CrunchGear

And how exactly would someone make their own water cooled case?

A very delicate process that involves fairy dust and the sacrifice of unicorns.

The short answer is: very carefully.

But a question of my own… How does the average noise-level of water-cooled cases compare to that of fan cooled ones?

Perfect…I happen to have some fairy dust and unicorns laying around

I’d also like to know what the noise level is for a water cooled case, no matter what I do I can’t get my desktop quiet enough to keep it on all night.

Water cooled systems are typically a lot quieter because you don’t have those fans buzzing around. You do, of course, have a water pump making noises, but those tend to be more on the silent side, at least so that a case is capable of dampening the sound.

The average noise level of a fan cooled computer is around 25db. This is only 4db above average room noise. But it all comes down to what fans you have cooleing the radiator and inner components on top of the cooling. Th Zalman Resterator is fanless, therefore silent. Very good. Check out my blog at Tech.co.nr for more help with stuff like this, and new and reviews on the latest products!

Sorry, I started my post before you posted.

Assuming the Zalman Resterator (or any other water cooling system) doesn’t function like an air conditioner (condenser and evaporator) to cool the water down, wouldn’t the effectiveness of the water cooling decrease over time? Also, if the ZR uses a pump (I assume) to get the water flowing… wouldn’t the pump make noise?

I thought water-cooled systems didn’t have fans, which was a primary selling point. But this particular model has a fan, so what’s the advantage? Is that maybe a backup should you run out of coolant or the water-cooling fails?