Is watercooling Motherboard VRMs worth it?

[iiNNeX]

Hey  guys,

 

So I have an Asus ROG Z170 Maximus VIII Hero Motherboard and am in the process of planning my custom loop. While looking at CPU blocks I noticed EK has blocks available for my motherboard too, but I am wondering if it's worth the extra cost? I have money to spare so it's not a budget problem, it's just will it make or break a good stable overclock of my CPU?

 

 

Alternatively, I could sell my motherboard and go for the Formula, which has a VRM block preinstalled in a cleaner design? It does cost £100 more than my board though, so there is that.

 

 

Thanks

[ShadowCaptain]

1 minute ago, iiNNeX said:

SNIP

eh not really, unless you are proper hammering it on the OC 

I mean in general watercooling isn't necessary, more just, because you can, so perhaps you just want to water cool the VRMs because its cool, which would be a case for it

 

 

[iiNNeX]

1 minute ago, ShadowCaptain said:

eh not really, unless you are proper hammering it on the OC 

I mean in general watercooling isn't necessary, more just, because you can, so perhaps you just want to water cool the VRMs because its cool, which would be a case for it

 

 

Yeah that's what I thought.

 

My hybrid cards with EK AIO are totally fine as far as cooling goes but it's come to the point where i'm starting to do things because I can lol

 

Thanks

[xgn]

Only if you plan to set it to use more volt than its designed for. Like ram higher than spesicifed voltage and moving mobo jumper to overvolt.

Else its just for asthetics. Also not recommanded to try to overclock beyond limits  

[Stanvard]

It's not necessary for much of anything at all. However, If you're just into watercooling and you want to watercool ALL THE THINGS! it might be worth it. Not for performance or reliability, just for fun if you enjoy watercooling. Or if you like the look of it. It shouldn't effect your overclock much. Basically: you can if you want to but you definitely don't need to.

[iiNNeX]

27 minutes ago, Stanvard said:

It's not necessary for much of anything at all. However, If you're just into watercooling and you want to watercool ALL THE THINGS! it might be worth it. Not for performance or reliability, just for fun if you enjoy watercooling. Or if you like the look of it. It shouldn't effect your overclock much. Basically: you can if you want to but you definitely don't need to.

Yeah I thought as much.

 

I like the way it looks on my motherboard so I think I will go for it. It's also only £10 more to do that than just the CPU so might as well, every little helps.

 

Thank you

[ThomasD]

As noted by others, VRM cooling is mainly an issue for extreme overclocking.  That said, were I doing a custom loop and had the dough, that motherboard specific waterblock would on my list.

 

And I also think it is a much more elegant (and simpler, thus less prone to failure) than the Formula - which will require more tubing runs, and more fitting to accomplish effectively the same thing.

[iiNNeX]

1 minute ago, ThomasD said:

As noted by others, VRM cooling is mainly an issue for extreme overclocking.  That said, were I doing a custom loop and had the dough, that motherboard specific waterblock would on my list.

 

And I also think it is a much more elegant (and simpler, thus less prone to failure) than the Formula - which will require more tubing runs, and more fitting to accomplish effectively the same thing.

yes I agree with you... however the only reason I have been swaying to go with the formula lately and sell my hero is due to the colour scheme I want to do...

 

Sadly I don't think I can get rid of the red on the board without DIY spraying those bits a certain colour ? But then it's non reversible so it will affect resale value... eh.

[ThomasD]

9 minutes ago, iiNNeX said:

yes I agree with you... however the only reason I have been swaying to go with the formula lately and sell my hero is due to the colour scheme I want to do...

 

Sadly I don't think I can get rid of the red on the board without DIY spraying those bits a certain colour ? But then it's non reversible so it will affect resale value... eh.

You could cut some colored vinyl to fit over those red areas, or use a paint like Plasti-Dip, which peels off.  Maybe just re-paint the board to (near) original color at re-sale time.  But, IMO, by the time re-sale comes around that should not affect the price all that much.  Anyone who wants a custom loop motherboard is not going to be put off by having to adjust the color scheme.

[iiNNeX]

2 minutes ago, ThomasD said:

You could cut some colored vinyl to fit over those red areas, or use a paint like Plasti-Dip, which peels off.  Maybe just re-paint the board to (near) original color at re-sale time.  But, IMO, by the time re-sale comes around that should not affect the price all that much.  Anyone who wants a custom loop motherboard is not going to be put off by having to adjust the color scheme.

Would you go with the flat black block or the see through one for a silver/grey/black pc build?

 

Such small things, yet so hard to decide haha. Thanks by the way, i ll look into plasti dip.

[ThomasD]

1 minute ago, iiNNeX said:

Would you go with the flat black block or the see through one for a silver/grey/black pc build?

 

Such small things, yet so hard to decide haha. Thanks by the way, i ll look into plasti dip.

Agreed, it is a tough call.  I'd really want to consider it in light of the whole build.  If there are any other aspects of the build that would go well with the silver/grey then that is the way I'd go.  If I were leaning more towards using LEDs - especially anything RGB - to supply the bling then I'd go basic black.

[iiNNeX]

9 minutes ago, ThomasD said:

Agreed, it is a tough call.  I'd really want to consider it in light of the whole build.  If there are any other aspects of the build that would go well with the silver/grey then that is the way I'd go.  If I were leaning more towards using LEDs - especially anything RGB - to supply the bling then I'd go basic black.

Well radiators will be black, fans will be fully black (noctua Nf-f12 with black silicone ends), tubing will be rigid clear (not sure on how thick yet), gpu block choice is on hold till I choose the motherboard block as they will be the same style, the motherboard is a mix of black, dark grey and 2-3 red stripes here and there. Sadly the RAM is also grey/black but has red on it too (nothing I can't change though, I mean I can always sell it for some silver dominators from Corsair if need be or get the black and white version of my ram).

 

Reason I wan't to go all grey is so I can use any colour in my loop and make it stand out. Similar to Jayz2Centz's skunkworks. That system has changed colours 3 times now and that's all he had to do as the rest of his components apart from the fan rings on his SP120s, are neutral (black/grey/silver). 

 

Even distilled water looks good with a clean loop like that tbh.

[OddsCrazyStuff]

15 minutes ago, iiNNeX said:

Would you go with the flat black block or the see through one for a silver/grey/black pc build?

 

Such small things, yet so hard to decide haha. Thanks by the way, i ll look into plasti dip.

If you go for a show build, so would I go with the plexi version. It just looks better, as long as you take the color of the liquid into account.

[ThomasD]

2 minutes ago, iiNNeX said:

Well radiators will be black, fans will be fully black (noctua Nf-f12 with black silicone ends), tubing will be rigid clear (not sure on how thick yet), gpu block choice is on hold till I choose the motherboard block as they will be the same style, the motherboard is a mix of black, dark grey and 2-3 red stripes here and there. Sadly the RAM is also grey/black but has red on it too (nothing I can't change though, I mean I can always sell it for some silver dominators from Corsair if need be or get the black and white version of my ram).

 

Reason I wan't to go all grey is so I can use any colour in my loop and make it stand out. Similar to Jayz2Centz's skunkworks. That system has changed colours 3 times now and that's all he had to do as the rest of his components apart from the fan rings on his SP120s, are neutral (black/grey/silver). 

 

Even distilled water looks good with a clean loop like that tbh.

Silver/grey it is!