Note: this was originally posted on my personal website at moriahmaney.com
Introduction
I built my first desktop computer as a teenage...
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Hi,
I was wondering why did you decide to water cool you PC?
I am running Core i7 7700k at 4,5GHz base clock reaching 40 degrees Celsius idle with plain air cooler with ambient temperature at about 30.
Can you elaborate more on the tasks you do that require water cooling and what temperatures you reach idle and under stress before and after?
Thanks.
Cheers. S.
For fun and aesthetics but also high temperatures. The i7 8700k is known to be a hot chip, and I live in Florida where the ambient temp can get very high.
I didn't get a ton of time to test the i7 under load because I upgraded to it right before watercooling, but the temperature right now idling is 33 for the CPU and about 30 for the GPU, which is an idle temp drop of around 20 degrees if I'm remembering right. Under load my setup now barely cracks 50. I primarily use this computer for gaming and upgrade it/water cooled it as a hobby.
This is all before overclocking which I plan to do eventually, so keep that in mind as well.
Nice, thanks.
Looking forward for you to provide some comparison before/after eventually.
Also some aspects as reduced/increased noise from the pump or what your general experience with water cooled system is.
I never had water cooling before and would love to hear from you any pros/cons for me to reconsider it as my next project ;)
The noise has decreased significantly to the point of being almost entirely silent even under load -- this is usually the case for most water cooled computers.
Pros:
Cons:
I never had issues with temperatures. (the last one I remember was on P4 Prescott Extreme Edition I had about 10 years ago?)
Usually high temperatures arise from few factors:
And yes, I do crypto mining and gaming with 2 VGAs in SLI with temps below 55 with air cooling only (in summer).
Please consider that I already know this information and do not need you to explain something to me that I am incredibly knowledgeable in. Thanks very much.
I was not targeting you with my comment.
We're not here alone. Someone reading might find the information useful.
Many people do not know this and then they are wondering why's their CPUs thermal throtling and they get poor performance even tho they run latest high-end models.
Fair point! As that wasn't indicated in the previous comment I did not read it that way and I apologize. Thanks!
To be fair: It does come across as if it's targeting OP. That's how I read it, at least. This is mainly because you mention that you specifically don't have issues with air cooling and that you apparently do crypto mining with air cooling in summer (which seems like information that wasn't really necessary).
The irrelevant information about crypto mining should make it obvious I was not replying to anything the same way as I was trying to give advice how to deal with temperature problems, which she clearly never mentioned. I just wanted to share my 5c with my 30 years of experience with computers.
I apologize if I didn't make myself clear enough.
Wow, that looks really sweet! I especially like how the fluid and case match the rest of your setup!
Sorry if you mentioned this in the article, but how long did this take you, both in terms of labor and "wall clock" time? I've always been intrigued by water cooling, but it scares the heck out of me. Although the last time I did anything cooling related, I installed my cooler backwards, so maybe I should be scared 😅
Thanks very much!
From start to finish (including collecting parts) it was probably multiple years.
Once I had all the parts but the case snafu it was probably a few weeks with waiting for shipping.
Once the right case came in, I did this for the most part over about four days, a few hours each night and then 6 or so hours on a Friday night. Filled it and leak tested it the next day which took a few hours. Draining it and refilling it took about an hour or an hour and a half, too I think. So all in all probably less than 20 hours total of labor.
I'd say start-finish with all the correct parts was probably about a week elapsed by the time I had the final fluid in.
And anyone can do it with the right amount of research and planning!
Your whole setup is gorgeous! I've been thinking about adding a water cooling system to mine, they're intimidating but they look so good. Does the PC still need fans or are they extra cooling?
Thanks very much!
Yes fans are still required, but they work together with the water cooling system instead of being the only source of cooling. The fans at the front of my case pull air into the case to cool the liquid in the radiator while the fan at the back pushes out the hot air.
do you realy need a rear exhaust fan? I always thought the radiator fans were enough
Yepp! If you don't the heat will have nowhere to go.
Ah, I figured out why I thought that. Most of the builds on Jayz channel have more than one radiator so he can use one rad as an exhaust and doesn't need more fans
Nice build this said please be very careful using EK parts, they can be flimsy and destroy the best build, add to that a horrendous customer service.
Thanks but I've done a lot of research and had nothing but good experiences with them! Should be a-okay.
Good to hear.
Now I'm gonna go take a shower to take off more of this envy stink and think of a way to sell a kidney to afford a build like this.
Lol, thanks!
That looks great! I'd like to introduce liquid cooling to my own machine too. (For no other reason than that it looks cool!)
I don't know how true this is, but I've heard coloured liquid can eventually clump up in the tubes, and need flushing out? Is that a concern that you came across?
Thanks very much! And yeah, I also did mine partly for the looks :)
Yes, especially kinds with particles suspended like the one I chose -- they can require heavier maintenance since you may have to clean the blocks when you switch out the fluid (and often require changing fluid more frequently) than just a clear solution would. Either way, both would require flushing and replacing, it's just a matter of frequency and if any extra cleaning is involved.
I didn't know you'd have to clear it either way, I had assumed that water only would be a permanent fixture - but clearly not!
Either way, I'll probably implement this before the year is out! Thanks for the info!
Not a problem!
Nice build, thanks for sharing!
My last one was a 6700k with a 10% overclock on air, similar manufacturer choices for components. I ended up with an odd GPU - Gigabyte 980Ti G1 Gaming - because it had 2 DVI to support the overclockable Korean monitors. They were a great value for 1440p @ 96Hz.
It makes my heart glad that you built it for gaming. :)
Nice! And yeah, I've been PC gaming for almost 10 years at this point!
That's awesome. I've been at it a fair few years myself. Cheers!
Did you measure the temperature both before and after? While running some compute-intensive process?
Reminds me of when I was working at Intel when the first Pentium (586) processors were developed. The early prototypes cranked out 50+ watts, so we used to joke "It's a CPU, no it's a coffee warmer". They built one-off, horrifically expensive water jackets for the beasts.
I didn't do a full stress test beforehand since I upgraded to the i7 8700k right before I put this all together, but I can tell you that the idle temp dropped from around 50 C to between 30-35 C for the CPU and GPU. Under load my computer barely cracks 50-60 C now so I'd say it's a great improvement!
Love the Macbook on the left side of your desk, with the video cable ready to be plugged in. My current setup is completely inefficient for that, and looking at your L-desk makes me want to get one!
Thanks! I also have it set up so my keyboard and mouse switch over when I plug it in :)
The desk is also an IKEA BEKANT desk in case you wanna look it up!
This is so awesome. I didn't even know you could cool a PC with water. Also, extra points for matching some of the keyboard keys to the wiring in the motherboard and coolant. 🔥
Thanks very much! It is a niche thing, but has gained a lot of popularity with hobbyists over the past few years especially!
Wow, I'm a little shocked at how eerily identical your PC build is to the one I built ~6 months back. They're almost identical, except for the water-cooling, SSD, and PS.
Looks awesome!
Thanks very much!
Nice post, thanks for sharing! Your end result is 🤩🤩
So glad you enjoyed it! And thank you!
Wow I'm jealous, turned out beautiful! I love the combination of pink & white, great job
Thanks very much! ✨
Nice work, Moriah. Have fun!
Thank you!
I haven't had a working personal desktop in years, and I'm so jealous of this build!
Thanks very much!
This is amazing. I love the pink!!
Thanks very much, I'm glad you like it!
Be very careful with"Vue", it clogged my new system in just over a month, temps rose and flow fell. Never again, lots of people have had trouble with it, beware.
Yeah, I know.
Can you give a little more detail pls? Your project? Your IDE? Your computer specs? Thx!
Hi equipment as follows,
Asus Maximus X Hero with EKWB Monoblock, over 8700k overclocked to 5.2 ghz.
EKWB CE 420 triple 140mm Radiator
D5 waterpump Barrow D5 MCP-655 Reservoir, Pump Top & Housing Combo
XSPC 14/10 PETG TUBING.
2 X 950 EVO M.2 500GB Raid 0
32GB Predator Ram
2tb Baracuda.
BeQuiet Darkbase 900 Pro White Custom.
Hope this is of interest.
Great job! Turned out awesome!
thanks so much!
Looks amazing and a fabulous write up, good job!
Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it!
thanks very much!!