Question: Water cooling system-pros and cons ?

[AlexGold]

My current PC sounds like a chainsaw when it comes to operating silently. I want to install a water cooling system mainly because of the fan's sound.
What other pros or cans does the water cooling system have ?
I heard there was one more type of cooling - with nitrogen I think, but this sounds expensive.
What do you guys think ?

[safara]

Ooh, always thought they were scary. Would be good to hear what the pro's think of this.

Personally my machines are still on Fluffy power (as in I need to defluff them every couple of months...)

[Danoclese]

I have been running watercooled for 3 years now and have absolutely NO complaints about it. Before, i had 5 three inch fans running to cool the MB, CPU, grafix card, and hard drives.

Now, the only fans that run are the ones for the PSU (it's integrated so no choice) and 1 fan to cool the hard drives---MUCH, MUCH quieter.

I currently use the Zalman Reserator setup with a cooling block for the CPU and another for the GPU. Currently, it runs at about 45-50 C and I feel comfortable pushing the GFX on most any game to the max my card can support

One caveat here is that you MUST either use distilled water in the reservoir or clean the whole cooling system thoroughly to get rid of the mineral deposits that build up. Once a year is fine.

Summing up, I wouldn't consider any other cooling solution other than liquid. Beats air cooling hands down.

[safara]

But it sounds bloody scary.

Could you "convert" an existing system to use it, or is it better to sort this out from scratch when building the system?

[AetasSerenus]

I have always been more into mineral oil cooling, just dump the computer in a fishtank filled with the stuff and you're done, no annoying tubes and such..

Most of al I would want a efficient solid-state cooling system, I have always been a bit weary of things with moving parts..

[Danoclese]

Originally Posted by safara

But it sounds bloody scary.

Could you "convert" an existing system to use it, or is it better to sort this out from scratch when building the system?

It's easy peasy to convert a fan cooled system to a water based one. When you purchase the system, all the brackets and other related bits and pieces are included to make the conversion simple.

Basically it took me about 2 hours to convert my system and I've never had a leak.

[ACEwoK]

Originally Posted by Danoclese

It's easy peasy to convert a fan cooled system to a water based one. When you purchase the system, all the brackets and other related bits and pieces are included to make the conversion simple.

Basically it took me about 2 hours to convert my system and I've never had a leak.

I guess you'd know pretty quickly if you did have a leak!
I'm going to look into this when i look at updating my system again in a few months time. How bulky are the systems compared to standard air cooling?

[Mega]

Originally Posted by Danoclese

Now, the only fans that run are the ones for the PSU (it's integrated so no choice) and 1 fan to cool the hard drives---MUCH, MUCH quieter.

If you wanted it even quieter you can get silent cooling for hard disks. I bought one of these:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/...ad.asp?idx=134


I doubt the tiny fans on your active hard disk cooler make more than a whisper though.


I looked into water cooling, but it looked overly complicated and as I dont overclock, I decided against it.

[Trux]

i think a fan-cooled PC can be as quite as you need, if done right.. i build mine always fan-cooled, and the noise of the HDs usually masks my fan-noise comletely..
you have to plan the system carefully, but can save quite some money and hassles and risk.

chose components that will not produce big amounts of heat. (i personally usually pick the most powerful fan-less gfx-card i can get for my machines, for example..)

chose a nice housing for a good airflow. it has to have space for 12 cm fans, 2-3 at the rear-side, 1-2 at the frontside

make the housing airtight all over, only leave fan-area front and rear open.

use 2-3 fans at the rear-side and power them just enough to ensure startup -> veeery slow turning fans will make almost no noise. bigger fans are always quieter than smaller fans.

use a big-surface cooler on CPU. again, use one with a 12 cm fan, lowest RPM

make sure, CPU-fan blows sidewards, in the same direction as the housing-airflow (usually from front to rear)

turn the thing on and observe all the important temperatures. you will propably have sufficient cooling. if your HDs overheat, use 2 additional fans in the front (or better, if there is space, put 1-2 add. fans rear-side), again as slow as possible.

important: ensure a nice airflow, where a lot of air can flow (relatively) slow from front to rear. slow wind produces less noise than strong wind)

avoid any fan with less than 12 cm dia. in your system (also PSU, CPU, GPU!) (smaller, faster fans always produce more noise)

instead of powering fans up, use more, slower fans.

cooling your system in such a way usually only leaves the motors from the HDs audible. these are loud enough to mask the fans. so not any louder than water-cooling.

pls note, cooling this way usually works for eco-designed PCs, that generally don't get very hot.

when you are an overclocker, or using top-end components, you might be better off with a liquid-cooling, because at such high temperatures any fan would have to move alot of air for sufficient cooling. this produces noise at the fan.

please note also, that the above is not an instruction how to do it, but how it could be done. it is my approach for cooling that turned out to work for the rigs i set up.
it takes some experience though, to choose fans and components and housing that best match each other. in the beginning, better be save than sorry, and plan to have one fan more.. then you have to tune your fans down and down, while observing the temperatures. maybe in the end you can again remove one fan

so in the end for noiseless cooling: fan or liquid isn't really a matter of noise, but a matter of the overall system-power and cost. (imo)

fan-cooling:
can be (almost) noiseless.
is cheap.
can only cool a certain amount before starting to make noise.

liquid cooling:
can be (almost) noiseless.
is quite expensive.
has alot more noiseless cooling-power for top-end / overclocked components.

trux

[Nih]

I will defiantly look at water cooling my next custom build.

I recently replaced the fan coolers on my dual xeons with some hefty passive coolers i found.. i also gutted all the aging fans in the system and got some higher powered silent fans to increase the airflow.. but its still quite the little noise maker...