Should i water cool my system?

[steveb531]

I have plans for my current rig that basically means ripping everything out and rebuilding most everything. What i need to know is whether or not it is worth water cooling my upcoming build? What are the benefits and drawbacks of water cooling vs air cooling and is it cost efficient?
Here is the system spec in question.

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R CC-9011017-WW (Windowed)
CPU: Intel i7 4790K (May Overclock)
GPU: MSI Nvidia Geforce GTX 970 (Overclocked)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS Intel Motherboard
Storage: 1TB SATA HDD, 250GB Samsung EVO 840 SSD
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengence (2 X 8GB)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W B1 Bronze 80 Semi Modular PSU

All case fans will be utilized, that being 2 x 120mm front intake fans, 2 x 120mm top exhaust fans, 2 x 120mm side fans and 1 x 120mm back exhaust fan.

Is water cooling needed/recommended here?

Thanks

EDIT: I may also decide to add a second 970 GPU if i decide i need more power. This means of course the PSU will need an upgrade. 1000W probably.

 

[tingety]

These days, getting a Corsair H100i or H80i Liquid Cooling system is recommended. They aren't really water coolers, but if you damage your system, Corsair will refund you the money of your total systems worth for you to buy a new PC.

But if you're planning on doing some heavy tasking. I'd suggest it. But that or a decent fitting Noctua Cooler would also perform the same way haha.

A Corsair H100i will fit in your Carbide 300R case. I have one in the same case I have.

 

[geofelt]

Short answer:
no.

Longer answer:

First, you want to use a Z97 based motherboard so you get the ability to overclock.
Make the ram a low profile variety. Fancy heat spreaders are not needed and can interfere with coolers.
Past that, a very good build.

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua NH-D15 or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

I suggest a noctua nh-D15 or phanteks with dual 140mm fans.
Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well

I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
Even if you can handle the heat, how much do you really need that extra multiplier from say 4.4 to 4.6?
My thought is that it is better to use the exotic cooling funds for a quieter and less expensive air cooler.
Anything extra can go to a stronger graphics card for the gamer or a SSD.

 

[burdenbound]

I would say water cooling is never necessary, if your looking for bang for your buck stick with air cooling. You have to realize that if your doing water cooling your doing it because it's fun and a hobby.

Are you looking to do a custom loop or are you just wanting to do an AIO type setup? There are two main benefits to water cooling though, better temperatures and a much quieter system. A secondary benefit is your removing a lot of weight from your motherboard by moving the large heat sinks off and using radiators attached to your case instead.

 

[Eximo]

It only makes sense when there is a space issue. Which I totally had at the time I bought one, still using it, since I already have it.

You can move the bulk of a cooler to an exhaust or intake port. Leaving more room around the CPU area. Works great for mini-ITX builds that can't afford the height of the large air coolers.

For people that have side panels and like to stare at the inside of the computer it can also clean up the inside quite a bit.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

There is no CLC (Cosed Loop Cooler) water cooling system that beats the better air coolers..... That is a NONE as in "without question" ....

Not the Kraken, not the 100i, not the 240L .... nothing, nada.....and they all cost more than air. The ONLY thing that beats air coolers are custom water loops which are generally chose more for acoustics and thermals. We do now have access to an AIO cooling system that is not a CLC, it's an OLC (open loop system) meaning you can open the loop and expand it to include other water blocks besides the CPU.

Some peeps buy the H100i and find the noise from the cooling fans unacceptable so they buy two slow speed fans and the result is a cooler that performs close tot he $20 Hyper 212 air cooler. The H220-X does edge out the better air coolers by 2C at comparable noise levels but it needs an extra 2 dbA to do so

The new H240-X has just come out but I haven't seen it testes yet.

So here's ya options....

1. $20 Hyper 212 .... very capable air cooler for moderate overclocks

2. $60 Phanteks PH-TC-PE ... hi performance air cooler, edges out Corsair H110, about 7 - 10C better than Hyper 212

3. $90 Cryorig R1 .... best air cooler there is .... 4C better than Phanteks 3C better than H100i, just shy of Swiftech by 4C

4. $140 Swiftech 220-X OLC .... 7C better than H100i .... 4C better than Cryorig

I really can't make a case for an Asetec cooler as most moderately priced air coolers beat all the 120/140mm ones.... the $60 air cooler beat the 240/280mm ones when at comparable noise levels and the Swiftech beats everything.

And the Swiftech doesn't mic aluminum and copper in the loop (very bad thing), you can open the loop, it's 1/6th as loud as the H00i

There are good arguments for any of the 4 choices above .... 120/140mm CLcs never had a "Raison d'être" .... I have heard the "weight of cooler" argument but that's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. If you just don't like looking at a big hunk of metal, get a perty one colored to matched your system components like the Phanteks .... if ya don't like looking at that, well than that's fine, but arguments that it increases performance or decreases noise are unfounded.

As for the 240/280mm rads, some performed equal to coolers like the Noctua D-14, but with the Phanteks edging them by a small margin why pay $115 to get the same performance as a $60 cooler ? You could edge the Phanteks with an extreme rpm unit like the H100i but that's like working on ya PC with a vacuum cleaner running next to you. But now air coolers like the Cryorig and D-15 and Swiftech H22-X / H240-X have made them irrelevant.

 

[steveb531]

Thanks for all the responses guys, great help!