Is water cooling worth the effort?

Minstadave · 8 Sep 2020 at 13:26

Jay85 said:
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.

The benefit of the slightly better clocks from better thermals is pretty marginal between high end air/aio vs custom watercooling. It'll be single figure percentage at the most.

pugheaven · 8 Sep 2020 at 13:36

I built mine and have two, one is air cooled looks ace and one is water cooled, everyone is like "WOW, that's incredible"... when I'm on calls in work at the minute people can see it in the background and they're amazed. For me, yeah it's now a pain when I upgrade to Big Navi, however, so what an evening draining, putting new card in and amend the two pipes, one evening bang done for a couple of years. yes more hassle BUT the benefits way outway the downsides.. here's mine... you can't get an air cooled PC looking that cool surely? *waits for someone to post exactly that* lol

Best thing I ever done in the PC world...

Brizzles · 8 Sep 2020 at 13:52

Its more a hobby, rather than geting 'worth'.

I've watercooled for many,many years and i enjoy it, sure air-cooling is easier but i like the look of water cooling.

GPU overclocking has little 'worth', you are not going to notice an extra 3fps.
CPU overclocking has little 'worth', loading something a 10th/sec faster isn't noticable.

Many things have zero 'worth', but people enjoy it anyway.

LePhuronn · 8 Sep 2020 at 16:16

pugheaven said:
you can't get an air cooled PC looking that cool surely?

Give me a year, then I'll show you Akasha Renaissance

gonna be the prettiest, sickest air-cooled build you've ever seen

mods1965 · 8 Sep 2020 at 17:06

I water cool just for the aesthetics and reduction in system noise. I have never bothered to overclock.
Air or AIO is much easier, but just does not look as good to me.

Begbie · 8 Sep 2020 at 17:08

I don't even think an AIO is worth the hassle really. Unless your seriously overclocking, but then that's a hobby on its own and mostly not really needed on modern PCs.

pugheaven · 8 Sep 2020 at 17:16

LePhuronn said:
Give me a year, then I'll show you Akasha Renaissance gonna be the prettiest, sickest air-cooled build you've ever seen

hahaha nice one man... yeah tbh I lvoe air cooling and you can get them looking fantastic, my 2nd rig is still air cooled in blue and red and it's ace... it's all around what suites you. Water cooling is way more upkeep "in theory"... I think the only time it's a pain is upgrade time... so new 3000 seirs cards, my mate buys it's in his machine in 5 minutes
me... it's a whole evening but mine looks awesome.

However I would say the temps are way lower water cooled ASSUMING your abient temps are cold lol... same with air... blow warm air over isn't as good as cool air...

I love it and it's got me hooked, next PC I buiild will probably be another water cooled weapon tbh...

3t3P · 8 Sep 2020 at 17:23

If you distill it down to 'worth the effort' irrespective of noise and temperature improvements I would suggest it's not for you.

It's a hobby in its own right. It will need maintenance, it isn't cheap when done right. Things can occasionally go wrong if you're unlucky.

3t3P · 8 Sep 2020 at 17:24

pugheaven said:
I built mine and have two, one is air cooled looks ace and one is water cooled, everyone is like "WOW, that's incredible"... when I'm on calls in work at the minute people can see it in the background and they're amazed. For me, yeah it's now a pain when I upgrade to Big Navi, however, so what an evening draining, putting new card in and amend the two pipes, one evening bang done for a couple of years. yes more hassle BUT the benefits way outway the downsides.. here's mine... you can't get an air cooled PC looking that cool surely? *waits for someone to post exactly that* lol

Best thing I ever done in the PC world...

Porn is against forum rules, reported

ttaskmaster · 8 Sep 2020 at 18:02

Is it worth it?
An AIO looks better than a stonking great heatsink and allows more room for other stuff, be that cables or modded bits or whatever, but is noisier and the performance gain is often marginal. Last one I had shaved (IIRC) 15ºC off my temps.

But with a semi-decent mid-high end custom loop my rig runs full out at lower temperatures than similar systems idle while under air cooling.
It also looks pretty ******* cool, so for me it's worth the hour or so to install the loop.... But is it worth it for you?

You be the judge.

oldbanana · 9 Sep 2020 at 20:26

u dont even need quick disconnects to quickly add parts to the loop, i havent even bothered with ball valves or drain ports or anything lately, i just rip out a tubing let it drain out and add whatever u need, plug it back in and ur good, that`s why i like soft tubing.

Bugbait · 10 Sep 2020 at 09:36

If you're looking at performance versus cost then custom water cooling is not worth it over air, not even close. If you're doing it for aesthetics then subjectively water, even AIOs win over air any day. If you're after a quiet experience and budget is flexible then water wins hands down. When it gets warmer (my study hit 35C in summer) then air will sound like a vacuum cleaner and the reduced noise of custom water will be a blessing. All depends on what your priorities are and more much budget you have.

TangoEchoAlpha · 10 Sep 2020 at 13:34

I would say so. A lot quieter (virtually silent!) and I perosnally felt a feeling of accomplishment having just put together my first ever water loop:

Arcane · 10 Sep 2020 at 14:21

Absolutely not, they are fun to put together though and kind of a hobby in itself.

Nicholas Ashley · 16 Sep 2020 at 02:35

Thanks everyone for your input, I was thinking what a lot of you have said about it being about the journey and the joy of building a water cooled rig and I think I will go for water cooling because I would really enjoy building it.

Thanks for the advice on active cooling using peiter devices as you have suggested I will not be using them and I will stick to standard liquid cooling.

Cant wait to get started when I return home (I am in the outer hebridies at the moment)

Nicholas Ashley · 16 Sep 2020 at 02:40

Wow I love that build in the photo, I want one just like that. Not sure if this is possible or even a good idea but imagine using a fluorescent dye in the water and mount a black light in the case so the pc has glowing blood.

Mcthommo · 16 Sep 2020 at 07:52

I’ve gone full circle two or three times between air and full custom loops. I’ve just ripped out a full Corsair hydrox system as it started leaking and I can’t be bothered with the hassle of the upkeep.
However, is it worth it- if you enjoy the process, the look and the like then absolutely- wouldn’t surprise me if I dabble again in the future

Hobbsie · 16 Sep 2020 at 15:26

I'm not doing any overclocking at all but i am in the process of slowly buying the parts as i want a cool looking case i just love the looks of water-cooled systems and that's the only reason lol.
Is it worth it probably not but hey it will look nice (i hope)

LuckyBenski · 16 Sep 2020 at 19:31

Nicholas Ashley said:
Wow I love that build in the photo, I want one just like that. Not sure if this is possible or even a good idea but imagine using a fluorescent dye in the water and mount a black light in the case so the pc has glowing blood.

You're in luck my friend. UV lighting is widely available and a few companies make UV fluids. Even some in red:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/mayhems-x1-uv-red-concentrate-250ml-wc-12a-mh.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lamptron-flexlight-pro-24-leds-uv-cm-054-lp.html

Defy Belief · 16 Sep 2020 at 21:08

I see it more of a hobby, I have built multiple different loops, some clean simple lines, small itx builds, now I currently have a very ghetto external rad setup.

I check for parts daily to see what I can add to it or improve on, I don't ever need to change anything, but I enjoy the process of installing new kit.

If you enjoy the install process I say why not, you'll get great temps/zero noise/good looks. Sure, its more expensive than air and always will be, but you can pick up some bargains with second hand kit too.

Here's some of mine which might inspire or deter you