Liquid Cooled System: Pros & Cons

[Tamblot]

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I'm planning to upgrade to liquid cooling system soon.Â* Im considering the advantages and disadvantages of this.

My primary concern is on how to protect the processor/water block and its surroundings if cold liquid is flowing through the system?

Those who are into liquid cooling system, please post your solution regarding this issue.

[koto]

source: http://www.overclockers.com/topiclist/index31.asp

read it!!!!

Watercooling Survey Responses

1. How long have you been watercooling?

5.9% Less than 3 months
14.0% Up to one year
80.1% More than one year


This is a very experienced group!

2. What was the primary motivation for your move into watercooling?


17.9% Best possible CPU cooling
25.7% Noise reduction
15.6% Love to tinker with leading edge technologies
4.3% Concerned with high system temps
26.8% Best way to overclock PC
5.4% Bragging rights
4.3% Other as noted:


Overclocking and Noise Reduction lead the responses (some multiple answers) - I can certainly relate to both - also note the high percentage of "bleeding edge" respondents.

3. How would you rate your mechanical abilities?


47.6% Very skilled - able to build/fix almost anything (within reason)
34.8% Skilled - able to build/fix things around the house
16.0% Average skills - have the tools to fix things but don't build much from scratch
1.6% Low skills - I'll hang a picture, but not much more than that


Overwhelmingly a skilled group of users!

4. How would you characterize your system?


75.3% Complete DIY - hand picked/built components and assembled myself
15.9% Some DIY - started with a kit and modified/changed parts
5.0% High end kit - spent $200+ for a packaged solution
2.2% Low end kit - spent about $100 total
1.6% Complete kit with case (eg, Koolance)

I think the high DIY ratios reflect the skill levels and leading edge motivations of many users.

5. How would you rate your experience with watercooling?


52.0% Trouble free - no problems of consequence
39.0% Moderately trouble free - minor problems now and then
7.3% Some troubles - more than I would have expected, but still worth it
0.6% Lots of problems - have serious doubts that the effort was worth it
1.1% Disaster - severe problems; watercooling not worth it


Overall users are fairly content with how their systems have performed - less than 10% have experienced significant problems.

6. How would you rate your components as to reliability within your system (1 - 5, 5 being trouble free, 1 being total failure)?


4.8 CPU waterblock
4.8 GPU waterblock
4.5 Mounting hardware
4.4 Waterpump
4.3 Reservoir
4.5 Tubing
4.4 Clamps
4.1 Other as noted:


Although some categories rank in the low 4's, overall it appears that most components are fairly reliable - once the kinks are ironed out.

7. If you had a component problem, indicate which one and was it due to:


78% of all respondents indicated some type of component problem, but certainly not all major ones. Of the components identified as having a problem not due to "Something you did inadvertently", the waterpump took the lead, accounting for 24.7% of identified problems. Radiators accounting for 17.6%, followed by waterblocks at 14.1% (leaks and cracked Lexan); various items such as tubing, algae, chemical problems and mounting hardware accounted for the rest.

20.6% A manufacturing defect
27.1% Part failure
38.7% Something you did inadvertently
13.6% Other as noted:


Note that almost 40% of the problems are "self-inflicted" - not really that surprising considering the fully 75% of the systems are DIY "tinkerers"; these were problems such as over-tightening clamps, etc.

8. If you replaced a part of your system, indicate what you replaced (brand, model, cost), what you replaced it with (brand, model, cost), reason for replacing and was it covered by a warranty:

Not enough responses here to discern a trend.

9. Considering your watercooling experience and starting over again, would you instead use an aircooled heatsink with comparable performance and low fan noise:


12.8% Yes, without hesitation
39.2% Maybe, but I'd miss the tinkering
11.7% Unsure
36.3% No, aircooling is not an option for me

This frankly surprised me - the majority of experienced watercooling users would seriously consider an aircooling solution, although over 1/3 are totally committed to watercooling.

10. Additional Comments:

I've included a few comments that typify user experiences:

"I am pleased with the watercooling system that I have put together and the experience has taught me some important things to consider when dealing with a water cooling setup:

Know what you want to accomplish before you put together the system. This might involve drawing a diagram of the system or looking at a lot of other setups to see what others have done and their results.
Price all system parts (for a DIY) system before buying any one part. I spend money on parts that I ended up not using simply because I didn’t think long enough about the specific components and how they would fit together.
Stay away from kits. They are simple, but you will find that most times, a good air cooling solution can come very close in performance to moderately priced kits. To upgrade a kit, you will usually spend what you could have spend on a DIY setup in the first place.
TAKE YOUR TIME!!! This cannot be stressed enough and is probably the most overlooked aspect of putting together a system. The effort you put into initial setup will pay off in the time you don’t have to spend sealing leaks, fixing kinks, etc."

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"Only problems I've ever had have involved me forgetting to plug in the pump. Got up one morning, turned on the computer, went to shower... forgot to plug in the pump. Turns out the tubing melted and the inside of my computer took a shower as well. Tripped the circuit breaker, but thankfully the computer killed itself with the autokill feature.

The water sprayed all over the inside of the case and pooled on the video card. I took it apart right then and there, put the pieces in a big pile and put a fan on them. Came back from school, put it all back together with new tubing, no problems at all. Amazing...I seem to have this problem with water in electronics--you were nice enough to post my comments a while back about running my Sandisk 512MB flash drive through the washer!"


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"Watercooling does not have to be extreme to be beneficial, although there's nothing wrong going for bragging rights if you're so inclined. For most people who are hesitant to make the jump because of the uncertainty that they might encounter problems, it's really no big deal as long as a) they do their homework before taking the plunge, b) they take their time, and c) double and triple check their work. The benefits of reduced noise and better overclocking temps will outweigh the increased cost and complexity of their builds."


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"I've had a few troubles with my watercooling setups, but I still think they are great and will continue to keep using them. The benefits (cooling, noise, custom installation fun) outweigh the problems I've had (broken/leaking components, fitment issues)."


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"Given the advancement in aircooling technology/performance, I would not hesitate to use it over watercooling if I made a new computer. I will miss having the watercooling, but I will not miss the cost associated with it."


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"My DIY system (Cascade, self-modded Chevette HC, homemade shrouds, homemade res, etc) is so care-free that I have been running sys for 2 years on Reverse Osmosis pure water only - no additives- with no worries except vaccuming out HC and shroud fans periodically. I have since built a portable, mini-Shuttle for my 16 year old daughter (stock) and got my wife a gaming-quality laptop, But my 14 year old son will soon have the joy of building his own DIY WC sys, as overclocking his components has quickly become a sad, sad, sickness with him. Who would'a thunk it?"


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"I have been water cooling for about 4 years and i have only had 2 problems. One was pump failure, the other was a very minor leak in my radiator. I made it from a vega heater core and i didn't seal one of the barbs well enough."


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"Water-cooling is just too much fun to give up now. I thought about going air a little while ago when building my new system, but not because of the hassle, it was the cost. I think I spent $350 or so on core parts for the water system (plus all the little things). I could have upped my CPU or bought better RAM instead, but the challenge, complexity, and tinkering factors are just too great!

Each time I build a system it gets larger and more complex and I love IT!! I have never had any problems (at least problems that were not fixed during the long setup/testing phases). I think many people ‘may’ have problems with crappy kits, cheap components, and not reading enough from the great people at overclockers.com and the forums!"

[nitto1320i]

@ koto: nag labad ako ulo basa.. kataas bah!! hehehehe nice shot...


my rig is watercooled only due on Overclocking issues..

[DD]

same here.i have 2 PC thats both watered cooled(CPU and videocards) and the only problem i had was from my own fault since i kept messing with the tubes and it started leaking cause of my constant frigging around.it also dribbled down to my northbridge then down to my videocard(6800 ultra),down to the fans underneath my videocard which then sprayed it all over my motherboard and my soundcard.
i shut down my PC when i heard the water spraying.dried up the devices and viola!!!!.my PC still worked.
i do have additives mixed with my water cooling(anti algae,anit corrsion,coolant and non conductive solution) so it didnt really hurt any of my devices.

[Tamblot]

there is no problem with standard water cooled system considering the temperature of the water flowing through the system is just somewhat below room temperature or even higher.

My concern is more on those water cooled systems with cold water flowing through the system. Say the water temperature at the water block is around 10 OC. Its near freezing temp. With the heat generated by the processor, water molecules in the air surrounding the processor area would surely condense leading to moisture.

Its the condensation/moisture that i want to resolve.

Any ideas?

[DD]

only water cooling kit that i know of that would run such temps would be a DIY kit with peltier on the radaitor orresevrior or on the CPU block itself.a pletier is another form of cooling that co exist with water kits(sold seperately).
if your going for the peltier route..this is a little more cumbersome since youll have to secure your CPU and its socket not to let any condensations in it.
youll have to some non conductive grease(i used sealed bearing grease before) on the socket and make sure that the grease gets in the socket's tiny holes.put the CPU in the socket then youll need to seal the entire socket and CPU with a water proof sealer with just the IHS only showing.
put the peltier ontop of the CPU then and after that,the water block goes next.youll then need to wrap the block and the peltier with a foam that will absorb the condensation so it wont drip down to your devices.
this route is very time consuming especially when you need to replace the CPU and the peltier itself needs a converter and/or youll need a very good power supply if the peltier is already converted to a DC voltage(they suck alot of watts.even worse than a high end video card or high end CPU)

[yob]

i saw a review of a small thermaltake mini watercooler.. nindot kay gamay ra dali ra sad i setup ok sad ang performance, i forgot just the model...

[wikki]

make a tube, stick it on the blower of a 2hp airconditioner, direct it towards your cpu. done :P

[Tamblot]

@DD: got your point. you mention using bearing grease, does it not affect your processor and socket's electrical properties? Its one good water inhibitor and stable to temperature variation but, is it an electrical insulator or conductor based from your experience?

Im considering Aquagate (ALC-U01) as the base water cooling system and just do some customization. Instead of direct pipe connection between LCU and water block, I'll route the water from the water block to a cryo container before feeding it to the LCU. The cryo container will cool down the heated water from the water block to around 10OC. The cryo container will then feed the cold water to the LCU to be repumped again back to the water block.

The flow would then be:

WB -> CC -> LCU -> WB
Hot Cold Cold

Any comments?

[DD]

grease will act as an electrical conductor between the CPU pins and holes and at the same time will be a sealer to to not let any condensations in.
as far as your water flow chart... cyro container or radiator will act the same thing(look at my PC pictures in "show your rig" thread page 94)if you want the water to get chillled that low..youll have to put that cyro container inside a small fridge or let it sit in a bucket full of ice(sorry..dont exactly know what cyro container is).
the water flow pretty much will be the same as i have on my setup too.
your main concern will be the speed of the pump and how much gallon per hour can the pump do.a slow/fast pump can be both good or bad too depending on how many blocks you will be using and what size radiator and resevior youll use.
(aka..too fast of water flow might not have enough time for the water to cool down on a short pipe run or too slow water flow might not be fast enough to get rid of the heat from the blocks)

water pump>>CPU block>>videocard block1>>videocard block2>>radiator>>resevrior>>back to water pump.