Energy Efficient?

[haitu]

Does investing in liquid cooling save cash in your energy bill? or is there really no change?

 

[jthomas]

If anything it will probably slightly increase the power used because you are adding a pump, while probably still having the same amount or more fans. You get rid of a cpu fan, but have to add one or more fans for the radiator so no savings gained there.

Either way it's a difference of pennies, maybe couple dollars, per year.

 

[DeathPrincess]

Depends. If you went full passive (phobya supernova or similar), and a low wattage pump, then did away with fans you'd probably save some money. But the cost of it would take a while to offset.

 

[Teenyman45]

You might save some money on your AC bill because you wont need to lower the ambient temperature in your room/office to keep a decent temperature when going for high overclocking. Then again, at $100-150 per GPU block, $50-100 for the CPU block, ~$30-40 per 120mm fan worth of rads, cost of pump(s), reservoirs, and tubing, it will be a long long time before any electrical savings offset the start up costs.

The biggest benefit is reduction of noise pollution which I really looking forward to.

 

[drescherjm]

If anything it will probably slightly increase the power used because you are adding a pump, while probably still having the same amount or more fans. You get rid of a cpu fan, but have to add one or more fans for the radiator so no savings gained there.

Either way it's a difference of pennies, maybe couple dollars, per year.

Aren't pumps around 18W. And in the US it is about $1 per watt to run 24/7/365. So a pump will add ~$18 to your annual electricity cost if you never turn your PC off. Although depending on your climate this may not be all waste. I mean any heat generated in winter would go to heating the room but then in summer it would work against the AC.

 

[jamsomito]

You might save some money on your AC bill because you wont need to lower the ambient temperature in your room/office to keep a decent temperature when going for high overclocking. ...

Wait a sec. Your CPU will put out the same heat regardless... so long as the temp isn't changing (at equilibrium), your room will heat up the same with a high temp air cooling setup or a low temp water cooling setup. The heat transfer is better with WC, so if anything, your room would be slightly warmer because you're pulling more heat out of the CPU and dumping it into the room. You're right that it's probably better for higher OC's because your CPU temps will be lower, but I don't believe it will save any AC energy.

 

[Omegas]

Actually if you put the rad outside then you will save on ac costs. I really need to post my build.

 

[jamsomito]

Hah, I never thought of that, but it would work! Even on a 100 degF day, that's still only mid-high 30's (in C). I'd take 40C CPU temps to save some energy. Genius.

I guess I'm not [H] enough to cut holes in my walls or keep a window/door open to run the tubing outside, but its a good idea.

 

[EarthwormJim]

At the same switching speed, your GPU and/or CPU will use less energy the cooler they are run at.

So there might possibly be some small gain in energy efficiency. I remember for GTX480 cards there was roughly a 1 watt reduction in power for every 1 degree Celsius that the card was run cooler.

 

[westrock2000]

Solar power that pump!

 

[drescherjm]

Solar power that pump!

Only if the cost of the panel did not take 15+ years to pay for itself. Although if you live in California or anywhere else where the price of electricity is many times the national average this may make some sense.

 

[Omegas]

Hah, I never thought of that, but it would work! Even on a 100 degF day, that's still only mid-high 30's (in C). I'd take 40C CPU temps to save some energy. Genius.

I guess I'm not [H] enough to cut holes in my walls or keep a window/door open to run the tubing outside, but its a good idea.

This was in the middle of my build, I never took the final completion photos as it seems I keep changing things up. But this gets the point across. BTW, I have a 4x120 rad under the porch cooling 3x6950's and a 2600k. This thing runs 24x7 mining bitcoins with all major heat going outside.

 

[Teenyman45]

Wait a sec. Your CPU will put out the same heat regardless... so long as the temp isn't changing (at equilibrium), your room will heat up the same with a high temp air cooling setup or a low temp water cooling setup. The heat transfer is better with WC, so if anything, your room would be slightly warmer because you're pulling more heat out of the CPU and dumping it into the room. You're right that it's probably better for higher OC's because your CPU temps will be lower, but I don't believe it will save any AC energy.

The CPU/GPU heat output will be the same. However, if while air cooling you are pushing the chip near to the point of thermal failure (such as when bitmining or running IBT) when your ambient room temp is say 25C then you will need to boost the AC output to lower and sustain the ambient at 20-21C to gain a little safety margin. Water cooling takes care of that margin and would allow for safely pushing the chip even with a higher ambient air temperature, provided you the user can withstand being in a warmer room. Otherwise there is little to no AC benefit.

 

[Teenyman45]

But this gets the point across. BTW, I have a 4x120 rad under the porch cooling 3x6950's and a 2600k. This thing runs 24x7 mining bitcoins with all major heat going outside.

If the rig is purely for mining, why not swap out the 2600k, and the block, for an under volted i3-2100?

 

[Omegas]

If the rig is purely for mining, why not swap out the 2600k, and the block, for an under volted i3-2100?

It is also my main gaming rig, although I don't game often lately. The Tri-6950's run a 5760x1200 eyefinity setup. Pausing the miner's only takes a second.