Water cooling?

[madass]

Is it worth going for water cooling to protect a CPU and GPU from dust? Also, in really demanding games (looking at you, Crysis), my GPU overheats. The heatsink also needs to be cleaned frequently thanks to dust and dog fur. Have an Athlon II X4 and an XFX 4870. I need my machine to last till 2013 at least, before I get a chance to upgrade.

 

[MagicPants]

If you only care about dust a good alternative is a positive air pressure case. Silverstone makes a few of them like the ft01 and ft02. The basic idea is that there are more intake fan then output fans so that air pressure is higher inside they case and outside dust can't find it's way in.

I have one, it works pretty well, I just need hit the fan filters with compressed air every few months.

 

[madass]

Thing is, I already have a case. And cases here are, like, almost 150% as pricey as their Newegg counterparts, whereas most other computer parts (ie GPU's, CPU's) are only ~20-30% pricier. And I don't think Silverstone is even available here.
I'm also looking at machine longevity. I usually get a new rig evry 5-6 years or so. This one is brand new, a replacvement for my old P4 Northwood workhorse.

 

[christop]

even with water cooling you would have to clean the dust out of your radiator. Is your tower sitting on the floor? If so move it to your desk top and see if that helps with dust and pet hair.

 

[japps2]

thing is you'll never get away from dust. I switched to watercooling about 2 years ago and I do get significant better cooling, but the radiator has fans...I get dust in the radiator and still have to use canned air to blow it out every 6 months or so. On top of that you'll need to flush your watercooled setup out every 6 months and do a good tear-down cleaning once a year. So keep that in mind...it's much easier to jet blow out your case with compressed air once every few months...unless you're having cooling problems and too high of temps now.

 

[madass]

Well.......my GPU is barely a month old- already it's heat sink is clogged with dog hair and dust. And there is no space on my desktop for the case, so its on the floor. And, as luck would have it, both the side and the back are blocked with the walls of my study table. My room has a lot of stuff crammed into it- it was a struggle to get my machine to fit.
And what about longevity? I've seen some tests with the 4870- temps dropped from the high 70's/low 80's to the mid 40's. Won't that help with GPU life? I need mine to last till 2013/2014.

 

[madass]

Is it possible to get a decent GPU+CPU cooling system for ~USD350?

 

[tortnotes]

If dog hair is a major concern, try making a filter for the intake on your case before resorting to (financially) drastic measures. Or try uncramming your room a bit so you can put the case in a better spot.
Also, how many fans are there in your case? Newegg product description said it comes with one. More than one would be good for your GPU temperature.
Really, unless you're overclocking, I don't think water cooling will be worth it. It's just as much work to maintain.
Sorry for not answering your question... just want to cover all the bases.

 

[madass]

Hmm......darn it, looks like that options outa the window.....aw well, lessee if I can scrounge up a few more fans...

 

[madass]

Are you guys sure it isn't possible to get a decent kit withing USD200-300 which can cool my CPU and my GPU? I'm looking for at least 5-10 degrees less under load.

 

[Msixteen]

your questions are misleading, first you asked if watercooling would help with dust and hair, and it seems everyone answered your question, now your asking if it will help with the life of your cpu and gpu, if you really just want to get a watercooling set up then get one, and yes you could prob build a kit yourself for around 300-350 that would cool your cpu and gpu

gpu waterblocks are expensive just keep that in mind

 

[MagicPants]

Thing is, I already have a case. And cases here are, like, almost 150% as pricey as their Newegg counterparts, whereas most other computer parts (ie GPU's, CPU's) are only ~20-30% pricier. And I don't think Silverstone is even available here.
I'm also looking at machine longevity. I usually get a new rig evry 5-6 years or so. This one is brand new, a replacvement for my old P4 Northwood workhorse.

Just saying, I never have any dust inside my FT01 case, even though the one next to it does.

 

[notty22]

At the ces this year , cool it introduced a new universal closed loop cooling system for dual gpus using a 240 rad.

http://www.ocia.net/articles/coolitces10
page 2 mentions the gpu sytem
http://www.ocia.net/articles/coolitces10/page2.shtml
If the price point is attractive enough and you have 2 gpu's ?

 

[madass]

At the ces this year , cool it introduced a new universal closed loop cooling system for dual gpus using a 240 rad.
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr185/notty222/481_7_full.jpg
http://www.ocia.net/articles/coolitces10
page 2 mentions the gpu sytem
http://www.ocia.net/articles/coolitces10/page2.shtml
If the price point is attractive enough and you have 2 gpu's ?

Is it possible to switch the second GPU block for a CPU block?