My First Water-cooled Pc

[Mx.Drago]

?Am happy I got this together last summer for a good price. Runs cool even on the highest settings for Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Tome Raider.

[tracy_j]

I have never had one watercooled. I have occasionally thought about watercooling some of my electronic circuits as some power regulators can run quite hot. I wonder what ongoing maintenance a watercooled PC system has. Is the waterlevel checked occasionally or is it a sealed system? With our desktop PC, now a good number of years old. I do open the case from time to time and clean out the processor heatsink with a vacuum. In the past I have found it so clogged with dust that I had to unclip the fan over it and use a stiff brush on the fins whilst vacuuming. Heat is a killer with electronics so keeping things clean and cool is good, particularly for processing speed.

 

It's looking good! ?

 

Tracy

[SaraAW]

I've looked into watercooling several times, but always end up utilizing an oversize tower to ensure lots of room for airflow and putting in lots of fans to keep the air moving. It's just about time for a new rig, my last build is 5 years old.  However, I am now weighing the costs of a new tower vs. some transition stuff.  I don't have as much time to game and I haven't been doing any major editing (music or video) in some time, so I am not sure spending on the rig is the best use of resources.  If I do though, any tips or recommendations for a WC system?

[Mx.Drago]

I recommend watching Linus Tech Tips and JayzTwoCents on YouTube computer building, especially a Water-cooled system build. They are wonderful computer tech groups now that have great tutorials to educate on past, present, computer tech and how to build your rig.

Building a water cooled system is fun but can be expensive first time around because you need to buy somethings like tube fittings, you normally can reuse after your first build you're trying to pre-plan how your rig will fill and let out water that's to distribute the water from reservoir tube, to water-pump, into you water block(s) on your GPU and/or CPU into to the radiator(s) back to the reservoir. Your enemy are for the most part air bubbles that can get trapped in your system and prevent water from circulating properly. No water circulation, leads to poor heat redistribution and can damage your pump. You can get rid of bubbles by burping the extra air out by either,  gently tipping your computer and tap the bubbles out, or run your pump on high to push the bubbles out. You do need to check water levels but it's not something to panick over. If you build it right and picked the right parts, should last at least 6 months to a year without cleaning before you should clear the water out and refill with fresh water tubes.

Best to watch the Youtube channels I recommended in the beginning. It's a lot but I right now am running a fully modded Witch 3 and Monster Hunter on the highest settings and my rig at most hits 80 degrees C. I originally wanted to run mostly Photoshop and my partner need Protools for audio work. We might need new memory stick later and a different GPU but got a 1070 for a good price.

 

[SaraAW]

Thanks, i'll check them out.  Have a great day! Hugs!

[Mx.Drago]

3 hours ago, SaraAW said:

I've looked into watercooling several times, but always end up utilizing an oversize tower to ensure lots of room for airflow and putting in lots of fans to keep the air moving. It's just about time for a new rig, my last build is 5 years old.  However, I am now weighing the costs of a new tower vs. some transition stuff.  I don't have as much time to game and I haven't been doing any major editing (music or video) in some time, so I am not sure spending on the rig is the best use of resources.  If I do though, any tips or recommendations for a WC system?

They now sell towers with water-cooling built in now. You should base your system on what you plan to do with it. Times are changing, especially for gaming and it can get dumb expensive if your not informed on the parts you're throwing in the thing. Once you figure what you want to do with your rig then you can decide what to give on cost wise. If you are looking for a simple pure air flow system, I suggest Noctua and Corsair fans. They are the best for quiet cooling cuz fans can get loud if you're making a habit of cooking your system.

[Mx.Drago]

28 minutes ago, SaraAW said:

Thanks, i'll check them out.  Have a great day! Hugs!

No problem. I wish you the best of luck with your next build. Be safe and well :Hugs:

 

[Robin.C]

That's really cool. Mine is not nearly so cool.

Just a TT Urban tower modified to take a Kraken 260mm at the top for the CPU and a custom mount to place two Kraken 140mm fans in the bottom for the two RX380 GPUs setup in crossfire, it runs a 35" curved monitor at high res for Assetto Corsa with no lag.

Here in Australia the summers can really hit the temps, so much fun can be had without thermal throttling ?

Wish I'd taken a picture of it when I built it, oh well.

 

Hugs