Water cooling: What is the plug for the water flow sensor?
Water cooling: What is the plug for the water flow sensor?
Hi
Im purchasing parts for my 1st custom loop and ive got a temp sensor plug which is pretty straight forward but i want a water flow/pressure sensor too but dont like the big bulky turnstyle's etc. Is there such thing as a flow plug like the temp 1?
Anything subtle you know of for water flow?
This was the only source I located. It was previously available on Amazon and ModMyPC but is currently out of stock. The only remaining options are eBay or international purchases. Other alternatives are just wheels or spinner strips in various sizes, ranging from about 1 inch square with or without RGB, and so on. Going beyond these would require a more expensive setup like an Aquacomputer.
Yes. Once air is out of the system, the only thing you'll actually be able to see in the tubing is coolant. Without any air bubbles that are moving, you can't possibly tell the difference between stagnant coolant and moving coolant, there's no frame of reference. That's why the 'spinning wheel' is so popular, it's a visual representation of movement. If the wheel moves, the coolant is moving. You'd know immediately if there was a pump failure of any sort, either diaphragm or trapped air bubble etc as the wheel stops/slows.
During testing or benchmarking etc many use overlays when gaming, showing cpu/gpu temps. Easy visual to see. But most don't also want the overlay when not testing, just want nothing but the game on screen. The spinner proves coolant is moving, and having already established temps, all good, game on.
It's not a necessity, don't know of any AIO that has any meter as such, so there's a reliance on the pump to do its job. But as easy as it is to add on a custom loop, it'd be foolish not to have that peace of mind.
I evaluated an AIO with an integrated component at the top of the pump. The issue is it frequently stalls even when coolant continues flowing. This happens because AIO pumps usually don't provide sufficient flow to keep a flow indicator functioning based on fluid pressure and adequate space for coolant movement around the meter paddles.
I like AIO's. I like the concept. I like the aesthetics. I hate the 'chincyness'. The only thing stopping me from custom loops is the price. Hard to justify a cooling solution that costs more than the $600 I paid for the entire pc.
So if actually going for a custom loop, my opinion is 'do it right', no half measures. There's plenty of space on a modern mid-atx tower to stick a flow meter, even unobtrusively, as a counter-balance to the pump. The trick is finding one that fits the build.
There aren't many flow meters that meet both performance and design expectations. I prefer a non-intrusive digital option instead of a mechanical one. Still, you're correct—water cooling is quite costly. The cooling loop for the Threadripper 2990WX I recently finished was over $900 just for the water cooling components.
Well, it's true that the Threadripper does gain from a solid loop, though it's not a budget-friendly choice and doesn't offer much thermal control—it's quite a powerful processor. Most high-end CPUs in this category are similarly priced and setup-heavy. Unlike typical LGA115x or AM4 systems where loops are just an optional, costly aesthetic feature, there aren't many practical digital flow meters available for regular use.