What makes a water cooling system good?

[DrBoomstick]

Hi there overclockers!

I have been reading a lot around water cooling and air cooling, and the phrase I keep finding is that a really good air cooler like the Noctua NH-D14 will need a really high end WC loop to beat it.

But my question to you is what makes a WC loop high end, and which of those features is most key?

Radiator size?

Pump speed?

water block quality?

Thanks in advance guys!

[hmmblah]

All of the above really. If you buy a restrictive block you best have the right pump to get the water through it. If the radiator is undersized or of poor quality you won't dissipate as much heat. So if you have an excellent block and great pump, your temps will suffer from a crappy rad. Fans should be matched to fit the design of the rad too. If you have tight fin spacing you should pick fans with good static pressure.

Edit: Should have been rad there instead of block.

[tinytomlogan]

Originally Posted by hmmblah

All of the above really. If you buy a restrictive block you best have the right pump to get the water through it. If the radiator is undersized or of poor quality you won't dissipate as much heat. So if you have an excellent block and great pump, your temps will suffer from a crappy rad. Fans should be matched to fit the design of the block too. If you have tight fin spacing you should pick fans with good static pressure.

+1 some good advice there.

Its all or nothing with water. Unless you want to spend big...... Buy Noctua.

[DrBoomstick]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I am just going to save my pennies and buy big for my next system.

[cl0ck_ed]

Ok, the main factor is the rad size.

Rad: To beat a decent air cooler you will need a 240 or 360 rad.

Pump: cheap pumps transfer heat into the loop, but a decent size rad will sort this. Any pump is fine for a cpu only loop. If you are cooler mb and gfx card a better pump is required.

Cpu block: Any water block is good, from EK, D-tek etc, most blocks are within a few degrees C of each other.

Obviously, the cheaper the parts the reduced temp gain over air cooling. IMO the 45nm and 32nm chips of today do NOT get hot enough to warrant water cooling. The 90nm chips back 3-4 years ago needed decent cooling for a good overclock. These days the chips are effected more by the cpu voltage and electromigration before heat becomes an issue.

My 2 cents: don't waste money on watercooling, yes it looks bling but a good aircooler is cheaper, safer, easier to fit, more practical and cools the cpu well enough for a 4-4.5ghz overclock.