Watercooled or not....

Conor Royston · 23 Nov 2015 at 16:30

Which is your preference and why.

!

savagesam117 · 23 Nov 2015 at 16:34

Yes, it looks pretty! I don't really overclock so that side doesn't bother me so much

Disco_P · 23 Nov 2015 at 16:57

I chose custom water. Cause I could and I wanted to overclock without thermal limits.

I'd recommend big air. Cause it offers the best price/performance plus no chance of leaks!

ttaskmaster · 23 Nov 2015 at 17:01

I prefer air, because it's simpler and cheaper to swap components around, chuck in my customised LED crap and so on.

I don't even overclock (I got help setting up a stable all-day clock and there it stays)... And yet, here I sit with a custom watercooled CPU/GPU loop!!
Certainly water is better for performance, but more of a mission to swap everything around, refill and rebleed each time.

jbh110tdi · 23 Nov 2015 at 22:43

I would love to do a custom loop but I swap and change bits to often. I did have an AIO in my system until the weekend but I've now got a phanteks cooler fitted. I'm getting lower temps than I got with the H80i and I'm running a 4690k @4.5ghz.

I do prefer air over a AIO as there's less to go wrong and if your case has good airflow it can achieve better results. I do believe some cases are more suited to a AIO unit more than air though

n14hta · 23 Nov 2015 at 22:53

I would love to do full watercooling loop mainly but due to time and money, AIO seems the viable option for me at the moment.

pingu666 · 24 Nov 2015 at 02:56

i think for current quad cores you can do easily enough with a huge heatsink and slow fan to trundle along at 4.5ghz

but for graphics cards, think you can gain a lot there in terms of noise and heat and packaging

Evian · 24 Nov 2015 at 03:21

MadMouse101 · 24 Nov 2015 at 11:32

I have a Antec Kühler 920 for 4 years, Just got myself Noctua NH-D14.

jbh110tdi · 24 Nov 2015 at 11:47

MadMouse101 said:
I have a Antec Kühler 920 for 4 years, Just got myself Noctua NH-D14.

I dont think youll regret it. Im sure its on par with the phantek's ive just fitted and its doing a better job than the H80i I had fitted previously

MadMouse101 · 24 Nov 2015 at 16:20

jbh110tdi said:
I dont think youll regret it. Im sure its on par with the phantek's ive just fitted and its doing a better job than the H80i I had fitted previously

Glanza · 24 Nov 2015 at 16:51

Yes, PC runs near silent with a good overclock and it looks well.

Bluntwrapped · 27 Nov 2015 at 08:58

Watercooling. Looks great, great overclocking potential and a great addition to the hobby if you're an enthusiast. The more options the better

b0otneck · 27 Nov 2015 at 10:58

Watercooling. Like Bluntwrapped said, if it's a hobby and something you enjoy doing it makes sense to plan and build your own personalised rig.

mods1965 · 27 Nov 2015 at 11:07

Watercooling. Its my hobby as well. I have spent a ridiculous amount of money to have a PC that's nice to look at, but it just looks so brilliant compared to large blocks of aluminium, copper and plastic everywhere.

jbh110tdi · 27 Nov 2015 at 11:23

mods1965 said:
Watercooling. Its my hobby as well. I have spent a ridiculous amount of money to have a PC that's nice to look at, but it just looks so brilliant compared to large blocks of aluminium, copper and plastic everywhere.

what do you think its cost you just on the water cooling bits alone out of interest.

Mr Jack · 27 Nov 2015 at 14:03

Watercooling is essentially a hobby project; it is highly unlikely that you'll see significant real world benefits for substantial investment and you run a greater risk of harm to your system if you have any faults.

Air cooling is cheap, reliable and more than good enough to provide stable, quiet overclocking to a reasonable level.

So: watercool if you want to do it as a hobby and you think you'll enjoy it; aircool if you want the most pragmatic option.

hadri · 27 Nov 2015 at 14:13

Mr Jack said:
Watercooling is essentially a hobby project; it is highly unlikely that you'll see significant real world benefits for substantial investment and you run a greater risk of harm to your system if you have any faults.

Air cooling is cheap, reliable and more than good enough to provide stable, quiet overclocking to a reasonable level.

So: watercool if you want to do it as a hobby and you think you'll enjoy it; aircool if you want the most pragmatic option.

My thoughts exactly! Custom watercooling is really for enthusiasts, analogous to people that pimp up their cars I guess! The only practicality is it enables you to OC your g-cards, but I don't bother anyway as it leads to instabilities.

But they are amazing to look at!

EDIT: btw I'm in the custom wc crowd! I even cool my ram and have laser cut case panels!

ttaskmaster · 27 Nov 2015 at 14:23

hadri said:
My thoughts exactly! Custom watercooling is really for enthusiasts, analogous to people that pimp up their cars I guess!

I'm not an enthusiast and I have w/c... I just like to have a cooler rig and my temps dropped by more than half just from putting in a pretty basic single loop.

...and if *I* can manage it, then it's not exactly difficult, either!

mods1965 · 27 Nov 2015 at 20:32

jbh110tdi said:
what do you think its cost you just on the water cooling bits alone out of interest.

Now that I have started to buy hardline bits. Swap out my flex tube, new rads, new res, heat sink and top, fans, another set of Pexon PSU cables as I wanted a deeper red, I am looking at approx £800 this year. My wife would hit the roof if she knew!