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Pyrotechnic · 11-07-2006, 02:36 PM

I kind of feel the same way about the whole deal. I'm typing this on a watercooled system though.

I remember when I got into watercooling...back in middle school. Back then I had lots of time, and enough money saved up to really play around with computers and water cooling. I thought it was so bad ass to be able to use water to cool the CPU, keep everything quiet, and get a nice overclock. So I did. I must have done about 10 revisions and used 2 different cases before I settled on the system I'm still using today. It all started from stuff bought from home depot mixed with plumbers goop, to a well engineered and designed full featured system with little compromise thats still giving me reliable cooling to this day.

Today is different though. I'm 240 miles from home living in a dorm room. I dont really have the tools or resources, money, or time to even mess with a watercooling system anymore. I barely even have time to practice drums or bass, or play with my band back in my hometown. I guess I dont have time for a lot of the "magic" things that I liked to do.

I think it all goes around in cycles though. The 486's and Pentium's ran really cool. When that technology was pushed, it kept getting hotter and hotter, until they changed the manufacturing process, and things have cooled down again. Software will become more demanding and the limits of hardware will be pushed again.

Either way, I'm still running a Socket A chip and it's watercooled. I love how quiet and how reliable the system is and i'll continue to use it as long as I am able to. The only maintenance involved is blowing the dust out of the radiator, and once a year, changing out the coolant for good measure, although it has lasted much longer in the past.

11-07-2006, 02:36 PM	#64
Pyrotechnic Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 240	Re: watercooling lost its magic I kind of feel the same way about the whole deal. I'm typing this on a watercooled system though. I remember when I got into watercooling...back in middle school. Back then I had lots of time, and enough money saved up to really play around with computers and water cooling. I thought it was so bad ass to be able to use water to cool the CPU, keep everything quiet, and get a nice overclock. So I did. I must have done about 10 revisions and used 2 different cases before I settled on the system I'm still using today. It all started from stuff bought from home depot mixed with plumbers goop, to a well engineered and designed full featured system with little compromise thats still giving me reliable cooling to this day. Today is different though. I'm 240 miles from home living in a dorm room. I dont really have the tools or resources, money, or time to even mess with a watercooling system anymore. I barely even have time to practice drums or bass, or play with my band back in my hometown. I guess I dont have time for a lot of the "magic" things that I liked to do. I think it all goes around in cycles though. The 486's and Pentium's ran really cool. When that technology was pushed, it kept getting hotter and hotter, until they changed the manufacturing process, and things have cooled down again. Software will become more demanding and the limits of hardware will be pushed again. Either way, I'm still running a Socket A chip and it's watercooled. I love how quiet and how reliable the system is and i'll continue to use it as long as I am able to. The only maintenance involved is blowing the dust out of the radiator, and once a year, changing out the coolant for good measure, although it has lasted much longer in the past.