Watercooling a huge waste of time? seems so.

As a "fiddler" (non biblical!),changing components out on a regular basis, I just don't want the hassle of water-cooling and the added complications of making sure I've got the "right" compatible components and drain points etc etc etc

It' air cooled all the way for me... but I watch your build logs etc with interest and I might just be persuaded :)
 
everybody likes a bit of bling.......i agree that it only 5% would benifit from it but most people go into pc world and buy the one with the cheapest price or the shiney lights....i on the other hand want to push mine to the limits and love every second of doing so....when its time to change cards thats a good thing, means you get to play with it some more....i love the forum to as others want to talk about it....its not a chore for me

in the early days i had a loop that cooled cpu...video card...2 x mosfet blocks....north bridge..... south bridge...... and 4 x ram sticks with a haliea water chiller.... now that ****ed me off changeing any thing. nowadays its graphics card and cpu.... the rest is fine under air
 
nkata said:
@OP WC is a bit of a gimmick otherwise server farms and super computers would use it more widely.
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The reason Server Farms and Super computers don't use it, is the building they are housed are climate controlled and so kept at a cool temperature.

How many here can afford air conditioning here, so water cooling is the next best thing.
 
Hi All
Just called at a friends who runs one of these, I asked about the noise and he said you don't here the any noise when he has pink floyd on max but he said if you just sit there doing nothing you can here the pump, How many just sit there and do nothing.

Alan
 
alan whitaker said:
Hi All
Just called at a friends who runs one of these, I asked about the noise and he said you don't here the any noise when he has pink floyd on max but he said if you just sit there doing nothing you can here the pump, How many just sit there and do nothing.

Alan
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my point is it's not quiet though, at the noise level i hear i think you would need 2000rpm fans to mask the noise of the pump.. so it is basically defeating the purpose if you want silence.

I currently have 1150rpm fans on there and i can barely hear them. but the pump's noise is much louder
 
so i can just leave the pump in to keep it sealed, remove the impeller and then buy another pump to hook up? i hear the ddc 18w ones are meant to be louder than the 10w ones though which is really what the mcp350 is.

a big problem with the first version of this unit is that there is no speed control for the pump, there is with the newer revision which maybe would make it quiet.. or not

it reminds me of my old mach II gt noise wise, but that can be expected since it was phase cooling.. but for water?
 
I have had a couple of loops myself and massively enjoyed them. But yeah....it's a bit yester year now watercooling imo. Processors are being developed now that run cooler, and air coolers have become much much better with quieter fans. To do water cooling properly you need a custom loop which is a fair couple of hundred quid minimum, and then you still end up running fans as fast as you would with air to cool the rad. So you get better temps and higher overclocks but for me it became hassle and extra worry/maintenance.
Now with the introduction of the Corsair HXX series liquid / air cooler hybrids, watercooling is becoming even more niche even amongst overclockers and modders that you find on such forums as here.
 
Perfect_Chaos said:
so i can just leave the pump in to keep it sealed, remove the impeller and then buy another pump to hook up? i hear the ddc 18w ones are meant to be louder than the 10w ones though which is really what the mcp350 is.
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If you want the simplest way of cutting out the noise then yes, just buy an 18W pump and remove the impellor from the MCR. Yes, the 18W is supposed to be louder than the 10W, but if you properly isolate it from the case or anything else that can amplify the sound then the noise from both should be barely audible. I have both an 18W and a 10W in my dual loops and I can't hear either of them, but they are mounted on rubber blocks.

Since you only appear to have a cpu loop then infact a 10W should be fine for you if you don't want to try and re-use then one you've already got.

If you have the MCR mounted vertically then you shouldn't need to add a separate res as you normally would, or if you want just add a T line for a bit of piece of mind bleeding wise.

Perfect_Chaos said:
a big problem with the first version of this unit is that there is no speed control for the pump, there is with the newer revision which maybe would make it quiet.. or not
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The fact they've done this revision is basically saying they acknowledge the noise issue, i.e. pump hard clamped to an echo chamber, and offer you the chance to turn it down, at the expense of performance. I wouldn't buy that either myself. At low speed it probably wouldn't be any better than an air cooler.
 
OLDPHART said:
Just replaced my GPU 5870 to a 470 cost of FC Block £70 no regrets, as l prefure the silence, better temps for overclocking. l know when l fist built my loop the only thing l was going to change was the GPU and my 470 will last me a good while now.

If you look at the cost of some GPU's with factory modified coolers, it might cost you upto £50 extra, so buying a new GPU block might cost you alittle more but your guaranteed silence, better temps, more stable overclock.

As Biffa says "Think of the fun and excitement of the shiny things" :D ;)
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I don't disagree with anything you are saying. I'm merely pointing out the practicalities. Building a WC system does take time and expense but you'll also be invalidating warranty on any new card is something over looked. Cards do arrive DOA and if you just rip off the stock cooler before adequate testing then this is going be a very expensive mistake.

To get round this, I stripped down my water cooling with the system running my 5870 with the reference cooler for a few months. When I was happy, I then introduced the card in to the loop. Temps are half that before but overclocking yields are minimal. Given that I spent 2 weekends (1 to take out the old and run with stock, the other to watercool the new card) to get the card in to the loop? Was it worth it? Not really.

Anyone considering watercooling should be awaer of it's disadvantages so they can judge for them selves. Having said all that, I dare say when it comes to a major upgrade next year, I'll change my mind :)
 
Bubo how did you mount the rubber blocks in your case?, did you use velcro or something?.

To be honest i can't imagine even this pump being almost silent separate from the radiator, the noise is like between a whine and wind howling.. pretty annoying.
 
As far as graphics cards go I agree it can get old fast having to buy a new full cover block each time you change cards. What with the fiddly assembly and the fact you are pretty much forced to drain the loop. And with the thermal and noise performance of the ATi cards and the new 580 you could argue you no longer need to water cool them as heat and noise have gone down significantly, and in the case of the 580 it seems that the overclocking potential is being somewhat reduced by deisgn.

However if you have invested in a core only block then you can pheasably do a card change without even draining the loop. This is especially true of the gtx480 and gtx580 as the ram and vrm cooler on these cards doesn't need to be removed if you have a core only block so you don't have to phaff about with ram sinks or anything, it really is an excellent design for core only blocks. The fact that the block will last you several cards and the reduced phaff involved means to me that core blocks are the way to go if you want to get that last bit of performance and silence out the cards which will be released in the next few years.
 
Perfect_Chaos said:
Bubo how did you mount the rubber blocks in your case?, did you use velcro or something?.
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Depending which version of the DDC 18W you get, i.e. Laing or Swiftech, it may come with a velcro pad in the box which can be used for vibration isolation. With me I made my own rubber blocks out of silicone sealant and just put a block of this either side of the mounting holes to form a sandwich, and used normal screws to keep it in place.

Perfect_Chaos said:
To be honest i can't imagine even this pump being almost silent separate from the radiator, the noise is like between a whine and wind howling.. pretty annoying.
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You'd be surprised I think by the affect of attaching something which can vibrate to a hollow metal box. I'm willing to bet that if you put a normal DDC Pro 10W top on that pump you have and held it in your hand you wouldn't be able to hear it, unless it is borked of course.

Also, noddy question, are you fully sure the system is bled comepletely?
 
I used to be on water, I did about 3 setups over my time in water, I loved it, it more of a challenge, my first truly was homemade, the rads were out of a robin reliant and the cpu & northbridge were homemade units, it did a good job of cooling miles better than air and very close to the best waterblocks of the time / the lrww was king at that time!!, and a lot quiter ! (+ I used to love the reactions of people - 'water???? isn't that dangerous?!?!?!)
Since then my want to get every last drop out of my pc has faded and I'm happy on air, tbh air coolers have got a lot better of late and thats probably whats made air good enough for me.
Custom loops for the win / easily!
I guess what I'm getting at, is water isn't for everybody yes it is more hassle, it can go horribly wrong, if your not that bothered about it don't do it, and tbh if you've just got a kit and not researched it first I'd sell it and go air.
 
Disagree with some of what Jaybee said above. Aircoolers are better than they used to be but watercooling is still better as a cooling solution. Yes, Watercooling adds worry, adds expense and makes things more difficult come time to upgrade but if specced right runs cooler, quieter and allows higher overclocks. If your spec your loop for where you want to be between silence and performance you can get some really nice loops.

Whether it is worth it or not though is such a personal opinion, just like getting an i7 over i5, gtx 480's over gtx 470 etc. There is extra performance but at an extra cost.

Overall since going for my custom loop I don't think I could go back to air. Cooling my CPU is about 10C lower than before with fans a lot lower too but where I really love having the loop is a GPU which doesn't get much hotter than it idles on air and doesn't sound stupidly loud under load.
 
Bubo said:
Depending which version of the DDC 18W you get, i.e. Laing or Swiftech, it may come with a velcro pad in the box which can be used for vibration isolation. With me I made my own rubber blocks out of silicone sealant and just put a block of this either side of the mounting holes to form a sandwich, and used normal screws to keep it in place.
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Do you think it's better with the velcro or block? or did you just do it your way and not bother with the velcro?

Bubo said:
Also, noddy question, are you fully sure the system is bled comepletely?
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I checked as much as i could, i have tried tipping the case a bit. Tapping the pump underneath, still no difference.
 
I have my 18w DDC running on a silicone pad which is on velcro, I honestly cant hear it at all when it is bled properly, I have an XSPC res top on it.
 
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