A few questions about water cooling and Fractal Design - Define S

Softy491 · Aug 31, 2017

Hey guys,

I have a few questions for you.

I am about to buy Fractal Design - Define S as I want to get a liquid cooler for my 6700k. My current case can only fit a 120mm rad and it's quiet small for any proper air cooler such as the NH-D15 for example.

So my questions are:

What AIO cooler should I get for £100 max?
Where should I put the cooler as intake or exhaust?
I have Gigabyte Z170 HD3P mobo, where should I plug the fans and the water pump as there is only one dedicated CPU 4 pin connector as well as 2x chassis 4 pin connectors and 1x 3 pin connector?

Thanks

P.S. not sure if I have posted in the right forum directory.

mcnumpty23 · Aug 31, 2017

for £100 probably corsair

best aio in my opinion swiftech or ek

but more than 100 quid

intake either top or front of case

some aio the fans plug into the pump so only need 1 header

Agathor · Aug 31, 2017

As above but put it as front intake, bitwit Kyle did a video on radiator placement and I remember that being the optimum position

Softy491 · Aug 31, 2017

Thanks for the answers guys!!
I've been looking at the Arctic Liquid Freezer 240/360mm. What do u think about it?

Let's say I can squeeze a few more bucks into my budget what would be the difference comparing swiftech/ek to Arctic Liquid Freezer 240/360mm?

lumineZ · Aug 31, 2017

Place the radiator in front as intake since you have need to be alittle carefull about adding warm air to the radiator.

Go for either EK, Corsair or Deepcool.

Just ask yourself one small question first:

- Are you going to want to watercool the GPU and maybe something more later on?

If yes or maybe then you should look for an "AIO" that can expand.

Agathor · Aug 31, 2017

Softy491 :

In my limited experience ek tend to be quieter and more reliable than any others I've seen

Softy491 · Aug 31, 2017

It might sound strange but all I care about is cooling performance and not how loud or quiet a cooler is as long as it keeps my CPU cool.

Thanks to all of you replaying to my post. I've got one of the questions answered already - I will mount the rad at the front as intake.

Softy491 · Aug 31, 2017

lumineZ :

The answer to the question is NO I am not going to watercool my GPU.

Thanks for your replay

Agathor · Aug 31, 2017

Softy491 :

If you only care about cooling performance then all the comparable products from reputable brands will be within a stone's throw from one another

Softy491 · Aug 31, 2017

Agathor :

Ok then we come back to the question what do u think about the Arctic liquid freezer 240/360 compared to other coolers in the same price range

Agathor · Aug 31, 2017

Softy491 :

Agathor :

Ok then we come back to the question what do u think about the Arctic liquid freezer 240/360 compared to other coolers in the same price range

I don't know about that cooler, sorry. Best I can say is YouTube some reviews and go for the 360mm

geofelt · Aug 31, 2017

You have a 91w TDP processor; more with overclocking.

Your case has plenty of front air intake capabilities. 3 140mm fans.
It also has room for a 180mm tower type air cooler.
If you are looking for a maximum overclock, Noctua has some good answers for you.
NH-D15s, NH-U14s.
Here is The Noctua TDP guidelines chart:
http://noctua.at/en/tdp-guide

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"
I would support an AIO cooler only in a space restricted case.
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

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

Agathor · Aug 31, 2017

geofelt :

You have a 91w TDP processor; more with overclocking.

Your case has plenty of front air intake capabilities. 3 140mm fans.
It also has room for a 180mm tower type air cooler.
If you are looking for a maximum overclock, Noctua has some good answers for you.
NH-D15s, NH-U14s.
Here is The Noctua TDP guidelines chart:
http://noctua.at/en/tdp-guide

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"
I would support an AIO cooler only in a space restricted case.
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

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

I agree with almost all of it, except the radiator placement. As the video bitwit Kyle did demonstrated having the aio as intake effects GPU temp by a couple of degrees whereas when it was set to exhaust there was a substantial difference to the CPU temp.
I believe this is the video - https://youtu.be/xNAMxZgvves

n0ns3ns3 · Aug 31, 2017

there is no AIO that can perform better than cheaper and much more reliable high end coolers at sane noise level (up to ~40db).
the difference between corsair, arctic, nzxt, tt and many others are fans, packaging and bells and whistles - they all come from asetek factory using same pump/CPU block and same radiators.
So practically, unless it's custom loop for 200 or more, it's not worth it. NH-D15 will do the same or better at lower noise.

As for Define S, it's lovely case. I have the Nano S and love it. Though if you are not planning custom loop, a Define C is the same, just more compact. And of course there is a new Meshy variant with tempered glass.

Softy491 · Aug 31, 2017

geofelt :

Thanks for the great answer man! I did some research and I can see that NH-D15 performs as well as the most AIO coolers if not better. Also another benefit is that I have 3x120mm fans in my current case which will be mounted into the Define S in order to improve airflow. And it's also cheaper from the AIOs I've been looking at.

Thanks again.

P.S. Do u think I can get up to 5GHz with the 6700k + NH-D15?

mcnumpty23 · Aug 31, 2017

"they all come from asetek factory using same pump/CPU block and same radiators"

this does not apply to swiftech and ek aio

they use high quality components--no asetek pumps here

no aluminium radiators

top end cpu blocks

etc

geofelt · Aug 31, 2017

I doubt you will be so lucky as to get a 5.0 chip.
As of 12/04/2016
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.4v Vcore.

I7-6700K
4.9 5%
4.8 21%
4.7 64%
4.6 96%

D15 is a very good and LARGE cooler.
The new noctua s variant coolers have been redesigned to accommodate ram with tall heat spreaders.
In addition, they are offset a bit to clear graphics card backplates mounted in the first pcie X16 slot.
I do not think the NH-D15s should cost any more.

lumineZ · Aug 31, 2017

When it comes to cooling everyone has an opinion.
Mine is simple. Stay at aircooling until you want or can afford a custom loop. AIO is not really worth it.

n0ns3ns3 · Sep 1, 2017

mcnumpty23 :

you are correct. though EK does not make AiO anymore.

A few questions about water cooling and Fractal Design - Define S

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