Some general information

[m0pelley99]

My system specs are in my sig.

I'm going to have a bit of money the summer so I had an idea to get WC for my main build. I just have a few questions for you people experienced with WC.

Am I able to get a WC kit for under $400?
Will the WC kit be compatible with my 750i FTW?
If I want to upgrade to LGA1156 later on will my WC kit still be useful?
If I get a newer GPU, will I be able to get something compatible with both my card and say an HD 5850? (I don't expect most people to know this)
My case ambient temp is 33C. How will this fall if I choose WC?
Will WC be any louder than my current setup? (I'd say mine is about 25dBa)
If my Q6600 idle/load temps are 33C/56C with air cooling, what can I expect a WC setup to change these to?

That's it for now. I believe my CM Storm Sniper is WC capable.

TIA

[MpG]

Originally Posted by m0pelley99

Am I able to get a WC kit for under $400?
Will the WC kit be compatible with my 750i FTW?
If I want to upgrade to LGA1156 later on will my WC kit still be useful?
If I get a newer GPU, will I be able to get something compatible with both my card and say an HD 5850? (I don't expect most people to know this)
My case ambient temp is 33C. How will this fall if I choose WC?
Will WC be any louder than my current setup? (I'd say mine is about 25dBa)
If my Q6600 idle/load temps are 33C/56C with air cooling, what can I expect a WC setup to change these to?

-The cost of a WC kit is going to depend largely on what you want to cool. A CPU-only kit, you can easily come in under $400. But as you add more components, the cost is going to rise.

-If you're only cooling the CPU and GPU, the board is (mostly) immaterial - watercooling blocks are based on the CPU socket, or the specific video card, which are standardized. So your board should be fine.

-Most popular waterblocks already have the ability to change adaptors for different sockets, and it's reasonable to expect that once the 1156 boards hit the market, new adaptors will be available for sale. Eventually, anyway.

-The closest thing to a solution that will cool both your current GPU and a future GPU is a core-only block. You'll still need to do something for other components on each video card, but the current core-only GPU waterblocks have a good track record for fitting future designs. Full-cover waterblocks are GPU-specific, so you can forget about them fitting any newer-generation GPU's.

-Case ambient temperatures will depend on exact system setups. Iirc, the CM Sniper is rigged to hold a triple rad in the roof. If you have the radiator fans blowing in, you might see an increase in temperatures (since the inside will see warmer radiator exhaust). If have them blowing out, you might even drop a degree or two, simply from the increase exhaust flow. Lots of variables here, unfortunately.

-Noise is highly variable. And unfortunately, 99% of noise specs provided are garbage. Watercooling definitely has a high potential to quiet things down, though. It depends a lot on how much performance you want, and what kind of stuff you have making noise right now.

Performance will also vary, depending on the exact system, and how highly clocked you are. But unless you really skimp, I wouldn't be surprised to see 5-10 degrees improvement. But that's entirely an estimate.

[m0pelley99]

So it is WC worth it over air cooling? I ultimately want something that will cool my processor and have the performance of a Vendetta 2. I really want to have a fully custom WC system, with WC for my CPU, GPU, Northbridge/Southbridge, and anything else that takes advantage of WC. Only thing is, if the performance of WC isn't any better than air cooling and costs a premium more, to me it's not really worth it.

[Dazmode]

Yes, you can have kit under $400 and yes proper WC is more efficient, then air. Re-use is possible in many (not all) cases.

I recommend to read some tutorials, that will give you better idea what is involved.

[m0pelley99]

So far I know that with my motherboard I am going to need these two parts, exclusive to the whole other WC kit:

780i NB block:
EK 780i EVGA Northbridge Chipset Liquid Cooling Block - Acetal (EK-NB 780i Acetal) - FrozenCPU.com

I can choose between air or water cooled SB:
Air: Enzotech SLF-1 Forged Copper Northbridge / Southbridge Low-Profile Heatsink - FrozenCPU.com
Water: Ek SLI 680i / 750i / 780i / 790i SouthBridge Liquid Cooling Block - Acetal (EK-SB VGA 790i - Acetal) - FrozenCPU.com

So really the premium $100 for those two I think really isn't worth WC'ing my setup. I think I'll stick with air cooling and get the Vendetta 2.

[MpG]

Motherboard/chipset watercooling is about the most cost-INeffective option available. And 99% of the time, you can get 90% of the cooling simply from aiming a low/medium speed fan directly at the chipset heatsinks. Unfortunately, most case fans tend to overshoot and miss them by default. And honestly, if you're determined include chipset cooling, staying under $400 would start to get very difficult.

[Liu Kang]

Originally Posted by m0pelley99

Air: Enzotech SLF-1 Forged Copper Northbridge / Southbridge Low-Profile Heatsink - FrozenCPU.com

It's less at DirectCanada: Enzotech SLF-1 Pure Copper Low Profile Heatsink 12MM High - DirectCanada <-- plus that's CND not USD

Stay away from FrozenCPU, they are probably the most expensive etailer on the intrawebs.

[m0pelley99]

Originally Posted by MpG

Motherboard/chipset watercooling is about the most cost-INeffective option available. And 99% of the time, you can get 90% of the cooling simply from aiming a low/medium speed fan directly at the chipset heatsinks. Unfortunately, most case fans tend to overshoot and miss them by default. And honestly, if you're determined include chipset cooling, staying under $400 would start to get very difficult.

Well drifting away from WC... Are there any aftermarket northbridge coolers for my board? I'll buy that southbridge cooler, but only if there are any aftermarket NB coolers and heatsinks for the rest of the board. That paired with a V2 should make my overclocking a lot easier.

[Dazmode]

You start from wrong part of your PC. Advantages of chipset cooling is negligible. Look into CPU and GPU cooling.

[m0pelley99]

Originally Posted by Dazmode

You start from wrong part of your PC. Advantages of chipset cooling is negligible. Look into CPU and GPU cooling.

Well I'm thinking about waiting for the AC Twin Turbo 2, which should be perfect for my card. As for CPU cooling, we'll just have to wait and see until I get the money for it.