Is water cooling worth the effort?

Associate
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Hello, I have not built a PC in many years in fact the last computer I built was before intel's I series was a thing so I am a bit behind on modern technology but I am doing my best to catch up. I have a new build I want to do over the next two months to get myself a pc to last at least 5 years without getting dated. I am looking at the I9 series at the moment with the comet lake architecture although I have been considering some AMD chips too and that side of things has not been finalised in my plans yet.

Ok to the point, is water cooling worth the extra effort setting up. I have never had anything to do with water cooling before and there a few things I do not understand fully yet like do a lot of them use thermometric cells (peltier devices)? and is the system connected in one big loop and if so will the water not already be warm when it reaches the last components? and what components do you water cool apart from the obvious GPU and CPU do you have water blocks on the north bridge and ram too or any other chips on the board?
 
Soldato
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Ok to the point, is water cooling worth the extra effort setting up.
Only if you enjoy the deign/build process and maintenance of the loop - otherwise quality air is a far simpler and easier life. That said, water cooling can become a passion/fun - so it depends what you want from it?

However, with that question asked, you really need to be moved to the Watercooling Forum where you'll have lots of enthused members with present knowledge on latest kit to advise you (i've been out of the 'loop' for ages - literally.)

@Jokester @Space Monkey @Zefan @Admiral Huddy - i think his thread will get a better response in the Watercooling forum?
 
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Only if you enjoy the process and maintaining the loop - otherwise quality air is a far simpler and easier life. That said, water cooling can become a passion/fun - so it depends what you want from it?

However, with that question asked, you really need to be moved to the Watercooling Forum where you'll have lots of enthused members with present knowledge on latest kit to advise you (i've been out of the 'loop' for ages - literally.)

@Jokester @Space Monkey @Zefan @Admiral Huddy - i think his thread will get a better response in the Watercooling forum?
:)
 
Caporegime
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I've been through the water cooling phase and for me its not worth it at all. The cost is far better spent on decent hardware, maintenance can be a pain, upgrades are harder and especially now CPU and GPU overclocking is far less beneficial the performance benefit is very little.
 
Soldato
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you really need to be moved to the Watercooling Forum where you'll have lots of enthused members...
I've been through the water cooling phase and for me its not worth it at all. The cost is far better spent on decent hardware, maintenance can be a pain, upgrades are harder and especially now CPU and GPU overclocking is far less beneficial the performance benefit is very little.
See, totally enthused :D

*Can totally empathise, @Minstadave.
 
Soldato
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Just finished my watercooling build after a year of stockpiling my parts needed to complete it and I would say it's worth it,as my evga 2080 super ftw 3 ultra the backplate was too hot to touch for long and now it's under water the difference is crazy.as for the cpu my 10700k is running @4.8ghz with 1.2v 28c idle and just over 40c gaming.
For the first time I've used a pre mix fluid and ordered 2 1L bottles and was very suprized to find out I only needed just over half the bottle.
 
Soldato
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Watercooling is a journey; there will always be another tweak waiting to be done.

Suppose you have a large case. You have three 140mm fans on the front, a large 140mm aircooler on the cpu, a couple of 140mm fans rear and top. Your cpu will be well cooled, your case will be cool. Your gpu will go to 80C because that's what NVidia/AMD have decided is OK. Your system will work OK.

With the same case, the same case fans, but a 420mm rad on the front, a cpu cooler and a gpu block, a pump/reservoir, your cpu will be cooler but not by much, your gpu will be 30C cooler. The gpu's fans will be gone, the cpu's fans gone. The system will be quieter and cooler under load. Water temperatures around the loop are remarkably constant with "later" components only a couple of degrees higher than the "early" components.

No-one uses peltiers any more. And haven't for over a decade.

How much you spend to achieve this is entirely down to you.

You can buy cpu blocks for under £20. They will be within 3-5C of blocks costing three times as much.
You can buy used radiators online for cheap.
Pumps can be had for around £25
Fittings can be cheap or insanely priced.

The hardest and most expensive part is the gpu blocks because the cards are so variable. Budget around £100 for a gpu block.
 
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As someone who recently completed his first loop I have to say for me it was an itch that needed scratching and I love it but it does make upgrading a pain... this can be solved with quick release connectors which I plan to do soon
 
Associate
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Personally I Think it is, but that’s subjective as I like it more due to it be aesthetically pleasing to look at rather than the performance it brings... And if I do overclock, I don’t have to worry about pushing too much voltage etc compared to air.

I guess it depends on what you are after, whether it would be performance in overclocking, thermals, silence, aesthetics, all of which can be achieved with air cooling.. just watercooling takes it a step further.

and in terms of pricing, air would be far simpler to maintain and in a decent case with ample air flow. Watercooling can get expensive depending how complex the setup is and can be a pain maintaining... but if that doesn’t bother you, watercooling is fun to do.

I’ve not had any experience using AIO but those seem a reasonably priced and a good alternative to a full custom water setup
 
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custom watercooling is nice...but only if you have top of the range components tbh

if you have to get a middling spec just to find the budget for watercooling...
...you're better off spending the budget on better components and forgoing watercooling instead
 
Soldato
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If you've got the time and patience to get a loop stup yes, if you want to get up and running within a hour or so no, plus your limiting your case choices because of radiators etc.

I've been on custom loops for nearly 10 years between cases and builds but switching back to air now.
 
Soldato
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As someone who modifies cars, so has no moral high position....

No, watercooling to me, as someone who has never done it, but spent years on here, is about the fun of doing it and making something your own. Performance per pound isn't something that water cooling provides.
 
Soldato
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like do a lot of them use thermometric cells (peltier devices)? and is the system connected in one big loop and if so will the water not already be warm when it reaches the last components? and what components do you water cool apart from the obvious GPU and CPU do you have water blocks on the north bridge and ram too or any other chips on the board?

All my builds are custom loop hardline, but is it worth it, no not really. Price to performance is out the window and you can get close with AIO/s or large air coolers in terms of noise / performance for most the part. For me its about the looks mostly, look pretty damn amazing I think custom loops and the satisfaction of doing them right.

in terms of what you would cool if you go down the custom loop route, it will usually be CPU and GPU. Sometimes you get motherboard blocks also which will usually combine the CPU block with one which covers other motherboard components. However, the blocks such as these are typically only available for high end boards who have a robust thermal power delivery so thermals are not an issue there either. You get these blocks once again, mostly for looks.

No, most custom loops do not use peltier devices. The loops are largely simple in how they work. Water is pushed around by a pump. The water when it reaches a radiator is where the heat is removed via the fans / fins. Yes the water will be slightly warmer by the time it reaches the last components in the loop, but with a typical flow rate, your only talking of a delta of about 1-2 degrees, much less in most loops to the point its largely irrelevant.
 
Soldato
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Overclocking these days is all based on thermals, the lower the thermals the higher the cores will automatically clock. For instance on my card if i can keep thermals below 43c i will consistently see a 2040mhz core clock on my 2080, if i go over the 44c mark or above i will see core clocks around 1950mhz-1985mhz. Manual overclocking does very little these days which i can agree on but overclocking is still there, it's just automatically done based on your thermals.

So to answer the question, yes it is worth it. Watercooling a gpu or cpu will see higher clocks based on the components boost properties.
 
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