Do you water cool your GPU?

[Eastcoasthandle]

've been considering water cooling and what to know who else out there also water cools?
Thermaltake Big Water 745
Swiftech H20-220 APEX ULTRA
Koolance Exos-2
Danger Dan (DIY)
Asetek
AlphaCool
AquaComputer

These are the some of a few that I have come across so far. I have been told some interesting things about water cooling:
-GPU water coolers that cover the mem and gpu are not as good as waterblocks that only cover the CPU
-bleeding can take up to 24 hours
-most water cooling/kits require a large full size case
-the swiftech APOGEE & Storm are the best for CPUs
-the Danger Dan Maze4GPU is the best for GPUs
-1/2" tubing is better then 3/8" tubing

I can't think of anything else at the moment but if you have any input please feel free.

 

[jcll2002]

if i knew more about wc, i would probably do it

 

[Elias]

I used to WC both CPU and GPU but decided to go with air for the latest setup. I found that high-end air can give temps that are similar to decent water cooling, albeit a bit noisier. Setting up a WC line is fun, although I wouldn't bother with it again unless I had some nice (expensive) WC equipment..

 

[Dark Prodigy]

Alot of what you've posted is a matter of opinion and personal preference. I won't attempt to tell you what the 'best' is because for every 1 thing someone puts as best you'll have 10 idiot flamers to debunk it. Do research and remember there's wisdom in a multitude of counsel.

One thing I will say, watercooling in a cramped case can be a complete headache, but still possible. I know from experience. As a first time watercooler it may behoove you to have a bigger type case, not necessarily a full tower but a mid tower on the larger side.

Also look at Asetek, AlphaCool,and AquaComputer for your watercooling needs as well as the ones you listed. And sometimes it does take 24 to bleed your system.

Good fortune...

 

[Asian Dub Foundation]

i find no need... my zalman is cool and quiet

 

[jaffy]

Where's the option for "I don't need it"?

I don't watercool, and never have. Quiet aircooling has always satisfied my needs, and continues to do so. Watercooling has never been above my budget, and is definately not too complicated. I just don't see the need for watercooling in my current (or future) rig.

I still think highly of the watercoolers out there though. You guys are [H].

 

[turtletrax]

I always watercool my CPU and usually watercool my GPU. I have had NV cards as of late so I didnt bother to watercool them (ATI noise)

My X850 XTPE was watercooled and it ran at 650/650 no problem. Was awesome to have that kind of power last year and have it very silent.

Watercooling is for some and not others. Just seems to fit what I want/expect out of a system. And after you have your pump and rad, it is fairly easy to upgrade the blocks with new sockets/vidcards.

 

[Eastcoasthandle]

Alot of what you've posted is a matter of opinion and personal preference. I won't attempt to tell you what the 'best' is because for every 1 thing someone puts as best you'll have 10 idiot flamers to debunk it. Do research and remember there's wisdom in a multitude of counsel.

One thing I will say, watercooling in a cramped case can be a complete headache, but still possible. I know from experience. As a first time watercooler it may behoove you to have a bigger type case, not necessarily a full tower but a mid tower on the larger side.

Also look at Asetek, AlphaCool,and AquaComputer for your watercooling needs as well as the ones you listed. And sometimes it does take 24 to bleed your system.

Good fortune...

thanks for the input

 

[Talonz]

GPU and CPU are watercooled. If you are considering going this route, I highly suggest going with a custom setup for performance, flexibility, and upgradability.

It is NOT cost effective, recent aircooling is really catching up to water, you get 75% of water's performance for 25% of the price. However, I figure that in the future, if I have to upgrade for a new socket, a new waterblock is no more expensive then a high end air heatsink.

A very important tip:

Assemble, test, bleed your system out of your case. Don't rush into it, you'll only end up making mistakes, costing yourself time and effort.

 

[PliotronX]

The only thing keeping me from h2o is the expense. If I'm going to do it, I'll do it right with a custom 1/2" setup which I calculate would be around $360 with tubings and fittings etc. for my CPU and GPU. I would take advantage of the ability to move the heat from the case and let the PSU run cooler instead of sucking in the heat from the CPU/GPU by going external with the rad while also drawing fresh air through the rad leading to lower water temps (having the rad internal would infringe on one of these traits depending on the fan configuration).

Everything you've gleaned so far looks good, except I would go with a TDX or even WW over an Apogee, but that's just me as I will be removing IHS's as long as they aren't epoxied on.

 

[Devnull]

Too expensive, and plus I don't want to worry about whether stuff is evaporating and all that upkeep


Noise is not an issue with my air cooling setup. I have an Antec P180 and its so quiet that I often freak out thinking that my computer has somehow been shut off/died. That used to happen more often before I added this extra 120mm fan that's cooling my new HDs

I need to undervolt the damn thing. But even that that "noisy" fan, it's still the most silent PC I've had.

 

[Met-AL]

I snagged a Koolance EXOS-AL off of NewEgg for $150 right when they were getting to the end of thier product cycle and the EXOS-2 was introduced. I will probably never go back to air-cooled. Water cooling lets me have some pretty good overclocks on my CPU and GPU without rasing the operating temps at all.

 

[CoW]8(0)]

Prices are what you make them
If you're patient, watercooling need not be expensive at all.

With my current WC system, my temperature delta never changes more than 2C from Idle to Load of my GPU. Compare this to air cooling which for GPU's I often see people having 20C+ deltas

And I load using ATi Tool since that seems to bring out the highest temps.

 

[autobot]

I watercool both my CPU and GPU. My WCing system is as follows:

Swiftech Storm Rev1
DangerDen Acetal-topped Maze4GPU
Swiftech MCP655 pump (set at 5)
DangerDen Dual-120 Heatercore (custom aluminum shroud)
DangerDen double drivebay resevoir
MasterKleer 7/16"ID 5/8"OD tubing
Stainless Steel worm-drive clamps

My system is as follows:
AMD A64 3500 (clawhammer core, O/Ced to 2.6 Ghz)
ASRock 939dual-Sata2
XFX 6800GS XXX edition (O/Ced to 540/1235)
Patriot 2x 512MB PC3200
SB Audigy 2 ZS
WD 80GB SATA
Maxtor 120GB PATA
LiteOn CDRW/DVD combo
Antec Truepower430
SilverStone Black TJ06

 

[smut]

7/16 is better then 1/2. You get about same flow, smaller tubes and less kinks at a higher bend radius. It also doesnt *need* clamps either on 1/2' barbs, you can put them on to be sure but not required. The 7/16 tubing is so tight over the 1/2 barbs that the tube isnt going anywhere as long as you get the tubing all the way to the end of the barb.

 

[smut]

And theres no evaporating OR upkeep if you build your loop right. You MAYBE might put a teeny bit of distilled water/additive in every 6 months just to top things off. People that think your losing mad water over a weeks time are full of shit and dont know what they are talking about.


Only get a storm block if your going to have a very powerful pump as its a restrictive block, if you have a non restrictive loop the Apogee is fine. There is other choices out there besides those blocks and it all depends on what type of other stuff is going into the loop. The Swiftech MCW55/MCW60 GPU block are also good choices for a GPU block.

 

[johnnq]

it's not worth the effort. the money could be put to better use.

 

[smut]

it's not worth the effort. the money could be put to better use.

And thats your opinion on it but alot of ppl would disagree, maybe you dont have the money for it and need upgrades in other areas then sure upgrade something that will make a difference. No one is telling you to go gung ho on a water loop if other areas are lacking.

If money isnt an issue and it isnt for alot of people on this and other forums and you got a decent rig , why not? Its a fun project and worth it if you know what your doing IMO. If your low on funds and need upgrades in other areas then sure, spend it something else. I didnt need anymore upgrades as I have a nice system right now and was bored with my rig and needed something new to build/mod so I decided to install a water loop. It was a fun project, I learned some new things and got an improvement in temps and sound out of it so i'm happy with it.

I voted for watercooling CPU/GPU btw.

 

[Mayhs]

wheres the: i am planning to use watercooling when i become more experienced/knowledgeable?

 

[smut]

wheres the: i am planning to use watercooling when i become more experienced/knowledgeable?

lol good idea. If you have any questions about it when you do get ready to set it up, shoot me a PM and I'll help ya if I can.

 

[Stugots]

Cpu
Gpu
Nb

 

[Mayhs]

lol good idea. If you have any questions about it when you do get ready to set it up, shoot me a PM and I'll help ya if I can.

thnx for the gesture but i think my air cooling is fine for now ...england is cold unfortunately

 

[smut]

thnx for the gesture but i think my air cooling is fine for now ...england is cold unfortunately

I didnt say your air cooling wasn't fine for now. you said you wanted to do it LATER when your more experienced and knowledgable lol and I just said when you are ready and have any questions, let me know

 

[mohammedtaha]

w/c sounds complicated until you actually get into it and the next thing you know it's just too damm easy.

Messing up is also easy but if you're the kinda person that's always messing around with his computer, then w/c should one of your next projects.

It's expensive at first but it's almost a 1 time investment.

If you compare the best watercooling combinations out there and run it against the best air cooled pc out there, the w/c will blow it out of the water. W/c is not meant to keep your idles low, although it does if the radiator works fine and you have good flow through your system, it's meant to keep your load temperatures down.

 

[nicepun]

I've been watercooling for over a year, I will say that I really enjoy it. If you do your reseach and bargain around you can put together a fairly good system for around $200 for CPU and GPU. If you're not going to do some major Overclocking, then air is the way to go, like some else said, air cooling solutions nowadays have made a big leap towards silence. If you're going to be doing alot of Overclocking, then watercooling is the way to go. Also, watercooling can be noisy at times, specially when you're doing some major Ocing and you want your rad to get some really good air with High Flow Fans.

 

[Mayhs]

I didnt say your air cooling wasn't fine for now. you said you wanted to do it LATER when your more experienced and knowledgable lol and I just said when you are ready and have any questions, let me know

ill pm you for sure

 

[Tigerblade]

If you're not going to do some major Overclocking, then air is the way to go

Disagree with that to a certain extent. I've gone from a CoolerMaster Aquagate to an Arctic Freezer Pro 64 and the latter runs cooler and quieter with the same oc....

Yes the Aquagate isn't the best around, but at 5 times+ the price of the Freezer, and it being one of the cheaper watercooling kits around, there is no contest.

 

[smut]

Disagree with that to a certain extent. I've gone from a CoolerMaster Aquagate to an Arctic Freezer Pro 64 and the latter runs cooler and quieter with the same oc....

Yes the Aquagate isn't the best around, but at 5 times+ the price of the Freezer, and it being one of the cheaper watercooling kits around, there is no contest.

Cause the aquagate sucks lol like you already mentioned "aint the best around" its one of worst around is teh way to put it, its shitty IMO. Nothing can hold WCing for cpu/gpu cooling. Compare your arctic freezer to a storm block with a good pump/rad and then we can talk. If you also choose the right gear for your loop the first time around it'll last you through multiple CPU and GPU generations too so its really a good one time investment as someone brought up before. Its the same amount of dough as buying a new a $200-300 graphic card except we dont have to upgrade it every 6 months to a year like a graphics card, it lasts alot longer IMO. So I dont see why people say its so expensive, all stuff in computers is expensive if you want the latest and greatest and its always been and will always be that way. So like I said if you dont have any other hardware upgrades that you want to do to your computer you can always make an investment and "upgrade" your cooling. It may seem overwhelming at first but its really not if you research and learn how easy it is. I used to think the same way about watercooling before I got into it first hand now I realized what I was missing out on.

 

[Tigerblade]

Compare your arctic freezer to a storm block with a good pump/rad and then we can talk.

Now compare the prices and tell me what has got better bang for buck in cooling?

With a 450mhz overclock I get 31 degrees idle, 40 load. But I suppose that's shite for a £12 cooler

 

[smut]

Now compare the prices and tell me what has got better bang for buck in cooling?

With a 450mhz overclock I get 31 degrees idle, 40 load. But I suppose that's shite for a £12 cooler

Umm in all of my posts in this thread havent I said do WC when money is not an issue and you dont have other upgrades to do? So yeah, wasnt talking about costs. I didnt bring up bang for the buck either because you never said anything it. If you said your freezer had better bang for the buck i'd say yeah and agree with you but you were talking temps and ocing with a shitty water cooler. If you had mentioed bang for the buck in your original post my reply would have been totally different. Never said your cooler was shit either...lol

 

[turtletrax]

The way I look at it is, that with watercooling temps are rarely a factor. And to make sure of that I remove the IHS.

I know allot of poeple dont agree with that either but that is another thread.

I have an X2 with a 30% oc and a Opty with a 50% oc and temps are not a concern at all. Also I have to agree with the upgrade path arguement. If you get a good pump and rad, you can get your blocks for next to, or lower than, the same price as a aftermarket air cooler. Next socket I go with I will just get new blocks and probably be cheaper than a high end air cooler.

I got allot of my parts used and got great deals. Only thing I didnt get used was my pump.

Also the arguement that WC'ing is too much work doesnt hold water They are easy as hell, if you make sure you are educated before you put it together. Also if done right, you wont have a screaming loud system unless you want to go hard. Then you just turn your fans down again.

Only downside I see to WC'ing is sometimes you have to add some fans to cool PWMIC's and some caps because you dont have a fan cranked on your CPU. Small prce to pay if you ask me.