Air Cooling Vs. Liquid Cooling. What's better?

I'm shopping around for a new computer and I'm thinking about getting a Digital Storm model but I'm at a loss of what cooling method I should go for. I hear Air Cooling is more reliable but then I also hear that Liquid Cooling is better for over clocking. Which one should I go for?

I prefer the type of cooling that doesn't include a risk of water leaking inside my case.

As the first watercooled GS user I feel obligated to post. :P

Liquid cooling is definitely a more efficient way of displacing heat then air. Usually a liquid cooled setup runs quieter as well. With liquid cooling you can pump more voltage into the CPU/GPU which in return allows you to overclock further.

There's always the risk of water leaking inside your case but if it's done RIGHT then it will almost never leak. I took my old liquid cooled setup on at least 25+ cars rides of bumping around in my back seat going from school to home then to moving then back to school blah blah blah. Never once have I had a leak with that setup. Always make sure the barbs are always bigger then the ID of whatever tubing you get. My tubing is so tight on my barbs that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable running without clamps. Now the barbs on my CPU are smaller then I like and the tubes slid over it WAY to easily. I double clamped them and they still gave me trouble.

Also when you go to do an upgrade such as a video card (especially one that doesn't use the same block as your previous one) can be a real PITA. Have to drain your whole system then refill it back up again. Takes me like 10 mins but I've done it a couple times. :P

EDIT: Btw I had a LOT of water leak onto my old 8800GT when I was first testing my setup without my 5970. Card worked absolutely fine not one problem with it.

As the first watercooled GS user I feel obligated to post. :P

Liquid cooling is definitely a more efficient way of displacing heat then air.

damstr

Either way if your PC is cooled by radiators witch transfer the heat from your components to the radiator or if you have a heatsink directly to your components they both are cooled via Air.

The liquid cooling is only efficient if you have a good radiator (and often good fans) and a good pump and so on, water or not may not differ, it's alot more individual than that. To contradict water cooling, there are very many aircooled heatsinks to choose from and many are alot better than most cheap water cooling solution. If you're on a budjet, go Air, most cheap water cooling solutions are mostly cr*p.

Going to overclock till the chip cries? Water

Stock speeds, slight oc? Air

Do you actually plan on doing some serious OC'ing? If not, why even consider water cooling?KhanhAgE

I justify it for the low temps and low noise output. The OC'ing potential is an added side effect for me ;)

Going to overclock till the chip cries? Water

Stock speeds, slight oc? Air

dbaron26

I'm shopping around for a new computer and I'm thinking about getting a Digital Storm model but I'm at a loss of what cooling method I should go for. I hear Air Cooling is more reliable but then I also hear that Liquid Cooling is better for over clocking. Which one should I go for?

IPwnNooBs666

[QUOTE="KhanhAgE"]Do you actually plan on doing some serious OC'ing? If not, why even consider water cooling?MaoTheChimp

I justify it for the low temps and low noise output. The OC'ing potential is an added side effect for me ;)

[QUOTE="MaoTheChimp"]

[QUOTE="KhanhAgE"]Do you actually plan on doing some serious OC'ing? If not, why even consider water cooling?KhanhAgE

I justify it for the low temps and low noise output. The OC'ing potential is an added side effect for me ;)

It depends entirely on the pump. Some of the lower end Eheims, while having a relatively low flow rate, are pretty much inaudible. My old Laing D5 was also practically silent, and could only be heard if it wasn't mounted on rubber washers. Heck, even my modded Via Aqua 2300 is practically silent in comparison with my case fans (which are set to low with my fan controller), and yet it's able to output slightly over 100GPH in my loop.

Air cooling will suit your needs just fine, water cooling is an unnecessary risk. Leaks happen.

Air cooling will suit your needs just fine, water cooling is an unnecessary risk. Leaks happen.

GenericUser12

I advise getting at least a 3 stage cascade if you want to use a high end CPU.markop2003