Should I watercool?

[DiscoDave]

Hi Everyone,

I had a very stuffy Antec 600 case that was bugging me, and my friend was selling his CM Trooper Case for cheap, so I got it.

Marveled at the cable management and with the plastic window it looks awesome! But it's got me thinking about watercooling.

I'm a moderate overclocker, with he following specs:

i7 920 @ 3.4Ghz
6GB RAM
Ati 7970 OC
etc etc.. - Bear in mind with exception of the 7970 I got all of this in late 2008.

I happen to be in a beneficial situation, a friend of mine works for a company supplying watercooling components, therefore I can have access to parts for a reduced rate. My friend tells me we can kit out my rig to cool my CPU and GPU for about £200 with top components.

If my primary motivation for watercooling was noise reduction, followed by overclocking headroom, would it be a beneficial move? To those who have moved from air to water cooling, what was the noise reduction like?

It might just be me but I find it quite remarkable with the advancements with computing power we're still using a rather primitive way of cooling components (big bits of copper with fans).

If I decide to go ahead with it i'd also envision it as a investment, for when I go to Haswell.

Cheers guys.

 

[skylineboy]

He'll yeah, you're cutting out the main negative- cost. My rig is so much quieter than it used to be 6970 at full whack for 4 hrs & case fans. Now just a bunch of case fans at a low level when Controlled. Do it!

 

[tribz]

My main motivation for water cooling is quietness. I run a fan controller and have the rad and case fans on the lowest they'll go.

 

[DiscoDave]

He'll yeah, you're cutting out the main negative- cost. My rig is so much quieter than it used to be 6970 at full whack for 4 hrs & case fans. Now just a bunch of case fans at a low level when Controlled. Do it!

Interesting, so about £200-£240 for a custom loop, 360 RAD, GPU and CPU would be quite a good deal?

My main motivation for water cooling is quietness. I run a fan controller and have the rad and case fans on the lowest they'll go.

To Both : Just how much of a difference was it from traditional fan cooling to watercooling?

 

[tribz]

Massive, when the old reference 7970 cooler spun up you knew about it. I used to use a Notura D14 on the CPU which was quite quiet but it was still audible.

Its not cheap doing it but if your sensitive to noise its well worth doing.

 

[BluD]

Ide snap your m8s hand off if he can kit your out for 200 quid if ya like a quiet rig. When you upgrade to haswell ya might not even have to drain the loop if the CPU block is compatible with the new socket, and the GPU will last you a few years yet i assume.

 

[illuz]

£200 with top components for CPU & GPU? Erm... YES! I'm going mid-high end on my CPU loop only and it's setting me back just under £300!

 

[DiscoDave]

Thanks for the comments guys,

What's the likelihood of a WC kit bought now be compatible with CPU sockets and GPU's of the future?

I assume it's just a case of getting the respective block when available and off you go?

 

[stuie]

it depends, i can pretty much guarantee that youd need a new gpu block, cpu blocks are different though some manufactures allow for purchasing of replacement back plates if the sockets arnt too different, tubing and cooling often needs replacing from time to time but not always, rads are rads, as long as the fit then you can re-use them

 

[DiscoDave]

it depends, i can pretty much guarantee that youd need a new gpu block, cpu blocks are different though some manufactures allow for purchasing of replacement back plates if the sockets arnt too different, tubing and cooling often needs replacing from time to time but not always, rads are rads, as long as the fit then you can re-use them

How often do you need to replacing tubing?

 

[SirConfused]

From what i've read as long as you're cleaning them every 12-18 months and not using dodgy fluids/additives that cause degradation of the tubes then you're fine to re-use them indefinitely.