I am running the specs in my sig, the CPU with a slight overclock and the GPU with a heavy overclock, at perfectly cool temps. (max CPU 50C idle 35C max GPU 55C idle 45C)
I've seen people with higher overclocks, more powerful CPUs and GPUs and they run on air perfectly fine.
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Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 | AMD Phenom II X6 1090T | Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 | 1TB WD Caviar Black | Intel 520 240GB SSD | Corsair H70 push-pull | Antec P280 White Windowed
Well my friend overclocked his phenomx2 from 2.4ghz to 4.5ghz with water cooling, not sure if you could that with a fan.And also the biggest plus for me is that the noise is almost nonexistent.
The problem is that it takes a lot of space in the case and if, for some reason, fluid gets out it can damage your comp pretty badly.
The only reason I would ever use water cooling is if I wanted to blow a ton of money on an enthusiast rig. Otherwise, it just isn't worth the hassle when air cooling is already sufficient for most people.
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I would love to get a water cooler for my 6970 just so it is not nearly as loud GPU can also see good performance increase from a good overclock. High overclocking on the cpu is mostly for benchmarking.
Generally for making your PC look cool. Most of the time there is little temperature difference between water-cooling and air-cooling ~4GHz. But higher than 4GHz, water-cooling is a lot better. The idea that WC is quieter is a myth. You still have fans, but also have a pump which can also add to the noise.
The fans only need to be used to cool the radiators, so they can be low RPM. Pumps aren't really that loud.
It's more than just cooling, sound, and aesthetics for some people. A lot of the time if you're water cooling, chances are you enjoy spending a lot of time working with your computer, and water cooling just adds to it. I would say for the average person, water cooling isn't needed.
1. you can have a cheap **** case and have good temps because of water
2. it looks cool and gives you bragging rights, also gets the bitches at lans
3. If you are doing heavy overclocking it actually IS needed, but not for every CPU.
I am running the specs in my sig, the CPU with a slight overclock and the GPU with a heavy overclock, at perfectly cool temps. (max CPU 50C idle 35C max GPU 55C idle 45C)
I've seen people with higher overclocks, more powerful CPUs and GPUs and they run on air perfectly fine.
The problem is that it takes a lot of space in the case and if, for some reason, fluid gets out it can damage your comp pretty badly.
Your computer awesomer
Your computer quieter
Your computer cooler
Also, with phase change cooling, you can actually get your temps below 0 Celsius, meaning the only limiting factor when OCing is voltage.
/joke
It's quiet, it looks cool, and it keeps everything EXTREMELY cool.
The fans only need to be used to cool the radiators, so they can be low RPM. Pumps aren't really that loud.
When I say case I mean the air inside the case, and subsequently any not water-cooled components.
2. it looks cool and gives you bragging rights, also gets the bitches at lans
3. If you are doing heavy overclocking it actually IS needed, but not for every CPU.