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Post by Si on Aug 3, 2016 8:29:53 GMT
I was wondering if anyone has ever thought about watercooling their PC here. For my next PC I am considering a Corsair Hydro H110i GT or equivalent. That's an AIO "All In One" solution for the CPU. However, you get even better performance out of a custom kit, that you can buy. See this Alphacool kit review that shows that you can get around 10 degrees Celsius cooler that an AIO Corsair. www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/leo-waldock/alphacool-nexxos-cool-answer-240-ddc-xt-kit/The only things that puts me off, are: - I've never used watercooling before (It's water and electrics!)
- It's more expensive than the AIO solution
- Reading other blogs about watercooling, people mention that you have to do some maintenance that varies on every 6months to a couple of years.
But it looks amazing and it should be much quieter.There are also loads of kits available, that makes another minefield of choosing which. But you can get fancy coloured hoses (that's better than adding dye to the coolant).I reckon for now I'll end up with a Corsair AIO solution in something like a Fractal Design Define R5 case.Also, I'll only be looking at cooling the CPU. I don't think my budget would stretch to a new GPU with a watercooling block to cool that too.And this dream PC has been going along for years, so the chances of me doing this is edging back to December again. It will have to happen as I have limited life in my current PC and it's running Vista still.  |
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Post by Si on Aug 3, 2016 10:37:59 GMT
You'd never guess that the systems are down where I'm working (not my fault). So it gives me time to look further into this. EK Waterblocks have a rather nice site and a section on maintenance, that alleviates some of the concern on that point: www.ekwb.com/guides/They also do their own AIO CPU solution "Predator" that maybe a better option than the Corsair, as you can potentially expand it for other components if you want. The Predator 240 is £180 The Corsair Hydra is around £95 So that's nearly double the cost, but you're getting top end components now with the option to expand it. The custom or kit solutions with the clear tubing certainly would look really nice as the Predator ships with the rubber tubing. Some of the EK kits come with their clear tubing. I think you just need to then pick your chosen coolant. EK kits vary in pricing, but the cheapest is still £70 more than a Corsair Hydra, but similar price to the pre-built Predator. The EK Performance kits look awesome but then you're adding another £100 on top again at an eye watering £285 for this: www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-kit-p280-performance-watercooling-kit-wc-99c-ek.htmlI'll certainly not look at the 'Extreme' kits  I think I'm getting carried away now. |
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Post by Andrew on Aug 3, 2016 10:38:38 GMT
Si, my current PC is water cooled and I have the Corsair H80i. I chose it because my i5-3570k is overclocked quite heavily and I wanted to make sure it didn't go bang. The whole setup is about 3 years old now and it's been flawless. It keeps the CPU much cooler than Air Coolers and (aside from hovering out the PC every 3-4 months) has been maintenance free. I'd recommend it 100% |
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Post by cageyh on Oct 16, 2017 11:49:06 GMT
Having just found this thread, I realise I can now blame Si for planting the seed.
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Post by Si on Oct 18, 2017 18:51:49 GMT
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Post by Andrew on Oct 18, 2017 20:37:50 GMT
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Post by Si on Mar 5, 2019 18:24:39 GMT
My stock fans on my Corsair AIO were getting noisy. They were actually rattling at certain speeds and making a horrendous noise. I just replaced them with some Phanteks PH-F140SP. These are static pressure fans, so are set at a single speed. Install was a squeeze with the rear chassis fan, but once in a small adjustment got everything working. Noise is now much reduced. Under load the cpu still remains cool enough.  |
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Post by cageyh on May 3, 2020 15:59:51 GMT
Warning: Geeky IT post below....
Due to confinement etc and having a broken PC, I have had the chance to strip my custom loop down, and tidy up a few aspects that I added as the loop progressed.
The main thing was hiding the drain tap, while making it easy to get at when you need it.
I have also changed the fan set up to try and maximise cooling, while remaining as quiet as possible. Each 280mm radiator is now in a push/pull configuration. The 45mm thick radiator at the bottom has some EK Vardar EVO 140ER fans, with a range from 500 - 2000 rpm. These will be set to turn themselves off when not needed, and ramp up as the coolant temperature increases. The 30mm thick radiator in the roof of the case is set up to run push/pull using Nanoxia Deep Silence 1100rpm fans. These will be set to run at 800rpm, until 5he coolant temperature rises to about 34 degrees, at which point they will go to 1100rpm.
If these don’t work well, I will look at swapping them for my Phanteks PH-F140SP fans which are currently running as 3 intake (2 at the front, and 1 on the rear upper) and 1 exhaust fan in the roof.
Since making my media server PC fanless, I had two Noctua AF14 PWM, and two Noctua NF-12SB redux 1200rpm lying around, so in for a penny, in for a pound. The 140mm fans have gone on the side at the front, and the 120mm fans have been fitted on the HDD cages to drag air through there.
I intend to play around with the fan settings, with an objective as running them as low as possible, whilst maintaining decent CPU, GPU and coolant temperatures with an overclocked CPU. If the coolant temperature creeps up too high, I may fit a 45mm thick 420mm radiator in the roof, but that is a last resort as I have no use for the redundant 280mm rad.
I will post a few pictures of the complete article, if anybody is interested, when it is complete.
After that, I could do with Andrew coming round to tidy up all the cables.
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Post by cageyh on May 12, 2020 16:25:51 GMT
The new PC is built. My timing with these things is awesome, as Intel are just about to launch the new range of CPUs and the adverts are already out there for the new Mobos to go with them.
Never mind eh.
Anyway, I am quite happy. With the i7-9700k running at 4.8GHz on all 8 cores, and the GPU being overclocked, whilst using folding@home on the COVID19 project, my CPU sees a maximum package temperature of 67 degrees, and the GPU a maximum of 61 degrees. Coolant hovers around 30 degrees, with the room being at 22 degrees. The fans do start to get a bit noisy though, so I am sure I can sacrifice a few degrees increase in coolant temperature for a quieter PC.
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Post by Si on May 12, 2020 20:36:57 GMT
There's always going to be something newer. I'm glad you have it sorted.
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Post by cageyh on Jun 12, 2020 22:26:22 GMT
The new system is working well.
It still needs an updated graphics card, but that may well wait until the future is a bit more certain.
AFter the racing tonight, max CPU (@ 4.7 GHz) package temp was 58 degrees C, GPU max temp of 64 degrees and the coolant temp maxed out at 25 degrees C.
The system is pretty quiet, and max fan speed was just over 1,000 rpm.
I plan on changing the top radiator for a 420mm Alphacool XT V2 (45mm thick) to bring the noise and temp down slightly if I can.
I will run the system for a while, and see if it improves much. If the improvement is not as much as I want, I am going to fit a 240mm radiator in the side of the case at the front.
The GPU runs at about 200W at full power, and the CPU can hit about 115W, but max tonight was just under 95W.
If anybody wants a cheap Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis 280GTS radiator, I may have one up for grabs soon.
The goal is silent performance, if possible.
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Well it's because I read Kitguru and come across crazy stuff like this:
