Noctua vs Retail Water

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garrickaking

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Sep 2, 2013
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Gentlemen,
After searching the forum on my throne all morning, I've come to the conclusion that it will be difficult for me to come to a conclusion on my own. In some threads, I see people saying the Noctua NH-D14 will outperform water cooling. This seems crazy to me, but I don't have a ton of experience with retail (we'll say "liquid" rather than water) cooling. So will the NH-D14 really outperform say the Corsair H100i as far as temps? How about reliability? I built a 3770K with a Corsair H100 last year, but didn't hold onto it for long, so didn't get a great idea. Anyone have some input? I'm about to build with a 4770k, Z87 Sabertooth, Corsair Vengeance C70 case, GTX 760. Obviously... the corsair matches more... and I THINK I'm going to pick up the AXi 760w... after some more reviews. Getting ready for Tuesday, RTW2.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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My thoughts:

1. Haswell overclocks well until you need to push the voltage past 1.2-1.3v. At that point, the heat density rises exponentially and the benefits of better cooling quickly run out. What level of oc you can get before that point is determined by your luck in getting a golden chip, and not much else. You can get a better oc if you disable hyperthreading on the 4770K.

2. Liquid cooling is really still air cooling. The only difference is where the heat exchange takes place. With air, the cooling fins are inside the case, and the hot air is exhausted out the back or top of the case. In liquid cooling the exchange takes place in the radiator.
For best cpu cooling, the radiator takes cool air in from the outside, but the hot air needs to be exhausted by case cooling. If the radiator takes in air from inside the case, it is essentially like conventional air cooling.
3. In a well ventilated case like yours, the cooling capabilities are very close. That is assuming that the cooling fans are of equal rpm and cfm.
4. liquid cooling has more moving parts and are likely less reliable. They will be more expensive. And... if there is a leak, the results could damage the motherboard and many other parts. Google "H100 leak"
5. My preference if you have the room in the case is a Noctua NH-D14 or a Phanteks; large air coolers.
6. On the rest of your build, I would spend less on the cpu and more on the graphics card assuming you are a gamer.
A 4670K will perform just as well in games. It really deserves a GTX770 or even a GTX780.
7. I think the sabretooth line is overpriced. All Z87 based motherboards will perform about the same.
8. Even a GTX780 will run on a 575w psu. But overprovisioning is ok so I have no problem with the corsair psu. My preference for a top psu would be the seasonic X series.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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"Outperform"? Maybe not. Comparable? Yes.

hardware.info did such a comparison - liquid vs air.
http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4363/20-liquid-cooling-sets-group-test-better-than-air

techradar.com did a similar comparison
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/computing-components/processors/best-cpu-cooler-12-top-coolers-reviewed-and-rated-956968

"The first thing you should appreciate is that water-cooling isn't the magic solution to giving you instant access to epic overclocks. At least, no more epic than you'll achieve with a decent air cooler.

Admittedly, the gap between air and water when it comes to overclocking will grow if you really put your back into the fine-tuning. But in our view, the advantage of water when it comes to achieving really high clocks isn't worth the price premium. "


Review the actual data and see what is best for you.
 
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garrickaking

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I'm picking the 4770K because I'm a Network Admin and I'll be using this as a dual gaming / VMlab for software and scripting. I figured with the 4770 and a 760 I should be able to top out RTW?

I thought the AXi760 might be a little much, but I was interested in the monitoring features of the AXi series, and 760w was the lowest. Again, haven't finished deciding, but planning to order tomorrow so would love feedback.

Sabertooth is PURELY for the cosmetic, and I love the idea of the backplate. You'll notice I'm trying to match, haha.

For some reason I had never searched for "H100 leaks" or anything similar. These photos are terrifying. Definitely going to look more into this and see what the ratio / timeline of leaks really is.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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An air cooler can never leak.
Which has more moving parts/points of failure, air or liquid?
 
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garrickaking

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An air cooler can never leak.
Which has more moving parts/points of failure, air or liquid?

Well yeah I realize an air cooler can't leak, lol. But I also know the good ones are terribly ugly, and that's where the performance comes in. Save ~$30 bucks with a Noctua, not worry about leaks, but have an eyesore in the case.... or spend the extra $30, worry about leaks, but have a great look. The performance tips the scales I guess. Diving into these links.

 
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garrickaking

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Cool, so after reading these it seems like the NZXT Kraken X60 outperforms the best aircoolers and all other watercolors by far. Closely followed by the H100i...

"The liquid cooler that cools the best, the NZXT Kraken X60, does up to five degrees better than the best air cooler we've tested. That's at 160 watts. If you overclock further, the difference increases.

Out of the liquid coolers with good cooling capacity we like this NZXT Kraken X60 the most, also due to the software. A drawback could be that a 280mm radiator won't fit in all computer chassis. The Cooler Master H100i cools about as good and has a more standard 240mm radiator. It does make more noise to achieve the same level of cooling." -us.hardware.info

Anyone have some real life xp with leaking? Like timeline from the time you purchased?


 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

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If you like the idea and looks of WCing by all means go for it. Unless you could fit a H110 or X60 the temps will not be that much better on the CPU, but be just as good and the heat will leave the case if you blow out on the radiator. At some point you could add in the graphics card and do a lot of good, even the best air on a GPU is no match for water, but you would need something like the XSPC kit to start out with, ~$140 from FCPU.

Some people enjoy tinkering with the BIOS to squeeze out a Mhz or 2 extra, I enjoy spending the extra time tinkering with hardware. Of course it becomes more expensive also but is nice when all set up.
 
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