CONCLUSION

Here we have consolidated charts that show just the average temperatures from all of the bar graphs on the previous two pages.

The temperatures above probably won't come as much of a surprise to those of you who know something about water cooling. Even so, it's hard not to be impressed with the results compared to air cooling.

Something I've not touched on much until now is the noise level. There is a very noticeable reduction in noise versus my air cooling setup (which wasn't that loud to begin with). My water cooling setup is not silent considering the 120mm radiator fan (although at the "low" setting it is very quiet) and my two 80mm exhaust fans, PSU, etc.

What came as a bit of surprise, though, was the noise that my pump motor created. It's not loud but it is noticeable (I would guess around 28~30dB) and is a bit of a hum/buzz sound. It wasn't a vibration issue as I have a dense foam pad on the underside where it mounts to the case. I contacted PolarFLO and they said that about 1 in 30 pumps has a noisy pump motor. They also indicated that the tests they do in-house always yield near silent motors.

I hope that this article has been helpful and informative. There is quite a bit involved with water cooling, but it really isn't that difficult if you just stay focused and come up with a plan before getting started. I had some frustrating moments to be sure...but overall I really enjoyed the entire process and the daily use of my system now is...well...cooler in more ways than one.

Please feel free to discuss this review in our feedback forum.

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