Watercooling QUOTE
Watercooling is a method of heat removal from components. Contrary to air cooling, it uses water as the heat transmitter and is commonly used for cooling motors in automobiles. Other uses include cooling the lubricant oil of pumps; for cooling purposes in heat exchangers; and cooling products from tanks or columns.
The advantages of using water cooling over air cooling include water's higher specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity, meaning water can transmit heat approximately thirty times faster than air.
A typical watercooling setup consists of an object to be cooled, a pump which circulates the water and a radiator such as a large heatsink (possibly with a fan). These components are linked by tubes.
An optional watercooling component is a reservoir, which helps to prevent the formation of air bubbles in the system. However, if the watercooling system is properly configured and sealed, there is no need for a reservoir, though it does make the system much easier and less time-consuming to fill. Another option is simply using a T-Line, which usually costs about $1. There is no need for either of these components, though one is recommended to make the operation quicker to fill and bleed.
Source"What is watercooling?"
Watercooling is the usage of water in a closed system of tubes to cool your CPU. A pump keeps the water flowing through the system, a radiator transfers the heat to air thus making the water cold again, and a waterblock is mounted atop your cpu for the water to pickup the cpu's heat as it passes by.
The advantages of watercooling are that it is quiet, and if setup right, it can far outperform aircooling. As a reference, the best temperatures I've seen in my experience with watercooling was 10c above ambient, with full load on the cpu. Certainly not temperatures to be sniffed at considering the level of silence that comes hand in hand with watercooling.
Heat is transferred from the CPU to a waterblock. Water runs through the waterblock, and heat is transferred into the water. Somewhere along the lines, the now heated water will enter a radiator where heat is transferred from the radiator to air. The now cooled water then continues the cycle through a waterpump which keeps the water moving through the system. The cycle repeats.
"Why would I want to watercool?"
Most PC Enthusiasts switch to watercooling in the search for lower temperatures and a quieter computer. While these are not the only reasons one would watercool their PC, they would be the primary reasons.
"But it's water inside my computer! That's bad right???"
Not necessarily. Given thought and precaution, you can reduce the possibility of anything going wrong. Water in its purest form is NOT a conductor, it is an insulator, so by using de-ionised water, and hoseclamps, you can reduce almost all chance of disaster.
A well planned watercooling rig has about as much chance of disaster happening as your average aircooled rig. The waterblock could fall off, damaging your video card and allowing your CPU to die in a ball of smoke. So what? Your boring, noisy, poor-performance heatsink and fan has just as much chance of doing the same.
This is the biggest hurdle for anyone considering watercooling; the psych factor. You will always have a sub-concious thought in the back of your mind telling you "water and electronics bad, BAD KARMA!!!". It is up to you to decide whether you can face reality and go through with it, or whether you will back off and stick with your heatsink and fan.
We still respect your decision either way
"What do I need to watercool my gear?"
* A waterblock
* A waterpump
* A radiator
* Applicable tubing
* Water and optional additives
* A resevoir (optional)
* GPU/Chipset block(optional)
With watercooling you should really set yourself a target amount to spend. For me, after a VERY generous $250 you really start to get diminishing returns. Most of that $250 should be spent on the waterblock and the pump. (LiquidCC + Eheim are my recommendation) With these two components its a "you get what you pay for" situation. Skimp and it'll show in the results. Also skimping on components opens you up to a higher chance of something going wrong.
Waterblock:
The waterblock is where a lot of the action happens. It is where the primary heat transfer takes place, and is responsible for direct cooling of your CPU.
While the waterblock is an important part of any cooling loop, it is useless if paired with poorly matched components. A weak pump or a poorly designed radiator can ruin a cooling loop's performance, as can a substandard waterblock. It is up to you to find a balanced combination.
Waterpump:
Perhaps the component you should pay the most attention to is your waterpump. Make sure you purchase a good quality pump if you intend to install your watercooling once and never touch it for 6 months or an even longer period.
The general consensus amongst the overclocking community is that the best pumps your money can buy are Eheim (pronounced "air-hyme"). For beginners, the 1048 is perhaps the best model.
Another popular pump amongst the overclocking community is the Rio 600.
For a shorter period of time, you could use a cheaper pump, but you must realise that cheaper pumps will perform worse, and are most likely not designed for constant operation. Consider the waterpump as the heart of your watercooling system... If it stops, something could die.
Radiator:
The radiator's task is to transfer heat to the air, usually with the assistance of a large slow moving fan.
Rad's can be got for as low as $20 bucks at the wreckers or $175+ for a Blackice... its up to you. The one from the wreckers will need a little work to tidy it up, but thats no hard task. It may also need a little work on the barbs etc, but again not a hard task for someone with basic DIY abilities
Tubing:
Tubing can be of many varieties. You can get vinyl, silicon, tygon, metal reinforced... any number of different types. The type you should go for depends on how much room you have in your case. If you dont have much space, you should consider a more expensive silicon or tygon solution (as they will be more flexible). If space is not a problem, then your average vinyl tubing can be picked up relatively cheaply at your local hardware or plastics stores.
The tubing can be as cheap as 10 bucks, but if you can afford it - definately go for some silicone. Tygon is back into diminishing returns territory and the thin walls make it difficult to clamp/seal every join. If you really have the money and want tidiness/minimal tubing, then go for some clearflex. So basically Silicone or Clearflex. (Edited: Tygon is the best if you can afford it)
Water and optional additives:
Many people will use your average everyday tap water. This is not really advisable due to the impurities of tap water, which can promote scale buildups or even algae growth within your cooling loop, which could damage your components and reduce the cooling capability of your loop. Bottled water, preferably of the distilled variety, is far better to use.
There are a couple of household items that you can add. A couple of drops of dishwashing liquid will help the water flow around easier. A couple of drops of bleach will help keep the nasties at bay. Foodcolouring or dyes can give the water an impressive colour that will show up through the tubing, toilet sanitary cakes can do this as well, and keep your nasties at bay - 2 birds with one stone .
There are other items you may want to consider adding such as antifreeze (if you are using peltiers or chilling the water.) Also, if you can afford it, some water wetter, however the dishwashing liquid does pretty much the same job for pennies.
If you are concerned about water leakage, than you can improve your chances of avoiding disaster by using Distilled or De-Ionised Water. Distilled water will also reduce your chances of scale and other bad things forming in your system.
GPU/Chipset block:
"Based on the FAQs by whetu found at the OCNZ forums"
