Which is worth.. Liquid Cooling Kit or CPU Upgrade?

[chlyme]

Hi,

I've been reading in the forums for a long time to get ideas for my build but this is actually the first time I'm posting so please bear with me..

I currently have the below specs:

Core i3 4130
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming series
Sapphire Tri-X R9-290 OC
Thermaltake Water 3.0 Performer (for CPU)
Corsair 550W PSU


I was planning to upgrade my CPU to 4790k by the end of this month and get a Corsair H100i as CPU cooler, the Thermaltake performer will pair the Kraken G10 that I purchased last month for GPU cooling. I knew about the VRM issue of the G10 but i decided to go for it since copper heatsinks are available in my area. The main problem is I have a friend who has the same setup I was opting for and his R9 290 was dead after 2 months of light-moderate OCing with Kraken G10 and GELid VRAM heatsinks. I thought he messed up his installation but that felt like a compelling reason for me to go for full custom loop.

Edit: Im doing mild overclocking at 1200 core/ 1400 mem at +50% power and +50% voltage at MSI AB (which I hope doesn't bottleneck)

Basically my questions is:

Is it worth to go for the Liquid cooling kit first? Im planning to get a XSPC RX240 kit with Razor waterblock+backplate and Im ordering from FrozenCPU (Im from Dubai and Liquid cooling kits here are soo expensive) ...Or should I go for 4790k upgrade first? I only have $400 budget/month til i finish my crossfire build so have to keep it at that..

Side Question, what is the main difference between liquid cooling with full cover blocks and G10 AIO cooling? Why do they say custom loop is still better than the G10 even with VRAM heatsinks and high performance fan?


Any input is greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks!!

 

[dottorrent]

Processor. Don't liquid cool a dual core. There's no reason to liquid cool it.

 

[druppes]

Hi,

So firstly it all depends what you want to do with your PC. Is it for gaming? or a workstation? Why do you want to upgrade?

The other important factor is do you want watercooling? Its unlikely to actually be cost effective to water cool anything its more a hobbiest thing. Personally I run a water loop because its awesome not necessarily because I want more $/power. If you want to upgrade your system the CPU upgrade would definitely be worth while I would suggest that above watercooling if you just want some more power. For the price of a water loop you could get a new CPU and a fantastic air cooler and probably some more ram as well.

If you do want to go water cooling I suggest that you go for either a factory sealed loop for CPU only such as the Corsair H100i and then Air cool your GPU.
Or
If you want to watercool both GPU and CPU go full loop. I have heard so many bad things about the Kraken. Full Gpu waterblocks work so well and increase the life of your GPU. Also a full water loop will be much more efficient than two separate factory sealed loops and you will have the option to upgrade and tweak your loop as and when you need it. If you want to change components or case or whatever theres always some way of utilising some of the loop components.

However if you cool your GPU and CPU with a full loop the $ / extra power will be 5 times more expensive than buying better components and air cooling. A good full waterblock in the uk costs £90 that £90 alone will buy you a better GPU than you would be able to overclock a lower priced one to. And thats ignoring the cost of the pump/radiators/tube/fittings.

To conclude, only watercool if you really want to have an awesome looking pc that you want to overlcock for fun. If you want a real power advantage, I would price up all that money you would have spent on watercooling and go for new components and run them on air with a small overclock. Ow and I would suggest it would be a bit of a waste to put your i3 underwater. your cooling would be worth more money than your CPU, thats like trying to get an extra 20% power by spending 100% more. hehe

 

[chlyme]

Processor. Don't liquid cool a dual core. There's no reason to liquid cool it.

Hi,

So firstly it all depends what you want to do with your PC. Is it for gaming? or a workstation? Why do you want to upgrade?

The other important factor is do you want watercooling? Its unlikely to actually be cost effective to water cool anything its more a hobbiest thing. Personally I run a water loop because its awesome not necessarily because I want more $/power. If you want to upgrade your system the CPU upgrade would definitely be worth while I would suggest that above watercooling if you just want some more power. For the price of a water loop you could get a new CPU and a fantastic air cooler and probably some more ram as well.

If you do want to go water cooling I suggest that you go for either a factory sealed loop for CPU only such as the Corsair H100i and then Air cool your GPU.
Or
If you want to watercool both GPU and CPU go full loop. I have heard so many bad things about the Kraken. Full Gpu waterblocks work so well and increase the life of your GPU. Also a full water loop will be much more efficient than two separate factory sealed loops and you will have the option to upgrade and tweak your loop as and when you need it. If you want to change components or case or whatever theres always some way of utilising some of the loop components.

However if you cool your GPU and CPU with a full loop the $ / extra power will be 5 times more expensive than buying better components and air cooling. A good full waterblock in the uk costs £90 that £90 alone will buy you a better GPU than you would be able to overclock a lower priced one to. And thats ignoring the cost of the pump/radiators/tube/fittings.

To conclude, only watercool if you really want to have an awesome looking pc that you want to overlcock for fun. If you want a real power advantage, I would price up all that money you would have spent on watercooling and go for new components and run them on air with a small overclock. Ow and I would suggest it would be a bit of a waste to put your i3 underwater. your cooling would be worth more money than your CPU, thats like trying to get an extra 20% power by spending 100% more. hehe

Hi thanks for the replies.

Im primarily using my rig for gaming, and occassional video editing.

I wouldn't say that Im a hobbyist bcause this is only my 2nd build, im really planning to liquid cool this crossfire to as i see it a better cooling option for overclocking and i want to try something new, especially the popular consumer-grade builds i see around.

How much performance gain would I have if i put the i3 on water? Im actually more concerned with the GPU temps rather than CPU, I read somewhere that stable core and memclock OC above +100mV is only achievable if you liquid cool your GPU, which is why I considered the G10 which turns out to be an utter waste of money because i never really used it and now im certain a full custom loop is the only solution.

Im also having significantly low fps in some graphic extensive games (compared to benchmarks ive read) which im not sure if caused by i3 bottleneck or heat issues thats why im stuck between the CPU upgrade or the custom loop.

performance wise i know the custom loop is not the most cost effective option but im kinda particular on both the FPS thing and the looks/aesthetic of my rig so im really torn on which to buy first.

 

[TheMagicalWallaby]

A custom loop is not worth it, and if you ever want to go that route, get a thick 240mm/280mm or don't bother with it as an AIO (or high end air cooler) will be just fine.

 

[druppes]

How much more performance would you get from water cooling your i3? About 5-10% more than a high end air cooler would be optimistic.

Personally for you I don't think a custom loop is the best idea. However if you do go with it I really think it should be in tandem with a new i5. Its an expensive deal to get all the waterblocks/rads/pump etc. From a price/perfomance point of view its an utter waste of money.

Saying that full waterblocks will keep everything on your gpus super low temps and you wont see any throttling (wich might be the cause of your sporadic low fps) and on that point you might actually get higher average fps by lowering your overclock on your gpu.

I agree with Wallaby that you need at least a thick 240mm radiator. I run 2x 780s and an i7 and I use 1x120 1x240 and 1x200/200 And even with that on a hot day the water temp can touch over 40 degrees.

 

[chlyme]

How much more performance would you get from water cooling your i3? About 5-10% more than a high end air cooler would be optimistic.

Personally for you I don't think a custom loop is the best idea. However if you do go with it I really think it should be in tandem with a new i5. Its an expensive deal to get all the waterblocks/rads/pump etc. From a price/perfomance point of view its an utter waste of money.

Saying that full waterblocks will keep everything on your gpus super low temps and you wont see any throttling (wich might be the cause of your sporadic low fps) and on that point you might actually get higher average fps by lowering your overclock on your gpu.

I agree with Wallaby that you need at least a thick 240mm radiator. I run 2x 780s and an i7 and I use 1x120 1x240 and 1x200/200 And even with that on a hot day the water temp can touch over 40 degrees.

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll go with the CPU upgrade + bigger case this month, probably the used Corsair 760T i saw online.. then for next month I'll get the 2nd R9 290 and 1200W PSU to setup crossfire, and finally the following month the XSPC RX240 kit + extra thick 240mm rad for the GPUs. I also forgot to mention that I'm currently using a small case (Corsair Spec-03) and i figured rushing to the custom loop will only cause me wasted effort when i reinstall the loop again in the bigger pc case in future.

 

[TheMagicalWallaby]

How much more performance would you get from water cooling your i3? About 5-10% more than a high end air cooler would be optimistic.

Personally for you I don't think a custom loop is the best idea. However if you do go with it I really think it should be in tandem with a new i5. Its an expensive deal to get all the waterblocks/rads/pump etc. From a price/perfomance point of view its an utter waste of money.

Saying that full waterblocks will keep everything on your gpus super low temps and you wont see any throttling (wich might be the cause of your sporadic low fps) and on that point you might actually get higher average fps by lowering your overclock on your gpu.

I agree with Wallaby that you need at least a thick 240mm radiator. I run 2x 780s and an i7 and I use 1x120 1x240 and 1x200/200 And even with that on a hot day the water temp can touch over 40 degrees.

Just out of curiosity, what case are you using a 200mm rad in?

 

[druppes]

Prodigy M,

The 200mm rad is mounted on the bottom, 240 top and 120 on the back. Its a bit too much of a squeeze in hiensight but works nicely as a more compact water cooled pc.