Water Cooling FTW

[redlight]

I have just completd my first water cooling build and I am well impressed with the result. You purists out there will say yeah its just a kit though,but I thought I would start simple if you can call it that and it is once I got round the fear of water near my precious rig it all went smoothly. My only hitch was after leak testing when I fired it up the alarm went off and it took a little time to figure out it was the cpu fan alarm. I had compensated for this by plugging my case fan into the header but it was turning to slowly. The temperature difference is amazing and so is the silence. My X1950XT has gone from 65c idle and 95-100c load to 34c idle and around 45c load. CPU now 26c idle and 32c load no OC yet. I wonder how long I keep it in one piece before I start experimenting with different blocks. I can now give Stalker a proper workout as I could not before as it was cooking my GPU.

[this_is_gav]

The only reservation I have about going water cooling is if I'm taking my rig apart, as I frequently am, there will undoubtedly be times when I have little choice but to unhook at least 1 block. Once that's done you'd have to refill, retest and so on. It would just get tedious very quickly in my situation.

I've just resorted to big heatsinks and slow fans. Not as efficient, but probably the best bet for me.

[Blitzen]

The only reservation I have about going water cooling is if I'm taking my rig apart, as I frequently am, there will undoubtedly be times when I have little choice but to unhook at least 1 block. Once that's done you'd have to refill, retest and so on. It would just get tedious very quickly in my situation.

I've just resorted to big heatsinks and slow fans. Not as efficient, but probably the best bet for me.

I must agree.
I take my rig apart at least once a fortnight and the thought of replacing blocks/water/moving pipes puts me off.

These days, there are air solutions that, unless you spend £200+ on Water Cooling, perform within 2-3% as good.

[redlight]

this is gav I think the only difficulty will be the MB. I bought the Aurora with swapping out parts in mind as I change things around regulary.
Blitzen I have tried all sorts of cooling on my 1950 and none of it cooled the card to my satisfaction. Now I have done it I will not be going back to air any time soon.

[Sprite]

What GPU block are you using on your X1950 ?

[redlight]

What GPU block are you using on your X1950 ?

Thermaltake Aquarius 2
http://www.thecoolingshop.com/produc...oducts_id/2222

[Clunk]

The only reservation I have about going water cooling is if I'm taking my rig apart, as I frequently am, there will undoubtedly be times when I have little choice but to unhook at least 1 block. Once that's done you'd have to refill, retest and so on. It would just get tedious very quickly in my situation.

I've just resorted to big heatsinks and slow fans. Not as efficient, but probably the best bet for me.

Not sure where you got that idea from, but if you plan the loops properly, you can just unscrew the block that you want to remove (without draining), and slide it off, do whatever you were going to do, and put it back in place. It is actually less fiddly that fitting an air cooler as there are no clips to mess around with.

[this_is_gav]

That's usually OK for the CPU, but for the GPU that could be extremely fiddly if it uses the standard mountings.

[Clunk]

I can tell you havent done it before

If you tube it right, you can take off the cpu or the north bridge, or the gpu with minimal fuss. It doesnt have to be difficult. With the gpu, you leave the block attatched and slide the whole card out.

[danroyle]

i swera by my watercooling only using it on my cpu at teh minute as my 7900gt runs pretty cool with a quiet fan

i change my bits very regularly and i never have many problems getting bits out and only occasionally have to drain it

i use screw fittings not pushon so have never had a real problem with it i usually join it up fill it switch water pump on for a minute then the pc on if no leaks

[this_is_gav]

I can tell you havent done it before

And you'd be wrong. It's just bunged in the garage now though. Just got on my nerves frankly. Too much of a fiddle for me.

Unfortunately my case was a bit restrictive back then - there wasn't all that much choice for reservoirs and pumps, so it was finding spaces for it all - even in a PC-75. Perhaps that's what's put me off since.

This was just on the transition towards socket 754 IIRC.

[Clunk]

The only reservation I have about going water cooling is if I'm taking my rig apart, as I frequently am, there will undoubtedly be times when I have little choice but to unhook at least 1 block. Once that's done you'd have to refill, retest and so on. It would just get tedious very quickly in my situation.

I've just resorted to big heatsinks and slow fans. Not as efficient, but probably the best bet for me.

And you'd be wrong. It's just bunged in the garage now though. Just got on my nerves frankly. Too much of a fiddle for me.

Unfortunately my case was a bit restrictive back then - there wasn't all that much choice for reservoirs and pumps, so it was finding spaces for it all - even in a PC-75. Perhaps that's what's put me off since.

This was just on the transition towards socket 754 IIRC.

Looking at the above posts, it seems that you either didnt set it up right, or bought the wrong bits. No matter

[this_is_gav]

Nah, it was a kit (quite a decent one back then, apparently), and was OK - I just wasn't particularly keen on modding my case to suit it. Everything was fine, it just wasn't 100% in my case, and as such, made the little jobs just a little tougher.

My current setup is quieter anyway (the reason I tried water), though obviously with a touch more heat output.

[redlight]

The VGA cooler I am using is not very complicated all you have to do is undo two screws(easily accessed) on the back of the card and this loosens the clamp and you can slide the block out. Have not tried it yet as nothing will be changed until the new ATI cards come out. I cannot see any more difficulty in mucking about inside than there was with big fans inside the case. Having a graphics card running at half the temps it was on air outways any negatives if any that there is and makes the whole thing a worthwhile upgrade.

[Supershanks]

I have little choice but to unhook at least 1 block

So having to remove a thermalright Xp-120 cos u want to change memory is easy Had to do that yesterday to test a ddr module & was not amused

1 of the major benefits of going w/cooling is that extra real estate availble, will be able to mount nb cooler which won't fit atm due to cpu cooler.

Like everything else, it's about planning.

[redlight]

Just a little update. I have now overclocked my card to 688/945 and my cpu to 3.1 the temps are GPU idle 38 load 49 CPU idle 27 load 35. The best bit is when the load is off the temps drop almost immediately and that is without the single rads fan turned up and the low noise is great. I was always a bit sceptical of water but if thats the temps I can get with a £100 kit straight out of the box there is no way I will be going back to air any time soon. Onwards and upwards.