Liquid Cooling System vs Traditional Cooling System (Top 3s)

The alternative to direct air cooling

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yourordinarybeing
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:59 pm

Liquid Cooling System vs Traditional Cooling System (Top 3s)

Post by yourordinarybeing » Fri Aug 11, 2017 8:45 pm

Hi, Guys!

How does liquid cooling system stack up to the traditional cooling system? A friend recommended me Wakefield-Vette 120960 and hence the interest in learning more about the former. I've also researched about the comparison between them and read about it reducing noise, but I would want to hear more from you, guys. To make it easier, can you please list your top 3 pros and cons of these systems? Thanks!

Olle P
Posts: 711
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:03 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Liquid Cooling System vs Traditional Cooling System (Top

Post by Olle P » Tue Aug 15, 2017 6:41 am

First: That "cold plate" has just about nothing with computer cooling to do!

Let's see..
"Traditional cooling" for me as of today typically imply thermodynamically driven water cooling, better known as "heat pipes" efficiently transferring heat from the hot spot to the cooling fins.
Pros:
* Cheap
* Reliable
* Quiet (no noisy pump!)
* Simple installation.
Cons:
* Low thermal inertia (when the generated heat changes rapidly, so will the temperature, which over time leads to thermal fatigue of the "hot" components).
* Limited cooling surface, especially in small computers.

Pump driven water cooling, taylored for the system:
Pros:

* High to very high thermal inertia.
* Virtually unlimited cooling surface, with the radiator(s) outside the case or wherever you want.
* Quiet for high power applications.
* Efficient.
* Adaptable to your cooling demands.
Cons:
* Expensive! (From some $300 and up to cool CPU and a graphics card.)
* Reduced cooling of VRM and RAM, unless the VRM is also covered by a water block.
* Requires substantial work to install and maintain.

All-In-One pump driven water cooling:
Come in-between the two scenarios above. More thermal inertia and just as easy to install as traditional cooling but more costly and not that much more cooling. It's also typically a bit noisier and will usually only cool the CPU.

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