Water vs Air

[Dom132]

I've got a 3570k on an MSI z77a-g45
I'm looking to get a stable oc somewhere in the low 4's and I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons
so if you guys could give me your opinions on;
value for money, so just cooling power relative to the cost of the unit,
I'm a bit clumsy at times so I don't really want a huge air cooler that could break my mobo if I knock it
IS CLOSED LOOP ANY GOOD?!?!?!
how hard is custom + how expensive?
which is quieter?

 

[C12Friedman]

The water cooling sticky explains most all of your concerns, take some time to go through it - there is a lot of info there http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky
Enjoy

 

[giltyler]

I used 2 closed loop coolers on my I5 2500K with OC to 4.5 and temps were low 70s
A large quality air cooler would be in that range as well.
With closed loop you have less mass covering the MB and a cleaner look.
Most of the Closed loops come with loud fans where the Big Air units from Noctua will have very high quality fans that are quiet. TOM's just did a nice review of several closed loop coolers you should read. In the end you need to be happy with the solution you chose. XSPC Has several kits that would be very quiet and cool much better than the big air or closed loop units http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16891/ex-wat-219/XSPC_Raystorm_750_RS240_Extreme_Universal_CPU_Water_Cooling_Kit_New_Rev_4_Pump_Included_w_Free_Dead-Water.html?tl=g30

 

[manofchalk]

If your only overclocking a 3570k to less than 4.5Ghz, you dont need anything special for cooling. A 212 EVO would hold that and its ~$30.

If your purely looking for "$/temperature lower than stock" than low end air-cooling is where you want to be. Water-cooling is either for the fun of it or because you need the cooling performance.

To get a closed loop cooler of any worth will be ~$150, and for about $20 more you can afford a low-end custom kit that will grant much better performance.
Building your own custom loop is harder than air-cooling or a closed loop, but its more of a longer process than actual difficulty.
How expensive depends on how far you want to go. For a simple CPU loop there are kits as low as $150 that will do fine. But if you want more like adding graphics cards to the loop, more radiator to compensate for the extra heat and a stronger pump to drive all that. Start adding on flow meters, temperature sensors, compression fittings, backplates and other water-cooling paraphernalia and you can end up with a very expensive loop.

 

[Dom132]

I used 2 closed loop coolers on my I5 2500K with OC to 4.5 and temps were low 70s
A large quality air cooler would be in that range as well.
With closed loop you have less mass covering the MB and a cleaner look.
Most of the Closed loops come with loud fans where the Big Air units from Noctua will have very high quality fans that are quiet. TOM's just did a nice review of several closed loop coolers you should read. In the end you need to be happy with the solution you chose. XSPC Has several kits that would be very quiet and cool much better than the big air or closed loop units http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16891/ex-wat-219/XSPC_Raystorm_750_RS240_Extreme_Universal_CPU_Water_Cooling_Kit_New_Rev_4_Pump_Included_w_Free_Dead-Water.html?tl=g30

Thanks man that kit looks great bar one little problem, I have a fractal r3 case which only has 2 drive bays (5.25) is there anywhere else in the case the res could be mounted? + does frozen cpu ship to the uk?

 

[giltyler]

Thanks man that kit looks great bar one little problem, I have a fractal r3 case which only has 2 drive bays (5.25) is there anywhere else in the case the res could be mounted? + does frozen cpu ship to the uk?

Anywhere it will fit should be fine as long as you can access the fill port and make your inlet/outlet connections.
Look at this site they have everything you need including kits that use a single 5-1/4 bay or internal reservoirs.

http://www.aquatuning.co.uk/index.php/cat/c102_2x120-Kits.html