Hello world!! I currently fly with FSX, with a 4.5 year old PC, for example my cpu is a E8400 @ 3 ghz, stock speed, which I tried to overclock to 4 ghz, but it wouldn't stay there, and would revert itself to 3 ghz. I know I could have gone less farther, like 3.5, or 3.7, but I got kinda tired of testing and testing, so I am keeping the cpu at stock speed for now.

 

In the next few months, I am thinking about building myself a new PC, with a 3rd gen I7, like the 3770, or a Sandy like the 2700, and overclocking with liquid cooling instead of air cooling.

 

As of today, what is a very good cooling solution on the market for liquid cooling and what case would that require? It seems most liquid coolers are mounted on the top part of the case, with usually two fans, and not every case allows that.

 

Well, I am going to start building the PC not before next spring, so I have a lot of time to start looking around and ask for suggestions. Besides, if I am not mistaken, 2013, being an odd year, should bring the new gen processors from Intel, following their tick-tock policy, and we might get a faster and more performing cpu than the ones we have today. Suggestions are welcome, regards,

 

Enrico :wink:

Hi Enrico,

 

Since you say that you are wanting to build a system in 2013, I would just wait a few months for Haswell to come around.

 

Haswell is likely going to be a much better OCer than Haswell. - Intel has also said that they are working on making this one better for enthusiasts by offering many new tweaking/overclocking features. (Integrated VRM, Isolated BCLK Adjustments)

 

Also, with every "Tock" comes better clock for clock performance than the previous generation. With Haswell, we should see about a 15-20% improvement in performance over IB at the same clock.

Ben: Haswell probably won't be available for another 9-12 months, sadly.

 

Enrico: custom liquid cooling can deliver greater cooling performance than air cooling or closed-loop liquid cooling but it costs a good deal more and takes far more time to assemble and test. I like the temperatures my liquid cooled system gives me, especially for my GPU but I haven't really been able to overclock much further as a result. I could hit 4.7GHz before liquid cooling and now I can hit just over 4.9GHz while staying below the maximum suggested operating voltage. If you really want to do it, I suggest you take a look at one of the pre-compiled XSPC liquid cooling kits which you still need to assemble yourself, that is what I did (I added a GPU water block and swapped out the pump/reservoir for a different model though). I went with this kit to start with: http://www.performan...oducts_id=33549 You can find less expensive kits, I went with this one because I wanted some more premium features like nice fittings and a high quality CPU water block that you don't get with the cheaper kits.

 

As for which case to get, that depends on how large of a case you'd like and whether or not you're ok with mounting hardware externally (I had to mount my radiator on top of the case and modify my case in order to do it).

You will see a nice improvement with the upgrade but don't expect miracles.

 

For case, I like quiet so that's what I got. Antec P180, not sure what the current quiet case king is however.

 

For water cooler, any of the Corsair H series coolers will do you just fine. I went H50 and it is near silent and cools just fine at my oc setting.

 

Ben: Haswell probably won't be available for another 9-12 months, sadly.

 

Erm.... Where is the info...?

 

Almost EVERY source I have seen says release in spring. March or April.

Ben: Haswell probably won't be available for another 9-12 months, sadly. Enrico: custom liquid cooling can deliver greater cooling performance than air cooling or closed-loop liquid cooling but it costs a good deal more and takes far more time to assemble and test. I like the temperatures my liquid cooled system gives me, especially for my GPU but I haven't really been able to overclock much further as a result. I could hit 4.7GHz before liquid cooling and now I can hit just over 4.9GHz while staying below the maximum suggested operating voltage. If you really want to do it, I suggest you take a look at one of the pre-compiled XSPC liquid cooling kits which you still need to assemble yourself, that is what I did (I added a GPU water block and swapped out the pump/reservoir for a different model though). I went with this kit to start with: http://www.performan...oducts_id=33549 You can find less expensive kits, I went with this one because I wanted some more premium features like nice fittings and a high quality CPU water block that you don't get with the cheaper kits. As for which case to get, that depends on how large of a case you'd like and whether or not you're ok with mounting hardware externally (I had to mount my radiator on top of the case and modify my case in order to do it).

 

Good morning Techguy, and many thanks for the link. Speaking of which, I have got two more questions: do liquid coolers, like the ones you linked, also include GPU cooling sets, or do they come separate? Second question: if I buy one of those in the link, is everything I need included in the kit?

 

Enrico

 

Erm.... Where is the info...?

 

Almost EVERY source I have seen says release in spring. March or April.

 

Hi Ben Cap, as a matter of fact, I heard the new CPU will hit the stores between March and June 2013, so around late Spring, as you said. One more reason to build the PC not before next Spring. Thanks for the info, let's hope the new CPU will do as promised, regards,

 

Enrico

 

Enrico: custom liquid cooling can deliver greater cooling performance than air cooling or closed-loop liquid cooling

 

I mentioned this idea before but I don't think it was taken seriously. Can I ask your opinion: 'what if' one took their closed loop solution and placed the radiator in a water bath, maybe even w/ a few ice cubes thrown in for good measure. I know heat transfers better from metal to water than to air. What do you think, as long as you didn't put such cold water in that condensation would occur on line would this offer better cooling than normal closed loop cooling?

I know heat transfers better from metal to water than to air. What do you think, as long as you didn't put such cold water in that condensation would occur on line would this offer better cooling than normal closed loop cooling?

 

How practical is this solution? You would have to keep the water cooled and it just seems like a hassle. I personally think the idea of modding a small fridge is better.

 

If you could drill two holes through the door of a 'baby-fridge', you could very easily put multiple large radiators inside and keep your CPU at sub-zero. - You would just need a dehumidifier + postive pressure to be sure you don't short any components on the board.

Erm.... Where is the info...?

 

Almost EVERY source I have seen says release in spring. March or April.

 

It could be as early as March/April according to information that was release in July, but according to more recent information I've seen a launch timeframe that extends well into the latter half of the year depending upon the model of chip in question. At last month's Intel Developer Forum, Intel spokesman and VP of the PC Client Group Kirk Skaugen made a remark that "There will be more innovation in the next 12 to 18 months in the PC industry than we've seen in the past decade" and to me this indicates that Haswell might not be just around the corner quite yet. I sourced that quote from this article. Now, I could be reading too much into that statement so I won't say that "Haswell definitely won't be out in the 2nd quarter of 2013", just that there's a fair chance it won't be ready as early as many of us would hope.

 

Good morning Techguy, and many thanks for the link. Speaking of which, I have got two more questions: do liquid coolers, like the ones you linked, also include GPU cooling sets, or do they come separate? Second question: if I buy one of those in the link, is everything I need included in the kit?

 

Enrico

 

Enrico, the GPU water block is extra, as are the fittings and possibly additional tubing needed to install it. You can expect to pay between another $100-$150 for this depending on which parts you choose. I went with XSPC's Razor GPU block and 2 additional fittings of the same type I was using in the rest of the loop and that ended up costing about another $100, if I recall correctly.

 

Everything you need to install a CPU water cooling loop is included in the link I provided, except for the liquid itself. Simple distilled water is the preferred liquid.

Hi Techguy, and many thanks for your reply. So, at the end, it seems I am looking at between $200-$300, more or less.

The statement you quote from Kirk Skaugen is extremely interesting, we'll see...you take care,

 

Enrico

Now, I could be reading too much into that statement so I won't say that "Haswell definitely won't be out in the 2nd quarter of 2013", just that there's a fair chance it won't be ready as early as many of us would hope.

 

Well... I am perfectly fine with this. - I personally have never been happier with my OCed SB system.

 

But, a 25% bump in performance in those uber-cpu intense situations surely would be nice! :smile:

I mentioned this idea before but I don't think it was taken seriously. Can I ask your opinion: 'what if' one took their closed loop solution and placed the radiator in a water bath,

 

4 years ago, when I was considering pumping a/c air directly into the case, I came across the Drewmeister at Extreme Overclocking. He had built a Water Chiller which you can read about here: My New Water Chilling Project! The guy is incredibly knowledgeable and incredibly nice (I was fortunate enough to have a handful of email exchanges with him).

 

On 'the surface' sticking a motherboard inside a small fridge seems like a good way to go. I have not seen any practical way of doing this (condensation problems... fridges not designed to do this etc.).

 

The nice thing about a chiller is the a/c doesn't have to run continuously. Another advantage - much colder temps than air directly pumped into the case. Disadvantage is to build one you are probably going to need some HVAC experience or be able to educate yourself on the matter.

 

One thing I have heard of Noel... is using dry ice in the water bath. I am sure this was for short runs - I have no experience with dry ice so I can't tell you how long a 'block' of dry ice would last... but I bet you could find posts on the matter.

 

-Rob

How practical is this solution? You would have to keep the water cooled and it just seems like a hassle. I personally think the idea of modding a small fridge is better.

 

If you could drill two holes through the door of a 'baby-fridge', you could very easily put multiple large radiators inside and keep your CPU at sub-zero. - You would just need a dehumidifier + postive pressure to be sure you don't short any components on the board.

 

I mentioned that approach too since small fridges are very inexpensive and quiet as well. Still though, metal>water transfers heat much better, and another option could be to simple blow air, with low-rpm larger quieter case fans AT the water surface to take advantage of evaporative cooling. I think this approach, which not as extreme as dry ice bath would much improve air flow over the radiator. And also putting the water bath IN the fridge is another way to go a bump up with much less or no risk for condensation--you can control the temp of the lil' fridge. Hey, this I like, and as I say, not very pricey. Can you get extension hose from a good closed loop water cooler to allow for this?

Can you get extension hose from a good closed loop water cooler to allow for this?

 

How about something like this Noel: http://www.thebuehls.com/pool_cooling/ :Big Grin:

4 years ago, when I was considering pumping a/c air directly into the case, I came across the Drewmeister at Extreme Overclocking. He had built a Water Chiller which you can read about here: My New Water Chilling Project!

 

-Rob

 

Thanks Rob. I have been pumping a/c air directly into my Lian Li case for about 6 years now--works quite well, with the exception of noise ;o( The low tech cardboard cowling sends cooled air thru 5" flex hose directly at the CPU HSF and another hose blows air over mainboard, GPU & memory. With a/c on (versus just fan only) CPU temp at 4.2Ghz stayed below 60C. Right now I run at 3.8Ghz and mostly use fan only, except in summer when the room could use some cooling as well.

 

 

 

I'm intrigued by water-bath, but perhaps one very easy idea would be to put the closed-loop radiator in a water bath in a small fridge which is a much quieter way to go than my a/c unit. I think this would work fabulously and one could adjust the temp in the fridge to prevent condensation.