Advice on Liquid CPU Coolers

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jonathan_b

jonathan_b

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Dec 27, 2013
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Hi everyone,

With the help of this forum, I recently built a gaming PC. I have been using the stock CPU cooler for about a month and it has been fine, however, I want to upgrade to an all in one liquid cooler so that my system is quieter and so that I can overclock. The reason that I don't want an air cooler is because I prefer the look of the liquid coolers. I do not know much about these liquid coolers and I plan on doing a lot of research before I buy one; I figured that I should start here. Please give me advice on what I should do.

Many thanks in advance!



PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3pyrz

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£166.99)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£127.99)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.09)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£69.98)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.99)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£169.99)
Case: NZXT H440 (Red/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£104.59)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£79.99)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (£60.00)
Total: £884.61
 
Solution
s3anister
I also own the H100i and it's a great cooler. However, if I were to go back to the time of my purchase I'd have bought NZXT's Kraken X60 as its radiator is larger and uses two 140mm fans which make it inherently quieter than the H100i when achieving the same cooling performance.

That aside, the biggest problem for me when it comes to the H100i is that it's really only possible to mount it at the top of your case if you own a full ATX tower like I do. I'd like to be able to put it in the front of my case on the inside but the coolant tubes are too short (I own the Fractal Define XL R2, the front mount position does work in a mid ATX case like Fractal's Define R4 when using the H100i).

As for controlling the fan speed of the H100i it's...
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Ckauerauf

Ckauerauf

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Feb 25, 2014
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With the case that you have, it provides you with a variety of solutions, if I were you I would look at getting a Corsair h100i, it is what I use and it is a great product. It keeps my system nice and cool and it will link to your other corsair products such as your PSU allowing you to adjust your fan speeds to your liking
 
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jonathan_b

jonathan_b

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Dec 27, 2013
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Thanks for the reply. I'm a total noob at this. How would I control the fan speed?
 
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s3anister

s3anister

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May 18, 2006
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I also own the H100i and it's a great cooler. However, if I were to go back to the time of my purchase I'd have bought NZXT's Kraken X60 as its radiator is larger and uses two 140mm fans which make it inherently quieter than the H100i when achieving the same cooling performance.

That aside, the biggest problem for me when it comes to the H100i is that it's really only possible to mount it at the top of your case if you own a full ATX tower like I do. I'd like to be able to put it in the front of my case on the inside but the coolant tubes are too short (I own the Fractal Define XL R2, the front mount position does work in a mid ATX case like Fractal's Define R4 when using the H100i).

As for controlling the fan speed of the H100i it's done using Corsair's Link 2 software (which is pretty cool but I've found it to be buggy as hell and totally useless on anything other than Windows 7).

My advice would be to buy the Kraken X40 or X60 with the X60 being the preferred choice if you have the space to mount it.
 
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Solution
jonathan_b

jonathan_b

Honorable
Dec 27, 2013
60
0
10,640


Thanks for the reply. That info is really helpful. The H440 is only a mid tower and I am happy to mount the radiator at the top anyway. My case supports 2×140mm radiator or 3×120mm so I could get the X60. If I were to go with the H100i (which is cheaper) would I be able to swap the fans for quieter ones?
 
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