It Was a Fun Ride, but I’m Done With Water Cooling My PC.
For the past three years, I have been cooling my computer with water to keep it ultra-low and quiet. It was an interesting project, but it was also extremely stressful and costly. Time to move on.
Some of you have followed my water cooling saga over the years, but here’s a short version of the story so far: I got itchy and tried the versatile device . The itching got worse, and I tried to make a custom buttonhole with a set . The kit leaked a little (due to its own idiocy), but everything was fine. I unrolled the train, it leaked heavily (due to my own idiocy), but everything was fine. Then … through my carelessness, it leaked a little more and ruined the $ 300 video card. Ouch.
The last straw
I actually gave up on water cooling even before I discovered the graphics card was dead. I have done without breaking any parts so far, but the water cooling was still a nuisance. The whole project, while fun, turned out to be incredibly costly, both for my time and for me. Simple tasks like testing a new graphics card or moving a computer turned into huge projects, and every time I re-set the loop, I had to tinker with it until everything was set up properly. It got so frustrating that I said to myself, the next time I have to take it apart, I’m probably done.
So I knew that my “last straw” was coming. I was ready to quit. But to make sure I got it done, the universe decided to make sure I paid for it. After returning home from a week-long trip, I found my computer behaving strangely, only to find out – after half an hour of head scratching – that one of my accessories had started leaking on the graphics card below. Since I didn’t understand what was going on, I left the computer on as my graphics card got wet … which short-circuited the card. If I hadn’t already been determined to quit smoking, I would have done so.
Learn from my mistakes
Now that it’s over, it all feels a little bittersweet. It was at the same time one of the most exciting projects I have worked on, but also one of the most frustrating. He producedmy favorite video we’ve ever done here at Lifehacker . But it also made me feel a bit like a failure – so many other people got it right, so why have I had so many problems over the years? Not to mention the time and money I put in just to throw up my hands in defeat.
That being said, all that has been said: I am not canceling my previous recommendations for water cooling. It takes a while for me to think that this is a terrible project that everyone should avoid just because I had a major leak. In the end, my recommendation has always included the caveats I mentioned above: it is expensive, requires a lot of work, and presents a small but significant risk to your system. I just don’t think I realized how expensive, how much work, and how I would feel when this risk raised its ugly head. So, if you’re still thinking about it, let me elaborate on these:
- You should be ready to go to the top level (at least for a custom loop). Non-standard water cooling is expensive. All-in-one hinges from brands like Corsair are a great inexpensive option, but if you’re going to do it yourself, you’ll have to go for broke. Cheaper parts will be noisy, leaky, and difficult to assemble. I thought I could get by with a $ 130 kit, but found that in order to get it right I needed more expensive parts (like compression fittings, separate pump, quality fans, etc.).
- Your computer will crash from time to time . Repairs and customization are complex and can take some time. If it was just my slot machine, it wouldn’t be so frustrating. But it was also my work computer, and while I work mostly online – so data loss was never a concern – it still threw me back when I had to disassemble this device. Each hiccup meant working on the couch at my laptop for a day or two, which is far less comfortable (and productive) for me.
- Know that even if you do it right, things can go wrong . Almost all of the problems I’ve had are my fault, and if you follow the instructions carefully, you can avoid most of them. But something can still fail, through no fault of yours, even if you are using an off-the-shelf all-in-one device. Rarely, but it happens. As with overclocking, don’t take on a project unless you’re ready to replace something when it breaks.
Some of you won’t sympathize with me, and that’s okay. In the end, I poured water into my computer. This is a project for enthusiasts with high cost and low practicality – not really a life hack in the traditional sense of the word. And I’m not crying because my video card died – it was a risk that I took deliberately. But if you love DIY for the sake of DIY and love building computers, you may be interested in this project, and my recommendations have not changed. I just thought that sharing my story might help someone. Trouble is no longer worth the reward for me.
What am I doing instead
It wouldn’t be a great Lifehacker article if I just shared my story (which is hard to sympathize with) and stopped there. We’re all about how-tos, so here’s the practical takeaway: If you’re water-cooled now – or have always been – you can still get a cool, quiet, air-cooled system. Here’s what I will do.
I still haven’t given up on a near-silent PC, so I did a little research and got some advice from my favorite PC building guru, Linus Sebastian (see video above). I replaced the CPU cooler with a dual tower cooler from Phanteks . I’ve heard good reviews of Be Quiet coolers too , but some of them are hard to find in the US. The Noctua are solid as well, although not as cool looking. Luckily, you have a lot to choose from, and most coolers will work with any processor and any fan. And with a little effort, you can get these fans to run at lower speeds when you don’t need them, keeping your computer as quiet as a mouse. (Linus even got rid of the CPU fans entirely in his build.)
Video cards are a bit stiffer. Many modern graphics cards do have decent quiet cooling, but you need to buy the right one. Reference cards are usually terrible, so you want to buy from brands like MSI or Asus that make very efficient but very quiet coolers. Some of the newer models (like the Asus STRIX line or MSI Gaming line) even turn off the fan for regular use and only increase it for intense gaming. However, if you already own a graphics card, a quiet aftermarket cooler from someone like ARCTIC or GELID might be your ticket. (Just make sure you buy one that’s compatible with your card!)
Beyond that, it’s all about optimizing your computer for quiet operation . Air cooling has come a long way over the past few years, so with the right hardware and the right software settings, you can keep your computer pretty darn quiet without sacrificing performance. It won’t have the same effect as water flowing through your computer, but it’s a worthy replacement.
Title illustration by Tina Mailhot-Roberge.