I just went and re-read the 3 year in review ProCooling article, and was looking at the forums. I really dig this site still. Its hardly a secret that I am getting more and more put off by how mainstream, and pointless much of the high end watercooling and even phase change stuff is becoming. The practicality of it all is starting to come into question in my mind. I am really trying to figure out what aspect of cooling I want to write about that I see still has a future. Now I don’t want to be a doom and gloom guy about cooling, but quite bluntly, Watercooling is loosing steam.
My Logic is this:
Reasons we Watercooled: To overclock more, or to make a machine more silent. Was largely do to the fact HSF's at the time were rather crappy, or simple. (some people did it simply to make the innards of their computer look "leet" also)
Reasons I see Watercooling as slowing down to a fizzle: CPU's come stock at 3Ghz now, performance in MOST machines isn’t an issue. Yes there are still the small niche of folks who are big on OC'n, and pushing to the edge. Now its being done as sport almost more than dire need of more clock power. When the Water Cooling thing started, people were just trying to hit 450 Mhz so that Windows would run smooth. But will people really spend 300$ on a high end water cooling setup, just to add 500Mhz - 1Ghz onto a 3Ghz CPU? Does windows really run slow at 3Ghz?
Maybe its just the fact that the Water cooling industry has spread itself so wide that now the fall back to the niche market where all this started 4 - 5 years ago, is seeming like a bigger move than it really is. One thing that is impressive is the technological advancements that the niche market has been making when it comes to water block and radiator designs. I have never seen the small hard core niche market advance this fast and work this hard to achieve higher advancements in water cooling.
Water Block Design and Construction forum in the Pro/Forums
Really with Heat sink design and technology advancing, larger quieter fans being released, Air Cooling is rapidly (at least in my view) becoming again the best solution for most (semi mainstream) folks who may want some extra cooling and very quiet, and in a small space. Most watercooling setups I have seen recently are louder, and provide only marginal increases in cooling capability over the higher end air cooling solutions.
Overall I am in a sort of limbo state when it comes to the site/industry/politics of running a site/etc... I love the site, I love the readers and the community in the Chat and the Forums, and I do NOT want to leave that behind. So I am just trying to figure out what’s next... I want to make any move (ie: site topic, starting a second site, site direction, etc...) be as productive and advantageous to the readers as it would be to getting some fresh interest into the site from its staff and possibly get some new staff in the process.
What other topics (Technology/computer/hobby/geekdom) related would any of you guys like to see the site or a sister site address. I really want to re-invigorate the staff and the readers about the site, so I am looking for all the input I can get on this.
(one note of interest: the sites traffic has done nothing but go up in the last 6 months... quite funny, the less we do the faster the site grows it seems hehehe)
I am also looking for recommendations on topic or topic expansions in the forums. Like the Water block design forum, should there be more topics based on construction/design work? What do you guys want to see? I run this site for the readers, so you guys tell me what you want!
