LIQUID COOLING

Liquid cooling is used to super-cool processors far past the limits of standard heat sink/fan combinations. There are many different types of liquid cooling apparatuses, but most work under the same basic premise: they cool water with a radiator, pump that water over the CPU to absorb heat, and then pump the water back to the radiator to recool and dissipate that heat.

All liquid cooling devices have the same basic parts: a radiator (with fan to help dissipate heat from the radiator), tubing, water reservoir, a water block (which acts as a sort of heat sink for the processor) that water flows through (this is where the heat transfer takes place), and a pump.

To simplify your understanding of liquid cooling devices, please refer to the diagram in Figure 16.1.

Figure 16.1: Processor liquid cooling process.

It is important to realize that while water can be used, many other substances that are more thermally conductive are being used in different types of systems. At the very least, even in the case of a system using only water, distilled water (only pure H₂O) is used in combination with a coolant substance that helps reduce algae and mineral deposits.

Liquid cooling systems are primarily utilized by people seeking to over-clock their processors past stock operating speeds. Liquid cooling systems require a great deal of setup and maintenance to ensure that there is no leakage, which could be devastating to the hardware. Routine cleanings and water/coolant changes are necessary to avoid mineral and algae buildup, and constant monitoring of system temperatures is necessary to ensure that water is being properly pumped and cooled throughout the system. While only CPU cooling has been discussed, there are several variations that facilitate the cooling of other devices (e.g., video card gpu/memory and system memory).