Fan or Liquid?

emperias

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Oct 13, 2012
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Hello,i will buidl my own pc :)

Now,as a CPU Cooler i would be using the Zalman CNPS9500 AT,now is my question,is Liquid cooling that much better?and silent?
If yes,if i buy one,is it hard to install?some people say you need to do some maintenance,is that true?

Greetings
 

abbadon_34

Distinguished
It all depends on models, but in general yes it can be all those things, in addition to a labor of love for some. But it will always be more expensive and more time consuming.

Simple low end water is on par high end air.

There is a huge variation is water cooling configurations, many are custom by the builder for the case.
 
I have the Corsair H100 closed loop cooler for my Intel® Core™ i5-3570 and it does work well but it is loud. While I havent used them in the past I think on my next build I will use the Noctua NH-D14 or the Phanteks PH-TC14PE.
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
If you are not going to overclock (much) and are interested in going quiet above anything else, you can take a Hyper 212 EVO and remove the fan. (Though the fan at 600-900RPM is pretty close to silent anyhow.)
 


What kind of water cooling are we talking about, one of those all in one kits or a custom built water loop? Yes a custom built water cooling is better than both air cooling and all in one water kits. IMO those water kits aren't worth the money. They only perform as good as high-end air cooling like the DH14. They are a closed loop so you can only water cool the CPU and nothing else. IMO if you want to do water cooling do cutom water loop if not just get a high-end air cooler because you aren't going to get any better performance out of a closed loop kit.