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rhino56 · 06-29-2007, 12:20 AM

Air Cooling VS Water Cooling

VS

Within the past few years, I have seen air cooling heatsinks become better by leaps and bounds. The introduction of using heat pipes has brought them to a new level of performance. With this I have seen many people give up on water cooling for the ease of just slapping on a heatsink and having great cooling performance.

Water cooling has also improved with the introduction of the storm, the apogee, and pumps that are quieter and more powerful. But how far has air cooling really come? That’s what I wanted to know.
So I took the latest and greatest and pitted them up against each other in a head to head battle.

The test system
Motherboard- Asus P5W-DH Deluxe
Processor- Intel 3.2 GHz Cedarmill

The cooling systems to be compared

Air Cooling
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme

Water Cooling
Swiftech Apogee GT and the MCP655-B

I know water cooling is typically quieter than air cooling and I didn’t want to focus on anything other than top end performance. So the amount of airflow and sound level will not be considered in the comparison, just the actual heat removal abilities of the heatsinks. This will give ideal conditions for both of them.

To do this, I chose the ultimate in fans: the Delta TFB1212GHE
Specifications of this fan are beyond impressive:
120x120x38mm,
An incredible 220 CFM @ 4600 RPM,
A screaming 65.0 dBA with Maximum Air Pressure 26.44 mm H²O
This fan is so loud that I had to use ear plugs because I just couldn’t take the noise levels of sitting next to it running for so long. It’s comparable to a standard vacuum cleaner noise level.
Here is that comparison just for kicks.
http://cryo-laboratory.com/upload/us...cs%20177-1.wmv

To evenly compare the two cooling systems, I made sure ambient temperatures were the same for all tests, which was 27 celsius. The motherboard temperature remained between 31 and 32 also. However the motherboard temperature sensor has little to do with anything, since it is located near to the the southbridge.

As seen in this chart below, at stock speeds the water cooling was only slightly cooler than the air cooling.

I overclocked the processor to 4.5 GHz and ran the same tests again. I was surprised at how well the air cooling did. Within a margin of 2 degrees celsius is not what I had expected at all.

In conclusion, I can see why so many people have opted to pack up the water cooling gear and go with air cooling, It’s much easier and there is very little to worry about in comparison to water cooling.
I do think that most real water cooling enthusiasts won’t be persuaded by the findings in this head to head comparison. With nearly silent pumps and the asthetics of water cooling, it is still better, cooler and quieter. I will be making a test bed that will be capable of running much higher temperatures than even the hottest chips out there. When it is completed, I will run the same tests again and update my findings.

06-29-2007, 12:20 AM	#1 (permalink)
rhino56 Administrator General Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 6,857	Air Cooling VS Water Cooling Air Cooling VS Water Cooling VS Within the past few years, I have seen air cooling heatsinks become better by leaps and bounds. The introduction of using heat pipes has brought them to a new level of performance. With this I have seen many people give up on water cooling for the ease of just slapping on a heatsink and having great cooling performance. Water cooling has also improved with the introduction of the storm, the apogee, and pumps that are quieter and more powerful. But how far has air cooling really come? That’s what I wanted to know. So I took the latest and greatest and pitted them up against each other in a head to head battle. The test system Motherboard- Asus P5W-DH Deluxe Processor- Intel 3.2 GHz Cedarmill The cooling systems to be compared Air Cooling Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Water Cooling Swiftech Apogee GT and the MCP655-B I know water cooling is typically quieter than air cooling and I didn’t want to focus on anything other than top end performance. So the amount of airflow and sound level will not be considered in the comparison, just the actual heat removal abilities of the heatsinks. This will give ideal conditions for both of them. To do this, I chose the ultimate in fans: the Delta TFB1212GHE Specifications of this fan are beyond impressive: 120x120x38mm, An incredible 220 CFM @ 4600 RPM, A screaming 65.0 dBA with Maximum Air Pressure 26.44 mm H²O This fan is so loud that I had to use ear plugs because I just couldn’t take the noise levels of sitting next to it running for so long. It’s comparable to a standard vacuum cleaner noise level. Here is that comparison just for kicks. http://cryo-laboratory.com/upload/us...cs%20177-1.wmv To evenly compare the two cooling systems, I made sure ambient temperatures were the same for all tests, which was 27 celsius. The motherboard temperature remained between 31 and 32 also. However the motherboard temperature sensor has little to do with anything, since it is located near to the the southbridge. As seen in this chart below, at stock speeds the water cooling was only slightly cooler than the air cooling. I overclocked the processor to 4.5 GHz and ran the same tests again. I was surprised at how well the air cooling did. Within a margin of 2 degrees celsius is not what I had expected at all. In conclusion, I can see why so many people have opted to pack up the water cooling gear and go with air cooling, It’s much easier and there is very little to worry about in comparison to water cooling. I do think that most real water cooling enthusiasts won’t be persuaded by the findings in this head to head comparison. With nearly silent pumps and the asthetics of water cooling, it is still better, cooler and quieter. I will be making a test bed that will be capable of running much higher temperatures than even the hottest chips out there. When it is completed, I will run the same tests again and update my findings.