What to expect from Water Cooling

[coolmiester]

We get asked this question on a regular basis so thought i'd try a direct comparison between the two to find out the pro's and cons.

Starting off with two identical systems with the following spec...

Wavemaster Case
Lan Party UT NF3 250GB Motherboard
3000+ AMD 754 CPU (stock)
Gainward 6800Ultra (both set at 450 core - 1200 memory)
2x 512mb Ram
Tagan 480 PSU

Both PC's gave almost identical Sandra Benchmark results

Water Cooled Arithmetic Benchmark = 8383
Air Cooled Arithmetic Benchmark = 8354

The case on the right has the CPU and GPU water cooled using a Danger Den TDX and NV-68 blocks and the case on the right is totally stock air cooled and all tests where carried out with both sides of the case attached as they would normally be.





On powering both systems up the first thing that is strikingly obvious is the noise level. The water cooled system has 2x 120mm fans running very slow and quiet and is almost inaudible compared to the high speed CPU and GPU fans of the air cooled system.

Both systems were left running for an hour to come up to working idle temperature

Water Cooled CPU = 35 degrees (idle)
Water Cooled GPU = 43 degrees (idle)

Air Cooled CPU = 40 degrees (idle)
Air Cooled GPU = 53 degrees (idle)

Quite a difference considering the noise levels of both machines.

Anyway, time to start stressing both machines with a constant 15 minute run of NFS2 on each machine. Again the noise level increased on the air cooled system as the GPU fan kicked into high speed as soon as the 3d application was opened taking the noise level way over acceptable for every day use in my opinion where as the Water Cooled machine stayed practically silent.

As you can see from the results, even though the fans on the air cooled machine were running flat out it was struggling to keep temperatures down especially on the GPU.......the Water Cooled machine only increasing a couple of degrees over idle

Water Cooled CPU = 36 degrees (stressed)
Water Cooled GPU = 45 degrees (stressed)

Air Cooled CPU = 47 degrees (stressed)
Air Cooled GPU = 72 degrees (stressed)

To sum up i would have to say the water cooled system was far superior in the noise department and not having had an air cooled machine for some time now the noise level is way above what i expected and i don't think i could tolerate that day in day out especially if it were running 24/7

The temperatures speak for themselves really. The Air Cooled temperatures fluctuate quite a bit between different applications along with the noise from the fans which i found really annoying where as the temperatures of Water Cooled machine stayed much more stable which i would imagine would equate to more stable and better overclocking.

The only slight down side to Water Cooling is that you may need to periodically change the liquid maybe once or twice a year but most would argue that this is in fact a plus point and the fun of Water Cooling is the constant tinkering and the enjoyment that brings.

A good and well thought out Water Cooled system is easily as safe as an Air Cooled system and apart from the odd water change, can run trouble free, silent and stable for years........the investment is easily justified by the silence, stability and WOW factor in my opinion!

[coolmiester]

I decided to take this one step further as it was pointed out that there are better air cooling solutions on the market than those that come as stock on the CPU and GFX card.

I got my hands on what i'm told is one of the best CPU coolers the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 and for GFX the latest offering from Zalman the Zalman VF700-CU Quiet Copper VGA Cooler.

I also purchased the Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Cooler but this wouldn't fit due to the placement of the chipset on the DFI board so it was left with the stock heat sink.





The Zalman GFX Cooler came with the option to run the fan at either 12volt or 5volt so eager to see how well this would cool the card over the stock Gainward cooling i decided to run it at 12volt so left the system to idle for one an hour as on the previous test.

What i will say is that this cooler is no quieter than the Gainward stock cooler and given that the fan runs full speed all the time whether in 3d application or not as its linked straight to a Molex connector and doesn't give you the choice to run slower when just idling so its flat out all the time.

I'm not able to tell if the CPU Freezer 64 is any quieter than the stock HSF as it can't be heard over the Zalman.........inaudible this certainly isn't!

Anyway, after an hour of running idle the following results were taken.

Air Cooled CPU with Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 = 40 degrees (idle)
Air Cooled GPU with Zalman VF700-CU @ 12volt = 52 degrees (idle)

Now then........i've heard good reports on these two coolers but from my own experience the Arctic Freezer 64 is giving the same results as the stock HSF and the Zalman VF700-CU is showing 1 degree better than the stock Gainward cooler and that is with the fan running flat out at 12volt which is anything but silent.

As before i ran NFS2 for 15 minutes to stress both CPU and GPU with the following results...

Air Cooled CPU with Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 = 46 degrees (stressed)
Air Cooled GPU with Zalman VF700-CU @ 12volt = 63 degrees (stressed)

CPU only marginally better over stock with a 1 degree decrease but this time the GPU was much better with a 9 degree decrease over stock.

And finally i tried the Zalman VF700-CU at 5volt which again although slightly quieter than running at 12volt, i still can't hear the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64, so even with two of apparently best air cooling solutions they fail in both departments against the water cooled Wavemaster.

i think the following figures were inevitable TBH

Air Cooled GPU with Zalman VF700-CU @ 5volt = 55 degrees (idle)
Air Cooled GPU with Zalman VF700-CU @ 5volt = 70 degrees (stressed)

I had high hopes with both these coolers so to say i'm disappointed with the results in both noise and cooling ability is an understatement.

Luckily i have been in a position to try all of these coolers first hand and share the results so personally it has to be said the water cooling is by far the superior option in my experience.

The air cooled Wavemaster has been running for some hours now and going by noise alone, i honestly could tell whether it was the stock cooling or the new cooling.........all i know is its getting switched off.

[coolmiester]

A couple of graphs to make things more easy on the eye and gray matter...

First CPU


...and then GPU

[-Erik-]

This quite convinced me that watercooling is the best way to keep my overclocked cpu steady. Guess my new pc had got to have watercooling .. else that thing will fry with in the first month

[MDK]

Thats a top notch comparison very handy



morgan.

[GodsUnicorn]

Quiet, cool and stable, thats what I have gained from water cooling.

[Azz-T-]

Great... this alone will persuad most people to the benefits of watercooling.

Minimal temperature change is prefered because it reduces temperature induced stress fractures on major components and therefore increasing usage life.

Small companies that require a server should have it watercooled as it will remain more stable and if the airflow through the system can be reduced by mounting RAD's externaly then dust that clogs up the works will no longer be a problem.

In my last job most of the systems from companies with blown CPU's was a result of the heatsink being clogged with dust and because the system is placed on the floor backed up against a wall or under a desk no one notices the problem untill the computer "Just didnt work this morning" phrase comes to light.

[james]

Had a chap on some other forums cursing water cooling as a waste of money after he spent ~£200 on a half-decent set up and was getting temps higher than his previous air setup, I couldn't actually bring myself to reply.

[Azz-T-]

temps stay more stable and you have less variation with watercooling.

[blunty]

I'm convinced now that i am moving to watercool, i will probaby buy when i make my new case.