Intro to Water Cooling

An example of a liquid cooled computer.

Finally, right? I know – if you’re into overclocking (and I know you are!) and into performance (and I sure hope you are…) then water cooling is for you! It is a well known fact that the cooler your computer is, the faster and more efficient it can run (hence extreme overclockers using liquid nitrogen, for example, to cool computers; like the people at AMD who overclocked their… well, just watch).

Liquid cooling is far more efficient than air cooling, albeit more expensive (but expensive for all the right reasons). There are a lot of components to water cooling, but this is just an intro, so I’ll keep it simple. Also, there are various tube sizes (and coolers, even UV reactive and glow in the dark for all of you crazy cats out there), so you must be consistent with the tube sizes – I recommend 1/2″ tubing because of the high amount of flow.

Water block: Copper is an amazing metal to use for the water block because it can absorb and radiate heat extremely well. Surface area is important, because more surface area means more points for heat exchange exist. Often within water blocks, you will see pillar-like structures, or in the case of EVGA’s “Hydro Copper 16,” little “E’s” to increase the surface area (how hardcore awesome is that?).

Pumps: Basically the stronger the pump, the more flow you are going to get, which is good – the more flow, the more heat exchange (which is the whole point!)

Coolant: Water can absorb a lot of heat, without changing its temperature very much so water is an amazing coolant. Of course, there are additives-such as anti-corrosives, chemicals that improve the cooling performance.

Reservoirs: Another aspect of cooling, a reservoir helps in filling your cooling system as well as protecting from nasty, nasty air bubbles (everyone, let’s boo air bubbles! C’mon! “Boooooo!!!”)

Radiators: Oh sweet radiators! The radiator is where the coolant dumps its heat and cools down in order to suck out more heat from your processor, graphics card(s), etc.

Water Block: GPU – look up your gpu, because gpu water blocks are very,very specific – and CPU also varies from socket type to socket type, so just keep what I had to say in mind, and you’ll do just fine.

Reservoir

Radiator

Pump

Antec Skeleton

Have you seen your pitiful little case recently?  I laugh at your plastic window, and your red/blue/green LED lights.  It’s time to step it up, and become a man.  In the computer world, I believe it’s called a keyboardmitzvah, and it involves one thing – buying the Antec Skeleton case, the first open air computer case.  This beautiful experiment in casing comes with a front 92mm fan, and a top (three speed) 250mm fan with multicolor LED customization.  Just imagine the next time you go to a LAN and whip this bad boy out.  “Is that 4 drive bays I see?” Your friends will ask as they stare longingly at your new set up. “Yes,” you’ll reply, “and room for three 11′ graphics cards.”  That’s when all the girls will flock to you from all directions, screaming and grabbing at your clothes.  “Calm down ladies, There’s enough of me to go around, just like there’s enough room inside my case to fit a Standard, Micro, or mini ATX motherboard in that case.”  And that’s when things will really get out of control.  Admit it – you want this case, and at $179.95 how can you possibly resist?  Pretty easily, but still…  Oh and if you feel like you need a little extra protection for your components, a mesh cover is available for the mere price of $59.00.  A little much for a case that probably won’t improve the cooling of your CPU? Maybe, but a steal when considering the perks of having the coolest case at any LAN.

Best Deal: ($138) http://www.provantage.com/antec-skeleton~7ANTG05A.htm

Best Review: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2332330,00.asp

Best Video Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6dX2K8ydDo

Sweet deals!

Ok, so we’ve told you about Newegg.com before, but for some reason forgot to inform you about one of the best features (one of many) about the site: Shell Shocker. Newegg.com’s Shell Shocker is a special sale on one item (which changes daily – from printers and fax machines, to motherboards, hard drives, and processors). The discounts can range from 10% off to even 30% off, most including free shipping. The deals are ‘while supplies last,’ so act quickly, because they sell out pretty fast. The Shell Shocker is definitely worth checking out, especially when you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to get your computer parts! (It is also worth while to check out Newegg’s combo deals, linked below. There are hundreds of deals, so luckily they provide numerous means to narrow your search to find exactly what you are looking for).

Shell Shocker deal: http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx

Combo Deals: http://www.newegg.com/Special/Combo.aspx?name=Combo-Deals