Internal or External Watercooling

[Dark Prodigy]

PLEASE read before voting


Definitions:

Internal Watercooling - ALL components inside the case, including radiators and reserviors. Every component within the confines of the physical case.

External Watercooling - ANY component outside the case, radiators on top or in the back, including but not limited to top mount and desktop kits.


Please vote and tell me your opinions. I see some CRAZY setups pictured on various forums and on this forum, most of these watercooled machines have external watercooling. I personally find external watercooling (any) unstylish, unaesthetic and cumbersome looking (except for the AC setup). Do external radiators and the like yield better temps? Is it a preferred method or are cases too confining for good watercooling?

 

[R1ckCa1n]

I don't think you will get better results with an external solution but it is a matter of if you have enough room in your case, etc.

And yes the AC external solution is dead sexy.

 

[Stuey83]

My radiator is mounted at outer rear of the case simply because there is no alternative placement.

It's best to do whatever works.

 

[Gyrfalcon]

I have my big Thermochill PA120.3 strapped up top becasue my Antec case si too small for it to fit inside.

 

[DDogbert]

I like having everything internal. I picked out my new case largely because I can fit a PA120.3 inside up top.

 

[BillParrish]

Whatever works with the constraint I refuse to blow warm air into my case and I refuse to use warm case air as input to my rads.

 

[madmat]

I personally prefer to fit my gear inside my case if possible. Although I have gone the radbox route with one setup and I liked it for the time I used it. I found the temps to be a bit better than if I was using case exhaust on the rad but just a bit better than when I had the rad mounted in the front of the Armor I used to have, that is, until the rad got really dusty. I attribute that to the restriction from the Armor's front bay covers though.

 

[RRIII]

Whatever works...Although it's always great to do something out of the ordinary and tackle the challenge of fitting everything in a case. But that's not always the case.

 

[Arcygenical]

All internal baby!

The day I stick a rad outside my case... is the day I buy a bigger case

 

[Ranker]

All internal baby!

The day I stick a rad outside my case... is the day I buy a bigger case

Amen.

 

[oneil]

I'd love to have everything internal, but it ends up being whatever works best with what you have..

 

[aiya]

All internal baby!

The day I stick a rad outside my case... is the day I buy a bigger case

+1

all internal for me. i like the "sleeper look" so to speak, especially if you don't have a windowed case and no drive bay res

 

[friedchicken]

You didn't define what you mean by "best".

Ideally, you want esthetics- everything else being equal. For that, internal is the better option.

However, you are limited by realestate inside the case. So, if you don't have enough room for everything, you either a) modify your case (minor/extensive) or go with an external solution.

 

[Dark Prodigy]

Let me see if I've got this straight:

-- People who have any gear outside the case basically didn't plan it that way. They bought a case, parts, etc.. and later upgraded to watercooling. So instead of buying a new case to properly facilitate watercooling apparatus, they start building all over the case and adding to it.

-- People who have all internal watercooling, properly planned their case builds from the beginning to include watercooling, therefore neatly integrating the solution.


I might be wrong on these semi-conclusions because I KNOW I've seen new builds with external wartercooling apparatus and also seen people 'revamp' their systems to include external watercooling after first being all internal... No explanation for this? Any temperature advantages to be gained either way? Or are people too ...indecisive/cheap... to buy a new/bigger case to facilitate neat integration?

 

[R1ckCa1n]

All internal baby!

The day I stick a rad outside my case... is the day I buy a bigger case

Or two

 

[R1ckCa1n]

Let me see if I've got this straight:

-- People who have any gear outside the case basically didn't plan it that way. They bought a case, parts, etc.. and later upgraded to watercooling. So instead of buying a new case to properly facilitate watercooling apparatus, they start building all over the case and adding to it.

-- People who have all internal watercooling, properly planned their case builds from the beginning to include watercooling, therefore neatly integrating the solution.


I might be wrong on these semi-conclusions because I KNOW I've seen new builds with external wartercooling apparatus and also seen people 'revamp' their systems to include external watercooling after first being all internal... No explanation for this? Any temperature advantages to be gained either way? Or are people too ...indecisive/cheap... to buy a new/bigger case to facilitate neat integration?

As is with tubing size, it is all about personal choice. Plain and simple.

FYI - it typically is more expensive to do a quality external solution so it clearly isn't a "indecisive/cheap" thing..

 

[BillParrish]

Let me see if I've got this straight:

-- People who have any gear outside the case basically didn't plan it that way. They bought a case, parts, etc.. and later upgraded to watercooling. So instead of buying a new case to properly facilitate watercooling apparatus, they start building all over the case and adding to it.

-- People who have all internal watercooling, properly planned their case builds from the beginning to include watercooling, therefore neatly integrating the solution.

I dont agree. Not in my build anyway I easly could have accomodated both rads internal to the case and did not for the reasons explained in my first post in this thread.

Whatever works with the constraint I refuse to blow warm air into my case and I refuse to use warm case air as input to my rads.

This implies external mounting of rads, I should have been clearer.

 

[Dark Prodigy]

FYI - it typically is more expensive to do a quality external solution so it clearly isn't a "indecisive/cheap" thing..

The very nature of being an PC enthusiast hardly gives way too being "cheap". ALL of these parts and enthusiast solutions are relatively expensive, so "cheap" wasn't the point. We all have our priorities on what we'd rather spend our money on in our individual builds.

Some people would rather have super internal parts and mediocre case and input devices. Some people would choose all out peformance over looks, some would rather aesthetics over raw performance... and some do both. And we all know this. And what we spend is very relative. What I meant by "cheap/indecisive" is that maybe some people just don't care to spend the money on a larger/new case to facilitiate internal cooling because its simply not as important to them as really good temps.

And I don't know of any external builds that are more expensive than fitting it all internal, besides maybe some extra brackets and much larger radiators and longer tubing. Unless you buy a ultra quality (Aqua Computer definately and some would add Koolance or Flow) external solutions.

 

[R1ckCa1n]

And I don't know of any external builds that are more expensive than fitting it all internal, besides maybe some extra brackets and much larger radiators and longer tubing. Unless you buy a ultra quality (Aqua Computer definately and some would add Koolance or Flow) external solutions.

I agree and have the opinion that anything short of an AC Aquaduct for a premium external solution is ugly and is not easy on the eyes.

 

[madmat]

The very nature of being an PC enthusiast hardly gives way too being "cheap". ALL of these parts and enthusiast solutions are relatively expensive, so "cheap" wasn't the point. We all have our priorities on what we'd rather spend our money on in our individual builds.

Some people would rather have super internal parts and mediocre case and input devices. Some people would choose all out peformance over looks, some would rather aesthetics over raw performance... and some do both. And we all know this. And what we spend is very relative. What I meant by "cheap/indecisive" is that maybe some people just don't care to spend the money on a larger/new case to facilitiate internal cooling because its simply not as important to them as really good temps.

And I don't know of any external builds that are more expensive than fitting it all internal, besides maybe some extra brackets and much larger radiators and longer tubing. Unless you buy a ultra quality (Aqua Computer definately and some would add Koolance or Flow) external solutions.

Radboxes aren't free man. That's an additional $20 plus extra tubing which can run anywhere from a few inches to an extra couple of feet or more depending upon how you're able to route the tubing. Internal is definitely cheaper. Even if you spend $5 on brackets to mount the rad inside the case it's still cheaper than $20 for a radbox.

 

[BillParrish]

Bah 2 external rads mounted cost $3.00 (would have been cheaper but I wanted SS hardware)

(but yea external mounting can be expensive, had I not been in such a hurry to get my new toy up and running I could easily spent $50 more on alum mesh "skirts" etc. to make my existing install look %100 better, but see below, I like stuff to look nice but its a computer in my computer room. Not artwork in my living room. (Not that there are not mods are are works of art and craftsmanship and deserve to be shown off, just not mine.) Besides I like to attract women, they like flashy cars and big houses, computers not so much.


Dark Prodigy, you did a good job of describing us "crazie people" fair and balanced in your last post, we cover the whole spectrum. I am an engineer, I don't care if my WC setup looks like a bunch of car parts held together with duct tape, as long as it performs to its highest potential.

So OP go do what makes YOU happy. you shouldn't give a crap what the rest of us (especially me) are doing other than borrow ideas.

 

[Dark Prodigy]

Bah 2 external rads mounted cost $3.00 (would have been cheaper but I wanted SS hardware)
<snip>
Besides I like to attract women, they like flashy cars and big houses, computers not so much.

<snip>

So OP go do what makes YOU happy. you shouldn't give a crap what the rest of us (especially me) are doing other than borrow ideas.

Well first off, whoever thinks they need ANY PC to attractive wimmin needs serious help and are a very sad case - Tony Robbins couldn't help this guy.

Secondly, don't mistake my being inquisitive for caring - its not. The point of this thread was curiosity. I stated how I feel about the matter in my original post and that's how it will stay. However, I find it interesting to know why people build what they do in this matter and that maybe it was reasons I hadn't considered - besides aesthetics.

 

[newls1]

I agree and have the opinion that anything short of an AC Aquaduct for a premium external solution is ugly and is not easy on the eyes.

The performance you get from those leaves a sour taste in my mouth