Watercooling Motherboard MSI HydroGen
Watercooling Motherboard MSI HydroGen. New Generation Style.
The block is made in Germany as an all copper design where the water travels all the way from one end the other. This is completely unlike any previous design that we’ve seen before which has just featured simply a single in-out from a single block on a single chipset or power regulation components by the CPU. This means that you can run a system completely passively as there’s no need for some airflow over the heatpipes like with other boards and the amount of flow reducing 90 degree turns is kept to an absolute minimum.
What’s more, there are no barbs included, just simple threaded sockets. This means watercooling enthusiasts can for once use exactly the same barb size as the rest of their system, keeping a more optimal water flow.
It looks like finally a motherboard company has listened to enthusiasts’ actual needs, however there’s no word on the warranty situation, or how it performs without being plugged into a water supply - the pipes are empty after all.
MSI claims up to 20 percent more power efficiency and up to six times longer life because of the continually reduced component temperature. We expect this also means there should be some better potential overclocking too - providing the BIOS (and new X48 chipset) is up to it.
A tentative and early price of €379 may put a lot of people off, but if you’re serious about it consider how much it costs for an entire watercooling kit in addition to finding a non-heatpiped board to fit it. From the pictures below, the awesome professional CNC milled piece might say enough to watercoolers to spend the money. Even if you’re not a watercooler, we’ve discovered that MSI is working on its own kit to work in conjunction with it, but is remaining extremely tight lipped as to how this is progressing.
It’s essentially no different than the BFG Tech 8800 GTX waterblock we looked at last year, or the Asus Maximus boards, so are you sold or do you think companies should leave watercooling to the niche high end? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
(bit-tech.net)
Defenition:
In computers, water cooling is a method used to lower the temperatures of computer processors, and sometimes other components such as graphics cards, using water rather than air as the cooling medium. Processor speeds have increased dramatically in recent years. As a result, the heat given off by processors has also increased, as has the noise associated with equipment, such as fans, used to keep them running at a safe temperature. Because water can conduct heat about 30 times faster than air can, a water cooling system allows the processor to run at higher speeds while drastically reducing system noise. Some industry experts predict that water cooling systems will become standard for personal computers in the near future.
Here’s a simple example of a water cooling system: A pump circulates the water through a water block (a device similar to a heat sink) attached to the processor; there, heat from the processor transfers to the water. The heated water continues on to a radiator at the back of the computer case and is replaced with cool water. The heat from the water in the radiator dissipates into the air surrounding the computer. When the water has cooled to the ambient temperature, it is cycled through the system again.
Water cooling is increasingly used to deal with the special requirements of the data center. Because data centers are often assigned the most convenient available space, rather than a space that is specially designed, servers may be contained in too small an area or one that cannot be adequately ventilated. Furthermore, some data center technologies, such as blade servers (which are densely structured), put increased stress on the data center’s cooling system.
Water cooling brings its own issues to the data center, however, as well as benefits. Additional plumbing is often required. Water cooling can limit the flexibility of data center design because systems connected to plumbing cannot be easily rearranged. The combination of electronic systems and water also complicates disaster recovery planning (DRP). For example, administrators need to know in advance how they will deal with potential problems, such as rust or leakage. A common fear of combining electrical systems and water is another road block to acceptance of water cooling.
Despite the inherent challenges, many industry experts predict that water cooling is the inescapable future of the data center. According to Robert E. McFarlane, president of the Interport Division of New York-based Shen, Milsom and Wilke Inc., “Paranoia is the reason there’s so little water-cooled equipment on the market. We tend to get married to the technologies that we know and are comfortable with, but it’s getting to that point where you just can’t cool these densities without carrying it in liquid form.”
Water cooling is nothing new — automobiles and mainframe computers have used water cooling systems for many years. However, water cooling is being used in some new and innovative applications, such as environmentally friendly air conditioning systems for buildings.
Water cooling is sometimes referred to as liquid cooling, because various other substances are sometimes used instead of, or in addition to, water.
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