Build Advice water cooling or air?

hey guys
so i just ordered a i7 990x extreme and will probably get a asus sabertooth motherboard.
I am not sure whether to get water cooling or air cooling.

I have never set up a water cooling loop before so would be my first time, I also have to transport my computer to and from uni accommodation and home a fair few times a year witch I think would require me to drain the loop every time.
Air would be cheaper and more convenient, it would also take less effort but would not be as good cooling.
Currently i am thinking about getting a dark rock BK014 cooler for it (air).

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

Depends how much hassle you're prepared to go through, how much you're prepared to spend and how much OC you want.

If you want all that - go water - if not and it'll piss you off - stay air.

I'm currently using water just because my GTX 480 is too loud without it, but I'll admit it's a PITA to change and keep clean (it's not). At the same time, I'm glad I've done it at least once (twice.. three times).

 

my budget for water cooling would probably be around the £130. I would over clock it to whatever i feel safe. will obviously be more on water cooling. i am finding its really dusty in my room at the moment because of construction work across the road with would be an added bonus of water.
How long does it take to drain the loop? and refill it? also how easy is it to set up?

 

Watercooling definitely!

 

Out of curiosity, why did you order a 990X instead of a 3960X? Since it sounds like you didn't have a motherboard either, it would make more sense to me to get the 3960.

 

Well you still need fans for cooling either way and there no guarantee of a better OC, it'll only run cooler than your average air cooler.

How easy depends on how complicated you make it Start researching parts and WCing loop threads (WC forums are a good place to go too) then see what you decide on.

 

£130 for a WC loop isn't a huge budget. Any high end air cooling will easily be enough for 4GHz, but beyond that it depends on the chip. I have a good chip (golden, in fact) and 4.5GHz is my limit on air cooling, giving me load temps of 85C in LinX, 12 threads.

Still much more expensive and not an enormous difference in preformance. You can get a 990X and X58 board for £650ish; a 3960X and board is pushing £1K.

 

Have a look at my thread (link in sig) for an idea of what watercooling entails...

 

Gotta agree with the H100, got it on a friend's build with some crappy Antec TIM (Artic Cooling MX-4 on the way) and it's cooling his 3960x at 4.9Ghz at just over40c. Got the stock fans pulling with a single ThermalTake 200mm fan (~100cfm but great pressure) pushing on top of half the rad (case is a TT Chaser Mk-1, not the best rad mounting solution, I'm gonna introduce it to Mr. Dremel, but it's still doing really well.

 

I'm sure they're out there, wont be cheap I expect though...

 

Google Sketchup works, but isn't so great for professional CAD design I think. I personally use Solid Edge, but thats only because I get the student version for free...

 

Thermalright HR-02 Macho will outperform the lower end self contained watercoolers and isn't very far away from the Antec Kuhler 920 (5c) while being quieter and it costs around £40. Review can be found here. High end air cooling should not be discounted and a £100 to go towards a GPU is very handy.

 

if your a student you can check out autodesks range of free software for students.

 

i got a 990x rather than the 3960X simply because i got it really really cheep. simple answer. i was original looking at a 3930 but then a 990x popped up for stupidly cheep so i bought it.

 

i have a nzxt hades case witch has 2 140mm on top, 1 200mm on side (witch currently i am not using because it doesn't fit with most coolers, bad design but oh well), 1 120mm on rear and 1 200mm on front. With a asus direct cuII geforce gtx570 (tri slot) am hoping to get another some time in the future. The mother board will be an asus sarbertooth.

if i was to get water cooling i could go more so £150 isn't out the question, just didn't really see it worth it. am i incorrect on that?

also. is there a way to make multiple quote's in one post?

 

The multiquote button. It looks like a - sign next to the quote button. Click it on the posts you want to quote than hit reply.