Water Cooling - Hard to Install? Worth It?

[Onshava]

Hello community! So far, the MMO forum posters have been the most helpful in regards to helping me with a new build, so thank you all for your help!

I'm really interested in looking into water cooling, but I have never actually played around with one. I'm wanting to keep my PC as quiet and cool as possible, and all of my gamer friends swear by it, but they all had theirs professionally installed (I can't let myself do that...thanks dad). Does water cooling keep a PC silent? How hard is it to install? Any unit suggestions?

Thanks guys! Looking forward to your responses.

[Redstripe]

If you've never done it before it might take awhile. What makes it easier is a big case. Planning is the key. I usually draw out the space I have and figure out the best way to mount it. Take your time with this. For the most part prebuilt kits aren't worth it. Its better to just pick the parts you want. You can get damn near anything and or configuration from frozenCPU or performancePCs. I've build about 4 systems now and my latest I think is the best I've done. I did a lot of planning. There are a lot of good guides out there. Reading up on it is the best thing you can do. The more you know the easier the setup will go. Pitcture of my current system. I've cleaned it up a bit. This was when I just finished it. Wow I had a lot of errors.

[vesseblah]

Real watercooling for processor and two graphics cards costs well over $1000 and needs maintenance twice/year. Those two things are the bigger roadblock for most thinking about it, not the difficulty of installation.

[Hamz]

Also depends on the room the computer in. My room is naturally warm so liquid cooling was very ineffective. So consider that

[Cyanotical]

honestly, i have never had a water build that is as quiet as a good air build, that being said, the air build runs hotter at the same clock, but it is significantly cheaper

if you want to go with watercooling, start with a kit, either from EK, or Swifttech, or Aquaero, kits are a great way to jump in, after you get familiar with how it works, you can build a system from individual components

[Djinni]

For the most part it isn't silent. but as Vesseblah said usually the bigger "roadblock" is the cost and maintainance (I for one would not remember to clean it out etc unless something went wrong.)

[aisatsana]

Watercooling is extremely quiet if you have alot of surface area on your radiators because it lets you use lower speed fans which are extremly quiet and most pumps aren't very loud anyways. If you have a very small rad to achieve good performance you will need higher speed fans.

To be honest it's not that hard if you already have a good knowledge of computers and make some research online. Please check some guides on forums and youtube like this one.

I would buy a kit first such as the XSPC Rasa kits because they save you alot of money and you can upgrade each part after awhile if you want to. For a CPU only loop it's good to at least have a decently thick 240mm radiator and if you want a CPU+GPU loop than you will want a 60mm thick 240 rad or a 360 rad.

You want to leak test before installing it especially if it's your first build. Basically you put everything in your case, cut the hoses at the desired lenghts and fit everything to make sure it fits nice in your case, then you remove it and power the pump(make sure you have water in the pump before turning it on or else you will damage it) by tricking your 24 pin cable on your psu. You do this for 24 hours to make sure there are no leaks and than you should be good to install it inside your rig.

You also need a case that supports radiators, preferably 240mm radiators because 120mm aren't really worth it alone. This means that your case should allow two 120mm fans next to eachother with the right spacing between them, which I believe is 15mm

This guide is also pretty informative if you watch all parts

[Cyanotical]

Real watercooling for processor and two graphics cards costs well over $1000 and needs maintenance twice/year. Those two things are the bigger roadblock for most thinking about it, not the difficulty of installation.

^this

i have well over $2000 dumped into my setup in just water cooling components

[aisatsana]

Real watercooling for processor and two graphics cards costs well over $1000 and needs maintenance twice/year. Those two things are the bigger roadblock for most thinking about it, not the difficulty of installation.

That's if you're buying all the highest end parts with large radiators.. For a CPU+GPU loop you can get away with a Rasa kit + a GPU block and it won't cost more than 300$, you might want to add a thicker radiator though. Yes if you want to add new parts such as a new pump, reservoir, block(which by the way has been shown that there is literally no difference between a 50$ block and a 100$ block in performance), etc. But you add that up after time.

[Onshava]

All good tidbits to know! I probably should have posted my case.

http://tech-reviews.co.uk/reviews/an...o-gaming-case/

This is the current case I own. I really like it, so I'd like to keep it if possible. With all the case fans and an upgraded CPU fan (I'll be running an i5 2500k and an 560 ti), should I even worry about water cooling? I'm not big into overclocking, usually just small amounts, nothing major.

[Diablo Gamer]

it`s a bit old but i think it`s still a helping vid

[aisatsana]

Sandybridge doesn't really need that good of cooling because it has great temps already, a D14 will get you to 5.2GHz easily... so for sandybridge watercooling isn't really needed and spending 100$ on a block for your 560 Ti isn't worth it.

So for you, I wouldn't go watercooling unless you really want to try it.

[Onshava]

Sandybridge doesn't really need that good of cooling because it has great temps already, a D14 will get you to 5.2GHz easily... so for sandybridge watercooling isn't really needed and spending 100$ on a block for your 560 Ti isn't worth it.

So for you, I wouldn't go watercooling unless you really want to try it.

Well it is something that I'd like to try eventually, but I don't want to create more work for myself if it really isn't helpful. Maybe I'll just skip it...for now =)

Not to ask a completely dumb question, but what is a D14? This is my first build in a very long time, so I'm still acclimating to the scene.

[Shpetznaz]

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=e...og&sa=N&tab=wi

[aisatsana]

Well it is something that I'd like to try eventually, but I don't want to create more work for myself if it really isn't helpful. Maybe I'll just skip it...for now =)

Not to ask a completely dumb question, but what is a D14? This is my first build in a very long time, so I'm still acclimating to the scene.

It's a CPU cooler, one of the best air coolers on the market.

[Skelly]

A water cooling loop can be anywhere from silent to sounding like a jet engine, depending on what temps you're looking for. If you want a silent build like mine, get a large radiator with low FPI and get a fan controller. I can hear crickets outside over the sound of my pc at night. It's that quiet, but cost like $700 and I'm only cooling my cpu right now. Just depends how much you're willing to spend for an awesome hobby

Also I would advise new builders against buying a kit. That way you have to read and learn more before you start putting it all together. Its seriously a lot of research.

[FlawlessSoul]

Hard to install? No. Hard to maintain? No. But it's a lot more effort to do both than a simple air-cooled system. They're not that much more challenging to put together, if you spend the time beforehand doing your research and actually learning about it. The major points are to leaktest, and to plan ahead.

I can't comment on how much of a pain in the ass a leak is, since I've yet to have one (Touch wood) but given the coolants in use it's unlikely to be anywhere near catastrophic damage. But again, leaktest and double check again before putting power through anything but the pump.

The best guide I came across when learning: http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/water...beginners.html