Liquid Cooling
For more details on water cooling, see water cooling.Liquid cooling is a highly effective method of removing excess heat, with the most common heat transfer fluid in desktop PCs being water. The advantages of water cooling over air cooling include water's higher specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity. The principle used in cooling computers is identical to that used in an automobile's internal combustion engine, with the water being circulated by a water pump through a block mounted on the CPU and out to a heat exchanger, typically a radiator. Liquids allow the transfer of more heat from the parts being cooled than air, making liquid cooling suitable for overclocking and high performance computer applications. Compared to air cooling, liquid cooling is also influenced less by the ambient temperature. Liquid cooling's comparatively low noise-level compares favorably to that of active cooling, which can become quite noisy.
Disadvantages of liquid cooling include complexity and the potential for a coolant leak. Leaked water can damage any electronic components with which it comes into contact, and the need to test for and repair leaks makes for more complex and less reliable installations. An air-cooled heat sink is much simpler to build, install, and maintain than a water cooling solution.
While originally limited to mainframe computers, liquid cooling has become a practice largely associated with overclocking in the form of either manufactured kits, or in the form of do-it-yourself setups assembled from individually gathered parts. The past few years have seen an increase in the popularity of liquid cooling in pre-assembled, moderate to high performance, desktop computers. Sealed ("closed-loop") systems incorporating a small pre-filled radiator, fan, and waterblock simplify the installation and maintenance of water cooling at a slight cost in cooling effectiveness relative to larger and more complex setups.
Liquid cooling is typically combined with air cooling, using liquid cooling for the hottest components, such as CPUs or GPUs, while retaining the simpler and cheaper air cooling for less demanding components.
The IBM Aquasar system uses hot water cooling to achieve energy efficiency, the water being used to heat buildings as well.
Read more about this topic: Computer Cooling
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