Water Cooled PCs— Is it Worth It?

The coolest PC’s out there are ones that are hardline water cooled.  The expertise that goes into bending the tubes precise, coming up with routes for the tubes, coming up with a nice color pallet.  They are amazing showpieces, but there is more to it than just looking cool.  It is the ultimate cooling you can give your PC, ensuring that it is going to stay cool during the most demanding of tasks.

Theming Your Hardline Liquid Cooled PCs

When in the early stages of your hardline build, depending on what kind of end user you are, you want to come up with a theme.  I, personally, feel like this is a great opportunity to express who you are through the cosmetics of your PC.  See the picture down below as a great reference!

This was a Boba Fett PC that we custom-made for an end user of ours – the amount of time and detail that went into this took quite some time!  Proper planning on a build like this is crucial, especially if you are going for a theme, such as this one.  Colors are very important, and there are plenty of coolant options out there.

Putting your personal touch on a build like this adds so much more to the build itself.  It makes it truly custom to you.  We work with a company known as PrimoChill that has a wide range of customized colors to help your PC stand out, with colors such as Razor Red, Sky White, UV Orange, and UV Pink.  Of course, that isn’t all of them, just some options!

Performance with Water Cooling your PC

The biggest advantage in this style of build is the performance that hardline cooling provides.  Let’s take the GPU for example: you pull the heat sinks off of the card, allowing you to put a water block on the card.  This allows the block to connect with the actual chip on the card, keeping it nice and cool.  The benefit over something like the air coolers that are stock on these builds are night and day.

When it comes to the CPU, it isn’t much different from a traditional AIO cooler in terms of how it works.  A major difference is the material in the block, as well as the coolant.  Coolant you purchase for a liquid cooled build is light years better than what comes in a pre-built AIO.

Cost to performance – is Water Cooling your PC worth it?

The biggest “downside” to purchasing, or building your own, liquid cooled build is the cost.  Once you factor in all the parts you want to have in your build, you are going to be looking at a hefty bill right there alone.  Once you factor in the cost of the liquid cooled parts, you are adding a lot more money on top of the already big bill.  This is definitely not something a regular end user would go out and purchase, especially if they aren’t going to benefit from it.  Where it really makes sense is for end users that are hardcore enthusiasts, or end users that would benefit greatly from the cooling advantages, especially if they are running intense programs, not to mention, programs you might run long term without closing said program.

All in all, water cooled gaming PCs are nothing short of amazing.  The amount of expertise that goes into a build like this, as well as your creative touches, is a true showcase of how amazing the PC community, and hobby, truly is.  While it might not be ideal for some end users, especially in the cost department, if this is something you can do, I really would.  It is quite the show piece, if you ask me!