Need some cooling Advice: Liquid vs Air

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xlr8d

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Aug 28, 2013
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Hello all.
In the near future I will be building a very high performance Gaming/Editing build. i7 4770k, Gtx 780, etc.
I don't know whether if I want to fork out a lot of money on Liquid cooling components, the case and so forth if there is a cheaper but effective cooling solution.
I will be overclocking my CPU, so if anyone could give me some cooling ideas that don't include water cooling.

EDIT: I don't mind if the CPU is water cooled, by a Corsair Hydro Series H110 or whatever.
 
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Seladon-1370374
It depends on how much you want to overclock. If it's a slight overclock, air will do, otherwise just go with liquid cooling. The Corsair H100i is, in my opinion, the best bang for the buck, when talking about liquid coolers.
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Seladon-1370374

Seladon-1370374

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Jul 23, 2013
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It depends on how much you want to overclock. If it's a slight overclock, air will do, otherwise just go with liquid cooling. The Corsair H100i is, in my opinion, the best bang for the buck, when talking about liquid coolers.
 
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xlr8d

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Should I fit out the case with fans such as Noctua NF-P12s? What do you suggest the best fans for Air cooling?
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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Listen to this before ya say ya don't mind the Corsair 100i, (skip forward to 1:40 mark)
http://martinsliquidlab.org/2013/03/12/swiftech-h220-vs-corsair-h100i-noise-testing/

I started a series of threads for just this very topic

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1785226/water-cooling-101-bother.html

The Corsair H1xx series just manage to edge out the air coolers by < 1C
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/corsair_h100_hydro_series_extreme_performance_liquid_cpu_cooler,14.html

They accomplish this by moving a lot of air thru the radiator at high rpm

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/corsair_h100_hydro_series_extreme_performance_liquid_cpu_cooler,16.html

However, this performance comes at a cost; noise. At 2600RPM, the H100 isn’t a quiet unit at all and similarly at 2000RPM, it can still be quite intrusive. In terms of performance per noise, high end air coolers from Phanteks, Noctua and Thermalright still reign supreme, contrary to Corsair’s own marketing. Like other ALC units, the H100 relies too much on high RPM fans for its performance when the goal of water cooling is generally for extreme performance at low noise levels.
Click to expand...

You can change the fans....but then, the cooling performance drops below the better air coolers like Phanteks PH-TC14-PE, Thermalright Silver Arrow and Noctua DH-14.

The Swiftech 220 was a great option for a while but a patent dispute has suspended sales, at least in US. The CM Eisberg 240L Prestige was another good option but newegg just raised the price by $50 last weekend. Physically, there's are no different in concept the the other ALC units like the Corsair H series.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103184
 
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glenquagmire

glenquagmire

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how do i know if I need to do an air cool or liquid cool? I am overclocking, I havent done it before except for my phones.

I bought the Storm Scout II you recommended for $67.99.
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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Depends on how high you wanna overclock..... from reading these boards, I'd guess

25 % of people don't OC
50 % of people OC w/ air coolers
20% of people OC with self contained water coolers
5 % of people do custom water cooling

In the context of, if I'm understanding you correctly, by water cooling you mean the ALC units like the H series from Corsair, ..... no one "needs to do it" simply because the better air coolers do as well a job at cooling, most times better, than the H series coolers.

The coolers from Phanteks, Noctua and Thermalright in the link above all cool better than every H series cooler. As you can see in the chart on the link below, when all coolers are using the same thermal paste, the Phanteks received the top score w/ a lowest temp of 51. the Noctua tied the H100 at 52.5 To do this the air coolers are < 20 dBA noise while the H100 is 39 dBA and can gets to 60 dBA when it hits that 52.5 number

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/corsair_h100_hydro_series_extreme_performance_liquid_cpu_cooler,14.html

Some people still want the ALC water coolers because for aesthetic purposes they wabt tall RAM or are concerned about big things hanging off the motherboard. The latter is a concern for example if ya shipping ya PC somewhere and FedEx gorillas are handling it.

 
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