Water Cooling, is it worth it?

Radio91PRadio91P Layton, UT New
edited October 2006 in Hardware
I love to overclock and for sometime now I have been thinking about water cooling. I now have a Conroe setup with an E6600. I am sitting at 3.1Ghz idle temps at 36-38C and load at 45-50C depending on how I am testing it. I would like to push it farther, but the question really lies at, is the performance gain worth it, and is it that common for water to leak and kill all of the expensive parts. I know that the cooler it runs the better because of resistance cause by heat. Just curious about the pros and cons. Also looking at the new G80 that comes with water setup built in. That would be nice. Here is what I am looking at. Lots of questions, but just give me your two cents about all or just one. Thanks

ThermalTake Bigwater 745. I have read reviews and sounds like a fairly good product.
http://www.xoxide.com/thermaltake-bigwater-745.html

Comments

  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited October 2006
    I went with water-cooling mostly because I have to sleep in the same room as my computer, and the fan noise was driving me nuts. I also did it because I wanted to push the OC a bit more, but that wasn't quite as important to me (otherwise I'd have gone with a phase change system).

    Noise aside; if your CPU can get a higher OC but the temps are too high for your liking, then it could only help your cause. If you already hit a brick wall and extra voltage on the core really isn't helping, then no, it's not worth it unless the fans bother you.

    Since I set up my WC system almost 8 months ago, I've never, ever had a leak. The water itself is treated with a coolant, which also acts as a dye, so even the slowest leaks are visible long before they'll become a problem. You’ll also remove the likelihood of a big leak entirely if you leak test your system for at least 24 hours with the pump running on its own power supply to make sure all your seals are good.

    Well, I have had some leaks in the system, but they were so slow the fluid was actually drying faster than the leak was leaking, and just tightening the clamps a little fixed the problem. Never had anything happen anywhere near catastrophic though.

    If you're still bothered by the idea of water in close proximity to your $500+ components, you can buy non-conductive fluids designed in a way that even the largest spill will have no effect on the components even if they were soaking wet. The stuff can be expensive though, as you'd need to spend over $40 on the stuff to fill the entire system.

    I wouldn't recommend buying a ready-made kit like that either. If you buy the parts individually you'd be much better off in terms of price and flexibility. No matter which route you choose though, prepare yourself for a bit of case modding to get everything shoehorned into the box with enough room to move things around without having to dismantle the whole thing.
  • aspire-comptechaspire-comptech New
    edited October 2006
    Dont go for any thermaltake water cooling solution.

    Check out www.petrastechshop.com
    they have awesome prices on very hard to find water cooling parts.

    I too am water cooled, and I must say, its very very cool. No pun intended.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited October 2006
    On water your system may not be any cooler than on a good air system. Even if it's done right the temps may not be more that 1 or 2c. Maybe more but I would first look into a good heatsink first.

    A good temp sensor if you're interested. This is the latest beta of core temp.
    http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com/CoreTemp/
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