Which WC kit is equal in performance to the nh-d14

[Somebody_007]

As far as I understand the nh-d14 is one of the best buys if you want a high end cooler for your pc. Which is exactly what I want(to cool my i7 930) but so many people are whining about WC I thought I might look into it so which WC kit would perform as well as the d14?

 

[Houndsteeth]

The Noctua NH-D14 is a beast. 160mm tall, 2 fans, 6 heat pipes...the thing is about as good as you are going to get with air cooling. As far as which watercooling kit would perform better...almost any KIT you would buy off the shelf (ie, Thermaltake, Koolance, etc.) would perform at about the same level or worse for a lot more money and a lot less reliability. If what you are after is a kit, stick with the Noctua...it will be better in the long run.

However, if you read the sticky at the top of the forum about watercooling, you will find that most of us who WC to get a better OC won't buy WCing kits. Instead, we buy stock parts from reputable suppliers (ie, Dangerden, Alphacool, Swiftech, etc.) and build our own custom loops. These will perform much better than anything you could ever buy with air cooling, especially when you are operating at higher clocks and higher voltages.

But be prepared to spend at least $300-400 just to get your feet wet if you are interested in really water cooling. You have to buy a water block for every part you want in the loop. You have to buy a pump, radiator(s), tubing, barbs & hose clamps or compression fittings and maybe even a reservoir or fillport depending on how you set up your loop. You will end up doing a lot of reading just to find out how best to approach your build before you even buy a single part. You will spend hours testing your build even after you have figured out how best to put it together. And you will always be worried about leaks, even when you have dotted all your Is and crossed all your Ts.

Again, if you are not willing to invest this time and money, then stick with air cooling, because unless you are willing to put in the work and learn how to do it right, you will get better performance from the NH-D14.

 

[Somebody_007]

thnx for the extensive explanation but I think I´ll stick with the d14. Not because of the time and learning issue I love working on my pc but because 300-400 dollars is in my opinion to much especially for a system like mine.