Water cooling

[John the bae]

Is it worth it? Does it require maintenance?

[Zinqs]

No. And yes.

[KingDaddyDaniel]

If you want a quiet build, then yes. You still have to do maintenance, just as air cooling has cleaning fans and heatsinks. Instead of replacing thermal compound, you flush out the loop and refill. Clean dust from radiators, etc.

If you plan on doing some overclocking, and are already throwing $1.5K into a machine, then I would definitely recommend water-cooling if you can squeeze out a bit of money.

[Neroxis]

No. And yes.

I disagree completely. It's most definitely an ambitious task if you're new to building, but I would argue it's most definitely worth it. I'm currently running a machine overclocked to the wall that produces almost no noise and runs sub 70C. It's also got an incredibly pleasing aesthetic. The maintenance isn't crazy if you run clear coolant and blow out everything fairly regularly. Clean dust, top off loop and you're set.