Is watercooling worth it?

Oj · Post by Oj » 10 Nov 2005, 12:56

Hi all. I was just wondering, for R1,000 i can get watercooling, but is it worth it? Will my temps drop dramatically?

Oj · Post by Oj » 10 Nov 2005, 13:00

Sorry about double post but i found something more on the net: Peltier cooling. Is it better than water? Also, why is it that when i press Quote, it takes more than 5 mins to open?

goku · Post by **goku** » 10 Nov 2005, 13:20

Temps don't drop so much but it keeps your temps more stable( by this I mean the temps doesn't rise that sharply as it would with stock/air cooling)

As for being worth it, I would say yes. Never going back to air cooling.

Syndicate · Post by **Syndicate** » 10 Nov 2005, 13:24

The problem with Peltier cooling is the amount of heat that the peltier generates on the other side almost cancels out your cooling effect, and not to forget the condensation problems. I can get a second hand water chill kit for R700 if you are interested, I've already got 3 WC kits running at home, else take a look at www.synapsys.co.za for some height quality kits.

Sojourn · Post by **Sojourn** » 10 Nov 2005, 13:51

I would say only go to fanless cooling solutions if you are clocking your hardware - or if the sound miffs you so that you HAVE to change.

As to what to change to - ask the people chasing PI scores. They have the xp in water cooling. There is a thread somewhere.

s

Oj · Post by Oj » 12 Nov 2005, 12:26

I have just found a third option. Phase cooling. BTW, Im ocing my ASUS GF 4200Ti and have taken the memory from 444 MHz to 535 MHz and the core from 250 MHz to 295 MHz. I want to reach 300/650 (Ti 4600 speeds), but am scared of it overheating. As it is, its running without a fan (the fan is broken). How do you recommend I cool it?

Leprechaun · Post by **Leprechaun** » 12 Nov 2005, 13:31

Watercooling is worth it.Your temp's will be stable + it's silent.It will also help if you want to o/c.

D3m0n · Post by **D3m0n** » 12 Nov 2005, 18:38

what would you guys say is the best fan cooling system ???

junjun · Post by **junjun** » 12 Nov 2005, 18:48

the Zalman 9500 is really good! there are other very good brands out- there but if you are looking for a silent & effective solution this is it!

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » 12 Nov 2005, 18:48

D3m0n wrote:what would you guys say is the best fan cooling system ???

For what? Gfx cards, CPU's, Radiators, Systems in general?

Oj · Post by Oj » 14 Nov 2005, 15:30

Could you guys do yourselves a favour and visit http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... ge=1&pp=25? I wanna do something similar. Where can I get a DFI board in SA?

Syndicate · Post by **Syndicate** » 14 Nov 2005, 15:39

I can get you a new one or, I've got a DFI Ultra-Sli-D that I want to sell.
Phase cooling is going to cost you in the region of about R5000, so no where near your R1000 budget.

Oj · Post by Oj » 14 Nov 2005, 15:51

I don't have a R1,000 budget. I just said watercooling for a grand.

MrBean · Post by **MrBean** » 30 Nov 2005, 23:35

The best overall cooling setup must be water, I have used it with great success for many years.

Only go phase if you know what you are doing, it is difficult to control condensation, yes, you will get a higher overclock than on water, but it is a high-maintenance setup.

Water is easy, clean, and other than replacing water-mixture every 4-6 months, it is maintenance-free.

Don't run your card at those speeds without decent cooling, you will kill it pretty soon. Clock it back to stock, and wait for your watercooling.

Jasonhk · Post by **Jasonhk** » 30 Nov 2005, 23:44

Hey Beanie,

You still poisting here..

Anyways yea. I run water 24/7 and love it

Post by **ryanrich** » 30 Nov 2005, 23:48

Water is definitely the way to go...

Why change mixture every 4-6 months? Arthur from Synapsys advised me to check it every year. Mine's been running non stop for a year and a half now, haven't changed anything, temps and everything still rock solid as the day I set it up.

Oj · Post by Oj » 02 Dec 2005, 10:40

MrBean wrote:Don't run your card at those speeds without decent cooling, you will kill it pretty soon. Clock it back to stock, and wait for your watercooling.

I have successfully run 3dmark 01SE with my card at 315/560. I'm sure that the current speeds won't hurt... or do you mean 300/650?

ElDiablo · Post by **ElDiablo** » 02 Dec 2005, 14:39

You may not notice any artifacts at those speeds, but the high generated heat is slowly killing your card, one day you'll be playing a game, the next moment your pc will freeze and when you restart it, everything on the screen will be scrambled - end result, the card's wasted, get a new one. If seen this happen too many times (mostly with FX5200 cards)

Take The Bean's advise, set the card to stock speeds and when you've done your watercooling, you can crank it up big-time, also do a volt mod and try for 350 on the GPU

Oj · Post by Oj » 02 Dec 2005, 16:49

Just done 350 on gpu - major artefacts. quickly set it back, fine. artefacts only on nature demo in 3dmark01se

MrBean · Post by **MrBean** » 02 Dec 2005, 19:58

but the high generated heat is slowly killing your card, one day you'll be playing a game, the next moment your pc will freeze and when you restart it, everything on the screen will be scrambled

The engineering term for it is electron migration, Oj. Google it and see what it does, it will scare you a little.

Artifacting is not good, it means you are already way over tolerable clockspeeds vs temp for that card.

Back down

Oj · Post by Oj » 04 Dec 2005, 12:28

Already backed down to stock speeds