Anyone have any experience with liquid cooling for the CPU chiller? I will probably be doing a new computer build this coming late summer or early fall and am considering going with liquid cooling as I'll probably be going with an AMD Ryzen 32 core, 64 thread, CPU.

One of my concerns is the actual cooling liquid. I mean what happens if a leak develops? Is the liquid inert and non-conductive or is a leak likely to fry the system?

Another question is the case for the new system build. Is it best to get a case specifically designed for liquid cooling or is it just a matter of the motherboard having the connections to power the pump for the liquid system?

I'm looking to build another beast looking at a budget of $2000.00 to $2500.00 with the possibility of dual video cards. Dual video cards is another question. I'm a pretty strong advocate of AMD Radeon video cards but from some things I've read NVIDIA MAY have a bit of a lead as to running multiple cards. It can be done with either brand but doing with NVIDIA seems to be more common. Anyone have any advice on this?

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Forget the dual video cards, most stuff today is no longer supporting SLI video cards. I use Corsair's all in one unit for almost 10 years now, had one go bad and they replaced it with a brand new one.

Call a plumber?

Being more serious, while never having owned let alone ever seen a liquid cooled system i'd like to think that that question was considered in the design process to the point that you might not have to worry about things like that?

I for one hope that this thread develops because you've raised a few questions i've often wondered about.

ekwb.com is one of the premier water cooling builders, lots of information there.

Pretty much all systems use distilled water and then dome dye or tint for color. You will have to keep an eye on it for the first few days checking for any leaks, but the stuff the use now is usually really good and as long as you make proper connections you shouldn't have any issues.

I have been using water cooling on two of my rigs for years. My system, the same as the one you are looking at, has https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0829RYPKM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 installed in its. I have had to replace both my coolers as they apparently have a habit of going dry. It must be a very slow leak.
If you are considering custom water cooling: it is a difficult thing to install and put together with consideration of sizes and threads. My systems run 24/7 and I feel that the corsair units run well and last as long as any component that pumps all the time.
Prime consideration is the case. It must have space on it to mount the fan/radiator unit. I used https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YJJBFIO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It is large and heavy.
As for twin video cards, I run 3 in this unit It is very warm and heats in the winter and requires AC in the summer.
I made a mistake here, my unit is 16 core/32 threads, not the newer one you are looking at.

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I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

William A. Gustafson
I know I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to remember.

Thanks for the input guys.

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Have to laugh at myself a bit...

While not ready to start buying or anything I decided to look at some cases. I was searching for cases with liquid coolers already mounted and was surprised to find so few. Then it dawned on me that a case could hold any motherboard and CPU so how would they know what cooler to include... Might be a thought for an outfit to offer such cases but you have to list the motherboard and CPU being used. Might be a good idea for a high end component supplier.

I have plenty of time to decide but am also considering staying with a pipe cooler. My current main system uses an MSI FROZR and my temperatures are quite nice just using one fan. The cooler allows for dual fans in a push me pull me setup. I already have a second fan that I was going to use on my current main system but didn't need. (actually I just forgot to mount the second fan before mounting everything in the case. ) The exact model I have in my main system is no longer easy to get but here is what I'd probably go with.
https://www.newegg.com/msi-core-frozr-l/p/N82E16835846001?Description=msi%20cpu%20cooler&cm_re=msi_cpu%20cooler-_-35-846-001-_-Product



@ BillG: Since you have experience with liquid cooling is it best to mount the cooler before or after the motherboard. When I use a pipe cooler I mount everything on the motherboard first then drop in the case. LOL! I KNOW I can't mount the thing on the CPU before all is in the case. I mean the radiator unit.

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Jay, I mount the radiator first with the cooling unit hanging down (don't forget I am using an AIO)
Then I put in the MB with CPU mounted and after that is done attach the cooling unit (pump) to the cpu and wire it in and I am ready to go.
I think you are always going to have to do it in this order.

_________________
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

William A. Gustafson
I know I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to remember.

OK, thanks Bill.

I assume that you would also recommend a full sized case or, at least, a mid-tower. Amazing how cases have changed as to design. Some of the danged things are a work of art as to appearance. Myself I'll just get a plain black box. Since the tower sits below two TVs many of the boxes that are out would just be a distraction.

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The case must large enough to mount the radiator and fans. I had a beautiful case (never used) and had to get a new one to fit what I had.
As for works of art, even the memory comes with RGB colored lights/lighting.
I went to all full sized cases quite awhile ago as i needed room to work on them without taking out the MB every time there was something to do.
And you need room for the size of the PS.

_________________
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

William A. Gustafson
I know I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to remember.

Sigh, to be honest I don't even know the box sizes for my systems. For instance take my main system box. It is 16 inches high, 7.5 inches wide and 19 inches deep. I think of it as a mid case but can't say that I'm sure on that.

I DO tend to like larger cases as I also tend to like ASRock motherboards. ASRock boards tend to be large and spread out. I like this as it makes things easy to access. Also ASRock tends to lay things out well. Take my SATA ports... On many boards these are spread out in small groups all over the board. On my ASRock board, which has 10 SATA3 connections, they are all together in a double row of 5 each.

I've also noticed another thing about current cases. I insist on having two 3.5 inch front bays for my optical drives. Of course such is still easy to get but the trend seems to be going toward no such bays. I need two as I have both DVD and Blu-ray burners. Sure, I could get along with just one such bay mounting the Blu-ray but I prefer to have both so that I can use the DVD burner unless Blu-ray is needed. It really bothers me that so many current systems don't even come with an optical drive.

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Thought you might find this interesting, Jay.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-choose-best-pc-case-custom-water-cooling

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Thanks Steve.

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Going off topic a bit but it does concern a build.

The following may be the coolest system I ever built as I didn't use a case. Remember those old wood office desks that were 3 feet by 6 feet with a deep drawer on the left? Well I had one and built a system in the deep drawer. I used a wood cutting router to cut fan and mounting slots for device cards. No need to go in to a lot of details but it worked out quite well.

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That does sound like a pretty cool build. You may be interested in this guy's build:
https://youtu.be/Perqf0dOGLk - the original build
https://youtu.be/_E0mNSMBmFQ - the monitor
https://youtu.be/HhWDPG8EROw - upgrading the original PC build with water cooling

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I'm in awe!

Still I see another step. Go to an auto junk yard and get an SUV touch open/close unit and have the entire desk recessed in a wall when not in use. Tap the 'open button' and the entire desk folds out of a wall recess.

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I expect pictures of your build when you get that underway.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

What has always intrigued me is Dillon's desk in Tron. I like the idea of a display laid in to the desk top but have a hunch it would be harder to view. I know that, in the early days of video games, Space Invaders was easier to view on the stand-up console than the table-top version.

I sort of did the photo build thing on the last build.
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1682

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Not about cooling or video but some interesting info about the AMD Ryzen 9 series and the Ryzen Threadrippers. I always thought that the Threadripper was the top of AMD's line and it is but so is the Ryzen 9 series. Actually the Ryzen 9 has a faster boost clock speed and larger L3 cache. On the other hand the Threadripper is much better than the Ryzen 9 series in a couple of aspects.

• The Threadripper handles quad channel memory while the Ryzen 9 is only dual channel.
• The Thread ripper has nearly three times the number of PCIe lanes. This is important for such things as running a hard drive R.A.I.D. array or multiple video cards. Still not sure if I'll go dual video or not but likely not.

The two bulleted points boil down to the fact that the Threadripper will have a higher throughput than the Ryzen 9. Throughput is actually more important than raw speed as it determines how fast data goes through the CPU. A higher throughput will outperform a faster clock speed in memory intensive applications such as video editing and programming both of which I do. The Ryzen 9 would probably be better for very high level gaming. I DO game but not the latest and most intense titles.

https://premiumbuilds.com/comparisons/ryzen-9-3950x-vs-threadripper-2950x/

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If you want to be really cutting edge then you could always grow your own!

Lab-grown wood could let us grow furniture in a lab instead of in a forest
https://www.fastcompany.com/90596673/lab-grown-wood-could-let-us-grow-furniture-in-a-lab-instead-of-in-a-forest

I guess this is turning into more of a total build thread rather than just cooling and video but it is all basically related.

Considering that my sound system is a Yamaha SRT-1000
https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/sound_bar/srt-1000/features.html
Transparent view, this is really not how it looks but would be sort of cool. It is actually a solid black enclosure. Everything blue are speakers except for two longer air tubes for the sub woofers in the back. It is connected via optical audio.

This is a simulated surround sound system that really does sound good but really it is a glorified soundbar.

My actual question is if, with today's onboard sound chips, there any advantage with going with a dedicated sound card over the onboard? I'm not what would be called a real audiophile but want the best sound I can get through the Yamaha system that I have.

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As long as the onboard sound has the outputs for the channels you want -- 5.1, 7.1, etc., an added sound card is likely overkill these days.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Thanks Steve! That is pretty much what I figured. Except for an audio purest, where analog is always better, I guess the optical audio output I currently use is as good as I'm likely to get with my sound system.

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Agreed, I like good audio and I'm pretty happy what comes from the onboard chips these days, as long as you have decent speakers.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

And drivers that work well with the onboard chipset, i have a Gigabyte motherboard running Win7 that has an onboard Realtek sound chip, every Realtek update seems to make my experience worse in one way or another... whether it's the interface or the sound.

I gave up trying to install the latest Realtek drivers (that should work) from Realtek on my system a long time ago, i now stick with the old and outdated version that Gigabyte offers and while not entirely satisfied i am happier with the results.

Simply put, the old drivers work as Gigabyte intended them too but the newer drivers cause unforseen problems like sound distortion for no reason depending on the software used.