Water cooled or not water cooled computer survey
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Thread: Water cooled or not water cooled computer survey

  1. #1

    Water cooled or not water cooled computer survey

    I am interested in hearing from those that use the Water Cooled CPU systems.

    I am also interested in finding out anyone that has a recent computer (all in one tower) that is air cooled and the specs on it
    and how it preforms. I know there are water cooled and air cooled computers out there that will support P3D V4 series and interested
    in hearing what works for you as far as P3D V4 is concerned. Manly interested in best bang for the buck ($$$)

    I am doing a search and comparison on what types of newer computers (tower) and how the Intel I series and the
    AMD Ryzen fair with P3D V4 series. I want a tower that will support P3D V4 and later and updates in the future.
    The Mobo would have to allow 3 or more PCI cards and handle more then one internal HD. Have a few USB 3/2 ports as well.
    I know the water cooled runs quieter and cooler but I would think down the road corrosion would be a factor or leakage inside
    the boards.


    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Gray Eagle, both my gaming machine and internet machine are built by Falcon North-west and feature water cooled CPUs. As part of the warranty package they guarantee no leaks for 5 years. Both are their Mach V brand machines.

    "Hornets by mandate, Tomcats by choice!"

  3. #3
    Water cooled processors on both of my computers (one Intel and one AMD). Water cooled GTX1080 GPU on main computer.

  4. #4
    Used Liquid cooling on everything I've built for over 10 years and never had any problems at all.
    I'm using a Corsair Obsidian 900D Full Tower at the moment as it was the most flexible box that I could get without going to silly prices.
    It will fit 9 hard drives and 3 optical drives along with 4 graphic cards.......
    "Illegitimum non carborundum".

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  5. #5
    I dabbled a few years ago, but gave up after a fried motherboard and expensive graphics card (due to faulty leaking components rather than my assembly). Plus wrestling with a truly dreadful piece of kit called a Zalman Reserator, guaranteed to drive you insane. Once I found out that it was Zalman's own (expensive) coolant that was crystallizing in the blocks and clogging up the whole kit, then it was back to good old fans for me !

    I'm sure modern professionally built kits are fine, but just remember the old maxim that water and electricity are not made to live happily together..........

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by lefty View Post

    I'm sure modern professionally built kits are fine, but just remember the old maxim that water and electricity are not made to live happily together..........
    I tend to agree....

  7. #7
    Use sealed-loop coolers. 6 years later, used on 2 different computers, one of my Corsair coolers is still going strong.

  8. #8
    Member sixstrings5859's Avatar
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    Air cooled all the way. I keep the room cool so never had a problem with excessive heat anyway. Just buy as many fans your case allows and a very good fan cooled CPU cooler setup and you will be fine ,unless you live in a desert. Saving up to build a new rig and i'm still going air cooled. A full tower is a good place to start as they run cooler than a mid-tower.Had friends with liquid cooled rigs and ALL had problems later on.

  9. #9
    I've considered liquid cooling, but the specter of a leak keeps me in the air cooled crowd.
    My computer: ABS Gladiator Gaming PC featuring an Intel 10700F CPU, EVGA CLC-240 AIO cooler (dead fans replaced with Noctua fans), Asus Tuf Gaming B460M Plus motherboard, 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM, 1 TB NVMe SSD, EVGA RTX3070 FTW3 video card, dead EVGA 750 watt power supply replaced with Antec 900 watt PSU.

  10. #10
    Most of the "Gaming" computers I saw were water cooled equipped. I wonder if I could find a non-gaming computer (pre-built) with plenty enough power to run P3D V4 series
    without the slide show effects. I've managed to get my moneys worth out of all the computers I've had until they were slowed down by all the power demanding code (bloat) that
    the flight sims had. I go back to the Tandy 1000 (with no HD) with 5 1/4 floppy drives and could play 1st flight sim on it.

    Now It seems like one almost needs a Cray computer to play latest from P3D. (just kidding)

    Price wise I am almost inclined to look at the non-gaming pre-builts with enough oomph to run current P3D - an is expandible - i.e. enough PCI slots and CPU that both
    could be upgraded without starting from scratch. I know back in the day and it still holds true today - this stuff is planned obsolescence - buy it today and tomorrow, take it
    to the dump.
    Last edited by gray eagle; January 4th, 2019 at 11:24.

  11. #11
    It depends on the climate where you live. If winters get really cold, I would advise against them. A friend of mine has had problems with liquid cooling during exceptionally cold winters and it eventually borked his motheboard and cpu.

    With the speeds that are offered by the current processors, overclocking isn't really needed, so the CPU will stay cool with good air cooling. Oh and good air cooling is quiet too.

    As for CPU's, I personally don't even consider buying AMD. Intel all the way!!

    of course, this is just my opinion.

    Priller

  12. #12

    Sounds of Freedom

    There is nothing like the sound of 6 case fans and a humungous CPU fan spinning at Max RPM to make you feel like your B-36 is ready for take-off!

  13. #13
    You know you have enough cooling fans in a tower when a 70lbs Dell aluminum cased tower comes to a hover when all the fans are going...

    Sorry...
    Pat☺
    Fly Free, always!
    Sgt of Marines
    USMC, 10 years proud service.
    Inactive now...

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by PhantomTweak View Post
    You know you have enough cooling fans in a tower when a 70lbs Dell aluminum cased tower comes to a hover when all the fans are going...

    Sorry...
    Pat☺
    Ya know.... if they were Air Force fans, the tower would probably fly.

  15. #15
    If we could get our towers to achieve take off, we would not need Flight simulator.

    Of course I would have died years ago from one of my famous landings.

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  16. #16
    Charter Member 2022 srgalahad's Avatar
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    I don't run P3D, but FSXA is fully loaded with junk. It runs on:

    Thermaltake Commander G41 case
    Intel I7-6700K 4.2 GHz
    ASUS Z170 Aura MB
    Corsair Vengeance D4 2X8GB 3200m
    2 512 GB SSD
    2 1Tb 7200 rpm HD (RAID)
    ASUS GeForce GTX1070 STRIX OC 8Gb video
    CoolerMaster 212 LED CPU fan

    Last Summer when the room temps reached 39*C I couldn't hear the fans run ( but could see them working) There was more residual heat from the 3 LED monitors than the computer and the 16" room fan was far louder than the cooling system. Good airflow in the case makes a world of difference - like routing the cables along the backplane rather than all across the case's airflow. I finally heard my fans running the other day when I leaned my ear against the front air vent as I retrieved a cable I'd dropped. The smaller case was a compromise but I could install a 2nd GTX-1070 if I swapped one of the SSDs for a M2 drive. With a larger case that would be no issue.

    All my long-term storage is done on external HDs so the four drives are sufficient.
    Once upon a time I swore by liquid cooling, but now I wonder whether the extra layer of complexity (of course NOTHING EVER breaks) is worth it and this is by far the coolest-running system I've ever had.

    "To some the sky is the limit. To others it is home" anon.
    “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” -Albert Einstein


  17. #17
    I just built a new system with EVGA CLC 280 CPU cooler with 5 yr warranty. First time water cooling for me and I'm impressed!

    Love the Intel 9000 series processors and how easliy they overclock to 5.0 GHz on all cores with the Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Pro. Also with the 970 EVO 250 GB NVMe for Windows + programs and a 960 EVO 1TB for gaming its supper quiet and blazingly fast.

    Oh and the the powersupply draws fresh air thru its own case filter... another plus. Also love the light show!



    "Time is God's way of keeping everything from happening at once"





  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Priller View Post
    It depends on the climate where you live. Priller
    Very good point.
    We live in a relatively warm Winter which would be viable for AC only but during the Summer temperatures hit 40C+, not exactly in my location but enough for me to use Liquid Cooling.
    I used Noctua air coolers on a couple of smaller 'customer' units I built a few years ago and even as an interim measure on a backup box for myself. (I forgot to mention those)
    Noctua are amazingly efficient and quiet, they're also huge.
    Best to build your own PC from the ground up and fit it to your needs, while many of the 'Commercial' builds do the business they often come with a 'Warranty Void if Case Opened' disclaimer and are sealed.
    The last 'Built' box I purchased was last Century......!
    "Illegitimum non carborundum".

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  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Priller View Post
    It depends on the climate where you live. If winters get really cold, I would advise against them. A friend of mine has had problems with liquid cooling during exceptionally cold winters and it eventually borked his motheboard and cpu.

    With the speeds that are offered by the current processors, overclocking isn't really needed, so the CPU will stay cool with good air cooling. Oh and good air cooling is quiet too.

    As for CPU's, I personally don't even consider buying AMD. Intel all the way!!

    of course, this is just my opinion.

    Priller
    The climate where I live in Australia is why I just purchased my first system with watercooling. My previous system coped pretty well for the past 7 years with air cooling only, but my CPU did run very hot. It was an i7-2700k OC'd to 4.5GHz, and would run up to around 80 degrees celcius and higher. The hot summers here don't help. Yesterday we had temps up to 45 degrees celcius.

    I actually just set up my new PC today, and now I have an i9-9900k, Asus ROG Strix 2080 Ti, a "THERMALTAKE LEVEL 20 GT RGB EDITION" case and "THERMALTAKE FLOE RIING RGB 280TT PREMIUM EDITION AIO CPU COOLER". All up the case has 8 fans running including the 3 in the RTX 2080 Ti. I bought the parts separately through a place called Centrecom in Australia, and they built the PC for me, and I actually purchased 3 more 120mm fans when I selected all the parts, but the guy building it said he couldn't fit them in . I wanted to make sure my cooling was good.
    "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there".

  20. #20
    Scott, did you check out Scorptec?
    I'm not into pre-builts but they do a pretty mean gaming box.
    40C+ yesterday was only about 30C- on the Peninsula overlooking Bass Strait........

    https://www.scorptec.com.au/
    "Illegitimum non carborundum".

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  21. #21
    Lucky Guy! Yeah I went to Seymour for the day (Central Victoria) to visit my mum and sister and it got up to 45. It was about that in Melbourne too, but thankfully a cool change came through later in the day. At one stage my car (outside temp display) actually said 47!!

    I think I had a quick look at Scorptec. I was looking around for quite a while, probably 3 months. Originally I was waiting for GR-Tek to upgrade their builds to i9-9900k and RTX 2080 Ti, but they didn't for ages, and they also have limited options with components. I got my last build from them, and it it still going strong 7 years later, but this time unfortunately they didn't have what I wanted. I was then looking at PC Case gear, and they had 90% of what I wanted, but I really wanted the OC version of the Asus ROG 2080 Ti. They did have it one day, but then not the next. Apparently there is/was a severe shortage and delay with many RTX series cards, which is amazing considering the cost of them. I was waiting on them for weeks to change their build back to what they had originally been.

    Then I tried Centrecom, and they actually allow you to choose/buy anything in the store, and they will build the PC from what you choose. I originally chose the Asus ROG Strix 2080 Ti OC, but then they had issues getting them in also. Eventually I opted for the non OC version. My reasoning was that I wanted my new rig up and running, and also it runs a few degrees cooler, going back to the climate here in Aus. I spent a LOT, but I got what I paid for and hopefully this PC lasts me another 7 years.

    Cheers,
    "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there".

  22. #22
    Thank you all for your inputs and suggestions.

  23. #23

    My parts list

    WD Black 2TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD2003FZEX

    Intel Core i7-8700 Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.2 GHz (4.6 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) 65W BX80684I78700 Desktop Processor Intel UHD Graphics 630

    Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-550FX 550W 80+ Gold Intel ATX 12V Full Modular 120mm FDB Fan Compact 140 mm Size Power Supply

    G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 (PC4 21300) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-2666C15D-16GVR

    ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 DirectX 12 ZT-P10620A-10M 6GB 192-Bit GDDR5X PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card

    Microsoft Windows 10 Professional - Full Retail Version 32 & 64-Bit (Download)

    MSI Z370 PC PRO LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z370 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard

    I looked at some pre builts and think the components (parts) would be of better quality.

    After all is assembled then I can grab a copy of latest P3d and hopefully, catch up (for awhile)

    Hope most of my addons will convert - some of my addons have P3D V4 install options.

  24. #24
    Retired SOH Administrator Ferry_vO's Avatar
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    PC components these days also seem to require less power than a few years ago. My new RTX2070 has a PSU requirement of a minimum of 550 watts, while a couple of years ago 750-1000 watts was required for high end systems.
    The cooler I used on my previous CPU works fine on my current one too, despite being faster and having more cores.

    A good air flow through the case and preferably a slightly negative pressure (More air out than in.) is important to keep everything cool.
    Intel i9-13900 Raptor Lake , Be Quiet! Dark rock slim cooler, 32 Gb Corsair DDR5 RAM, MSI Z790 Tomahawk motherboard, Asus RTX 4060Ti 16Gb, Thermaltake 1050 Watt PSU, Windows 11 64-bit 1 m2, 4 SSD, 2 HDD.

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferry_vO View Post
    PC components these days also seem to require less power than a few years ago. My new RTX2070 has a PSU requirement of a minimum of 550 watts, while a couple of years ago 750-1000 watts was required for high end systems.
    The cooler I used on my previous CPU works fine on my current one too, despite being faster and having more cores.

    A good air flow through the case and preferably a slightly negative pressure (More air out than in.) is important to keep everything cool.
    Thanks for the HU.. good info

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