At what point do you "NEED" liquid cooling?

[CC268]

Hey guys,

 

At what point do you "NEED" liquid cooling (AIO or custom loops)? Do you need liquid cooling if you were to run dual 980TI's?

 

I read a lot of the water cooling sticky above - and from what I gathered I have come to the conclusion that you don't ever really "need" water cooling, unless you are doing extreme OC'ing, want an extremely quiet setup, or you are just an enthusiast.

 

The reason I am asking this question is that I have a friend whose dad is interested in getting a high end gaming PC ($2500-$3000) budget. He mentioned liquid cooling and I thought that wasn't the best idea nor was it needed. He is NOT experienced with building a PC let alone liquid cooling. Now I will give it to him, he has been doing his research on gaming PC's. I think it would be much better to go with something like the Noctua NH-D14 - heck even the CM EVO or Cryorig H7 would suit his needs. I don't think he even knows what overclocking is.

 

Other than the above situation, I am curious about this myself as I am going to be building a gaming PC (about $1600) and who knows, maybe one day I will be interested in doing a custom loop myself.

[Lays]

I think past 2 GPU's you should be looking into some other form of cooling the GPU's, because even 2 GPU's get very hot and very loud pretty easily.

 

(if you care about temps & noise levels that is atleast)

 

 

I went with a custom loop because I'm a diehard overclocker, and I love pushing tons of voltage through things and getting really high clocks.  Plus I like seeing my GPU's load temp at 32c

[TheKDub]

When air cooling is not providing good enough cooling performance because of your case, fan setup, graphics card coolers, graphics card models, cpu cooler, overclocks, etc...

[Nonco]

If your cards are getting too hot in a SLI environment, but they should be ok unless if overclocking. People generally buy loops for great cooling even if they dont really "Need" it. I guess it comes down yo your budget. Maybe try out your build without it and check the temps to see if you genuinely need it or not.

[shypin]

you wont ever "need" it unless you want to push to best components to a new height

 

unless you have like a r9 295x2 with a passive heatsink cooler

[Jodomcfrodo]

I'm going to be honest with you. I've had liquid cooling in my computer for just over a year now. Unless you really see yourself as loving to tinker with your computer, don't do it. At this point it is just a hassle for me. Every time I need to drain or refill it, I just feel like scrapping this computer and going back to aircooling. I wish I had never done liquid cooling. This is not to say that liquid cooling is bad. Some people really love it and it does offer significance overclocking room. But it is not for everyone. Eventually, you just want to sit down and use your damn computer instead of worrying about leaking fittings and refilling the loop. 

 

It seems you friends dad would not be the person to want a liquid cooled system. 

[Windows2000]

Pretty much only when you want to overclock.

Since modern coolers do the job pretty well, I don't see a practical reason to go watercool your PC other than being an enthusiast or a dumbass who pays $300 more on OEM configurations. (Alienware cough)

If you have good airflow, it won't matter.

[UltraNeonGaming]

you wont ever "need" it unless you want to push to best components to a new height

 

unless you have like a r9 295x2 with a passive heatsink cooler

"Like a r9 295x2 with a passive heatsink cooler"  -Shypin (2015)

[shypin]

"Like a r9 295x2 with a passive heatsink cooler"  -Shypin (2015)

that would be fun to see

[Jodomcfrodo]

that would be fun to see

If you wanted an oven why not just buy one? 

[shypin]

If you wanted an oven why not just buy one? 

well would you want this

or would you want this

 

imo the second one is a lot cooler

[thekeemo]

"Like a r9 295x2 with a passive heatsink cooler"  -Shypin (2015)

 

that would be fun to see

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/71425-powercolor-devil-13-dual-core-r9-290x/

[AlexisWiiu]

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/71425-powercolor-devil-13-dual-core-r9-290x/

That's gross.

[thekeemo]

That's gross.

you monster this is pure awesomeness

[asquirrel]

Hey guys,

 

At what point do you "NEED" liquid cooling (AIO or custom loops)? Do you need liquid cooling if you were to run dual 980TI's?

Based on various LTT videos and my own research, the 980TI is one of the few things that is actually worth liquid cooling. Why? Heat density.

 

On a CPU, even a 'monster' one like a 5860x (140W TDP), you have a very large area, the size of an NH-D15 even, to dissipate all that heat with a massive heatsink. On a video card, you don't have that much room. If you opt for an aftermarket video card air cooler it might be able to shed heat fast enough, but then your case is full of hot air going in different directions and that...it isn't the worst thing, but it also isn't the best. As long as you're running a positive pressure setup, randomly blowing air isn't really a problem.

 

However, if you put a waterblock on top of the 980TI, then all of the sudden you get MUCH lower operating temperatures, almost certainly more silence under full load, and...not much else really. The lower temps allow you to overclock farther, or stay in boost longer, or keep your room warmer, but it doesn't get you much else. In terms of $/performance water cooling even a 980TI doesn't make sense for most people. The few people for whom it does make sense live in supremely hot places like Australia and need liquid cooling to deal with the very high ambient temperatures.

[CC268]

Thanks for the info guys. I myself will be running a single 980TI. He has the budget to run SLI 980TI's but it isn't needed. Liquid cooling is cool, but I think I would need someone in person to guide me through it.