1200 sucks a bit for it, I hope you're willing to take a dremel to it or replace the case with a better one.

edit: one approach to your case w/out modding is a lot of single fan radiators. This works ok, though I'll only have concrete numbers for you if you wait for 10 days or so. I'm shortly going to have an i7, 8800gt, motherboard running through a 240 and two 120mm radiators. I'll be very annoyed if the temperatures are worse than on air

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

Well i was talking about just water for the CPU, i figured it would be more simple to just get aftermarket air cooling for the GPU's and i'll likely be getting 5870's or see what happens with nVidia first. So i will be leaving the stock fans on the 8800 gt's.

if a dual rad would fit at the back top and be a lot better than any hs/fan combo then i might do that.

on the other hand if it's just minimal improvements then there wouldn't be much point.

 

[DavyBoy]

you could do as i have done, pond pump, car rad(maybe use a heater matrix), ek supreme LT
the whole lot cost me about 80quid, (most expensive thing was the supremeLT)

my [email protected] is idling at 28c now with 26c ambient, and loads at 45c but the load temp only goes up maybe 1c over a full 24hr period of priming.

the TRUE i had bfore would idle at the same but load at 50c and after 24hrs be around 60c

LoL, I like your style!!

I have always wanted to have a go at W/C, but the thought of mixing water with electrics really scares me...

Knowing my luck it would all go terribly wrong and I would get electrocuted!!

I will get round to trying watercooling at some point, but I will stick to high end air for the time being...

 

[JonJ678]

It'll be a significant improvement in noise and temperatures for the cpu, but only useful for overclocking if you're temperature limited at the moment. Ek supreme lt, an xspc or 10W ddc pump and a good 240 radiator will cost more than a heatsink but will outperform it. I don't know if it'll fit in the roof of your case without cutting it.

@ DavyBoy, I'd far rather electrocute myself than the computer, 12V isn't much to me but it's a lot to a motherboard

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

It'll be a significant improvement in noise and temperatures for the cpu, but only useful for overclocking if you're temperature limited at the moment. Ek supreme lt, an xspc or 10W ddc pump and a good 240 radiator will cost more than a heatsink but will outperform it. I don't know if it'll fit in the roof of your case without cutting it.

I only have the stock cooler, i just wanted something simple and a step above air cooling.

 

[JonJ678]

Oh. The stock heatsink is hideous, I'm thoroughly unimpressed to be using it at present. I can't run stress tests at stock without going well over the temperature I consider sane.

The easiest option is the corsair all-in-one thing. This should beat the TRUE and so forth, certainly it's been really well received. If the budget will stretch to £100, second hand water will do you well. If it'll stretch to £200 you could even do it new. Watercooling can be considered an investment, as it tends to move from one build to the next largely unchanged

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

The easiest option is the corsair all-in-one thing. This should beat the TRUE and so forth, certainly it's been really well received. If the budget will stretch to £100, second hand water will do you well. If it'll stretch to £200 you could even do it new. Watercooling can be considered an investment, as it tends to move from one build to the next largely unchanged

Yep i can move it on to my next setup then, so a 120.2 radiator as a CPU only loop should be fine for an i7?

I do hate it when GPU's throttle as they get quite loud with their stock coolers, which is why i first considered watercooling one/two aswell.. but then i realised it would be even easier to just buy an aftermarket cooler which apparently makes a big difference for GPU's as they are a lot quieter and cooler.

I'll have to find out if a 120.2 would fit at the back of my case inside, if not i could consider a radbox.. but they look as if they may block the back for cables etc?

 

[JonJ678]

Radiators tend to be fitted in the roof of a case, then in the front or hanging off the back. It's pretty much wherever they'll fit, you'll have to find a build log of water in an antec 1200 to see what other people have done or measure a lot of things yourself I'm afraid.

120.2/240 radiator in cpu only loop should do just fine, though it depends a bit on which block, radiator and pump you choose. I'm a bit hazy on how the cheaper options perform, ek supreme lt is very popular. There's a guy on here (Woody I think) who was having a hell of a time with a 240 swiftec radiator and an i7, so swiftec 240s are probably not the answer.

I'm not sure water ever counts as the easiest option, but fitting a block to a graphics card is just as hard as an aftermarket cooler. Only drawback is they can cost more, and if you try running two new gfx cards and an i7 on a 240 radiator you won't be overclocking very far.

Good luck getting radiators to fit

Id rather not work out how much water cooling has cost me so far, seems safer not to. The problem comes with deciding to upgrade it

 

[Combat Fighter]

edit..my watercooling has probably cost me £500ish, i also do it just as a bit of a hobby!

Your not the only one!