Should I Watercool my Mobo?

[freakyguy88]

So I'm planning a huge WC'ing project with 2 780's and CPU in the loop inside a 900D. I want a blue theme, so I was going to get the opaque blocks from EK and fill the loop with blue fluid. I originally planned to get a motherboard that came with watercooling options like the Z87 OC Formula or Maximus VI Formula, but those have a black/yellow and black/red color scheme respectively. Since I want the whole thing to be either black, blue or both, these two are not viable options so I was considering not splooshing the mobo. Will that be OK, or does it need at least some passive cooling? Keep in mind airflow is the least of my concerns as I will have both rads in the bottom and the air will go through them first, coming out warm.

[Winther]

you dont have to cool a motherboard at all, atleast not the Z87 motherboards! If you just have a few fans spinning at low setting in the top compartment together with the motherboard and the rest of the hardware you motherboard will be more than fine!

I had a Z77 Sabertooth without any of the fans installed on the motherboard (that board comes with 2 small fans that can be put on/in the motherboard for active cooling) and the case fans was all on rads, and the hottest the motherboard got was around 43 degrees celcius. So it really should not be a problem although the air passes through the radiators first.!

 

Motherboard watercooling is mostly for show-off, but when OC'ing really high, I reckon it could become handy and be more "healthy" for the motherboard.

[WunderWuffle]

I was about to post a thread about this, but I found this. I was about to ask if I should W/C my Rampage IV Extreme. I am going to be running a 3820, and I will hopefully OC it to 4.5 Ghz...

[nishank93]

A mid-range to high end motherboard from a reputable manufacturer (Asus, MSI, Gigabyte) will have large enough heatsinks on the VRM to handle most overclocks. As long as you have some half-decent airflow, and your overclock isn't going to be extreme, you should be fine.

[airdeano]

MOSFET/VREG blocks are purrdy to look at and serve little purpose for daily overclocks.

as said before case ventilation is key to keeping the VREGs cool. more tubing and leaky

places.. you will be doing it for looks..

 

airdeano

[UnarmedWarWolf]

Short answer: NO

 

you will find a few degrees cooler temps but its not worth the hassle nor the maintance and the strain on the board.

the truth is MOBOs dont get that hot the heatsinks take care of it

 

P.S. The sabertooth Z87 run cool and you can hide the gold pretty well.(Why...who would put gold paint on a motherboard?

IDIOTS!