CPU cooling - water vs air, overclocking etc

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chinesestunna

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Multi gfx card setups benefit most from water-cooling as do more extreme cpu overclocks...
That said with FSB gone and blck overclocks being extremely small... I have not done much cpu overclocking lately.

The most I have ever spent on a waterloop was $500 and it was quite effective.
I agree, GPU subsystems have much high TDP designs than CPUs nowadays, 300W vs 150W not to mention the placement often causes that heat being trapped in the chassis.
I wish more companies made rotated motherboard cases like Silverstone where cards can directly vent up
 
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Patriot

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I agree, GPU subsystems have much high TDP designs than CPUs nowadays, 300W vs 150W not to mention the placement often causes that heat being trapped in the chassis.
I wish more companies made rotated motherboard cases like Silverstone where cards can directly vent up
The cards being sandwiched together is what leads to problems.... taking off the double slot air cooler and putting on a full cover single slot waterblock makes things much better.
 
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chinesestunna

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The cards being sandwiched together is what leads to problems.... taking off the double slot air cooler and putting on a full cover single slot waterblock makes things much better.
Exactly this, I tried crossfire for about 2 days before heat and noise made me tip it out. The top card has most of its intake area obstructed by lower card, fans are 60% faster and still all temps are 10C higher
 

Entz

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I love my water cooled system for the silence it gains me. Right now I am running a 2600k with a 7970. I still find that I can't get the same noise resonance from those small fans as a larger set on my radiator. If I was to do it again would I the answer is yes I would. I agree with @Spartus about only having to replace them every few years the only thing that has actually failed in my loop since I had a 6870 in the system was a single pump and that makes sense since it the only moving part.
Yeah on larger radiators the ability to greatly reduce fans is very very nice. My rig is effectively silent and that can cool a 3930k and a 980 at full tilt. GPUs really do see massive gains when watercooled (40C reduction), can maintain the boost clocks pretty much forever.

Agree with the part side of things, once you have a good radiator, res, blocks and pump there is very little that needs to change. Also helping that the sockets in boards have changed very little in the past few years. I have gone through 3 pumps - 2 C-System ones that died (one seized and one smoked) then moved to a MCP655/D5 and haven't looked back. Those things are tanks. Get 6+ years out of one.

@Patriot that a folding rig or something else :cool:

I don't think I could ever trust watercooling my rack unless it was something professionally built. Too much to go wrong ;)
 

Patriot

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@Entz first rig to break 1m ppd. It could fold at 3.5ghz and run cinebench at 3.8. Used to hold the WR after a few years bumped down to 3rd place.
1450w was folding at 3.5 .... scared to know what the wall draw was at 3.8...
 

chinesestunna

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@Entz first rig to break 1m ppd. It could fold at 3.5ghz and run cinebench at 3.8. Used to hold the WR after a few years bumped down to 3rd place.
1450w was folding at 3.5 .... scared to know what the wall draw was at 3.8...
What PSU were you using? Or dual PSU?
 

Entz

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@Entz first rig to break 1m ppd. It could fold at 3.5ghz and run cinebench at 3.8. Used to hold the WR after a few years bumped down to 3rd place.
1450w was folding at 3.5 .... scared to know what the wall draw was at 3.8...
Very nice :D

I only ever did dual processor rigs when folding ( Dual 6172s) and retired those a while ago (heat was too much in a small condo + they could no longer do BigAdv). Still doing GPU folding though.
 

TechIsCool

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Just so everyone looks at it. This not mine but is my favorite water cooling set up to date.




I have gone through 3 pumps - 2 C-System ones that died (one seized and one smoked) then moved to a MCP655/D5 and haven't looked back. Those things are tanks. Get 6+ years out of one.
I had a tank,pump combo that failed after about 3 years and went to the MCP655 with a XSPC Top. about 2 years ago. I have it just sitting on some foam.
Here is my Desktop about well a few months before I bought my Xbox One at Launch but that is the only difference


Desktop has picture from today



You don't notice how much dust is on it until you take the photo. Oh well it still running just fine. This is about 14 months since the last hardware upgrade and I have only flushed the loop once and cleaned the Radiator.
 
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chinesestunna

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@TechIsCool, that's how you properly watercool! Radiator on outside or at least blow out of the case. People that mount then in front of the case and have all that heat blown back in make no sense...
 

TechIsCool

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@TechIsCool, that's how you properly watercool! Radiator on outside or at least blow out of the case. People that mount then in front of the case and have all that heat blown back in make no sense...
So true and this was my first computer case I did not care if I wrecked it so I just started drilling holes in it to make it work. Actually came out really well. I love Lian Li cases if I was going to replace it though. Can't beat an aluminum case.
 

chinesestunna

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So true and this was my first computer case I did not care if I wrecked it so I just started drilling holes in it to make it work. Actually came out really well. I love Lian Li cases if I was going to replace it though. Can't beat an aluminum case.
I've fallen out of love with Lian Li, they're nice but not very innovative IMO, just big AL boxes. I have a V2000 I'll probably keep forever for home server. Currently I like Fractal and Silverstone, specifically Fortress FT02 is my dream workstation case.
 

Entz

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I've fallen out of love with Lian Li, they're nice but not very innovative IMO, just big AL boxes. I have a V2000 I'll probably keep forever for home server.
Same just don't have the same draw as they once did. Mainly because there is so much more to a good case then well built aluminum boxes. My first was a PC-61 (did my first watercooling in that 2x80mm rads), PC-V1000 for a long time (Heatercore in the bottom :D) , then moved to a full tower that was made by Lian Li (ABS Black Pearl) w/ full 360 in there. Then stopped Lian Li all together (Did a 800D tour then went mini in prodigy, realized ITX is too small for expansion then a Arc Midi then now to my beloved CaseLabs Mercury S5)
 

NeverDie

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I've fallen out of love with Lian Li, they're nice but not very innovative IMO, just big AL boxes. I have a V2000 I'll probably keep forever for home server. Currently I like Fractal and Silverstone, specifically Fortress FT02 is my dream workstation case.
In that event, I suspect you may like this Thermaltake case also: Thermaltake Core V71 Extreme Full Tower Chassis, Compatible With Extreme Liquid Cooling Builds (CA-1B6-00F1WN-00) - Newegg.com
It's airflow for cooling is better than most, and the reviews have skewed fairly positive.
 

chinesestunna

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In that event, I suspect you may like this Thermaltake case also: Thermaltake Core V71 Extreme Full Tower Chassis, Compatible With Extreme Liquid Cooling Builds (CA-1B6-00F1WN-00) - Newegg.com
It's airflow for cooling is better than most, and the reviews have skewed fairly positive.
Thermaltake's Core line is nice, definitely a good direction IMO for that more clean/professional look.
I really feel like there could be more innovation in the enclosure space, starting a new thread here so not to hijack/derail my own thread: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...al-tower-enclosures-whats-yours-and-why.5144/
 

Patriot

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@TechIsCool, that's how you properly watercool! Radiator on outside or at least blow out of the case. People that mount then in front of the case and have all that heat blown back in make no sense...
I have always hated the out of case look.... but for the record all my rads blow outward ...even the RX360 in the front bays lol.
 

chinesestunna

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I have always hated the out of case look.... but for the record all my rads blow outward ...even the RX360 in the front bays lol.
Yea I agree internal looks cleaner, just more concerned about people pumping heat back into the case. I've also seen good implementations of external that looks stock
 

alexrepstel

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I believe that your final decision will be chosen depending on if you want a really powerful cooler which is easy to install or if you would rather buy a much cheaper one which is harder to install.

Liquid coolers are much more powerful, a mid-range liquid cooler will perform roughly the same with a high-end air cooler. In my opinion you should better play it safe and get a decent cooler which will run with no noise at all.
Of course there are much more to consider before you make your decision.
You can read all the advantages and disadvantages here:

Liquid Cooling vs. Air Cooling
 

Gene

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I always thought it would be interesting to make centralized house water cooler. Have a little wall outlet with quick disconnects of out and inbound water at your desktop pc areas. use an efficient larger pump to move water through the house. If computers are not connected the loop, the pump turns off when pressure builds up.
Then in winter exhaust the heat generated to the house, in summer dump the heat outside maybe through a pex coil buried underground in a loop. Not really a thing now that everyone is going tablet/etc. You usually only have 1 big desk rig in the house, although I'm getting ready to have two with the oculus rift coming out soon
 

Deslok

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I'm still using the stock coolers in my desktop, massive piped tower coolers courtesy of dell, honestly the drives make more noise than the fans unless I really push it.