Tuesday, October 19th 2021

TechPowerUp Custom Water Cooling Survey and $1000 CORSAIR Giveaway

Updated by
btarunr
 Updated: Discuss (62 Comments)
TechPowerUp loves cooling. We pride ourselves with bringing you hundreds of reviews, and thousands of news articles, covering PC cooling components of all shapes and sizes. With ever more powerful hardware comes the need to keep them cool and quiet. There are plenty of air coolers and pre-built AIO liquid cooling solutions available that you can install and forget about. If you still want to +1 that, then DIY custom liquid cooling exists as higher performing (and potentially quieter) option to pre-built AIO coolers, but it's also more expensive and complex. We are eager to know how you're cooling your PC, how you'd like to cool it in the future, and what your thoughts are on custom watercooling tech, so we've put together a survey to learn more.

The survey is for you, regardless of whether you've even used custom liquid-cooling before. We hope to better understand the custom watercooling market—people who never used it, veterans who've done it for years as well as recent members of the club. We also want to learn why you're not using watercooling, or why you are considering it for a future build. It will only take a few minutes of your time. Once data collection is completed on November 2nd, we'll put together an article summarizing the findings, with charts and everything. As a token of thanks, taking the survey also adds you to our Global Sweepstakes in association with CORSAIR, a leading brand for gaming peripherals and PC components. One lucky winner stands to win a Care Package worth $1000 from CORSAIR, which includes a K100 premium mechanical keyboard, a Virtuoso XT headset, a Sabre RGB Wireless mouse, an MM300 mousepad, an ST100 headset stand and two LT100 desktop ambient lighting towers; in a winner-takes-all prize. The survey and giveaway is open worldwide. In return for their support, Corsair gets access to the anonymized raw data. Please don't answer "Corsair is best" everywhere, just because they provide prizes, we're looking for honest opinions.

To participate in the Survey, please Visit This Page.

Update Oct 19th: Corsair saw your comments "why not watercooling prizes?"—the winner can now substitute the prizes for Corsair Hydro X components.

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62 Comments on TechPowerUp Custom Water Cooling Survey and $1000 CORSAIR Giveaway

#26
BSim500
N3utroThere is an important question missing in the survey: "what is your current view on watercooling?" After i've made my first custom built loop i've came to realize that the performance gain from it was too small compared to the loop price (and i had a huge 1080 radiator so cooling performance was pretty good). I've switched back to aircooling and never been happier. The good old days of overclocking are gone, CPU and GPU are now designed to be close to their maximum potential from start and you can't get as much from overclocking that you could 10 years ago.
Indeed. In response to Q7 "What's holding you back?", "Don't need it / air cooling is good enough for my use" wasn't an option on the survey and there are many non overclockers who buy 65-95w CPU's (and even use the headroom for undervolting to knock off another 10-20w) who won't gain much at all vs reusing a years old 212 EVO. Same with sub 180w GPU's.
Posted on Reply
#27
Caring1
First question had me stumped as there is no option for "other" so I selected casual gamer as that is the closest category that describes my usage.
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#28
human_error
Nice to be able to participate in this - a few comments:
  • I've built a custom loop in my PC before, but went for an AIO on my most recent upgrade - there's no good answers for me so I gave answers about my custom loop since that data seems more useful for Corsair here
  • I have not watercooled my GPU - only my CPU - I can't skip the GPU section or answer "I don't WC my GPU"
  • On the question on how frequently I upgrade I do it piecemeal on a 2 year GPU and 5 year CPU cycle. The piecemeal option said it was for annual upgrades, which is more frequent than I'd do it (so why not have an option for all at once/piecemeal/etc as one question, then a second question on frequency)
  • Surely Corsair would be interested to know if I replace my watercooler every time I rebuild the PC, or if I keep my cooling solution for quite a few years moving it between upgrades?
I'd love to see more opportunities like this, even if there isn't much of a prize on offer :)
Posted on Reply
#29
Valantar
Some feedback: I'm having trouble responding to a lot of these questions simply because there's no "Other" option. My CPU block is a Nouvolo Aquanaut DDC pump+block combo, meaning I hav no way of responding to the CPU block or pump questions. I'm also missing a broader/more flexible "It was the best/only option for what I wanted from my loop" option for the reasoning, as at the time I built my PC this was the only DDC pump+block combo available, and that was the only way of fitting anything more powerful than an Alphacool DC-LT pump in my build.
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#30
W1zzard
OP has been updated, you may now substitute the prize for Hydro X components. Thanks Corsair!
Posted on Reply
#31
blu3dragon
Are you familiar with questions wouldn't let me pick "none".
Where do you learn question didn't have "website reviews" as an option. Couldn't pick techpowerup :-)
Posted on Reply
#32
Bomby569
damn that thing is broken, kept giving me "the creator is making changes" or something like that, had to resubmit 3 times
Posted on Reply
#35
W1zzard
Bomby569damn that thing is broken, kept giving me "the creator is making changes" or something like that, had to resubmit 3 times
some changes were made to the questions, based on feedback from this thread
Posted on Reply
#37
Bomby569
W1zzardsome changes were made to the questions, based on feedback from this thread
ok then, i happened so much i really never imagined it was really the case.
Posted on Reply
#38
Ferrum Master
The questions are rather unprecise and should have other and better granulation.

For example I use not one, but multiple pumps from various makers, for redundancy and performance. I have multiple systems and they all are custom loops, the latter is just made of my leftover parts.

Also for CPU head... I simply didn't have other as I use a monoblock for CPU and motherboard and afaik there is only one maker for my combo so basically I didn't have a choice.

The organization feels rather weird as I would not treat them like in general like first or last... each product special and individually rated and sorting just by manufacturers isn't rather objective it is just like asking what kind of phone is the best and answering a major maker that produces useless crap and decent products at the same time, just because of the demand.
Posted on Reply
#39
docnorth
Thanks!
Btw, that should be enough RGB for a party at home...
Posted on Reply
#40
Valantar
Ferrum MasterThe questions are rather unprecise and should have other and better granulation.

For example I use not one, but multiple pumps from various makers, for redundancy and performance. I have multiple systems and they all are custom loops, the latter is just made of my leftover parts.

Also for CPU head... I simply didn't have other as I use a monoblock for CPU and motherboard and afaik there is only one maker for my combo so basically I didn't have a choice.

The organization feels rather weird as I would not treat them like in general like first or last... each product special and individually rated and sorting just by manufacturers isn't rather objective it is just like asking what kind of phone is the best and answering a major maker that produces useless crap and decent products at the same time, just because of the demand.
Yeah, the options for making choices don't reflect my experiences either - it's never that simple. And that brand ranking was just an exercise in randomness, as I have no experience with half the brands, and extremely varying with the rest (full range from some, only fittings from others, only know by reputation for others again). My ranking of Corsair was made purely from my use of their XR5 radiator, which AFAIK is just a rebranded and reskinned HWL rad - so I ranked them next to each other. That isn't the best basis for reliable data, sadly - and there ought to be an option for tying options in the same place. Still, this is likely a limitation of the survey system.
Posted on Reply
#41
mechtech
I'll refrain from doing the survey to give everyone else better odds :)
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#42
WaffleGamer160
Do we get the custom watercooling parts that is in the picture displaying everything or do we get to pick if we win?
mechtechI'll refrain from doing the survey to give everyone else better odds :)
Why thank u
Posted on Reply
#43
Crackong
WaffleGamer160Do we get the custom watercooling parts that is in the picture displaying everything or do we get to pick if we win?
I believe the whole set of parts shown in the picture is exceeding the $1000 Care Package budget. :)
Posted on Reply
#44
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Survey filled, but i wonder if putting corsair near the bottom of the preferences list will hurt me

(Some of this has been improved on the latest products, but not the ones i used last)
Custom connectors, ignoring ARGB standards, shite software, and bad warranty experiences burned me really heavily after having an almost all-corsair PC.

Would i use Hydro X parts in a future build? Absolutely, as long as they use generic fittings and ARGB connectors (Anything that use iCue, after what they did with 4.x? Never again.)
Posted on Reply
#45
amit_talkin
I have MCP655 from Swiftech which is running in my system for last 11 years ( That even I bought used from forum )! My average PC usage is atleast 10 hours a day. It still works without any issues. Same goes with 360mm BlackICE radiator, and EK CPU block ( which I recently changed with fancy RGB ). These things last really long, quality parts.
Posted on Reply
#46
Lnxepique
I'd like to add one more selectable reason for not building a custom watercooled build - fear of perfectionism. The fear of not perfectly bending the tubes and having to make everything look proportional. If Corsair could come up with something to overcome that, I'd gladly give it a shot.

You know what would rock? Tubes with "attachments" that can slide and allow you to set a specific bending angle, and lock that angle in place. And make the attachments look good.

That way, people could share their angles and placements more easily, so others can achieve the exact same build.
Posted on Reply
#47
Valantar
LnxepiqueI'd like to add one more selectable reason for not building a custom watercooled build - fear of perfectionism. The fear of not perfectly bending the tubes and having to make everything look proportional. If Corsair could come up with something to overcome that, I'd gladly give it a shot.

You know what would rock? Tubes with "attachments" that can slide and allow you to set a specific bending angle, and lock that angle in place. And make the attachments look good.

That way, people could share their angles and placements more easily, so others can achieve the exact same build.
Cut the tubes to length and use fittings for the bends? That's already reasonably common - but also expensive, obviously. Or just use soft tubing like a sane person, I guess :P
Posted on Reply
#48
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
LnxepiqueI'd like to add one more selectable reason for not building a custom watercooled build - fear of perfectionism. The fear of not perfectly bending the tubes and having to make everything look proportional. If Corsair could come up with something to overcome that, I'd gladly give it a shot.

You know what would rock? Tubes with "attachments" that can slide and allow you to set a specific bending angle, and lock that angle in place. And make the attachments look good.

That way, people could share their angles and placements more easily, so others can achieve the exact same build.
Just do what i did, throw a stuffed toy in there and pretend it was all deliberate

Is my loop dirty? Uhhh no, that's acid or something! Yeah! deliberate! (I cleaned it after this, eventually)


Pumps in a bad spot? Throw an angry octopus on there! STOP JUDGING HIS HOME



(And as you said perfectionism, has had this build change many times since these were taken. That's half the fun!)
Posted on Reply
#49
Lnxepique
MusselsPumps in a bad spot? Throw an angry octopus on there! STOP JUDGING HIS HOME
Hahaha that is a very creative way to cope, made me laugh! I like this idea :p

Cool loop and dope GPU block!
ValantarCut the tubes to length and use fittings for the bends? That's already reasonably common - but also expensive, obviously. Or just use soft tubing like a sane person, I guess :p
That's my problem, I want something like an affordable, adjustable fitting with a soft tube inside. Only without the tube, something you can buy separately and just attach to the tube. I know this is a perfect 3D-printing project, but I lack the experience and good design is also difficult to achieve.

A company with the size and means of Corsair could produce good looking attachments en masse and make them affordable...
Posted on Reply
#50
mechtech
No
WaffleGamer160Do we get the custom watercooling parts that is in the picture displaying everything or do we get to pick if we win?


Why thank u
No problem. I don’t really have any intention of replacing my noctua cpu cooler. A quiet liquid gpu cooler would be nice but that would cost more than my gpu did and land way out in left diminishing returns field.
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