Solved Fan Cooling Vs Water Cooling

[shozum]

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.

I wish I could find the video again of a guy who placed his entire system in a fish tank, filled it with motor oil, and started it up. WAS AMAZING!

 

[madtownidiot]

It will work with any non-solvent, non-corrosive fluid that conducts heat but not electricity.. I was thinking transformer oil would be a better choice. It's very thin and carries heat better than water

 

[dannyboy2005]

Water (Like i have my self)

I have a crappy Corsair mini watercooling with a rad you mount to the case with a fan or what ever it is. It did cross my mind when i purchased it if it would leak but i haven't seen any threads of this failing.

To me, air contains dust, which i hate hoovering out a heat sink. Plus i always think your just sucking in warm air and extinguishing hot air. Where as you have a Rad and this can cool the water very quickly.

Theres a video on youtube somewhere of What is better.

 

[Trucidation]

I thought you guys in temperate climates shouldn't have to worry about extreme cooling? Even here in the tropics with max humidity, room temperate in the late 30s, and the whole house basically feeling like one gigantic oven, air cooling has been sufficient for my machines. The temps are moderate-high, yes, but with a constant airflow I'm not really worried. I do have a small airconditioned room but I only use it occasionally as I'm not really a fan of letting it run all day (I'm slightly green / a cheapskate). Don't really have much OCing though, I generally splurge on high end specs in the first place so I leave things at stock.

 

[madtownidiot]

It's a little different when you have a machine that consumes 1500 watts at it's full capacity. That's enough heat to make an otherwise cold room warm enough to sleep comfortably

 

[Crazymike]

It's a little different when you have a machine that consumes 1500 watts at it's full capacity. That's enough heat to make an otherwise cold room warm enough to sleep comfortably

Agreed... Its 2 degrees C outside, and 17 in the house, and 26 in my computer/living room.

 

[Ciara]

Are not fans used to cool the radiators in water cooling

 

[madtownidiot]

Yes they are. However liquid cooling will always be more effective than direct air cooling because liquid coolant absorbs 100s of times more heat than the same volume of air to reach the same temperature

 

[Wishmaster]

I agree, Water Cooling is the most effective cooling Solution.

However, I would also say Air Cooling is more than enough for most everyone, even overclockers.
Many of the modern Air Coolers perform very well.


I think Water Cooling is one of those things thats simply not for everyone.

It's more suited to the hard core enthusiast thats always tinkering, adjusting, and playing with very heavy Overclocks.
Not to mention, Water Cooling takes a bit more care in setup and maintenence than Air Cooling does.
Not that this is a bad thing, just that Water Cooling requires a bit of extra attention. Which isn't really a problem for those that enjoy this type of stuff.


So my answer would be:
Most Effective: Water
Recommended for Most: Air

For these reasons, my vote goes to Air.

Just my 2cents.