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circulates cool water (or another heat-dissipating liquid) that flows through
tubing connected to areas of heat buildup. These are most often the CPU and
GPU. As the cooled liquid passes over these hot parts, the heat is transferred
by convection and carried away as the water recirculates over a radiator.
While fanless radiators exist, the most common water-cooled systems have
radiators with usually two or more fans to help cool the heated liquid as it
passes through the metal fins of the radiator.
When assembling the parts for this topic, I initially considered using a Corsair
H100i water-cooled CPU fan in lieu of the Cooler Master Hyper N520. But I
opted for the more traditional air-cooled approach for three important reasons:
cost, efficacy, and safety.
Unless you intend to perform some really heat-searing CPU overclocking, the
Cooler Master Hyper N520 should perform admirably at keeping your CPU
well within safe operating temperature ranges. A water-cooled CPU component
that accomplishes the same objective costs nearly $100 more. And while it's
rare (especially with parts that are self-contained like Corsair's Hydro Series
liquid CPU cooler), leaks can and do occur. A major leak can become a safety
hazard and quickly render your expensive computer useless.
But the good news is that the parts I chose for the PC can easily be upgraded
with water-cooled components whenever you're ready to do so. Everything
from the case to the motherboard is water-cool-ready, with the only added
cost being the expense of the additional pump, radiator, fans, clamps, and
tubing needed to upgrade your PC to the next level of performance.
Bling
Did you try toggling on and off the front and side fan LEDs of the 500R PC
case? Pressing the fan's light button on the front panel of the PC case will
turn on the white LEDs on the front- and side-panel fans, as shown in Figure
78, The two front-panel case fans with LEDs turned on , on page 92 . Even
though these lights add no computational value to the PC, they elevate spin-
ning plastic and metal to a mood-inducing level of cool.
PC lighting has become an art form in and of itself, further defining the indi-
vidualized nature of the personal computer. As you continue to enhance and
improve your computer with hardware upgrades, you can highlight these
components with recessed LED strips that backlight the operating gear. If
the default blue lights are too subdued for your tastes, you can swap out the
chassis fans with different-colored replacements.
 
 
 
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