I haven't seen any mention of water cooling in any of the forums.
I'm thinking of adding one to Opteron 8 core cpu. Maybe some serious oc, maybe not.
Save lifetime usage, run cooler box...
Otherwise I might have to crunch at nite only.
Any one have comments with real world usage?
I was thinking of Corsair for $75~110 range.

GPUGrid mainly uses your GPU and much less your CPU so if your going to go H2O I would suggest cooling your cards along with your CPU.

While nice, the Corsair units are not really any better than good aftermarket air coolers for your CPU. I don't know of any "all-in-one" water cooling units for graphics cards but I have read that some of the aftermarket air coolers for graphics are much better than the stock coolers.

All that being said, your 460 will liklely run cool enough even without running fans much higher than 50-60% so I wouldn't bother changing anything.

I have been running my CPU and GPU hard for 2 years - overclocked, overvolted, and quite hot at 80+ farenheit. I have seen no sign of degradation at all. I will likely be replacing these components long before any *shortened* lifespan due to heat and overvolting come into play.

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Thanks - Steve

Personally, I don't like and don't recommend water cooling for crunchboxes that are running 24/7. It's complicated to install, and it makes reconfiguration very hard (which I do very often). If the water pump breaks down, the whole system becomes unusable for a long time, and some components can be permanently damaged as a consequence of the cooling failure. So it's recommended to have a spare water pump for avoiding long downtimes, and a coolant mixed with corrosion and biological inhibitors. I'm using, and I recommend the largest CPU and GPU heatsink that fit in the case, and proper air vent directly to the hot parts. (I'm using Noctua NH-D14 on my CPUs, and Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme on my GPUs, and a couple of NF-P12 fans on the side of my case). I would recommend water cooling only if you have more than two GPUs in a single PC. The main drawback of air cooling is the dust buildup, which is slowly decreasing the cooling efficiency. So I have to use regularly some high pressure duster to get rid of the dust, but this is also true for the radiators of a water cooling system (although they are much easier to clean).

I've gotta agree with Snow Crash here. I have a H70 to cool my CPU and although it works great, a True (from thermalright) will work comparably. The benefit for me of using the H70 is that I move my computer from city to city a lot and with large metal heat sinks, the bumps along the road ruin my mount.

If you don't tend to move your computer frequently, air is the easiest option.

Also, as far as worrying about temps, your GPUs are rated at 105C. While it may not be advisable to run them this hot, I would not worry about running them at 80-85C. Your CPU on the other hand is only rated to 75C, but again, I would not worry about this until 65C.

For reference, an i7 920 is rated at 100C. I ran one for 11 months strait between 90-95C with no degradation, so again, at those temps, I would not be too concerned.

Edit: And Snow Crash should have said he runs his stuff at 80+C. (IIRC)

as far as worrying about temps, your GPUs are rated at 105C. While it may not be advisable to run them this hot, I would not worry about running them at 80-85C. Your CPU on the other hand is only rated to 75C, but again, I would not worry about this until 65C.

A bit too generic - different CPU's and GPU's have different maximum operational temperatures. Another noteworthy point is that the higher the temperature the higher the leakage, therefore the higher the power requirement and the higher your electric bill; it pays to use your fans!

as far as worrying about temps, your GPUs are rated at 105C. While it may not be advisable to run them this hot, I would not worry about running them at 80-85C. Your CPU on the other hand is only rated to 75C, but again, I would not worry about this until 65C.

A bit too generic - different CPU's and GPU's have different maximum operational temperatures. Another noteworthy point is that the higher the temperature the higher the leakage, therefore the higher the power requirement and the higher your electric bill; it pays to use your fans!

Sorry about that, didn't mean to be generic. I was actually referring to the parts he had mentioned in his post. AFAIK, every GPU capable of running GPUGrid is rated at 105C, but I guess I could be mistaken.

I do have to correct my statement about the CPU though. The most recent Opterons are rated at 66C. (Although I find AMD to be more conservative with their max temps, so although I personally wouldn't flinch running it at 65C it is probably not recommended.)

And while the statement about leakage is true, you also have to keep in mind that the average fan consumes 3-5 watts. Unless your CPU is at the point of melting, you are unlikely to get back more leakage power than an average fan consumes.

you are unlikely to get back more leakage power than an average fan consumes.

Tested this about a year ago. I just plugged a meter in and then upped the fan speed while crunching heavily. The overall power consumption was reduced.

you are unlikely to get back more leakage power than an average fan consumes.

Tested this about a year ago. I just plugged a meter in and then upped the fan speed while crunching heavily. The overall power consumption was reduced.

Really? That's quite interesting... I wouldn't have imagined the gain would be anywhere close.

I'll have to look into that.