Liquid or Air
- Thread starter socca13
- Start date
Geoff
VIP Member
I do believe that water cooling does a better job of cooling, but you have to take the price into consider, water cooling is in the hundreds of dollars, where air is only abour $5-$30 for fans. Water cooling is also a lot more dangerous in terms of hooking up. If i were you, i would just go with air cooling since its much cheaper, does a good job (with the right fans and heatsinks) and practically no chance of damaging your components.
dragon2309
P.I Dragon
A typical fan to cool your CPU down would set you back about £10-20. Water cooling however can cost anything from £60 to £200.
Lifespan is a big feature aswell. A fan may well kick the bucket after just 6 months. Watercooling on the other hand can last for anything up to about 5 years. Also watercooling does a far better job at cooling the processor down.
If your on a budget and looking for a quick fix then get a decent fan. If you've got the cash and woiuld prefer the solution to be a little bit more long lasting then opt for watercooling.
Lifespan is a big feature aswell. A fan may well kick the bucket after just 6 months. Watercooling on the other hand can last for anything up to about 5 years. Also watercooling does a far better job at cooling the processor down.
If your on a budget and looking for a quick fix then get a decent fan. If you've got the cash and woiuld prefer the solution to be a little bit more long lasting then opt for watercooling.
dragon2309
P.I Dragon
I've never heard of that but yes i suppose it could be true.
dragon2309
P.I Dragon
Not too often, about once a month i'd say, water level only decreases by normal evaporation, it doesnt leak at all.
Yeti
VIP Member
I'm not quite sure if you mean an even temperature across the CPU or inside the case so I'll address both
CPU: As long as you have a good copper water block with sufficient water contact area there shouldn't be any hot spots
CASE: It is possible to have some warmer spots since the HSF does direct air over some parts of the motherboard and other components. Probably the most important would be the power converters. They can get a bit warm and most motherboard manufacturers assume that there will be cooling from the HSF. Abit actaully has, or possibly had (haven't kept up to date on their products), their OTES system on their high end boards to blow air on the converters.
dragon2309
P.I Dragon
None the less, water cooling is a wise investment as it does a mcuh better overall job at cooling. But just because you've got 5 or 6 cool pipes going round your case doesnt mean that you can dispense with fans all together.
The ambient case temp will gradually raise the temp of the water if it gets too hot so the case itself needs to be cooled down. For this i suggest high performance 120mm case fans.
The ambient case temp will gradually raise the temp of the water if it gets too hot so the case itself needs to be cooled down. For this i suggest high performance 120mm case fans.
I too was pondering whether to go with water or air cooling. In the end, I decided water cooling was a bit too much for my everday computer needs. I don't play games or do anything intensive, but tend to leave my computer on for days. I replaced my CPU and GPU HSFs with copper Zalmans and also replaced my 4 case fans with Sanyo 80x80x32mm fans (53.67CFM @ 45dBA). Installing silicon washers between the case and the fans decreased the noise level significantly. Suffice to say, my temps stay very cool.
MasterGooby
New Member
There's a guy at work that had water cooling, and he left in on while he was gone, and the pump stopped working....well he now has a nice trophy mobo with a hole in it hanging up in his cubie at work!
seriously_confused
New Member
watercooling- yes, does a good job with a few hotspots and lasts up for quite awhile, leakage should be a minium if not none if bought from a good company, think about warranty
fans- maybe, works pretty well if used correctly but the hotspots may decrease life span of other hardware, the fans don't last very well either
basically, spend a few extra dollars... then spend a lot more for damaged hardware
fans- maybe, works pretty well if used correctly but the hotspots may decrease life span of other hardware, the fans don't last very well either
basically, spend a few extra dollars... then spend a lot more for damaged hardware
1. Good to see ya Yeti, drop me an email sometime
2. Yeah they still have OTES as apart of their "marketing package" but really ... regardless of how much cooling they pass over those caps.... the caps look like they about to explode anyways
The motherboard shoulda shutdown the system to prevent that....
dragon2309
P.I Dragon
Thats what i thought, unless it really was a crappy mobo and it didnt have any security features like that.
there is always risk in everything, just make sure clamps are secured and u wont have problem.apj101 said:
you just dont jump into the water......meaning , read first(research). let him explore, i had the same feeling when i thought of WC.geoff5093 said:
regular checking(clamps, kinking hose, water level)tomb08uk said:
What about heatpipe heatsinks? Could that be considered a happy medium? I have heard they are considerably more efficient than a regular hsf, but you don't have to worry about the water leaking, evaporation, water pumps, and whatnot of a wc system. It is also a whole lot cheaper and easier to install
dragon2309
P.I Dragon
Yes, heatpipe cooling is a bit like sitting on the fence of PC cooling. It does work well and for the money is probably the best way to go if you are on a tight budget. Obviously it doesnt do as good a job as WC but it is a fair show better than normal HSF.