Quote:
Originally posted by dudemac
yes water cooling is good for keeping the temp low. However, why do you need the temp low should be your first question.
For a purpose are just because?
Problems with water cooling are pump failure, cooling failure, and worst of all condensation or leakage.
If you are gonna over clock your chip, you do need some type of cooling, rather fan for heat management or water or nitrogen system for exteame cooling.
Either way do not be surprized if you burn out a chip or 2 before getting it just right.
Good luck
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Condensation is not an issue with water cooling. You have to go sub-zero and even with water cooling you'll never get below ambient room temp. Phase change coolers do have issues with condensation, but only the hardcore are willing to shell $300 for the case and system.
Pump failure is LOW. If you buy a decent pump you are buying a piece of hardware that was designed to run for years without being turned off. They only have one moving part anyways, so the risk of failure is decreased even further.
Leakage can be an issue, but a well built system negates this problem as well. Every time I do mainenance on my H20 system I run it outside the case for 24 hours to assure no leaks are there. I also use fuel line clamps around all the hoses to decrease the chance of leaks. So far, never had a leak.
If you do plan on overclocking, look at all your options first. Intel chips do very well on just air cooling, AMD chips typically need water (for big OC's). Nitrogen isn't even an option. At best a nitrogen system can be cooled for half an hour. After that, the nitrogen must be replenished.
I don't overclock that much, I went with water cooling for two reasons: the challenge of the project and noise control. Water pumps are nearly silent, inside a case they are. I have a 120mm fan on top my radiator, this too is very very quiet. Because the CPU heat is being moved directly outside the case, I can run my case fans at lower speeds (7v).
Don't worry about burning up chips. If you don't do your homework then yeah, its a possibility. But overall its not a huge risk, I've had four different processors under my waterblock and all of them lived to tell the tale.
To sum it up, watercooling can be a very fun project, though do be prepared to sink around $100 or more. Its even more fun if you build the system from scratch, like I did, but do your research first. HardOCP (ww.hardforums.com) has a great forum on cooling, I suggest you check it out.
Also, feel free to IM or PM me with any questions, I'm not an expert but I've got hands on experience.