It's Alive, and Conclusions
It's Alive!
I carefully moved the now-much-heavier case back to its usual place under the desk, connected all the cables, double-checked the pump was plugged in, and hit the power button.
It was such an anti-climax that it's almost not worth telling about: nothing bad happened. I could see the coolant in the reservoir bubbling about, so I knew it was running, and the BIOS screen indicated the PC was happily checking the memory, so I kinda sat in my chair and went "... oh."
To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Obviously there's nothing to expect, but when you make such a fundamental change in your computer, you'd expect a little bit more fanfare. There was no audible fanfare, but when Windows XP finally loaded, the celebration came in the way of temperature readings.
Before watercooling:
Idle: 42c (average)
Load: 52c(average)
After watercooling:
Idle: 33c (average)
Load: 42c (average)
These temps are as reported by the Asus PC Probe software while going about my day to day business, which includes the "full load" of 3D gaming in Battlefield 2 and World of Warcraft. Thanks to my air-conditioner, the ambient temperature for both tests was a pleasant 22C.
So, the simple fact is that the Swiftech kit lowered both my idle and full load temps by around 10 degrees celsius, which is pretty darn good. In addition to this, you can barely hear it when it's running, but this is offset slightly by the two 120mm fans on the radiator at the back of the computer. They're not loud, because they're big and they spin fairly slowly, but they're not silent. Fan speed control is provided in the kit, in the form of two sets of 12v-7v and 12v-5v resistor leads that step down the voltage to the desired level, and hence, the desired slower fan speed. Alternatively, many motherboards offer electronic control via the 3-pin connectors or you could always use a fanbus or similar speed control if you're wanting a physical analogue speed control when you're wanting to quiet the system down.
Speaking of which, watercooling obviously is a good solution if you're attempting to make a very quiet/silent PC, but in this particular machine there's the fan on the video card, two airflow fans at the front, and the two on the radiator, plus two in the powersupply, a hard drive and a dvd drive, so any real aural reduction is lost in my situation, I'm afraid. Besides, my aircon sounds like a diesel truck backing up and you can't hear anything over that. But testing the kit outside my PC showed that it's basically silent, so if you are building a silent PC, it's definitely worth considering.
It's been over a month and I haven't had any problems: no small leaks, no noises, no sudden haemorrhaging of coolant all over my computer, it's all been perfect. So that leaves us with two questions:
1. Is watercooling really worth the effort?
In my experience, yes, it worth the effort. If you're an overclocker and you're trying to squeeze more performance out, reducing your temperatures by 10c is a fantastic approach. Sure, you might get less of a difference than me if you're already using a high-end aircooler, but I'm certainly convinced of the cooling benefits of this kit.
Even if you're not into overclocking or performance, if you live in a hot area with no air conditioning, it will give you that extra bit of headroom before the computer melts into a small puddle of heavy metals.
In addition to the cooling benefits, it is quiet, which some people do look for. Not me though. I can barely hear over the music-induced tinnitus.
2. Is watercooling painful if you've never done it before?
Well, yes and no. Thanks to modern all-in-one kits like the Swiftech, it's not exactly rocket science anymore. But, it is a bit of a step up in terms of computer modification than, say, installing a colourful LED case fan. It isn't a plug-and-play proposition, which is where kits like the Swiftech H20-220 Apex are so helpful: there's a great, colour manual where everything is explained well (if in a slightly too-small font), you get everything you need in the box, it's all well made and at $350AUD, considering what you get, it's money well spent.
If you'd like to try watercooling, but you're unsure about it all, the best way to learn is to read, read, read, both in our own Extreme Cooling forum, our Wiki and on various other resources around the Internet. But don't be afraid, it can be slightly painful if you're like me and don't do things properly the first time, but the benefits will outweigh the pain, trust me. :)
Many thanks to Swiftech for providing the review sample!
3 month update - 25/1/07
Well, I've been using the watercooling kit every day for the last 3 months, and I have to say, it's still going strong. Not one leak, the volume seems to be the same indicating that the circuit is well sealed, and it's still quiet and happy.
Y'know, I thought I'd have more to say here... but... er... it's the same as it was the day I installed it, lovely! :)
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