1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,640 If you're serious about pushing your computer's performance while keeping it as cool as possible, 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:10,880 the long-standing advice has been to opt for water cooling rather than rely on air cooling. 3 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:15,680 And generally speaking, there's something to this advice. Unless you're comparing a basic, 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,320 all-in-one water cooler with a really beefy, high-end air cooler, 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:25,760 putting your CPU or your graphics card for that matter under liquid should yield better results. 6 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:32,000 But have you ever wondered why this is the case? I mean, what's so special about plain old water? 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:37,840 As it turns out, quite a lot. Every substance has an intrinsic property called heat capacity, 8 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:43,600 and simply put, this is how much thermal energy it can absorb before it changes temperature. 9 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:51,120 Turns out that water has a higher heat capacity than most other common substances. Think about it 10 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:57,120 You've got a large swimming pool that's getting beat on by the sun during a scorching hot day, 11 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:02,320 and yet you jump in and it's still shockingly cold, even in the late afternoon. 12 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:07,120 This is because of hydrogen bonding at the molecular level. The oxygen atom in a 13 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:12,320 water molecule is quite electronegative, meaning that it attracts electrons, 14 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:16,720 which gives it more of a negative charge than the two attached hydrogen atoms. 15 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:22,720 So this means that the more positively charged hydrogen atoms of the surrounding water molecules 16 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:28,240 will stick to the oxygen atoms and prevent the molecules from moving around too much 17 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:34,320 when heat is applied. And since higher temperatures are a result of more molecular motion, 18 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:39,760 all of this means that water can resist temperature changes better than the metals 19 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:45,040 that are commonly used in air coolers. So coming back to what this means for your PC, 20 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,800 strapping a water block to your CPU or your GPU means that your chips will be spitting out heat 21 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:56,960 into a substance that can hold much more heat than an aluminum heat sink with a fan attached to it. 22 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:01,120 But that's not even the whole story. There's also the fact that there's a practical limit 23 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:08,240 to how much heat sink you can strap onto a CPU socket before it becomes too large and too heavy. 24 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:14,400 So another way that water coolers achieve better performance is by having very large radiators 25 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,840 to dissipate the heat that's been absorbed by the water, 26 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:23,280 further improving overall cooling capacity. Furthermore, because pumping water from the 27 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:29,680 CPU to another part of the system is so fast and efficient, many water cooling systems are designed 28 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:36,000 to take the warm water away where it can get easy access to fresh and cool air. 29 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,080 Other people prefer to mount their fans in such a way that they'll blow the waste heat right out 30 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,720 of the case, ensuring that the hot air from their CPU isn't affecting their other components. 31 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,560 Even aside from raw performance though, water coolers do have other advantages. 32 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,320 Because water cools more efficiently than a metal heat sink alone, 33 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:57,760 water coolers are generally quieter because the attached fans don't have to work as hard to 34 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:04,000 dissipate heat. And compared to a beefy tower style air cooler, they also take up less space, 35 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,240 put less torque on your motherboard, eliminate worries about your CPU cooler conflicting with 36 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:13,120 being able to install your RAM, and are generally more aesthetically pleasing if you want a clean 37 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:18,000 looking build. However, despite liquid cooling's many advantages, there are some things you should 38 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,800 be wary of before you rush out and buy a water cooler. Although springing a leak in a well 39 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:28,960 designed loop is rare, it can happen. And while some coolers are filled with distilled water or 40 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:35,280 other non-conductive fluids, even these substances are liable to pick up ions from the metals inside 41 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:40,240 the cooler and become conductive over time. So you'll want to make sure that whatever brand you 42 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:46,400 buy from has a reputation for covering the cost of other damaged components if the worst happens. 43 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:52,400 Additionally, don't feel compelled to spend extra money on a water cooler if you aren't overclocking. 44 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:58,560 Although you can still reap the benefits of better aesthetics and reduced noise, 45 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,960 though it should be noted that very high-end air coolers actually can run quieter than water 46 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:08,560 coolers because they don't require pumps, the more you know. Your CPU is going to function just fine 47 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:14,160 at stock speeds with the cooler that comes in the box or, worst case scenario, a modest 48 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:20,400 aftermarket air cooler because long gone are the days when your typical beige box system 49 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,960 sounds like a jet engine when it's being put through its paces. So thanks for watching guys, 50 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:32,560 like and subscribe, and bye. By what? By a shirt, lttstore.com.