water cooling advice

[sparau]

Hi,

I have been thinking about water cooling one of the new amd quads (620) just for a laugh (although it would be nice to go "ah video editing - 3.8ghz thx") with an Antec Skeleton, dark light and UV water... (bit of bling for fun)

advice:

1: is it worth it? is water cooling a pain in any way, or is it just buy a matched kit and install / forget.
2: if so what type... i would usually buy umart but they dont have much in the way of water cooling available that i have spotted (Thermaltake bigwater seems thermaltake bigwater).
3: edit - are the pumps noisy? or is it all up quieter than a good air solution?

Thanks in advance.

[dmandn]

usually quieter than air, don't touch the thermaltake water kits.

Pity flabbergast isn't around anymore, the original owner would have been a big help.


I would personally go custom since most premade kits are hopeless (the thermaltake one is beaten in performance by air coolers). If you want to keep prices down, xspc parts are usually fairly good and less expensive alternatives.

www.pccasegear.com.au or www.gammods.com.au are the only places I can think of off the top of my head for watercooling right now.

Brands I would buy:
Any Laing pump, (often rebadged by swiftech, ek, etc)
swiftech, xspc, ek,.. - blocks, radiators and reservoirs.


Other people will surely add to this.

[sparau]

thx dmandn - i just realized i should have posted this in the cooling forum... foolish human !

[Covert_operatoR]

Thermaltake kits are okay... so long as you add more radiators and leak test them properly.
I've got an armor+ lcs with the bigwater kit which I added an additional 240mm rad to and it handles the temps decently. (my temps never exceeded 50*C at full load and overclocked in todays stinking hot sydney weather)

The trouble with the TT kits are they dont really provide the advantages of water cooling, that is lower noise or significant performance gains over air cooling.

I'm going to switch to a full custom setup sometime soon as well.

as to your questions.

1. Water cooling is definately worth it. It offers unique advantages no air cooling solution can provide. I wouldn't say its a pain. I find joy in just choosing all the different components and setups that are available. Hooking up a water loop is an interesting puzzle as well.

2. I would go custom, purely because that way you get exactly what you want. Whether you want it silent or max performance, bling or stealth, you get to choose yourself. All in one kits lack that, and.. like me once you've started on a kit, you'll either want to expand or go different all together.

3. Most computer water cooling pumps are quiet, and yes it will be much quieter than air cooling, if you so choose it to be.

[dmandn]

Originally Posted by Covert_operatoR

Thermaltake kits are okay... so long as you add more radiators and leak test them properly.
I've got an armor+ lcs with the bigwater kit which I added an additional 240mm rad to and it handles the temps decently. (my temps never exceeded 50*C at full load and overclocked in todays stinking hot sydney weather)

The trouble with the TT kits are they dont really provide the advantages of water cooling, that is lower noise or significant performance gains over air cooling.

I second this. Two radiators to only hold under 50? Yikes, my custom loop has one 240 rad and doesn't go over 40.

[Covert_operatoR]

Originally Posted by dmandn

I second this. Two radiators to only hold under 50? Yikes, my custom loop has one 240 rad and doesn't go over 40.

It was 38*C ambient over here yesterday.
About to order $400 worth of w/c gear

[timsarg]

Originally Posted by Covert_operatoR

It was 38*C ambient over here yesterday.
About to order $400 worth of w/c gear

and with 38 degrees ambient you will probably be seeing around 45-50 with wc . Unless you get an aircon in your room you wont see much improvement over your "quality" TT kit

[dmandn]

Looking at the system in his sig I think he should be able to run around 43-50 absolute max, on the cpu anyway with good cooling, however I do not believe you will have your room temperature as high as 38, even without airconditioning unless there is no insulation in the house.

Of course it is possible but if its 38 degrees outside it won't be anywhere near that inside under normal circumstances, although I have an airconditioner in this house, it is very rare to find it running for we do not seem to need it most of the time.

With a room temp of 29 degrees my cpu was sitting under 40 on air cooling, even overclocked.

My 500 be which is watercooled so far hasn't exceeded i think 35 so far. We has a 38 degree day the other day in Perth and we are usually a few degrees hotter than Perth where I'm living and most of the day mum had the windows open. I did not check the thermometer to get a room temp that day but it was hot inside, and the watercooled one was running cool under those conditions.

I think its normal to expect at least 5-10 degrees over ambient though.

[dreamaxx]

Originally Posted by Covert_operatoR

It was 38*C ambient over here yesterday.
About to order $400 worth of w/c gear

I hope that is from Gammods Support your local watercooling specialist store mate, the more you support him, the more range that then becomes available to you.

[Covert_operatoR]

haha I'm just waiting for him to get it all in stock first!