After Watercooling, Would You Do it Again?

[duplexmortician]

I am getting 4.066Ghz out of my 1950x at 1.2875v, with peak temps at 68c under full load with Noctua D14 air cooler.  Based on what I've read, I should be happy with that, and water cooling isn't going to help me go any faster.  Question for you lot is, after spending all the money and time and knowing what you now know, would you do water cooling again?

[Lord Nicoll]

3 minutes ago, duplexmortician said:

I am getting 4.066Ghz out of my 1950x at 1.2875v, with peak temps at 68c under full load with Noctua D14 air cooler.  Based on what I've read, I should be happy with that, and water cooling isn't going to help me go any faster.  Question for you lot is, after spending all the money and time and knowing what you now know, would you do water cooling again?

Well, I've always had my computer watercooled, and I have no intention of using air any time soon, but I also use stuff like phase change, dry ice and chilled liquid, so I'm not totally representative of the normal PC user. Water cooling is just fun, the card I'm playing with now is a HD-7950 and I have it overclocked to 1280MHz core and 1850MHz memory, struggling to get 1300Mhz to work though, probably needs more radiators. 

[ki8aras]

5 minutes ago, duplexmortician said:

I am getting 4.066Ghz out of my 1950x at 1.2875v, with peak temps at 68c under full load with Noctua D14 air cooler.  Based on what I've read, I should be happy with that, and water cooling isn't going to help me go any faster.  Question for you lot is, after spending all the money and time and knowing what you now know, would you do water cooling again?

people that create custom loops don't really do it for the performance benefit(although there is a performance boost and sound reduction)they mostly do it for the feeling that they've created something this complex with their own hands(imo)

[SolarNova]

18 minutes ago, duplexmortician said:

 Question for you lot is, after spending all the money and time and knowing what you now know, would you do water cooling again?

 

I would indeed, infact i plan to.

 

infact im going a step further next time ..a big step forward.

 

I'm diving head 1st into subzero full loop liquid cooling.

 

 

is it worth it ?

It depends entirly on attributes of the chip your cooling. Newer gen chips both CPU and GPU, dont gain as much through lower temps as past generations did, however that is more true for ambient cooling, subzero can still make a good deal of difference and thats where im heading to next.

 

That said, if i were building a more 'normal' system, i would still go for water cooling, especialy for the GPU as it can be substantialy quieter whilst maintaining top performance. CPU wise a NH-D15 is as much as you really need. I think in a case like that i would go for an AIO GPU solution.

I would be inclined to build a SFF build in future so a full compact loop for both GPU and CPU would be ideal.

 

So yea, there are some things to take into consideration but overall my answer is " Yes i would do it again"

[Imbellis]

Fun to do a custom loop? Totally. You can be creative and make your PC look better by using a custom loop.

 

An useful upgrade for the normal user? Nope.

[porina]

Simple question, with a complicated answer for me.

 

I've done AIO, custom loops, but I think for any 24/7 system, it will be air cooled looking forward. Keep it simple.

 

Where water comes into my interest area is for competitive overclocking. I bought a water chiller end of last year, and they buys me about another 100 MHz on average over good water cooling.

 

I still haven't tried hardline yet, and I'm debating doing one once just to say I've done it, but it would have to be on a system I don't tinker with. A show system.

[For Science!]

For me, its the noise reduction of a correctly configured loop. I must always have at least 2 GPUs (and ideally more) for my use case and so the sound output is no joke if left on air. Water lets me run calculations and also still have a conversation in the room.

 

So yes, I would do it again, and have so done it time and time again.

[Blai5e]

I enjoy building hardline custom loops - CPU & SLI'ed GPU's. The challenge is to plan/build something ascetically pleasing, functional and practical ( as it can be for maintenance purposes)

 

My first foray into water cooling was with the Corsair Cool back in 2006 for my AMD FX-60 which I extended with a pair of Swiftech waterblock for my 7900GT's and a Thermaltake 5¼" bay reservoir. With this configuration, I briefly held the HWBOT world record for a FX-60 in SuperPi 32M. Since then I have built a number of water cooling PC's using soft tubing and finally ventured into PETG about 12 months. My latest with an i9-9900K and SLI'ed GTX 1080TI's all cooled by EKWB has 11 entries in the 3DMARK Hall of Fame (2 in the top 10 outright). Once I got the hang of bending, it's become a no-brainier to stick with hardline where it is practical to do so (i.e. don't rule out soft tubing).

 

I dropped back to a CLC (NZXT Kraken X62) for my son's 8700K and left hist GTX-1080 on air as I don't have the faith he'd perform the required maintenance. If I'm testing a new motherboard, I use an EATX OBT (Open Benchtable) coupled with a Corsair H115i CLC as I found it a quick/easy solution.

[Mick Naughty]

Rebuilt my rig several times. Made another rig and water cooled it. Made a third rig with water just because I like doing it. 

 

Money isn’t the issue. Just like not having to hear my pc. Better performance. Actually like building pc’s. 

 

I would do it all again. I regret waiting so long to get into it. 

[Gmoneyinthebank]

Nope.

The best justification I've seen so far for water cooling is "It looks cool" or "I want it to be a little quieter".  Doing a lot of extra work and getting almost no practical benefit out of it sounds like a bozo move.

 

When I'm using my computer I'm looking at the monitor and listening to my stereo.  I've got 7 fans (6 case and 1 GPU), I run them at 100% all the time, and I've never noticed the sound with them running.

[kenguil]

6 hours ago, duplexmortician said:

I am getting 4.066Ghz out of my 1950x at 1.2875v, with peak temps at 68c under full load with Noctua D14 air cooler.  Based on what I've read, I should be happy with that, and water cooling isn't going to help me go any faster.  Question for you lot is, after spending all the money and time and knowing what you now know, would you do water cooling again?

Yes. Heck yes. I'd do it again in a heartbeat - and twice on Sundays. I only regret I don't have enough cash to build a new system every week or enough gumption to start a company where I can review hardware so I can make a new one each week.

[duplexmortician]

Thank you for all the answers.  I have an Arctic Accelero III on my 1080ti and mostly Noctua case fans (200mm in front and on top) and with the case (Thermaltake Core X71 TG) all buttoned up it is basically silent unless it is hammering benchmarks and I really listen for it (I have it on the floor about 3' from me).  My 1800x rig is louder (next to it on the floor and slightly closer) but it has crappier fans in it.  I keep it turned down most of the time too -- just use it to record what is coming out of the TR).  It has a Corsair 115i AIO running Noctua fans (the Corsair maglev fans were ridiculously loud making all kinds of clacking noises in addition to just normal fan noise) but all the others are cheap LED fans.  That is other than the EVGA fans on its GTX1080 ICX 2.0).  I was going to put an AIO in the TR build but could not find one acceptable (hello Enermax shitshow) that would beat the Noctua D14 (and last more than a few months).

 

[Mehmy]

The only noticeable improvement I got from going to a custom loop was my GPU being quieter and cooler. CPU is about the same temps. 

 

That said, I had fun doing it, and it looks nice, so I'll definitely do it again. Gonna redo the whole thing in 11-12 months when I can justify buying more fittings (Unhappy with a couple of the runs and I wanna do those over with some angled fittings)

[Maxxtraxx]

I don't custom loop.

 

I do AIO

 

I've done AIO modifications (240mm AIO for GPU)

 

I would do AIO again, it's easy to change parts(i'm somewhat of a GPU swapping regular), provides excellent performance, and is relatively quiet... though not nearly as pretty as a custom loop... but then again who actually wants to marry a princess/supermodel... the money, the work, the drama, it all gets old and busted eventually... but some people enjoy that, kudos to them.

[Benjeh]

On 2/23/2019 at 2:01 PM, duplexmortician said:

I am getting 4.066Ghz out of my 1950x at 1.2875v, with peak temps at 68c under full load with Noctua D14 air cooler.  Based on what I've read, I should be happy with that, and water cooling isn't going to help me go any faster.  Question for you lot is, after spending all the money and time and knowing what you now know, would you do water cooling again?

Watercooling would lower those temps while also being much more silent depending on your rad surface area, Also aren't the turbo clocks for the 1950x 4ghz? Sounds to me like you're not pushing it that far if at all, watercooling will net you a better cooling experience than air can science doesn't lie.

 

I will always watercool, I like silence, my pc sits on my desk and arms length away I did the whole air cooled thing out of fear of leaks etc, then after air failed to keep one of my overclocks from destroying the motherboard and cpu I said well if air is no safer i might aswell go water... So I did, let my FX8350 sit at 5ghz constantly while enjoying silence and similar performance to intel rigs, would of been cheaper to buy an intel but after i moved to intel i found it so incredibly boring and their binning process is a joke.

[Kalm_Traveler]

On 2/23/2019 at 7:09 AM, ki8aras said:

people that create custom loops don't really do it for the performance benefit(although there is a performance boost and sound reduction)they mostly do it for the feeling that they've created something this complex with their own hands(imo)

I did it for both... way overkill cooling means you can push higher overclocks with lower temps and less noise. You're right though, a huge factor is just that it's fun to have another aspect of your computer to customize.

 

OP - I can't turn back. Ran a 360mm AIO in my main rig for about 3 years, then finally got the guts to jump into custom loop building. Now I have 2 custom loops, and an AIO on my home server.

 

It's fun to see how much further you can push things with better cooling as well as have them run silent when not stretching the limits.

[Lathlaer]

Not gonna lie, building my rig was kinda exhausting and frustrating at times but I don't regret it. I do have moments of weakness when I think how problem free I would be if I just bought a balls to the wall laptop and be done with it but every once in a while when I look at my PC during evening hours when it illuminates the whole room and I can see the glass tubes and white led fans through tempered glass...nah, wouldn't miss it for the world  

[KE2012]

I would like to, and I had great fun doing my PC, but my problem is in the foreseeable future I am going to be constantly moving around the world, so my priorities and requirements have completely changed. It's not feasible for me to drag around a computer that I need to empty and refill every few weeks just to move it, nor is the added weight of water cooling appreciated. With this in mind, I haven't even used my WC PC in a year 6 months now, which is a shame, but it is what it is.

 

 

If I settled down, I would, but until then, no, I will stick to air cooling.