Safe Water cooling Solutions

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DaltonAdams

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Dec 29, 2013
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Hey, I'm a little new to the PC building scene, but I have done almost 6 months of extensive research on my parts, and have done several revisions of my build to ensure I would be getting a great Price : Performance ratio, but there is one thing I'm having trouble deciding on. That is my CPU cooler. I have been looking mostly at air solutions but water has passed my mind, and I would like to know:

What are the benefits

What are the risks

Will my parts be covered

What Water Cooling solution do you recommend

And if I should go with Water, or Air

I am open to all suggestions and comments, and for a full list of details and parts, you can follow the link to my pcpartpicker page of my build, feel free to talk about my other parts as well.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/DaltonAdams/saved/3EBn

Post your comments on the pcpartpicker page, or right here on Tom's Hardware.
 
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Water solutions, only better than air if you go custom kit. Starts off pretty expensive, $400-500 for a decent starting setup. Pump $100, radiator(s) $100(piece), res $75-100, cpu block $75-100, tubing $20, fittings $50-150. Normally the liquid cooling setups are better and/or needed when your talking gpus involved as well, especially multiple gpus. When you have 2-3 gpus and top end ones, they suffocate eachothers air supply and give really high temps which lead to throttling, and if one or two gpus are throttling and the other one isn't, then the game looks even worse.

For the cheap corsair all in one kits, typically theyre on par with their cpu fan counterparts. I guess are a little neater, run about the same loudness, but not...
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Dblkk

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Water solutions, only better than air if you go custom kit. Starts off pretty expensive, $400-500 for a decent starting setup. Pump $100, radiator(s) $100(piece), res $75-100, cpu block $75-100, tubing $20, fittings $50-150. Normally the liquid cooling setups are better and/or needed when your talking gpus involved as well, especially multiple gpus. When you have 2-3 gpus and top end ones, they suffocate eachothers air supply and give really high temps which lead to throttling, and if one or two gpus are throttling and the other one isn't, then the game looks even worse.

For the cheap corsair all in one kits, typically theyre on par with their cpu fan counterparts. I guess are a little neater, run about the same loudness, but not really better. You can get a coolermater hyper evo for $30 that will cool as well as a h80i for $79.99. With your i7 you'd need a h100,H100i,H110, or H105. Those are 240-280mm radiators, since your chip runs warm and if you do overclock, you'll need a large radiator setup, or a large high profile fan.

Example, I Have a fx 8350 processor. It runs really warm stock at 4.0. I have it overclocked to 5.0 right now and tops is 5.2. It then runs extra hot. I also have 2 gtx 770 gpus. For my cpu cooler, there isn't a air cooler that I know of that would allow my 5.2 clocks and stay under max thermals. I spent about $750-850 all together on my watercooling setup. I have 360mm Xspc radiator $130, 240mm Xspc radiator $110, and a 140mm radiator $60. I then have a raystorm cpu block $75, and 2 xspc gpu full water blocks $110 piece or $220. I have a d5 vario pump $180 and a 180mm photon res $140. I used all compression fittings, t-connections where needed, 90degree elbows, and ran a fill/drain line as well all together fittings were about $200. I also added a nzxt fan controller $75, a inline thermometer $20, and a pressure reader $20.

The best place to buy watercooling supplies is frozencpu.com, and overclockers.net has a guide to everything watercooling for more info.

The worst thing about watercooling though, is that the cpu fan also cools the motherboard and ram, when you go water you need to make up for this with extra case fans in a case that allows excellent airflow. Hence why I have a corsair 540.

Parts are still warrentied except I believe gpus, as your taking off the manufactur cooling system as well as any thermal paste and such. But you might still be covered especially with evga.

Now you've got a 4770k and a gtx 780ti. Great setup and props, I would've went asus hero board route myself but that's just me. But with your setup, your gpu really doesn't have or need any overclocking room, and with evgas acx cooler your temps will be just fine, with your cooler in pcpartpicker you should be fine stock or mild-mid overclock
 
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DaltonAdams

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Dec 29, 2013
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Yea well I like the Idea of a full system loop, and would like to make one someday, maybe my second or third build, but I only have about $50-$100 budget for a cpu cooler, and I'm not too familiar or comfortable trying a full custom loop. I have between a $1500-$1800...ish budget for my entire pc, and I was thinking more along the line of a all in one pump/loop. I like your idea of a custom loop, but I just don't have the budget or experience to make it happen.
 
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Dblkk

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Yes, I was trying to help explain that its not just some simple order 3 things and good to go. I actually ordered 3 different times from frozencpu until I finally got my whole system the way it needed to be. Kept forgetting or not knowing each time until i was assembling and oops.

Its definitely a great experience to have and go through, and gives great performance boost with added cooling ability, plus looks just sweet.

But yes, put everything you have into your build now. Doesn't make sense to cheap out on main compoonents and then have to rebuy them and your stuck with your original worth next to nothing resale then. As for cooling, id get a corsair h100-110, whatever your case allows, find it on sale should be $75's on a good sale. Its nice.

But otherwise, great build. Better than mine. My next upgrade with be i7 4960k and maximus rampage black, with maybe 2 titan blacks or a titan z. Hope to have said $ for it by end of year. I use rig for rendering more than gaming.
 
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DaltonAdams

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Thanks, but that still doesn't quite answer my other concerns, such as Risks, Benefits, % chance of leakage, and will I be covered if there is a leak. As for your build the Titan/Titan Black is a little more on the gaming side, but the Titan Z is definitely a rendering/processing card. Although its performance is still to be determined, and it won't reach its full potential until they release several drivers to even out its edges.
 
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Dblkk

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Yes to the titan black, but every reveiw i've read make it seem like the $1000 card to beat for workstation. And as far as risks, theres plenty of risks. A small leak from the cpu block could hit motherboard and fry everything. Your pump could go out midnight if you leave your computer on and your chip could easily fry also damaging the motherboard. But other than leaking or pump failure i dont think theres anything else that could potentially harm your system.

For leaks, that is why when you first install, you take every component out of your build minus the power supply, then run the loop for a minimum of 24 hours checking every fitting and crease to make sure there are no leaks. But nothing is 100%, and if it does leak, thats all on you since your the installer. The only way to get a warranty of some sort would be if you went to a 3rd party and had them instal it and they offered a warrenty on their services. I dont honestly know of anyone that does this, but as far as warrenty thats the only way you'll get one.

Benefits, well being able to cool up to 750w of heat on my system with a 240 and 360. The more radiator space, better fans, and pump all determine how warm the water gets and thus how much cooling they can offer.

GPUS offer the best gains for water cooling. Max performance is determined by thermal limits. if you delay thermal limits from being reached, or reached at all, you guarentee maximum performance for longer. Nividia gpus work at 100% until they reach their thermal limit usually around 70-80 degrees. which happens, and is great. on air they reach limit, on water depending on the card usually never get above 50 degrees thereby staying 100% all the time.
For multiple gpus, the bottom one usually sufficates the air from the top. So one gpu will be limited far quicker than the other, usually leading in major studdering and artifacts. Which is why with multiple gpus either the blower type gpu cooler is required, or liquid cooling blocks.

For cpus, extreme overclocking requires better cooling. The best air coolers in the world just arent big enough to handle massive heat loads. My chip, when at 5.2 ghz, just dumps heat so bad. Even with two large radiators, it still runs over 60 degrees usually hovering around 65 degrees at full load. and while rendering or encoding or anything i do pretty much all day, my cpu is constantly at 100%, so the cooling then keeps it cool, and its quieter than the massive fan that i wouldve needed otherwise.
 
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