Solved Fan Cooling Vs Water Cooling

[YTBOY83]

What do you think is best Fan Cooling Or Water Cooling????????

 

[HonorGamer]

Air cooling because i believe that water cooling is a pain to deal with. just have some extra fans, and your good to go.

 

[YTBOY83]

I read this:

Fans work and so does liquid but think about it electronics and water don't mix. If you have a leak or some issue with connections you can destroy the entire machine. If a fan goes bad it just goes bad and maybe it goes bad and you lose a processor. Water can take out the whole board and supply and all. If you do it its expensive and needs to be done by someone who knows what they are doing unless they will pay to replace everything. Liquid has a lot of advantages being that it will have a constant movement of liquid across the components which will reduce heat tremendously. The price is a bit steep for a good system but if you are a gamer or designer of some sort then it is pretty good. If you get these new fans with the cooling pipes to disperse heat and the fan regulators to adjust for the environment. Thermaltake is pretty good with them. I have a home server and i put a Thermaltake Blue ORB in the machine its massive but my machine hardly gets hot at all. The new processors will get hot quickly because of their capabilities. If you have fans/coolers on each component, intake fans on the case, and and exhaust fans on the case so you can remove the hot air from the case so it isn't just swirling around. Intake should be on the front and the side but at least the front. Exhaust should be 2 fans on the back without being butted up to something. If you have the workstation in a closed compartment or area where it isn't opened then it will cause you machine to overheat quickly. I used to run mine in a desk cabinet and i could open it and cook eggs. I recommend having it out in the open off the floor with nothing at least 8+inches from the intake/exhaust fans.

 

[HonorGamer]

Thats an extremely good point. With that in there i definitely go with fans XD

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Fans and fins can only do so much. Water and alternate methods run the whole gambit from wild external radiators to small sealed systems like my H50. If your concerned that a leak could happen and you have low or no sights on OC'g then go with fans. Water is maturing into a affordable tour de force for the extreme gamer but great thought must be given to the rewards vs risk.

 

[pparks1]

Water cooling is generally better as it's more effective. However, it has serious drawbacks like complexity, and cost.

For me personally, I'm all air cooling. And I typically just stick with whatever the case comes with (in the case of my Antec P182...it's 3 x 120mm case fans). I use the stock cooler on my Q9550 quad core and I run a small overclock (from 2.83ghz to 3.20ghz). Everything is just fine with that setup. Heat has never been an issue.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Sometimes less is more. And sometimes more is more. lol
One other point is fans draw in lots of dirt and dust so regular cleaning of the fins, fans and components is a must.

 

[YTBOY83]

Sometimes less is more. And sometimes more is more. lol
One other point is fans draw in lots of dirt and dust so regular cleaning of the fins, fans and components is a must.

Ha ha, that totally sucks when i have to do that, but compressed air helps lol. Wonder if Deodorant would work lol.

 

[madtownidiot]

Water cooling isn't.. unless you're foolish enough to use water as a cooling medium.. if there's a leak it can destroy your system. It's safer to use a silicone based transformer coolant or even cooking oil

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Excellent point it should actually be called liquid cooling as most all in the know use a non conductant liquid.

 

[pparks1]

One other point is fans draw in lots of dirt and dust so regular cleaning of the fins, fans and components is a must.

Tis why I insist on running cases with air filters.

This is what my CPU fan looked like and my rear case fan on my Antec P182 after 8 months of use, sitting on a carpeted floor in my basement; And before anybody asks, no I did not clean it out with air first. I only cleaned my air filters in my case at the beginning of each month.

 

[YTBOY83]

One other point is fans draw in lots of dirt and dust so regular cleaning of the fins, fans and components is a must.

Tis why I insist on running cases with air filters.

This is what my CPU fan looked like and my rear case fan on my Antec P182 after 8 months of use, sitting on a carpeted floor in my basement; And before anybody asks, no I did not clean it out with air first. I only cleaned my air filters in my case at the beginning of each month.

Does not even look that bad man.

 

[pparks1]

One other point is fans draw in lots of dirt and dust so regular cleaning of the fins, fans and components is a must.

Tis why I insist on running cases with air filters.

This is what my CPU fan looked like and my rear case fan on my Antec P182 after 8 months of use, sitting on a carpeted floor in my basement; And before anybody asks, no I did not clean it out with air first. I only cleaned my air filters in my case at the beginning of each month.

Does not even look that bad man.

I know...it's because I run a case with air filters and that garbage doesn't make it into my PC.

That's my point..with good filters...you don't have to clean regularly...as it doesn't get dirty.

 

[HonorGamer]

It also help if your case comes with some fans. Sure, that will mean you need a tad bit bigger power supply, but it is all worth it in the end. Especially if you have a high-end server, or gaming computer.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

pparks1,
Very impressive, I use filters as well but still get a build up after 3-4 months. I think a lot of component issue are directly connected to dust build up and heat, I hear enough dust can actually conduct current.

 

[madtownidiot]

....I hear enough dust can actually conduct current.

You heard correctly... Not the dust itself, but moisture from condensation

 

[Crazymike]

Air is the better way to go. Like others said, dust is about the only problem. If you want to overclock on air, I would definitely recommend the thermaltake frio if you can fit it in your case. It's cheap and keeps my cpu less than 45c under load at 4ghz.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I believe there is no right or wrong way comparing todays sealed water system with air cooling. It all boils down to a person preference. I was air and now I prefer water or liquid cooling. The non sealed liquid systems are the best of the best, but best if left to true enthusiast as they require vast amounts of installation and maintenance knowledge which slots nicely with extreme OC'g and gaming !

 

[shozum]

Eh...My cousin has ruined 2 complete systems from his liquid cooling either rupturing or failing and he had both 'professionally' installed. One ruptured when he went to swap out his GPU and ended up nudging a hose the wrong way. The 2nd time he left his PC on during the summer with his door closed from the central air and it just plain overheated, caused the PSU to spark and shorted out the MoBo, all his RAM, the CPU, everything lol. This last system he bought he went with liquid cooling again and I'm just waiting to add another story to the mix.
Get a good, big, open case. Several nice big ole fans. A V8 fan for the CPU and you should be set. I don't ever plan to run liquid cooling in something I sunk a grand worth of hardware into. EVER.

 

[madtownidiot]

Someday I'm going to try to build an immersed system..overclocked dual socket mobo and triple or quad SLI in the smallest home built box that will hold it, pump the coolant through a heavy duty transmission cooler radiator to keep the system at or just above room temperature... might even double as a space heater for the 6 months of winter we get every year where I'm at. 1500 watts is 1500 watts whether it's going through heating coils or silicone. That's a lot of heat to get rid of.