Although it has been in use by many enthusiasts since its introduction in the late 90’s, I’ve always been leery of water cooling for any PC component. Water and electronics simply don’t mix, but a more immediate concern for me was the question of need versus want.

                                             A passable representation.
 

In my case I wanted to try out these hardcore activities usually done on PC’s such as overclocking, hardware modding, water cooling, and a bit of hacking. This desire is balanced by the fact of cost coupled with complexity, especially in the case of hardware modding. I didn’t need to do any of these activities, but I wanted to try it out, if only for the sake of geekiness.

                                               A modder's lair.

In other words, it was too much of a hassle and was risky to the point of non-adoption by me. Thankfully though, these once “hardcore” activities are slowly becoming commercialized by the various manufacturers looking to take advantage of modding’s popularity. First to become readily available were overclocking controls that gave to the ordinary a safe and easy means to adjust their stock frequencies – whether on their video card, memory, or processor – to a generally “safe” point from where they could still recover and resume safe functions – after their foray into “value-added” performance.

Other components riding the modding wave were pre-cut cases with a variety of clear panels and/or designs. Blinking lights, whirring fans, fancy protrusions and the like followed, until little distinction remained between a regular PC and a “pre-modded” PC. Yet water cooling, even after all of these developments – remains the province of those hardcore geeks into the “extremes” of overclocking and modding.

                                             The MSI RX1950XTX with Thermaltake Tide Water

Let me explain – water cooling has a couple of advantages – primarily that of improved cooling and lower noise. An indirect result is a longer lifespan and better performance. The tertiary advantage is a bit harder to pin down, but it could simply be described as the “I mean business” factor. Now not all of these factors are applicable to an off-the-shelf solution that’s being hawked to those who wants to quickly jump into the water-cooling bandwagon. I refer of course to those all-in-one solutions that are very easy to install and maintain and does not involve a mess of wires, tubes, pumps and a large reservoir.

These all-in-one solutions certainly give to the buyer their intended benefits: better cooling and (somewhat) lower noise. But it fails utterly in other, more subtle advantages. As an example, we take MSI’s RX1950XTX Water cooled card, which includes Thermaltake’s Tide Water Mini. It certainly cools Radeon’s  1950 chip better than water cooling, certainly by at least 5 degrees or more compared to stock. It’s quieter too. On the other hand, this product is a collection of compromises. It’s a single slot solution, so crammed into the Tide Water Mini are all of the previously mentioned components – reservoir, pump, tubes leading to the card, heatsink, and even a fan.

                                             This is but one component of many.

Now take a “serious” water cooling kit, say, from Danger Den. These kinds of kit requires a bit of assembly, a modicum of handiness, and lots of patience, as setting up all of the components involves filling the *large* reservoir, priming the *powerful* pump, and making sure that the *large* hoses aren’t kinked or blocked. There’s no fan to be installed, for the size of the system means no extra cooling aside from normal case coolers are needed. Do you see where this is going?

This is the “I mean business” factor. If anyone makes use of any of the existing prepared water cooling kits, although the advantages of better cooling and quieter operation is still there, that person is automatically labeled as someone not serious about being a geek. In other words, it’s simply a form of snobbery. Snobbery which I gladly accept, if it means plugging in a new water-cooled 1950XTX in a few minutes and enjoying the benefits immediately.

                                             The Thermaltake setup.

So I’m not that much of a hardcore hardware guy. Big deal. I always find it’s a balance of convenience, cost, and performance that I need to find to fully enjoy my hardware. I may lose out on a bit of cooling power, better performance and such, but I gain an instant “modded” status, along with more time to enjoy the system itself.

I do have to admit that many are after the process of setting up the complex system, and I wouldn’t mind getting the better performance of the more complex setups. But at the rate that these systems are improving, I may not need to wait long to realize a product that’s only a few degrees removed from a “serious” setup – the MSI RX1950XTX is but a taste of that – one that I gladly will use.

                                              The ultimate "water-cooled" computer. (Mineral oil is actually used).