Tell me about water cooling: pros, cons, why?

[joe-h2o]

I was reading the huge "choose between these two top-tier GPUs for me for my i3 machine" thread and the topic of water cooling came up so I thought I'd spin out another thread.

Since I have no experience with it in a computing sense I thought I'd ask those who do. If you do water cool, why do you do it? I'd initially thought it was all about making a silent rig, but some of the setups I've seen have large external fans cooling the radiators and of course there's the water pump too.

I know the cooling fluid used is more effective than air cooling, but is it really worth all the hassle of piping, pumps and the space needed? Surely a really large heatsink, careful airflow management and a large, slow fan would be better?

Does the cost and complexity of water cooling really make all that much difference, assuming you're not going for extreme overclocking and so on?

Edit: photos of your sweet liquid cooled behemoths are, of course, more than welcome.

 

[DoPo]

Does the cost and complexity of water cooling really make all that much difference, assuming you're not going for extreme overclocking and so on?

No, not really, unless under very specific circumstances, like if you are gaming in hell or just somewhere very very hot. Normal cooling is, after all, built to accommodate normal conditions. Sure - the colder the better, but, as you said, some cheap hacks can also get you there, you don't need the big guns just for the hell of it.

 

[GoaThief]

I know the cooling fluid used is more effective than air cooling, but is it really worth all the hassle of piping, pumps and the space needed?

Keeping the last quote in mind, no.

Surely a really large heatsink, careful airflow management and a large, slow fan would be better?

Yes.

Does the cost and complexity of water cooling really make all that much difference, assuming you're not going for extreme overclocking and so on?

No. Sometimes it can actually run hotter, much like how some people believe a completely open case/components will cool better than a quality enclosed one with decent, directed airflow.

Sure, a crazy water cooling set up can look really good but much of it reminds me of the computing equivalent of ricers [http://www.riceboypage.com/]/barry boys [http://www.barryboys.co.uk/phpBB2/] - all garish show and no go.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well first off no air cooling is not better for cooling, it is however cheaper and easier to manage.

Honestly water cooling is for people who just really like to take care of their machines, if you are the type of guy that researched every component of your rig fastidiously and put it all together with great care then water cooling is something to consider, if however you don't give much of a shit about hardware then just leave it all be.
Now to break some shit down:
- good water cooling is extremely quiet, water pumps get dampened by the water and a single huge fan can turn very slowly so it makes next to no noise (often you don't even need it on)
- cooling is far superior because water can take on a lot of heat and that heat can efficiently be pumped outside the case, unlike aircooling that has all sorts of hot swirling airflows inside
- it has a large capacity for overkill, any overclocker can make very good use of it

- they are not cheap, even homebrew will cost you far more then air cooling
- hard to install, it's not just plug and play anymore
- high maintenance, the entire pipeline needs regular checks (fluid levels, bent pipes, fluid quality, flow levels, general filth build up,...)
- hard to transport, the added weight is quite substantial, probably have extra external radiators that make it unwieldy and adds another element of fragility, not to mention it is a very bad idea to subject the water cooling system to any bumpy rides

I used to be quite keen on case modding things and for my previous high end rig I did build my very own water cooling, designed and milled the water blocks myself and putting it all together was just awesome fun, not to mention my extremely noisy rig went from 70°C at peek performance below a quiet 30°C with water cooling, it is one of those things I am just very proud I made.
But would I make another one now... no, that was a bunch of work and I just got other shit to do in life... like posting on forums, ok maybe I just got a little lazy.

 

[joe-h2o]

The fragility of the setup is something I hadn't considered. Are we talking about breaking a component off a board, or just springing leaks? It doesn't look like the hoses used are all that flexible, so does it stress the parts (like excessively flexing the GPU board in the PCI slot)?

 

[devotedsniper]

I ran watercooling on my old rig and i miss it, not only did it keep my system cooler than any air cooling system could, but it's so quiet and i can't say it's high maintenance either, all you have to do is flush and change the coolant once a year (depending on your coolant) which is less than the amount of times that i have to de-dust.


The only real downfall is it can be quite expensive, my old setup cost me around £100 for just the CPU setup, but there are those all in one units which are meant to be quite good but i prefer the full system (can't beat them when it comes to cooling).

Hell once i decide on which new graphics im getting im going to be watercooling my new rig.

The fragility of the setup is something I hadn't considered. Are we talking about breaking a component off a board, or just springing leaks? It doesn't look like the hoses used are all that flexible, so does it stress the parts (like excessively flexing the GPU board in the PCI slot)?

The hoses are fine, the only thing you really need to keep an eye on is if you start getting tiny bubbles building up in them as they lower the efficiency and alot of people believe they damage the pump. Theres also no need to worry about putting extra stress on the components provided you have them correctly installed.

Oh and as for leaks provided you do a decent leak test (5-10 hours without powering the machine, i use my test psu (tripped so it starts without motherboard, and just leave the pump running)) and use compression fittings you should never see a leak, my system never leaked once in the 3 years i ran it (never need to change a seal. pipe, etc.). Provided you don't go near the pipes with something like a stanley knife you won't poke a hole in them (there fairly thick pipe walls) and you don't keep removing the fittings on the components the seals on them will last for years (longer than you'll run the component).

 

[MrTub]

I would have to say that water cooling is unnessecary for most people cause most people do not really need it and the fact it costs quite a lot. My wc set costed me around 4100 Swedish kr which Is around 600$. The reason I got it was that my gpus was hovering around 95'c with the gpu fans at around 4000rpm, now I get at most 60'c on both gpus and CPU with three 1150rpm fans for the radiator.