How does a liquid-cooled PC actually work?

Moving away from fans in your next PC build is a good idea. Granted, liquid cooling being “mandatory” is one of the biggest myths when it comes to PC building, but there’s no denying that it will help you maximize the performance of your machine. But how does a liquid-cooled PC actually work?

If you know even a little about how an HVAC unit works, you’ve got the gist. Both are similar in that they use a pump to circulate coolant and absorb heat from a particular space. Then they move it elsewhere to dissipate the heat (an outdoor unit for HVAC, a radiator for PC cooling). Once the heat is complete, the fluid returns to the system and the entire process repeats. In a way, it’s like an air conditioner operating on a smaller scale, where instead of a refrigerant (freon), a liquid-cooled PC simply uses pure water.

It gets a little more complicated once you get into the nitty-gritty of the individual cooling components required in this type of system. Apart from the price, this largely contributes to the disadvantages of liquid cooling: it is significantly more difficult to install. Arguably, while complexity is a valid pitfall, it is a worthy sacrifice for much more efficient cooling performance.

How does water circulate throughout the PC? A centrifugal pump pushes liquid from a small reservoir (usually placed where the CD-ROM bays used to be) through a series of tubes and blocks (heat-conducting metal components sitting on chips), with a radiator at the other end. The radiator dissipates heat from the liquid before the pump recirculates it. This is why some systems also use a fan on the radiator which helps speed up the process.

Then you have the tube itself. In one of the simplest types of systems, a single tube connects the pump to the input of one of the blocks via the GPU or CPU. From there, one tube leads from the water block outlet to the radiator, and another from the tank to the pump. Of course, things can get quite complex once you involve another block of water, which means you’ll also need to make a number of series connections.

Important reminder. While the greatest fun of building your own PC is customizing everything yourself, getting individual components, and building something unique, there’s absolutely no shame in using a kit. Make sure it fits your case, and that’s it. You will get all the parts needed for liquid cooling, along with detailed instructions on how to connect them. You’ll probably be stuck with all the stock pumps and such, but you’ll avoid a bit of analysis paralysis and legwork.

Totally. If you like gaming or do any type of CPU-intensive work (which, as you know, produces a lot of heat), liquid cooling will significantly reduce the temperature of your PC. The cooler internal temperature will result in better performance; think more FPS and a more efficient processor. It’s also quieter than a group of spinning fans, and since you’re not using air, dust buildup won’t be a worry.

That said, you don’t exactly need to use water. Another liquid that some people use to cool their PC is mineral oil. This system is a bit simpler, because you submerge virtually all of the interior components in oil (no tubing required). This niche method generally looks cooler, even if its physics isn’t. Unfortunately, mineral oil doesn’t improve a PC’s performance as much as a water-cooled system, and it’s also much more expensive.

If dipping your toes (excuse the pun) into a liquid-cooled PC isn’t your thing, an air cooler can still work. They are easier to install and if you opt for the higher-end models, you can even get similar performance to a liquid cooling loop at a lower price. Sure, you’ll have to tolerate the extra noise when your game puts the GPU under heavy load, but you’ll pay less money and have an overall simpler system – it all depends on how much you’re willing to tolerate.