Gaming PC Air vs Water cooling

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ec0411

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Feb 2, 2016
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Hello

I've been researching and this will be my first rig that I will build by myself. I am on a tight budget but wanted the most performance possible. As I was cutting down things for my budget I was wondering if an all in one Water CPU cooler (Such as Corsair Hydro series) would have a great impact on performance compared to Air coolers.

CPU: i7 6700k
Mobo: Asus Z170 AR
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z 16Gb
GPU: Asus GTX 980 Strix

I do plan to Overclock and SLI later on.

Please recommend me an appropriate cooler (budget and silent).

Thank you
 
Solution
synphul
I would say an air cooler. A cryorig h5 or h7 would be a decent budget choice. Single radiator aio's aren't all that wonderful in a sense that mid range air coolers often compete easily. I've seen a lot of folks with cooler issues regarding aio's, getting the pump to run full speed, erratic cooling behavior after just a year or two or sometimes not even that long, trying to work out air bubbles etc. Considering they're supposed to be 'plug n play' they're not always that simple.

Even inexpensive aio's like the h60 or h80i gt are going for $60-80usd, that's the same price range as a noctua nh-d14 or similar high end air cooler which will typically outperform them and do so more quietly.

I suppose a heavy overclock may push a 212 evo...
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Oakspirit

Oakspirit

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If you don't plan on doing too much overclocking I would with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, but if you plan to do a LOT of overclocking I recommend the Corsair h80i or Corsair h100i. I hope you pick a good choice!
 
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barto

barto

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If you've never overclocked before, start with an air cooler. Overclocking a CPU doesn't have as big of an impact as you might think. Most games do not benefit from CPU overclocking. Applications outside of gaming do benefit from overclocking.

For first timers, start with an air cooler. Cooler Master 212 Evo or Cryoig H7.
 
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ec0411

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I've been hearing that Coolermaster 212 Evo is really noisy unless you change the stock fans.
Are there any better budget options under lets say 70 USD?
 
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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I would say an air cooler. A cryorig h5 or h7 would be a decent budget choice. Single radiator aio's aren't all that wonderful in a sense that mid range air coolers often compete easily. I've seen a lot of folks with cooler issues regarding aio's, getting the pump to run full speed, erratic cooling behavior after just a year or two or sometimes not even that long, trying to work out air bubbles etc. Considering they're supposed to be 'plug n play' they're not always that simple.

Even inexpensive aio's like the h60 or h80i gt are going for $60-80usd, that's the same price range as a noctua nh-d14 or similar high end air cooler which will typically outperform them and do so more quietly.

I suppose a heavy overclock may push a 212 evo to the point the fan has to ramp up and makes it somewhat loud. I've got one on an i5 4690k at 4.2ghz and it's nearly silent with the stock fan. Although had the cryorig h7 been on the market I would have chosen it instead.
 
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celtic_warrior99

celtic_warrior99

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It really depends how high you are going to try overclocking. If you are going for a light overclock, stick with a Coolermaster Hyper 212X with some custom fans (If you want to) but if you are wanting to push the CPU to the limit, then its best to go with a custom waterloop or something like an H100i or H105i. A liquid cooler also makes it ALOT easier to perform upgrades and service the PC because alot less space will be used up inside the case.
 
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