Liquid cooling- worth it in 2011?

[olivierhacking]

Hi guys,

I hope this (sub) category fits with my question. Anyway, I know that by now, many great air coolers exist- currently I have a hyper 212 plus. I am wondering: is it worth it to get water cooling? For now, I am only going to cool my cpu but if I do buy a watercooling setup, I will probably buy a gpu block as well. I saw that using new distilled water/cooling liquid once a year is ok, which I am fine with. I have never used water cooling before and I just want to know if its worth it, or if its better to spend the money upgrading my gtx 260 (which, I noted performs slightly better in Crysis than a gtx 550ti.) And my cpu is i7 860 @ 3.6Ghz.
Thank you for your help

 

[rubix_1011]

It depends on your budget, honestly. I've watercooled for ~9 years and I'll continue for quite a while, if possible. I have a lot of info in my signature...give them a good read-thru and see if it helps answer your questions.

For a loop of what you are thinking, consider budgeting $250-$300, easily, depending on component choice.

BTW...I'm running a Q6600 CPU and SLI GTX 260's...good times.

 

[d0gr0ck]

It really depends on who you are. The biggest advantage to water cooling is the ability to build a totally silent system that can out compete high end air.

You'll find a lot of people water cooling are not necessarily going for the super overclocks bat are doing it because they enjoy it. If you're the kind of person that could get lost in a tub of Lego then you'll probably have a lot of fun.

 

[Zenthar]

I think watercooling might be worth it only for the following type of people:
■Heavy overclockers
■Medium overclockers who want really quiet rigs
■Medium overclockers who are building HTPC and have space constraints
■Tinkerers who want it for the kick of it

A watercooling system has a big initial cost, but most components can be reused from build to build, I think only the waterblock retention brackets might need changing.

 

[rubix_1011]

^Very true. It is almost as much of a hobbyist venture as it is for actual cooling capability.

 

[olivierhacking]

sweet, hi five for the gtx 260 . Anyway, thanks for the links. I'll think about water cooling some more

 

[olivierhacking]

And thanks for the other comments. I am fearing that it will be over my budget :/. Which is 300 $. Do you all think I'll be fine with my hyper 212 plus for now?

 

[d0gr0ck]

The Hyper 212+ is a more than capable cooler.

 

[rubix_1011]

You'll be fine. You'd also see some improvement by pulling the stock cooler on your GPU and replacing the stock paste with some good thermal paste and re-seating the cooler.

Good case airflow is also a must.

 

[olivierhacking]

Ok, thanks for the help
Maybe sometime in the future I will reconsider water cooling.. unless I am really convinced now, which is not the case

 

[ortoklaz]

Sandy Bridge = No
Bloomfield = Yes
Lynnfield = No
Clarkdale = No
Thuban = YES
Denab = YES

hmmm ?!

 

[christop]

You can get a decent loop for 130 from frozen cpu. I have the xspc rasa 240 and have my cpu oc to 4.1 with great temps. I kinda wished I would have got the one with a 360 rad now considering I am going to water cool my gpu too. You can go all out and spend 3 or 400 dollars on super name brand danger den and all don't get me wrong it's killer stuff but with a killer price.

 

[olivierhacking]

Heh, okay I am actually very tempted to buy a watercooling setup now, but what do you mean PhsycoSadie?? Watercooling isnt worth it on Lynnfield?

 

[shineon2010]

+1 for the rasa kit, great beginner setup for first timers. Really should look into that especially for $130. Overclock.net has a whole Thread dedicated to that product, price-to-performance is awesome.

 

[olivierhacking]

Is a dual bay reservoir/pump any good? It pumps 750litres/hour! And its significantly cheaper here in Belgium than buying a pump and a radiator..

 

[rubix_1011]

You need a radiator...please read the info in my signature...I think you aren't quite up to speed on what you are getting into.

A reservoir simply holds excess water. Pump...pumps. Radiator is the heat exchanger. Waterblocks attach to your CPU, GPU, etc.

All of these concepts are explained in depth in the links below.

 

[olivierhacking]

I know about the radiator and its sizes, the tubing and cpu/gpu blocks. Just wondering if that pump which is IN a radiator (named the XSPC dual bay radiator pump) is a good pump

 

[rubix_1011]

DangerDen isn't the best stuff available...there are better brands, better performance in almost every component category.

XSPC Rasa pump is pretty solid. Some people have had issues with theirs making noise, but were able to get RMA replacements. From what I have read, Rasa pumps had an impeller molding flaw that caused some minor issues, but it has been corrected.

OCN Rasa Owner's Thread

 

[olivierhacking]

I have decided I would rather wait for maybe another year or so and buy top of the range products instead of buying cheaper products now. This also seems like a better idea because I want to buy an Nvida kepler gpu- coming out beginnning next year. In the meantime I can stick to my hyper 212 plus. One thing was bothering me though: why does everyine link their cpu block to their gpu block directly? Wouldn't it help to use a (120mm) radiator in between the two? S o going form gpu -> rad -> cpu or cpu -> rad -> gpu? As well as using other rads, ofcourse.

 

[rubix_1011]

Waiting for the 'next best thing' means you'll just keep waiting. That's fine as long as you're OK with always being on hold.

Top range products vs. cheaper products...meaning WC components? Depends on your budget and expectations.

One thing was bothering me though: why does everyine link their cpu block to their gpu block directly? Wouldn't it help to use a (120mm) radiator in between the two? S o going form gpu -> rad -> cpu or cpu -> rad -> gpu? As well as using other rads, ofcourse.

Link: Loop order does not matter.

 

[olivierhacking]

Waiting for the 'next best thing' means you'll just keep waiting. That's fine as long as you're OK with always being on hold.

Top range products vs. cheaper products...meaning WC components? Depends on your budget and expectations.

One thing was bothering me though: why does everyine link their cpu block to their gpu block directly? Wouldn't it help to use a (120mm) radiator in between the two? S o going form gpu -> rad -> cpu or cpu -> rad -> gpu? As well as using other rads, ofcourse.

Link: Loop order does not matter.

yes, meaning WC components. I'll post the links for what parts I was (am) planning on buying so you can all see, in an hour or so . I live in Belgium where everything is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive :/ I hope it wont matter that the links are i Dutch- the name of the product is the same ofcourse. Basically, multiply the price in euros you see by 1.4 or 1.5 to get US $ prices.

 

[olivierhacking]

First of all, I think I want the loop to be: pump/reservoir --> 120mm rad --> cpu --> 240mm rad --> back to pump/reservoir. I do not want to WC my gpu yet, since I plan on upgrading, and because of the xtra costs at the moment.

1. pump/reservoir: http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=103_570_696&products_id=13690&osCsid=81bb0b9588730fde5a50b7f3e610c800

2. 240 rad: http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=103_569_627&products_id=13432&osCsid=81bb0b9588730fde5a50b7f3e610c800

3. 120 rad: http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=103_569_626&products_id=13433&osCsid=81bb0b9588730fde5a50b7f3e610c800

4. cpu block: http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=103_566_962&products_id=1009266&osCsid=81bb0b9588730fde5a50b7f3e610c800

5. tubing: http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=103_521_619&products_id=1033146&osCsid=81bb0b9588730fde5a50b7f3e610c800

6. fittings: http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=103_572_764_944&products_id=1010766&osCsid=81bb0b9588730fde5a50b7f3e610c800

tell me what you think

 

[olivierhacking]

oh, and the liquid ofcourse: just extra distilled water, no uv reactive or anything:
http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=103_520_1008&products_id=1011434&osCsid=81bb0b9588730fde5a50b7f3e610c800

 

[ortoklaz]

as long you have your pump after res you will be fine, distiled or deionized+silver coil or PT Nuke

 

[rubix_1011]

You could probably get away with the single 240 rad if you are only running your CPU in the loop at this point. You might consider another 240 if you add your GPU; my general rule of thumb is 1.5-2x the area of a 120mm rad per CPU or GPU. If you overclock at all, consider a 2x120 rad (240 in this case) the bare minimum per component.

The XSPC pump/res is pretty decent, but you might consider a different pump that would be more powerful if you are going to piece together your own kit.

Why not just go with an EK kit like this: http://www.it-service.be/webshop/product_info.php?products_id=1033157?

It has a better pump and contains everything you'll need except water and biocide or killcoil.