Water Cooling Irony

[Nephilumos]

For your reading pleasure and consideration, here are my favorite water cooling ironies in no particular order:

[*]Most plumbing solutions cost significantly more than effective heat-pipe products like Noctua’s NH-D14 (available for around $85)

 

 

A Noctua D14 heat-pipe handles my highest load at 62 degrees and I can barely hear the fans spin...

 

Note: the Noctua is also silent under regular loads, browsing the web, doing normal stuff. The fans are noticeable only under heavy loads, gaming, etc.

 

I spent $85 for my heat-pipe. How much did you spend-- and be honest!

 

How much dinero?

 

Be honest!

 

I spent $85 bucks.

 

How much more did you pay to have a "totally silent" gaming experience? Did you even stop and calculate that before opening your wallet?

 

 

If you add $85 for the Noctua heat-pipe, the stock 3930K rig is around $780.

 

There is no doubt the H70 (with horrible stock fans) cannot match Noctua's NH-D14 far cheaper (only $85) air-cooled solution.

 

 

So, is it just me, or does sonic_agamemnon sound like a Noctua marketing person?

 

It's only $85!

[Daragh]

Decibels are NOT culmative. 8 identical fans sounds the same as three (neglecting the noise if the air itself which is lower with wc). If decibels were culmative we'd be deaf due to the 400 decibel minimum that we would encounter (think if everything that makes noise and add them together). Just in case that freaking argument gets brought up again.

Anyway water-cooling is SEXY and it's fun, I like getting my trusty screwdriver and wristband out to tinker. It's a part of the hobby and if it gives me more to fiddle with inside the pc then I'm happy

Edited July 5, 2012 by Daragh

[My_Inner_Fred]

There is no doubt the H70 (with horrible stock fans) cannot match Noctua's NH-D14 far cheaper (only $85) air-cooled solution.

 

It cannot match Noctua's heat-pipe even when biased reviewers unfairly dump the stock Corsair fans (at additional cost, increasing the NH-D14's price advantage even further) with Noctua fans!

 

Want proof?

 

Here it is, so

:

 

 

For those not into YouTube videos, here's the math:

 

Open test bench using the same monitoring software for all tests

Core i7-2600K

Four cores over-volted to 4.7Ghz

 

Noctua NH-D14 Load Temperatures (LowCore, HighCore, AvgCore)

68 75 71.5

 

Corsair H70 Load Temperatures

81 88 84.5

 

NH-D14 Advantage

19.1% 17.3% 18.2%

 

It's not even close, despite a biased review using Noctua fans on the Corsair water bottle.

 

The best thing about that video review is noticing the slight tinge of disappointment in the reviewer's voice at the end when he is forced to admit the Corsair hardware was stomped again.

 

What to do when you're enthralled in the Kingdom of Water?

 

That's right, go out and spend even more money for bigger water bottles with larger radiators, having surface areas greater than the NH-D14 and many more fans compared to the two stock fans in the Noctua NH-D14.

 

Well, that's simply nuts!

 

Have you ever asked yourself if water really is better if you are forced to spend more for larger surface areas and more fans?

 

Moreover, is the water really the most important factor or is it the larger surface area to dissipate heat, or perhaps it's simply the increased number of cooling fans, or both?

 

Does it really matter that much if the all that surface area and additional fans are cooling water or a heat-pipe?

 

I don't think so.

 

So why risk pumping water all around expensive computing hardware?

 

The honest answers I've received (usually by private mail, not on forums) are:

 

"I water cool because I like to do it as a hobby."

 

"I water cool because it looks BOSS."

 

etc.

 

Jesus is it just me or are you really really against water cooling. There are pros and cons to water cooling true, but there are people who weigh them and decide to take the water cooling path. Enough said, I don't see what the point of this is. Your just straight up denouncing the use of water cooling when compared to air cooling.

 

I just don't understand....

[Stonerboy779]

Decibels are NOT culmative. 8 identical fans sounds the same as three (neglecting the noise if the air itself which is lower with wc). If decibels were culmative we'd be deaf due to the 400 decibel minimum that we would encounter (think if everything that makes noise and add them together). Just in case that freaking argument gets brought up again.

Anyway water-cooling is SEXY and it's fun, I like getting my trusty screwdriver and wristband out to tinker. It's a part of the hobby and if it gives me more to fiddle with inside the pc then I'm happy

Decibels are in a way cumulative they gust don't scale proportionately to the components

[Silas13013]

There is no doubt the H70 (with horrible stock fans) cannot match Noctua's NH-D14 far cheaper (only $85) air-cooled solution.

 

It cannot match Noctua's heat-pipe even when biased reviewers unfairly dump the stock Corsair fans (at additional cost, increasing the NH-D14's price advantage even further) with Noctua fans!

 

Want proof?

 

Here it is, so

:

 

 

For those not into YouTube videos, here's the math:

 

Open test bench using the same monitoring software for all tests

Core i7-2600K

Four cores over-volted to 4.7Ghz

 

Noctua NH-D14 Load Temperatures (LowCore, HighCore, AvgCore)

68 75 71.5

 

Corsair H70 Load Temperatures

81 88 84.5

 

NH-D14 Advantage

19.1% 17.3% 18.2%

 

It's not even close, despite a biased review using Noctua fans on the Corsair water bottle.

 

The best thing about that video review is noticing the slight tinge of disappointment in the reviewer's voice at the end when he is forced to admit the Corsair hardware was stomped again.

 

What to do when you're enthralled in the Kingdom of Water?

 

That's right, go out and spend even more money for bigger water bottles with larger radiators, having surface areas greater than the NH-D14 and many more fans compared to the two stock fans in the Noctua NH-D14.

 

Well, that's simply nuts!

 

Have you ever asked yourself if water really is better if you are forced to spend more for larger surface areas and more fans?

 

Moreover, is the water really the most important factor or is it the larger surface area to dissipate heat, or perhaps it's simply the increased number of cooling fans, or both?

 

Does it really matter that much if the all that surface area and additional fans are cooling water or a heat-pipe?

 

I don't think so.

 

So why risk pumping water all around expensive computing hardware?

 

The honest answers I've received (usually by private mail, not on forums) are:

 

"I water cool because I like to do it as a hobby."

 

"I water cool because it looks BOSS."

 

etc.

Wait, you have a 3930X and you are talking about the best bang for the buck? Doesn't that seem a little backwards?

 

Anyway, you are on a website of entheusiasts who build, upgrade, overclock, stress test, game and generally push computers to their limits for the hell of it. Why? Because it's fun, because it's a challenge and most of all, because we can. Why do I have 3 systems sitting in my basement, all of them capable of maxing BF3 (except for the damn AAx16)? Because I can. Why do you have a high end processor? Because you do. Unless someone gave you the mobo and processor for free, there really isn't a reason to choose it over an i5 2500k, which is the best bang for the buck right now.

 

So yes, for the average user the stock cooler is probably the best bet. And for overclockers on a budget, the 212+ evo is probably the best bet. But for those that want great cooling without getting into phase change or lN2, water is the best way to go. It provides the most consistant temps and the lowest, given the avaliable materials. Yes it's a hastle but so is building your own machine in the first place. I went with a phanteks cooler because I upgrade entirely too often to make buying water blocks worth it. But for someone who stays with their hardware for more than 10 months at a time, water is the way to go.

[MandoPatriot]

I just setup my first WC loop and I would say it is by far better than air cooling. Yes, you do pay a major premium over air cooling, but top end stuff is ALWAYS more expensive. Top end CPU's, GPU's, RAM, SSD's, etc. Those are always much more expensive and you don't see the same increase performance % as the price % increases over less performing parts.

 

Anyway, I see cooler temps, can overclock more, have an almost silent PC (as opposed to somewhat loud on load), and it looks amazing. Also, I did not skimp on buying upgraded parts for my build, I chose everything I wanted because it is what I wanted. Maybe I don't have the best of the best, but I don't want or need best of the best. I just want something I can OC to similar levels in a near silent setup, and WC does that for me.

[red1776]

So...hows the benefits package over there at Noctua?

[Waco]

So...hows the benefits package over there at Noctua?

[olokul]

Has anyone looked at his computer specs in his profile

 

Cooler Master Cosmos II Tower $349.99

Enermax MaxRevo 1350W PSU $309.99

MSI Big Bang-XPower II Intel LGA 2011 X79 Mainboard $389

Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition Sandy Bridge-E 3.3GHz LGA 2011 CPU $1029

Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 6-Heatpipe CPU Heatsink $89.99

Corsair Dominator GT 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1866Mhz (PC3 15000) $499.99

XFX Double Dissapation Black Edition 2 x Radeon HD 7970 Video Cards in CrossFireX $469

RAID-0 Boot Set: Samsung 830 Series SSD 2 x 512GB Solid State Drive Array (1TB) $699

RAID-0 Data Set A: Western Digital RE4 2 x 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" 7200 RPM Hard Drive Array (4TB) $249.99

RAID-0 Data Set B: Western Digital RE4 2 x 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" 7200 RPM Hard Drive Array (4TB) $249.99

RAID-5 Archive Set: Western Digital Caviar Green 4 x 2TB 5400 RPM Drobo External Drive Array (6TB) $119.99

2 x Pioneer BDR-207DBKS Blu-ray Burners $89.99

 

Grand total from newegg at todays prices $6663.86 without tax or shipping

 

 

The cheapest thing on the list is the Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 6-Heatpipe CPU Heatsink.... I think he's trying to justify the air cooler becuse he ran out of money and couldn't get a water loop.

Edited July 5, 2012 by olokul

[airman]

Has anyone looked at his computer specs in his profile

 

zzzz

 

The cheapest thing on the list is the Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 6-Heatpipe CPU Heatsink.... I think he's trying to justify the air cooler becuse he ran out of money and couldn't get a water loop.

 

Hahaha....this.

[Waco]

Talk about misplaced priorities.

[xPETEZx]

LoL...

 

As much as I have to laugh that the Cooler is by far the cheapest component in his mega rig, I don't see anybody actually responding to his point.

 

Could it be because it raises some uncomfortable truths? Spending $400 on cooling just seems insane. Spend the $90 and get a better CPU to begin with, or just save the money for another part of the system. Its not like you can't OC with a decent air cooler. (so quit claiming the extended life/performance as if its exclusive to water)

Reminds me of those ricers boys with there cars, buy some junk Citroen Saxo for £400, and spend another £1000 on a stupid body kit and exhaust. Why not just get a better car to start with?

 

Lastly, the point made that you'd rather not have some massive tower hanging of the motherboard is rather like driving the devil out with Beelzebub. Ok, so you don't have a big cooler hanging off the board, but instead you have litres worth of water flowing around.

If you transport the system properly, a big cooler is no danger. If anything I would imagine the water loop does not travel too well either.