Hi guys, I am a watercooling virgin and am seriously considering using it for the first time in a media center/folding PC as it needs to be dead quiet. What I was wondering is how much maintenance does water cooling require as in the future I may not have access to this PC very often? The first thing that comes to mind is topping the loop up with water. Is there a way to monitor water levels? Cheers
They need more maintenance than air cooled. Once up and running you need to check the water level and change the coolant every 6 months to a year (depending on how mucky its looking) and clean out the loop. A quiet air cooled set up may be a better option if you can't keep an eye on the watercooling. To monitor the water level without opening the case is to fit a reservoir in a spare drive bay like this.
As long as you keep an eye on levels, and water colour then its fine, i wouldn't say change coolant to often, only when its really discoloured. Over the summer period levels can drop quickly due to increases in ambient temps. Cooling for a media/folding machine dosen't need to be overkill. What will be the specs of the machine, i bet you could air cool it for cheaper and result in silent running as well.
