Thread: Air cooled or liquid cooled

I am about to do another pc gaming build. I am trying to work out which is best/cheaper/more powerful. I have always built air cooled pc's which have always worked out best in the long run regards to cost etc. Now there is water cooled pc's which i have very little knowledge about,as much as i know about air cooled pc's i wouldn't have a clue where to start with water cooled.
My question is, is there anybody here that has a water cooled system?
What are the benefits? (im guessing a cooler pc)
It must be much more expensive,is it worth it?
Is there that much of a noticeable difference with cpu temps,psu temps,gpu temps?.



I would like to hear from anybody that has a water cooled system to give me an insight to advantages and disadvantages(if any).

For me water cooling has been a bit more hassle than what it's worth so I'll list some disadvantages first. For starters, once I learned now to lap a CPU I was able to get very low temps with just air cooling. I also live in a temperate climate, and when it is very hot outside I run the air conditioner. So it's never that hot in my house. Then comes the fact that when I want to do anything inside the case, like stick in a new HDD and do some cable management, the water cooling tubes get in my way. The advantages are obviously lower temperatures, but this depends on the cooling system imo. Some of the cheaper systems on a non-lapped CPU are about the same temperature as a properly lapped CPU using a good air cooler. One really nice thing is that even if it only keeps your CPU 2-3C cooler, it draws all that heat out of the case with the water tubes so that it doesn't affect other components. My advice would be to start researching different water cooling systems that are within your price range, then google them and look for reviews and threads on tech forums where people are talking about that particular model.

the only advantage i see you water cooling is the noise factor. air and water solutions will keep your temperatures around the same. i prefer air cooling cause its cheaper and a lot less of a hassle, as long as you dont mind a little more noise.

Do water cooling on the CPU only, and cheap fans for the rest. I just built one the other day and I was told that water cooling on your CPU will keep performance constant and allow you to over clock. I thought it was worth it.

It's cheap. It cost me $70 for liquid cooled CPU and big performance jump when doing over clocking! But then I have 3 giants fans in it as well because it's a full tower case with all kinds of goodies in it =)

I've had good experiences with both and overclocking. One point I would make tho with water is, do a lot of research if you buy a pre-fab kit. Often times it is better to buy the parts individually to get top quality and dependability.

Eh, I thought about water cooling but ending up just sticking with air. The one good thing I saw about it was the noise, but everything else that went along with it just seemed like a hassle.

I mean with my current motherboard I'm already hitting the manufacturers maximum recommended voltage settings with just a good air cooler.

It really does often come down to the specific rig and what it's components can handle before needing to go to water cooling. Air cooling itself has improved quite a bit in the last 5 years due to better cases and fans that actually do what you need without having to be overly loud.

Originally Posted by teh_pwn

Eh, I thought about water cooling but ending up just sticking with air. The one good thing I saw about it was the noise, but everything else that went along with it just seemed like a hassle.

I mean with my current motherboard I'm already hitting the manufacturers maximum recommended voltage settings with just a good air cooler.

I'll put it this way...

Fan installation:
1. Open box
2. hold in place
3. 4 screws (usually).
4. enjoy low temps & play games

Water Cooling:
1. Decide what you want water cooled
2. measure or guestimate how much tubing you'll need
3. find individual water blocks for everything.
4. buy tubing, reservoir, etc.
5. Hook up entire water cooling setup OUTSIDE of case
6. fill with water
7. run system to remove air
8. run overnight to test for leaks
9a. if theres a leak, fix it then run again overnight
9b. if not dissasemble and re-assemble inside case, fill with coolant.
10. enjoy same temps as a good fan setup with a few dB less noise... no longer WANT to play games.


Heh, I prefer fans just cause it's much less of a hassle, the higher end fans aren't that noisy and will actually run more efficiently when used with proper flow setup (more air in then out, so any dirt etc is forced out). Plus I still just have this issue with running liquid inside my computer. Lapping your CPU is probably easier then setting up water blocks anyway. and all that huge tubing just gets int he way, you need a place for the resevoir, as well as the exhaust.

many thanks for every one who shared his information
for me i didn't even try any of them, but after i read your posts i shall think about it