Best budget water cooler? (under £70)

Detevtive Marvel

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Jan 16, 2016
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I have an i5 4690k and an MSI Z97 PC Mate, it is unlikely I will overclock but I would like a watercooler kit that will keep my computer cooler cool and quiet.
I was considering the Corsair H60, thoughts?
 
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If you will not overclock, even the stock Intel cooler will do the job.
I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, the consensus is that voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
I have been unable to find any official Intel recommendation on...
For quieter there's not much out there better than a nice big air cooler like a Noctua NH-D15: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/4vzv6h/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15

But if you insist on liquid from what I've read probably one of the best and quietest performers at that price level is the Arctic 240 (review here: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2016/03/09/arctic_cooling_liquid_freezer_240_aio_cpu_cooler_review/3#.V5twhvlpGUk)

However, as with all liquid coolers, you never really know how long those pumps are designed to last.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Dt8H99/arctic-cooling-cpu-cooler-acfre00013a
 

Detevtive Marvel

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Jan 16, 2016
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4,630


Sorry forgot to say it has to be 120mm and the fan you suggested is too big
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/KnYKBP
This is my pc
 
If you will not overclock, even the stock Intel cooler will do the job.
I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, the consensus is that voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
I have been unable to find any official Intel recommendation on what is a safe vcore limit.

Even if you can handle the heat, how much do you really need that extra multiplier from say 4.4 to 4.6?

For quiet, you could consider a $30 Cryorig H7

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler.
 
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