Watercooling vs. Aircooling

[Tearathal]

I am trying to decide whether I should go with watercooling or air cooling, I barely know anything about watercooling, except its quieter and offers a greater amount of cooling overall.

I just finished my nice brand new system with the 8800gtx and the works, so someone told me I should get watercooling to keep everything nice and frosty, but i don't know where to start.

Can someone point me in the right direction? thanks

 

[rock_n_roll_0204]

If you don't know what your doing don't do it.

 

[Alcpone]

If you don't know what your doing don't do it.

If you dont know then learn

Are you having temp issues? Are you clocking anything in your rig? How much are you wanting to spend on a H2O system?

 

[Nitro-Max]

i dont know i think some air coolers with heat pipes are now are getting alot closer to water cooling well the budget water cooling anyways my arctic freezer 64 pro rocks!!

 

[Tearathal]

I'm not really having temp issues right now, my temps are borderline, but I plan to overclock most of my rig and thats going to take some cooling to handle. Right now i just have the cpu heatsink/fan and a rear exhaust, I want to decide now what I want to do so there will be less to fix later. As far as cost goes, I'm not sure, obviously just buying a bunch of fans for air cooling is only like $4 US a fan, but watercooling could cost alot more. I don't know how much a good watercooling system would go for, I know I need a pump, tubing, a radiator and a waterblock, fluid and a resevoir.

 

[Protius]

If your temps are fine i wouldn't unless you really want a higher oc (assuming temps are the problem) or low temps, if you do go water i'd recommend you build a custom kit

 

[Tearathal]

They are fine idling I mean, lol. When i play games they get up pretty high. I would like to overclock though and I definitely don't have the cooling for it now. My poor 8800 would fry.

Custom kit, as in selecting all parts not as a set, or a kit that is custom build for my pc?

 

[Frogger]

read this ..http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=176597..will give you info on apx $$$ and where to look >>>F

 

[Lazzer408]

The surface area of the watercooled radiator has to exceed the surface area of the aircooled heatsink. There's no magic to it. A huge heatsink could perform better then a small radiator. Unless your an extreem overclocker there's isn't much need for a watercooled rig. A good heatsink can perform well. Now active cooling would be alot better. aka. closed-loop evaporative or "phase change" as the geeks like to call it or a peltier thermoelectric setup.

 

[Tearathal]

So basically a cheap watercooled rig would not be much better than a good air cooled rig. And you don't really need to watercool unless you are going to overclock extremely. My Issue is my Videocard gets hot, I know its built to stand hot temps, but its a bit too hot. I don't have any place to really mount the fans, only a place for exhaust and intake, but nothing to get my mobo or videocard really. Could always cut holes in the case, but I don't want to split the clear door when cutting it

 

[DOM]

How much are you willing to spend on a Water Cooling System?

 

[Nitro-Max]

extreme oc requires more expensive water cooling with a more powerfull pump etc but if were talking vga cooling i think even a cheap water cooler maybe better than the air cooling thats available there is some very good air coolers but the best which is the Sytrin vf1 plus. As far as i know are huge things and requires a upgrade kit for the 1800/1900 ati cards i personally dont rate the arctic ac X2 much i prefere the zalman vf 900 it cools better and is much quieter at 100% but its all depends how far you want to overclock really and if u trust water that much can you get water coolers that cover the memory blocks? too or will they use ramsinks?.

 

[cdawall]

currently a good air cooler outperforms most basic water coolers as the nauctoa U12 the thermaltake Big typhoon and the thermalright ultra 90 for grfx though there are less options but a big cooler with a bunch of heatpipes is the way to go for cheap

 

[Lazzer408]

So basically a cheap watercooled rig would not be much better than a good air cooled rig. And you don't really need to watercool unless you are going to overclock extremely. My Issue is my Videocard gets hot, I know its built to stand hot temps, but its a bit too hot. I don't have any place to really mount the fans, only a place for exhaust and intake, but nothing to get my mobo or videocard really. Could always cut holes in the case, but I don't want to split the clear door when cutting it

Depending on your videocard, the fans might be set low. The x1950pro would be one example. Also be sure you have proper case ventilation. I set mine up with the front fans blowing in, side-cover fan blowing in, rear fans and psu fan blowing out. If you don't have a fan in the side, put one in. They help alot even if it's just a breeze from a low-rpm quiet fan.

 

[Tearathal]

Gottcha. Well I bought the 8800 GTX with the air cooling, and like a day after I bought it they came out with the one with the Danger Den block on it pre mounted lol. I was wondering if its possible to just take off the fan and put on the danger den block?

Not sure how much I am willing to spend, but I have a good 400 dollars to spend

 

[DOM]

well with that much im sure you can make a good Water System. CPU, NB,VGA

and you can use that DD block

 

[Tearathal]

cool thanks. I would have to read up on the topic so my computer case with its clear window doesnt become a fish bowl.