Watercooling...worth it or is it overrated ?

C

czech09

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 16, 2004
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I've been looking into buying a watercooling kit, but is it worth it what kind of gains would I be seeing? What are the better kits out there (brands)...?

Thanks in advance,

Lubomir
 
You'd hafta specify what gains you're wanting to begin to get educated answers, but I'd just read around. Theres enough reviews on hardocp and worklogs in here with results to give you a basic idea.
 
Watercooling can be worth it if you're after these things:

(1) A quieter PC. If you replace your air-based CPU, GPU, northbridge, and HDD coolers with waterblocks, your PC will beome very quiet. This is assuming that the fan attached to your radiator isn't too loud itself.

(2) An overclocked computer. Although some good air coolers will net you good overclocks on your CPU and/or GPU, water is more effective. Assuming you have a good mobo with many adjustable BIOS tweaks and good overclocker RAM, you should be able to OC your CPU by 800mhz to 1000mhz and perhaps even more.

As for the GPU, your OC will also be higher. My old Radeon 9800Pro with custom aircooling only got up to 412mhz for the core. With a waterblock from the Koolance Exos A01, I was able to take it up to 465mhz. With the stock cooler, I only got 407mhz.

Although I haven't had personal hands-on experiences with these kits, I read that the Swiftech brand of kits are the best. The new Koolance Exos 2 kit seems to be good as well.

FYI, I'm using my Koolance Exos 1 to OC my CPU to 3.4ghz from 2.8ghz. I think I'm held back by my regular PC3200 ram.
 
i am using my homemade kit to go from 3.0 to 3.9. and i can almost get to 4. gotta do some tweaking.
 
If you're into tinkering with your pc and like to overclock, then watercooling if DEFINITELY worth it. You will achieve a FAR quieter PC and overclock it further.

Plus it's fun to fiddle about with.


If you're just looking for a no hassle easy solution to get a quieter PC, then it's probably a tad expensive since the kits out there tend to charge alot simply for having put it all together for you. But then again, once you've bought it, you'll use it for future cpu's so consider it an investment.

Frankly, if a non geek mate of mine was looking into watercooling, i'd tell them no, simply because of the added hassle of dealing with tubing and water inside your pc.


Put simply, if you're not prepared to play about with it, then don't bother.
 
Watercooling is worth it to me since it is so much quiter now. My HDD is now the loudest thing in my case. 3x120mm fans that are thermaly controlled are better then the POS 7000RPM chipset fan.
 
spine said:
If you're into tinkering with your pc and like to overclock, then watercooling if DEFINITELY worth it. You will achieve a FAR quieter PC and overclock it further.

Plus it's fun to fiddle about with.


If you're just looking for a no hassle easy solution to get a quieter PC, then it's probably a tad expensive since the kits out there tend to charge alot simply for having put it all together for you. But then again, once you've bought it, you'll use it for future cpu's so consider it an investment.

Frankly, if a non geek mate of mine was looking into watercooling, i'd tell them no, simply because of the added hassle of dealing with tubing and water inside your pc.


Put simply, if you're not prepared to play about with it, then don't bother.
Click to expand...

This man speaks the truth :)
 
I have the newest Swiftech kit. the pump is very small, very powerfull, and very quiet. Don't use tap water and everything should go smoothly. Watercooling takes research, planning, and patience. If you enjoy spending quality time with your PC, then it is a wonderful thing. If you hate digging in your PC, then stay far, far away. :p
 
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