Pros And Cons Of Water Coolers
The bottom line in a comparison of water-cooling and conventional air-cooling is obvious - water cools much better and can serve up a substantially lower noise level. Not only that, but processor temperature is guaranteed to remain low even when processor capacity has been maxed out. Since the processor transfers its heat to the cooling water, the temperature in the PC case is automatically lower. It removes the need of additional case fans and therefore reduces noise. Hard-core overclockers will be able to reach record clock speeds using a water-cooling system. Although the price tag might be higher than for a good conventional cooler, a water cooler is more durable.
Nevertheless, we still don't want to gloss over the cons of using a water cooler - in the event of a leakage, expensive components in a PC system can be destroyed in no time.
Prices For All The Components
Our cooling circuit was assembled using standard components. All the parts - with the exception of the radiator - are available in a hardware store, a pet store, or in an electronics hobby store. Our pump cost 34 dollars, although there are models that are considerably cheaper and less powerful that will still do the job. Acceptable pumps cost approx. 12 dollars and have an throughput of between 150 and 200 liters per hour. The most expensive component is no doubt the radiator. In our case, it cost 65 dollars to buy the version with two fans. The hoses can be purchased in any pet store and vary in price between 1 and 2 dollars per meter, depending on the thickness and the strength you require. Installing 2 meters of hose in our system cost us a total of 5 dollars.
Acquiring the waterblock is not exactly what you would call cheap. Although this component is available in Taiwan for what amounts to 30 dollars (from, for example, http://www.senfu.com.tw/English%20homepage/link.htm ). It's a lot less pricey to buy a complete kit, which often is an unfortunate compromise between product quality and price. No matter what, you have to be hard-nosed and negotiate a good price if you want to get an inexpensive cooling system. Otherwise, it's not that bad an idea to improvise and assembly your own system.
Some hardware stores offer hoses and pumps for a song, which can then be installed in a cooling system. The total bill for the cooling systems shouldn't be more than 115 dollars.
