questioning whether to continue with watercooling

[equk]

I've had my system for a few years now and am looking at upgrading but am really questioning whether to continue with watercooling

My current watercooling setup:

HEATKILLER CPU Rev3.0
EK CoolStream Rad XT 360
EK CoolStream Rad XT 240
DDC-1T+ 18W
XSPC Pumpres

Looking at getting a i5 3570k + z77 + 7850/7950 (undecided atm)

I'm either going to keep watercooling and replace my tubing, fittings, cpu block etc
or get a new case for air cooling (or closed loop) and sell all of my bits

I think custom watercooling seems ok if you want to go extreme and have the latest components so am really not sure whether to bother anymore
Also when I go to LAN I don't take my watercooled setup

I notice the i5's seem to run pretty hot tho so am not sure whether to keep watercooling as I have most of the components already. :huh:

 

[Master&Puppet]

Well on IB chips watercooling makes little difference (1-200MHz) in performance.

It still has an awesome effect on GPUs though (my 7950s have never seen 50C even overclocked under load). That effect is magnified when compared to multiple GPU setups on air which breathe in each other's exhaust.

There is of course the huge AWESOME factor too which only watercooling can bring.

If you are often going to LAN parties then it makes sense to just keep it all on air with some decent 3rd party coolers for both the CPU and GPU.