Does anyone still use water cooled PC's?

hometheaterman

hometheaterman

Member
I remember back in the day when I built my last computer 3-4 years ago water cooled machines were the thing to have. Okay not the thing to have but there were several of them around this area. I've not seen one in years. Does anyone still have one? I didn't build my other one with water cooling but always said my next one would have it. Since I'm contemplating building a new machine I'm wondering if it's still a good choice and if anyone uses it. Not sure I will end up building a machine and mine does what I need it to do mostly but I kind of want a new I7 processor. My old machine is well just that old. It's a P4 3ghz and 1gb of Ram. So you can see it's not sure fast anymore. What should I expect to buy a water cooling system to add to a computer. As in how much ontop of what the computer would cost to build?
 
hometheaterman said:
I remember back in the day when I built my last computer 3-4 years ago water cooled machines were the thing to have. Okay not the thing to have but there were several of them around this area. I've not seen one in years. Does anyone still have one? I didn't build my other one with water cooling but always said my next one would have it. Since I'm contemplating building a new machine I'm wondering if it's still a good choice and if anyone uses it. Not sure I will end up building a machine and mine does what I need it to do mostly but I kind of want a new I7 processor. My old machine is well just that old. It's a P4 3ghz and 1gb of Ram. So you can see it's not sure fast anymore. What should I expect to buy a water cooling system to add to a computer. As in how much ontop of what the computer would cost to build?
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To be honest, I didn't read the whole thing sorry. But no, I don't believe that people still use water cooled PC'es. I mean, what would happen if a leak happened? Your computers gone.
 
Some people use water cooling here and there...the majority I know just air cool including myself. The newer processors run pretty cool. Even with a little overclock temps will stay well within safe range with a decent air cooler.

I don't care for water cooling myself...just another thing to go wrong and a hassel to install and maintain. For a decent water cooling set up it will run you at least $200...that's about the lowest you can go and have any quality what so ever.

There are many air coolers on the market that work as well as or better than basic water cooling set ups. I bought my air cooler, Cooler Master V8 for about $65 and it works wonderful. Keeps my processor nice and cool:D

I don't get serious into overclocking...I used to but don't have the time and patience anymore. If I was into cranking every ounce of power I could out of my processor...I would consider a water cooling set up.
 
ScOuT said:
I don't care for water cooling myself...just another thing to go wrong and a hassel to install and maintain. For a decent water cooling set up it will run you at least $200...that's about the lowest you can go and have any quality what so ever.
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+1

watercooling is something I would only consider doing if I had a spare rig and an abundance of money. there is always the risk of a leak, the cost is way too high, and the maintenance required seems like it would end up being a pain in the ass. the cons just far outweigh the pros IMO, unless you have a spare rig and a lot of money like i said.
 
well im on to my second water cool'd pc.

the thing is, liquid cooling setup's dont leak just because they have water in them-they leak because they have not been put together right!

you check your loop for leaks before you put it inside your case!

do you think i would put my liquid cooling in my case if it was going to leak?

i currently idle at 19oC and max out at 34oC that was with an overclock of 3ghz

as for maintenance-what maintenence? i never done anything to my first setup in a year and there was no gunk or anything in loop

05032009401.jpg
 
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I use watercooling too. :) have a CPU block, and 2 GPU blocks connected in the loop. had my processor at 25*C under full load. O.o (wich was 53*C with a really good ait cooler, and good airflow in the case. ) thats a Q6600 at 3.6GHz btw :o
also, I agree that leaks are only caused by the system not beeing put together propperly. (look at cars for example, they use watercooling too! ) and the coolant in it isnt conducting, so even if you happoen to have a leak, nothing happens. (ofc, I wouldnt want to try it! :P )


@ funky, where is your Radiator? :o
 
Archangel said:
I use watercooling too. :) have a CPU block, and 2 GPU blocks connected in the loop. had my processor at 25*C under full load. O.o (wich was 53*C with a really good ait cooler, and good airflow in the case. ) thats a Q6600 at 3.6GHz btw :o
also, I agree that leaks are only caused by the system not being put together propperly. (look at cars for example, they use watercooling too! ) and the coolant in it isnt conducting, so even if you happoen to have a leak, nothing happens. (ofc, I wouldnt want to try it! :P )


@ funky, where is your Radiator? :o
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Yeh that is true.

Also, if you want liquid cooling, try Vegetable oil.:D
 
Archangel said:
I use watercooling too. :) have a CPU block, and 2 GPU blocks connected in the loop. had my processor at 25*C under full load. O.o (wich was 53*C with a really good ait cooler, and good airflow in the case. ) thats a Q6600 at 3.6GHz btw :o
also, I agree that leaks are only caused by the system not beeing put together propperly. (look at cars for example, they use watercooling too! ) and the coolant in it isnt conducting, so even if you happoen to have a leak, nothing happens. (ofc, I wouldnt want to try it! :P )


@ funky, where is your Radiator? :o
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my rad is mounted upfront-how can you possibly reach 25oC full load when you have 2gpu's and cpu (3.6ghz) in loop?

what is your cooling setup?

DSC00308.jpg


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its a 360mm Radiator mounted in the front door of the case. :)
Will post some pics of my pc when I get my motehrboard back from asus if you want. :o

its this case tough:
front_fans.jpg

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(thats not my pc btw :) )


Very nice that the radiator is in a place where its not in the way of something else, I really like your case, looks quite.. funky :P (whats those spirals around the water tubes tough? )
 
Archangel said:
its a 360mm Radiator mounted in the front door of the case. :)
Will post some pics of my pc when I get my motehrboard back from asus if you want. :o

its this case tough:
front_fans.jpg

__1.jpg

(thats not my pc btw :) )


Very nice that the radiator is in a place where its not in the way of something else, I really like your case, looks quite.. funky :P (whats those spirals around the water tubes tough? )
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looks good (like the case alot), i had the thermaltake kit too-i would have thought i would be getting lower temps due to the fact that my pump pumps twice as much water as yours and i only have my cpu in loop

i am beginign to think i have read my temps wrong, the spirals around the tubes are anti kink coils to stop the tubing kinking when getting bent around tight angles
 
what thermal paste do you use? also,there is a space between the radiator and the actual case itself, so basically the radiator is outside the case, and doesnt have any resistance from air pressure in the case or so. (maybe that helps a bit with the temps too?)
I also have a fairly cold room. (I always use a blanket when i'm sitting behind the pc, otherwise I get cold feet. :P )
besides that, I can't say for sure weither my temperatures I'm measuring are correct.

(Does the water displacement of the pump matters THAT much? I can immagine, water flowing slower, stays longer in the radiator, and gets cooled more, before returning back to the waterblocks.) I'm really no ace on watercooling tough,.. its my first kit, and I'm jsut experimenting a bit.
 
Archangel said:
what thermal paste do you use? also,there is a space between the radiator and the actual case itself, so basically the radiator is outside the case, and doesnt have any resistance from air pressure in the case or so. (maybe that helps a bit with the temps too?)
I also have a fairly cold room. (I always use a blanket when i'm sitting behind the pc, otherwise I get cold feet. :P )
besides that, I can't say for sure weither my temperatures I'm measuring are correct.

(Does the water displacement of the pump matters THAT much? I can immagine, water flowing slower, stays longer in the radiator, and gets cooled more, before returning back to the waterblocks.) I'm really no ace on watercooling tough,.. its my first kit, and I'm jsut experimenting a bit.
Click to expand...
There's a joke here, but I'm already in Arch's bad books..
 
Archangel said:
what thermal paste do you use? also,there is a space between the radiator and the actual case itself, so basically the radiator is outside the case, and doesnt have any resistance from air pressure in the case or so. (maybe that helps a bit with the temps too?)
I also have a fairly cold room. (I always use a blanket when i'm sitting behind the pc, otherwise I get cold feet. :P )
besides that, I can't say for sure weither my temperatures I'm measuring are correct.

(Does the water displacement of the pump matters THAT much? I can immagine, water flowing slower, stays longer in the radiator, and gets cooled more, before returning back to the waterblocks.) I'm really no ace on watercooling tough,.. its my first kit, and I'm jsut experimenting a bit.
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the water running faster takes the heat away quicker i belive, i also havnt got my fans running full there on lowest speed!

once i turn all my fans up full ill have another go at checking the temps, im going to add a second water loop inside my rig for the gpu's mounting a dual rad outside the back of the case, i think that my 4850's in crossfire are creating alot of heat

i think having a cold room will help alot also as your using the air in your room for your rad, mine is always red hot (hotest room in house)
 
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