The age of affordable custom loops (for almost anyone) is upon us.
Once Corsair gets seriously into this, everyone and their dog will want to make their own CL parts.
I remember when first AIOs appeared, they were SO expensive compared to the best air towers. But now... they are found in any PC at any price point.
It was been for some time. But still ... the 'affordable ones' (< 3 x an air cooler) are always making unacceptable tradeoffs. And yes, there are CLCs at every price point but, as yet no comparable performance / noise pricing alternatives. When the best air cooler is $45, and CLCs with comparable performance are both noisier and 2 -3 times more expensive, I really don't see their raison d'être. A Delta T of 10C design is going to be hard to describe as affordable,
The age of affordable custom loops (for almost anyone) is upon us.
Once Corsair gets seriously into this, everyone and their dog will want to make their own CL parts.
I remember when first AIOs appeared, they were SO expensive compared to the best air towers. But now... they are found in any PC at any price point.
It was been for some time. But still ... the 'affordable ones' (< 3 x an air cooler) are always making unacceptable tradeoffs. And yes, there are CLCs at every price point but, as yet no comparable performance / noise pricing alternatives. When the best air cooler is $45, and CLCs with comparable performance are both noisier and 2 -3 times more expensive, I really don't see their raison d'être. A Delta T of 10C design is going to be hard to describe as affordable,
Im still super anxious/scared to do my own water loop. It is literally the final frontier of PC building for me. :x
You might start with a Open Loop (expandable AIO) from Swiftech or EK and Maybe a Seahawk EK GFX card ... all thats left to do is add two fittings and a tube. Tho personally, I'd be inclined to use compression fittings if the model uses barbed. My son did that and regretted it tho ... it was so easy, he wished he'd overcome his fears and went custom.
the problem is temps - my nocuta NH-D14 with 3x 140mm fans in push pull on it with a strong fan curve still comes within 4 celsius of the best Corsair AIO 360mm model. on a oc'd cpu in prime95.
I mean why risk a leak if I don't have to? now if this custom loop adds even 3 celsius to that 4... so 7 celsius difference, THEN i might consider going water if its affordable, last i checked though a custom loop would cost me close to 300-400, plus the annoying part of cleaning it every couple years. where it only takes 5 mins to clean my noctua fans
1. You are severely limiting your OC by using P95 as a measuring stick. That's kinda like seeing if the nail in your wall is capable of hanging your daughter's gradutaion picture by hanging a 400 pound weight on it. RoG Real Bench will put a much higher load on your CPU than it will ever see IRL and will drop temps by 8 to 10C ... in addition, as a multitasking benchmark with modern instruction sets, it tests stability in a way synthetics can not. I have had 24 hour stable P95 OCs fail under RB in 45 minutes.
2. I have not had an OC significantly limited by temps since Ivy Bridge. Usually hit the voltage wall 1st...though if ya want that last 0.1C, (V = 1.38 in BIOS, reaching peaks of 1.5 in stress testing) water is the way to go.
3. Many of us use custom loops for silence ... if i can tell the PC is on when sitting next to it with monitor off, = unacceptable.
4. The reason folks clean custom loops is to address clogging or dye fades. CLCs experience the same thing, just nothing you can do about it. But can't argue with air's simplicity. Cleaning the fans tho, is only haf the effort tho ... it's the dust between the fins that is the PITA. You can eliminate the leak risk by a leak test using a small 12v PSU ($15)... no risk when PC is not plugged in.
5. I agree tho, with the best air cooler (Fuma) available only $45 these days, beating most CLCs and all within 2 - 3 times it's cost, it's hard to make a case for CLCs. In my experience, more folks are going to custom loops for silence and aesthetics than performance improvement these days.
Cold additives have added anti-corrosion and anti-bacterial inhibitors in addition to color and a real and very good addition is a super-fluxing additive !!!!!
The issue with most additives is useful life, all of these tend to lose their effectiveness over time. The science of water cooling is over 100 years old. Every power plant using gas / diesel generators has a 'corrosion consultant" that comes in at least quarterly to test cooling water for the effectiveness of corrosion, algae inhibitors and "water wetters". Most manufactured coolants include these to some extent in their product.
well damnit , I knew these were on the way for a while...but i already have all the parts for my loop.would have been a nice compliment to my 1070 seahawks (that are corsair branded) ....
I didn't quite understand MSI's thinking in doing the co-branding with Corsair ... AFAIK, Asetek actually is still making all of Corsair's CLCs and not as if that's a secret. EK makes the WB on the Seahawk and I do find it quite odd that you can bu the MSI 2080 Seahawk with EK Block for roughly the same price, sometimes less.
The performance, aesthetic and sound arguments are all valid but will vary in importance by individual .... the only argument I find completely without merit is the "big heavy thing argument", unless you are shipping the box via a carrier. How can we be concerned about a 2 pound weight hanging off a MoBo in a case sitting on a sold desk after tightening down a water block with 60 - 70 pounds of clamping force. You literally have 70 pounds of force bending your skinny PCB as the HS pushes down on CPU while an equal and opposite force is at your hold down clamps. The calculated load differential is enormous. The weight presents almost a bending moment of one inch pound and the shear force is 0.5 pounds per mounting pin. Think of it this way ....
a) Take one of those picture hanging tacks bang it into the ceiling and hang your air cooler on it. Would you stand underneath it ?
b) Now hang a 70 pound weight on it.. still wanna stand under it ?
a) Take a 12" x 48" piece of sheetrock suspended between two cinderblocks, put a 5 pound weight on it
b) Take a 12" x 48" piece of sheetrock suspended long ways between two cinderblocks, put a 175 pound weight on it
Which is the safest bet that the sheetrock doesn't break ?
