Is liquid cooling really worth the money?

[Visi0nS]

Is liquid really worth it ? Can CPU fans with Heatsinks still keep a proc. very cool and still have good overclocking standards? If so what are some good CPU fans with Heatsinks, any price is ok...
Thx

 

[rwaritsdario]

When you say liquid cooling youre generalizing too much.
Is a disney all-in-one kit worth it? NO
Is a $300 custom loop worth it? If youve got the money, certainly yes.
Is a $140 CPU only loop worth it? Definetly
It all depends on how you do it to make it better than every HSF on the market at a reasonable price.

 

[Rripperr]

Liquid Cooling can be very effective and cost efficent, if you do your research. This is an important point, because not only can you throughly fry your CPU if you don't know what your doing, you could actually kill your whole system. Research, download documents, and ask questions. Have a clear idea in mind of which parts, how they connect together, and know exactly how they work.

It's not really that hard, but you do need to know how it works, and how to fine tune it to get the best performance.

Good Luck![/u][/i]

 

[wimcle]

For the price of a water block you can get a high-end heat pipe cooler... and since you willl use the same 120mm fan on either setup the noise will be the same.

and then there is a $100 worth of pump, radiator, reservoir, pipes, and time...

for the most part overclockability is determined by vcore.
At normal voltages, say <1.4v on a c2d, there isn't a lot to be gained by lowering core temp a bit. and even stock cooler can move that much heat (maybe not quietly)

IF you are going to try a TEC, its a must, or really high vcore...

I went from water to air, just because 3200Mhz was a nice round number, and I can do with a much simpler system, that and x1900 runs as cool with the hr-03 as it did being second in my single loop.

 

[wun911]

The money you spend on water can probably get you a faster CPU, and you wont have to worry about buying after market HSFs.

water cooling can be a pain to setup... I would only do it if you plan to OC a lot.

 

[rwaritsdario]

Yes but you wont nearly reach the OCs youve reach with a E6400 watercooled to a E6600 on stock cooling. Not to mention that water cooling will last you for years to come if you properly maintain it.

 

[htoonthura]

Is liquid really worth it ? Can CPU fans with Heatsinks still keep a proc. very cool and still have good overclocking standards? If so what are some good CPU fans with Heatsinks, any price is ok...
Thx

No. It is not worth it.

 

[rwaritsdario]

Woah you sure know how to make a point...

 

[kwalker]

yes it is worth the effort if you do it right
dario is not far off .
a custom liquid cooling kit will get nice results and last years maintained.
if you are limited with cash a good swiftech kit will get the results your after and you can mod it later.
my max oc on air was 3400 on the swiftech modded kit the max is in my sig
I run 3.6 GHz 24/7 3.9 for heavy demands all stable.

 

[rwaritsdario]

if you are limited with cash a good swiftech kit will get the results your after and you can mod it later.

Even Swiftech kits are considering expensive if youre looking for budget.
You can have a loop that will be ~5c over Swiftech for $130, thats what people are paying for those miserable air cooled TECs!

 

[kwalker]

I believe the starter kit is around 160.00
and the thermaltake is not worth the effort but better than air

 

[kwalker]

forgot links
http://www.svc.com/h20-80-micro.html
http://www.svc.com/h20-120-premium.html

 

[rwaritsdario]

I believe the starter kit is around 160.00
and the thermaltake is not worth the effort but better than air

$130 is the minimun budget you can get away in a do it yourself loop while keeping top performance, not any complete kit.
I have yet to know a decent ThermalCRAP product with water running trhu it, if it was up to me all of them would be banned from the market for life.

 

[kwalker]

Perhaps you should provide him links
after all he's asking for your advise.
and thermalcrap is not for the weak of heart .
I do admit they work but not something you can leave unattended.

 

[mcain591]

Yes, watercooling is worth the money.
Just look at some water cooling reviews, and look at the temp. charts that compare to Air cooling.
You would see that watercooling keeps a very stable temp (some times you can achieve only 10degF in load over idle.

Plus, it lasts a while in 2 ways.
One, keeps your chip alive longer
Two, you can use the parts in upgraded systems for a long time to come.

 

[rwaritsdario]

First of all, every thermalcrap product underperforms for its price. You simply cant argue with that statement.

Hm, lets see, the way I would do a budget loop would be:
Via Aqua 2300 $27
Apogee or MP-01 $50
Swiftech MCR120 $24
Delrin fillport $8
tubing $3
Tline and clamps $8
Yate Loon fan $5
Total: $125
You can still go even cheaper by getting a heatercore from a junkyard and a second hand block, but well just settle for retail.
I can ensure that such setup wont be more than 4c over your current water cooling setup.

 

[rwaritsdario]

you can use the parts in upgraded systems for a long time to come.

And this is one of the companinies main concerns, thats why CoolTechnica and Swiftech are selling AM2 bracket for their blocks 8)

 

[kwalker]

First of all, every thermalcrap product underperforms for its price. You simply cant argue with that statement.

I could argue.
but hardly worth the effort.(you'll just flame me) 8)
you see I own a thermalcrap.
bigwater se.
99 bucks and it works just fine for the money.
the problem with the acrylic waterblock cracking is by poor retention design.
people overtighten them because there is no spring tention or tension limiting devise .
the poor pump design was revised and for an economy unit it works just fine for a cheap unit.
Problem is 1/4 stock tubing..... I replaced it with 3/8 tubing.
and lapped the waterblock getting another 4C cooler on max oc on my 4.2GHz D920 running since april without a problem and never shuts down.
I wouldnt build such a Rig for a customer but if you actually tested one like I did you might even class it higher than dog dung.
Dont get me wrong ... it is absolutly not recomenable for everyday use unless you watch it closely.
But unlike you I test these dumb quirky units for the hell of it.
So when it comes time to evaluate or help I can give an honest opinion from experience.
I just thought I'd ruffle rour feathers

 

[rwaritsdario]

you actually tested one like I did you might even class it higher than dog dung.

And you dont rate it as such after all the problems you mentioned??
When it comes to spending my money and rating hardware I keep my standards high, very high. Thats why something like TT gets the Thermalcrap title for me.

PS: What do you think of my budget loop?

 

[wimcle]

So for an extra $100 you can maybe get 5% better oc, outside of superpi you cant even detect that... and that game gets old after a while

 

[rwaritsdario]

Actually is up to 15% in some cases.
Of course water cooling isnt for the mainstream, for that case neither is lapping, adding extra fans etc.
We are in tomshardware.com forumz so I can't say im surprised by your reply.

 

[htoonthura]

Actually is up to 15% in some cases.
Of course water cooling isnt for the mainstream, for that case neither is lapping, adding extra fans etc.
We are in tomshardware.com forumz so I can't say im surprised by your reply.

Well. if only for 15% increase, it is not worth it at all. I have my pd 830 running at 3.6 ghz on air over a year. I know i can easily overclok my processor over 4 ghz with liquid cooling, but it is not worth it. The new line of C2D can beat my liquid cooled 4ghz system. So in my opinion unless i am in an overclocking race, i do not see a point to liquid cooling.

 

[Slobogob]

I would see it as an investment. The 100$ Cooler isn´t going to vanish once you buy a core 2 duo. You can reuse it and overclock the new processor too. You should judge the investment with that in mind.

What cooler do you use on your 830, by the way? I´m considering to overclock my 820 and hope to get it to run in sync with my memory (FSB 266).

 

[htoonthura]

I would see it as an investment. The 100$ Cooler isn´t going to vanish once you buy a core 2 duo. You can reuse it and overclock the new processor too. You should judge the investment with that in mind.

What cooler do you use on your 830, by the way? I´m considering to overclock my 820 and hope to get it to run in sync with my memory (FSB 266).

I will consider liquid cooling if i am in an overclocking race. To me it is not worth it for the extra money and hassle. It is totally acceptable with extra 600 mhz. I am using Thermaltake big typhon. It is really a big one but if you can pair this with the right parts, you can easily go over 600 mhz. I am using Asus p5nd2 sli deluxe. Over the year , i can tell the factor that limits my oc setup is the NB. The NB on the board is way too hot to get higer oc result.

Good luck.

Bye.

 

[dasickninja]

Is it worth it? Yes, no, maybe, depends.