Do i need to have a liquid-cooling system my PC?

Question

I see all the big gamers with liquid tubes in their computers, sure: I know It's the best way to cool your PC. But it's Expensive, and the thought of fluids running around in my brand new 1400 dollar PC quite frankly, makes the hairs on my neck stand up. I've noticed lately almost all of the computer parts manufacturers are making vast improvements on the amount of heat that their parts produce inside the computer case. I know my computer in it's current state probably doesn't need a liquid system, but i plan on running SLI x2 or even x3 (2 or 3 video cards) and may over clock my processor. So my question is this:

With my stats listed below, will i need liquid if A, I overclock my processor to 3.0ghz, B, I get 1 or 2 more video cards, or both,

or even C in it's current state? Keep in mind that I can buy fans/heatsinks for the processor and video cards, and i have a very well-ventilated thermaltake case.

Stats: CHIP: Intel 2.86 ghz quad core 12mb cache

Board: EVGA 780i SLI, 3PCIex, 8 sata

Video: Nvidia 9800gtx 512mb ddr3

(1) 320gb 7200rpm hd

(1) 20x dvdrw drive w/ lightscribe

Answer 1

1)Do you need a liquid cooling solution?  Not presently

2)Will you need one later?  Probably not.

3)Why: You have an excellent case with good airflow already.  You intend to overclock your CPU to 3.0, and there are lots of fans designed to cool CPU's all the way to 3.2 Ghz available (at a much lower cost than a liquid cooling system).   Your 9800gtx already has a fan, and adding a second graphics card would only increase the case ambient temperature, not raise the operating temperature of each GPU itself.

Long story short, you can get by fine without affecting your performance by sticking with air-cooling.  The truth though is that liquid cooling is very effective, and probably more important, it LOOKS cool.  What computer nerd hasn't gotten a chubby from seeing green glow-in-the-dark antifreeze flowing through a well lit case?

Answer 2

I would try out the computer and then determine if I need more cooling or not. Why waste money on something you don't need you know?

Answer 3

i say probably not

unless your doing sli (2 cards or more)

then i wouldn't worry about it

unless you leave your computer on all day/night and use it most of the time for hard core programs or games then i would look into it.

Answer 4

Dude, i have a q6700 quad core non sli on a thermaltake soprano case. I am using dual sli of a 9600gt xfx card, asus 750i mobo *upgrading to 780i soon* 500gb sata 2 hdd dual 20x pioneer cd-rom drives and i have 9 yes 9 fans! 5 of which are 120mm fans 1 in the front of the case, 2 on the side panel one in back and one on the cpu. then i have 4 other fans, 1 thermal take fan that reads temp on the inside of the case *80 mm fan* mounted on the backside of the case 2 blower fans than im pretty sure are either 120mm or 80 mm around both video cards and one 80 mm on the north bridge block. PLUS! the one 120 mm in the thermal take 600w psu blowing out. ive monitored my temps all over, and so far my gpu gets the hottest. and the radiation alone from 2 hours use got the inside of my case to 35 degrees celcius! now after reading that i went out and got myself a koolance external water cooler, im not going to let that kind of investment get burned out. soooo trust me by thing i EXTREMELY reccomend a water cooler, now if you dont have much experience with installing watercoolers then trust me on this by paying the little extra to get it done by a pc expert *i.e. pc store like pc club or something* because even the smallest mistake can make your machine worthless, and i mena it. watercooling is difficult because waterlines, or water blocks tend to like to leak, pumps die, or might not be strong enough *especially when external cooling since the lines run up higher, lines might be too long and making proper water flow difficult on the pump, even a small crimp in a tube is a boo boo, and then there goes your expensive machine to waste.

Though its fully worth the cost of water cooling, but don't go cheap or too high either! because thats a waste. Now its better for a machine to run colder than hot. dont beleive me then youtube it, quadcores up to 4ghz at subzero temps, because at those temps electronic components become basic superconductors, or electronic components not giving off static and therefore loosing you money. Another plus is its cheaper running one 12v pump than several 12v fans. A third reason is the noise! UHHHG man my pc was noisy the fist time it started. so do as you please but in my opinion you are going to want to get that watercooler!

Best of regards!

           -flyinpolak

Answer 5

yes only if you play with it more then 8 hours without rest.