With the latest generation of gaming hardware offering greater performance than ever, you might find yourself needing an improved thermal solution as you upgrade. Enter the wonderful world of water cooling.
Today, we want to take you through all the advantages this system brings with it and offer some cheeky hardware suggestions.
Why Does Cooling Matter?
Just to cover all of our bases, we’ll start off with the simple question. From your CPU to your graphics card, everything inside your PC’s chassis generates excess heat. If there’s nothing to offset that, your case turns into a hotbox which can throttle your system’s performance.
At the same time, if your thermal solution isn’t effective enough for the hardware you’re rocking, you’ll end up with some inefficient heat exchange and get a similar result. That’s why your cooling needs to match your hardware.
Why Water Cooling and Not Air Cooling?
Air cooling is still an effective and reliable option for your gaming PC. However, water cooling is designed to handle higher TDP output. TDP, or thermal design output, refers to the maximum amount of heat generated by a computer component that your cooling system is designed to dissipate. That means if you want to use heavy-hitting tech like NVIDIA 4090 GPUs, AMD Ryzen 7000 Series, and Intel 13th or 14th generation CPUs, you need something that’s going to be capable of managing the load. Today, we want to take you through all the advantages this system brings with it and offer some cheeky hardware suggestions.
What to learn more about the differences between air and water cooling? We’ve got a dedicated blog post to teach you just that.
How Hard is it to Upgrade to Water Cooling?
Okay, so we’ve convinced you that you need water cooling to take advantage of the latest tech and get unparalleled performance. Next, you’ll want to know how to actually upgrade your gaming PC to make use of it.
Here you have two options depending on how big you want to go out of the gate.
AIO Coolers
The first option is the simplest and most economical way to upgrade your cooling performance. That’s with an AIO cooler (all-in-one). Most typically used to help your CPU beat the heat, AIO coolers can be easily fitted to most cases. That makes them a fantastic place to start experimenting with water cooling, especially if you currently lack the technical knowledge to tackle our second option.
Custom Loop
The second option is a great choice if you are confident with your hardware and maintenance. Plus, it offers greater results than AIO coolers and more enviable aesthetics. Building a custom loop takes more work – from ensuring you have a compatible case, to the correct fans and radiators for all your hardware, and then there’s the pump, reservoir, fittings, tubing…
If it sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is. But the results are something to behold. From the bold and striking visuals, you can create to the smooth-as-silk performance your high-end hardware will deliver. This is undoubtedly the pinnacle of cooling solutions.
If you’d like to learn more about custom water-cooling loops, check out our PC Modding with OcUK: Custom Water-Cooling article! This will take you through everything you need to build your own stunning custom loop.
Water Cooling Maintenance
One other thing to note is that water-cooling systems do require maintenance. Just as dust filters need cleaning with air-cooling, liquid coolant needs replacing in custom loops.
Thankfully, we have a handy guide that details how often this needs doing and some great tips to get you started.
Get Started with Water Cooling!
Need some product recommendations to commence the upgrade? We got you! Here at Overclockers UK, we have an extensive range of water-cooling solutions and accessories, plus cases for your craziest custom loop creations.
HYTE Y60 Dual Chamber Mid-Tower ATX Case
- 3-piece panoramic tempered glass design for the ultimate photo and display potential.
- Segment cables from thermal components and turn your gaming PC into a work of art!
- Eliminate hot spots with later vents from fans tucked into the Y60’s base.
- Three pre-installed Flow FE12 fans provide whisper quiet operation.
Lian Li Galahad II Trinity AIO 240mm ARGB CPU Water Cooler
- Improved water pump design for increased water flow
- Three magnetic pump caps so you can change your cooler’s aesthetic with ease
- Multiple ARGB lighting LEDs so you can add some extra personality
- Easily control your cooler with L-Connect 3 software
DIY Water-Cooling Bundles
- Complete water-cooling bundles – great for first time builders
- Includes all the components needed
- Kits suitable for Intel and AMD platforms
- Cables and cutting tools often included
- From popular water-cooling brands
Everything You Need to Build Your Own Loop!
Fancy building a custom water loop all of your own? We’ve got everything you could need! From brackets to fans and everything in between, check out our full offering of water-cooling solutions.
Are You Ready to Take the Plunge?
Feeling ready to upgrade to water-cooling yet? Let us know in the comments below if you have any other questions.
- 5 min read
Jacob Smith
Author
Jacob is a passionate gamer, plus a noted Pokemon and LEGO nutjob, who emerges only when doing the words here at Overclockers UK. Since starting at the tail end of 2021, Jacob has gone on to write dozens of blogs on everything from the latest games to whimsical Dickens-inspired poetry. Outside of creating content and being the one person in the office daring to champion Nintendo, he is often found fawning over his Pokemon card collection and his trio of lovely doggos.
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