What made you go Water Cooling?

[MxPhenom 216]

Im thinking about starting a little water cooling project and putting my 680 on water. Just wanted to here from you guys why you switched from air to water. Vote in the Poll, and please give some insight.

Thanks,

Phenomater

 

[Outback Bronze]

All of the above and overclocking.

I voted cooling because thats generally what water cooling is for.

 

[MT Alex]

I didn't vote because you can only choose one category.

 

[t_ski]

I didn't vote because you can only choose one category.

I voted, but agree with MT Alex: I went because of cooling & quietness. I've been doing this so long, when I started parts didn't look bad-ass

 

[Feänor]

I voted for cooling, but i can answer with one word: folding.

1-More overclock means more PPD, and more heat.
2-More heat means more cooling.
3-More cooling means more overclocking headroom.
4-Return to step 1, rinse and repeat until your wallet and/or wife cannot take it anymore.

 

[Sinzia]

Quieter and looks damn cool too for me.

 

[Steevo]

Cooling for more overclocking and the lack of cooler noises other than a few fans that blend into the background noise.


Plus 34C on my GPU core is insanity under load.




I'm never going back to air coolers.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Yeah all of the above...except the last one.

 

[Sasqui]

All of the above and overclocking.

I voted cooling because thats generally what water cooling is for.

Ditto on that. Also noise, albeit not when I have my 3x 120mm rad fans on high, lol.

I also like to play with upper limits of unstable OC'ing (bragging rights), had my C2D over 5Ghz into windows.

 

[the54thvoid]

All of everyone else's all of the above (except MM).

Plus it's a good way to challenge yourself with a layout and choice of components.

However, noise was my main reason. And I don't think I'll go back to air.

 

[cdawall]

I have been using the same overbuilt waterloop for 3-4 years now. Minor updates with waterblocks other than that it runs wonderfully. I went to water because it cools better with the 16 highspeed 120mm fans on it sound is not a reason for me...while still quieter than the air cooler on my VGA card it isn't by much.

 

[HammerON]

I voted for cooling. It is nice to have the extra headroom for over clocking without having to worry about temps as much as air cooling (obviouisly still have to pay attention to temps).
However I have to agree with MM as well. I am 42 and may be able to retire at 60 (so I hope). But I do need to take measures so that I can do so

 

[Solaris17]

i did it for cooling

 

[brandonwh64]

One reason! WCG

 

[trickson]

Looks for sure, cooling power most important, nice and quiet.

 

[Yukikaze]

Boredom

 

[trickson]

Also it is just plain fun.

 

[1Kurgan1]

Looks mostly to be honest, especially for videocards. I had a WC'd CPU a long time ago and it was great and no real issues. Was able to take parts in and out of the comp pretty easily. But now with dual WC'd cards in my comp, I never tinker wit hit, since keeping those cards together to not break that loop is just such a pain.

Of course for the extra cooling I went with it as well. But I always had pretty great luck on air anyways, so it didn't factor into it a ton.

 

[Brusfantomet]

mostly the cooling, the loop i have now is marginally nosier than it was when it was air cooled (the pump only goes down to 1500 rpm, still audible). But if i was till on air my processor would probably still be going at the standard 2,66 GHz and not on 3,7 GHz and doing it just as silently as 2,66 GHz.

 

[TRWOV]

Neither reason, RAM clearance issues... that and a 20% discount. I don't think it's quieter though, it's slightly noisier under load.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I went water cooling for a year. Its not worth the effort and worries about it leaking OR the pump dieing. The days of needing water to get decent clocks to play high end games are over. Everything is a port.

I went water cooling because I thought it seemed cool to do. It was waste of time I later realized. Thats my case however.

 

[trickson]

I went water cooling for a year. Its not worth the effort and worries about it leaking OR the pump dieing. The days of needing water to get decent clocks to play high end games are over. Everything is a port.

I went water cooling because I thought it seemed cool to do. It was waste of time I later realized. Thats my case however.

The reason is you never took the time to get the really good water parts. It is a failing for many. I bought top of the line ( At that time and now IMHO) water cooling parts. I also made sure I used things that are tried and true for keeping leaks out and the water always in and flowing. It has never been a problem for me now and I have had mine for 6 years now and the pump? Still as good as the day I got it. Not even gave it a second though about it going out. But every one has has there ups and downs with water cooling.

 

[MT Alex]

Neither reason, RAM clearance issues... that and a 20% discount. I don't think it's quieter though, it's slightly noisier under load.

That's not the type of water cooling we are talking about. Custom loops, not all in one units. With an AIO unit, I'm sure it is noisier, and I doubt temps are much better than a high end air cooler.

It has never been a problem for me now and I have had mine for 6 years now and the pump? Still as good as the day I got it. Not even gave it a second though about it going out. But every one has has there ups and downs with water cooling.

That's right, most laing type pumps, with the ceramic bearing, are rated for 50,000 hours of use. That's 5.7 years running 24/7. There is no reason at all to worry about a pump dying. Hell, if by some stroke of luck a pump did die, your cpu will shut down after it hits it's built in safety temp.

 

[trickson]

That's not the type of water cooling we are talking about. Custom loops, not all in one units. With an AIO unit, I'm sure it is noisier, and I doubt temps are much better than a high end air cooler.



That's right, most laing type pumps, with the ceramic bearing, are rated for 50,000 hours of use. That's 5.7 years running 24/7. There is no reason at all to worry about a pump dying. Hell, if by some stroke of luck a pump did die, your cpu will shut down after it hits it's built in safety temp.

It also has a lot to do with the type of fluid you use as well as there are many opinions on what to use. It is a time consuming challenge and has really payed off for me too. I haven't had to spend one dime on cooling for years no need. And when I do the WB is all I need to change.

 

[erocker]

AIO units are great and offer better performance than pretty much all air coolers. It all depends on the CPU too. My 2500K never got too hot and I have a H60 sitting on it at 4.7ghz. Ivy Bridge chips are another story. IHS to die contact isn't very good and no naturally aspirated cooling(air or water) is going to fix that.

I originally got into water cooling for the cooling benefits over air. I had a E8400 at the time and while it could clock like a boss not using an insane amount of voltage, temps got high. Water cooling gave me the ability to run those clocks 24/7 while keeping temps well below standard air operating temperature.

With the speed of today's hardware, water cooling isn't as necessary as I believe it once was with the exception, possibly of GPU's. Reference coolers can be noisy and temps can get high. Watercooling solves that.

I also like the way it looks, it's fun to build and configure and I occasionally have money to burn. So I vote for all of the above.

*I've also run nothing but distilled water. Never had a hardware/pump issue. I do make sure to keep my computer out of the sun, use opaque tubing (both to avoid algae) and flush it every 6 months or so.