h 2 o cooling

[Drane]

I've seen pictures of that being done - entire PC inside a cooling box.  No idea on how it works.

Think....keg in a fridge with tap on the door... 

[BowHTR]

hmm! I wonder if I should just buy a refrigerator and mount he stuff their. Couple of holes to pass cables.....or just place the HAF case in a refrigerator....

[Bizman]

Wouldn't there be an issue with condensing humidity?

[Chalenge]

I think you're better off just going with Noctua, I tried the phase change approach and even when you can avoid moisture creep the extreme approach eventually leads to material break-downs in the CPU and motherboard, or GPU and card. Noctua provides one of the best thermal mating surfaces available (mirror-like) and even beats AIO solutions for temperature reductions. The Noctua fans are quiet and efficient also.

[Gman]

Anandtech, TW, o/c.net, all the larger HW sites, it seems to be a toss up between small AIO and the Noctua, a few small mods to the Noctua/air units, and they can outperform the larger AIO like the Swifteks/X61/etc, but stock they don't, and again, on an older 3820, 6700, 6800, and 6850 all of which I have, I haven't seen the D15 or 14 before it be anything but a few steps behind in terms of stable o/c numbers.  I'm not going to extremes, just using the same stock coolers I bought with the same thermal compounds. 

I still prefer the D15, even though it is large, at least most of the new MB have figured out how not to have it block PCI-E slots, and RAM has adapted as well so there usually isn't any clearance issues.  That was the only problem I had with them before, and it's largely solved/gone now anyway.  It's quieter than the X61, Corsair, and Swiftek I have, less worry, less space taken up in the case (no rad) overall, and just a safer and better way to go.  I only have one system now on an AIO, and I may just sell it and get another D15 or put my old D14 on it, as it's just a mild o/c anyway. 

[Bizman]

Liquid or air? There's been many excellent comments about air being as effective as an AIO.

I'll add one more for air: No matter which brand of air cooler you choose, there's one thing for sure: If you don't seat it properly, your computer won't start, or it will BSOD and shut down immediately to prevent burning the CPU. I believe that has been the standard for about a decade now.

Of course the same applies to AIO's.

BUT: If you seat the cooler properly but manage to crack a corner or the end of a hose, it may not start leaking immediately. When it does, the leak may be so small the liquid evaporates instead of making ponds. Troubleshooting random locks/BSOD's/freezes in such a case would be extremely difficult.

[MADe]

Yes there has been some good subject watermelon chat, very helpful.
Altho I still cannot make up my mind. The Nocturna is rated #1 as an air cooler. Its definitely matching many of the liquid loopers. I really do wanna push the cpu too 5GHz tho.....on air cooling, 4.4GHz seems to be the wall.

[Chalenge]

MADe, the oldest system I have had a simple link&sync OC applied to it for years and years, but when I updated it to W10 I had to remove all of that because it would not run stable (tons of BSODs). I tried everything like reseating the CPU, heatsink, and the power section and system chip thermal strips, but it works now only at stock speeds. I expect it to fail at any time, really. Long story short your system will last longer without OC.

[MADe]

true but done right, it will last enough for my purposes.

machine I'm on right now is 9 years +. I OC'ed 1st thing, its entire life has been OC'ed. Turning off most of the stuff is key, no HT, CIEST, No core parking. Set it up to just go mode and let it run...no auto nada.

[MADe]

Has anybody seen a setup where they put a cooler on both sides of the mobo trapping the cpu and seat between them?

I'm wondering if I could get two identcle 120mm AIO's and pinch the cpu with them....

OK check this out. Did one of you guys mention this model number?
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/Thermalright-Inferno-IFX-14-CPU-Cooler-Review/Installation?destination=node%2F37388%3Fpcper_ajax_tabs_block_tab%3D0%26referer%3Dnode%252F37388%26args%3D

[MADe]

dang I went item by item thru the best of the list provided by biz, maybe top 6.
half are air coolers, the best looper is also the nosiest, still have not decided. I think maybe I need the board in my hands to take a good look.
I got this itch, I wanna put a looper on both sides of cpu and mobo. I will need to make my own heat sink that mesh with mobos backside and the loopers. Saw what others have done, a lot nuttier than what I'm thinking. 2 identical 120mm loopers, 180" opposed..........

My current build has a fan with ducting right at the backside cpu spot. The HAF case has a built in cutout. Its worth 2-5C.

[Bizman]

MADe, this one thing popped in my mind: The idea of liquid cooling is to transfer the heat from the core to the cooler fins via hoses, and the fins are cooled with a fan. How does a modern air cooler differ from that? The heat is transferred via heat pipes to the fan cooled fins. The main difference is the length of the pipes/hoses and the lack of hose connectors and clamps. The stuff inside the pipes is most likely different to the cooling liquid which is basically distilled water and some additives. 

So if we think that a heat pipe cooler is similar to an AIO, the main difference is where the heated exhaust air ends to. That's where AIO's win by design, they don't blow hot air inside the case. However that issue can easily be fought with an exhaust case fan right behind the air cooler. Also bear in mind that the more fans you use, the quieter your system is at a set airflow rate.

[MADe]

yes, whether a an air cooler or liquid cooler radiator, they both are dependent on the ambient air around them.

The modern air coolers that use vapor are, I think, using the advantage of liquid changes of state, ie liquid to gas. It requires 10X the heat to get liquid to go to a gas. Modern refrigeration principle.

Liquid cooling appears to be about how fast you can cool down a working cpu that goes idle. So where both approachs get the same results in the end, liquids return cpu to cool faster. My take on it anyway. Wonder if I put a radiator with fans inside a fridge, ran long hoses......................he he

These new broadwells are packed tighter than ever. Main reason they appear not to OC easily. If I am gonna go there, gonna get there with a plan. Plan may meet Murphy, but............

[Bizman]

Here's some further thinking about the coolers:

As I said, liquid coolers blow the hot air directly out of the case. Now, since many of them actually have two large fans, the negative air pressure is higher than what a single case fan would produce. Thus the airflow inside the case is faster which also lowers the inside temperature of the case, making the cooler more effective. So adding exhaust fans to an air cooled system should result the same.

There's quite a many variables in comparing coolers. As the example above states, testing inside a certain case doesn't necessarily do justice to air coolers unless the exhaust airflow is compensated, i.e. there's the same amount of similar exhaust fans than the AIO has. An open test bench in a large room would give more comparable results, but all the tests I've read about have been performed inside a good quality case.

[MADe]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181090

I bought this unit.