Air vs Closed Loop Liquid

[fenurch]

Dear TPU'rs.

I'm currently running a 3750k at stock and have done so for the last couple of years since I stopped gaming and didn't see a need. I used to have an open loop WC setup but this was more of a childhood dream and I didn't maintain or utilise it as I should have so eventually took it off and stuck the stock cooler back on. I've recently gotten back into gaming and have started considering OC'ing. Having never done it before, I am only aware of the fact that I shouldn't bother on my stock cooler. Tried reading a bunch of guides and comparisons initially for air coolers but then discovered closed loop WC packages and it only got more confusing from thereon.

I trust Corsair and they have great warranty so I was looking into H80i GT (or something similar) but it seems that these are only rated for moderate OC'ing. Space shouldn't be an issue as I'm running 2x 140mm exhaust fans at the top of the case but the bigger, 280mm closed loops seem to cost more and I'm not sure if they're entirely necessary for the not overly extreme clocking that I shall be doing.

I am put off by some higher end air coolers because they can't block my first PCI slot as my D2X is currently taking up that space.

So the question is:

Provided I may only clock up to 4.5 GHz, what cooler (air or liquid) would be better suited for no more than ~ £70 that would be as silent as possible?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Noctua NH-D14 - nuff said.

 

[xkm1948]

I went with Noctua D15, couldn't be happier. Used their C14 in the past, awesome quality and even more awesome customer service!

 

[oinkypig]

Thermalright Ultra 120 true copper 2/3 the size and shiny

 

[lonewolf]

I swapped to the corsair I believe it is the H100 about two years ago. It handles an I7 920 clocked at 4.0. It is a matter of preference some of the better air coolers are just as good but I wanted the liquid cooling without the maintenance of a traditional liquid set up.

 

[DarthBaggins]

BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3 or CryoRig R1 Ultimate for air is what I'd get and either are just below your budget

 

[fenurch]

I'm afraid I can't go for a Noctua due to the vomit inducing browns that they use. It's silly, I know but I really can't.
I think the Thermalright has been discontinued and can no longer be purchased.
And the Dark Rock Pro 3 or R1 Ultimate (I would totally go for these) are both so big that they block the first motherboard expansion slot.

Is a closed loop setup really that bad?

 

[GreiverBlade]

I'm afraid I can't go for a Noctua due to the vomit inducing browns that they use. It's silly, I know but I really can't.

you forgot about the price of them ..... BeQuiet, Thermalright, Cryorigs, Scythe have far better price ratio (cooler master also ... but for me they look like Arctic : cheap price and cheap build albeit being good performer)

closed loop hum well ... H100i GT or Seidon 240m or Nepton 240/280 are not bad (fav goes for CM rather than Corsair for the price/perf ratio)
i ran a custom loop different air cooler and now a Raijintek Triton slightly modified (CF: Sys Specs )

 

[Ferrum Master]

D15s and case closed . No crappy AIO.

Solution for vomit...

Thermalright TY-147A + EK vardar ER in the front.

 

[R-T-B]

I'm afraid I can't go for a Noctua due to the vomit inducing browns that they use. It's silly, I know but I really can't.
I think the Thermalright has been discontinued and can no longer be purchased.
And the Dark Rock Pro 3 or R1 Ultimate (I would totally go for these) are both so big that they block the first motherboard expansion slot.

Is a closed loop setup really that bad?

Look at this Phanteks. Not bad either and color options. Performs nearly as good as top end Noctua stuff, if not equally:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Phanteks/PH-TC14PE/

 

[rtwjunkie]

Zalman CNPS 9900 Max. I'm using one on my 3770k. Keeps things very chilly, and almost always affordable.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

ive got this

http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/hydro-series-h50-quiet-cpu-cooler


they are cheap and good, my Xeon X 5670 is massively o/c and this works fine. with it...........i got mine new for 50 quid, you can always put another fan on the back as well, i havent bothered because my temps are good.

 

[jboydgolfer]

ive got this

couple questions bud....

how long have you been running that Cooler?
is it audible?

 

[fenurch]

Thanks everyone, I think I've made up my mind.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

couple questions bud....

how long have you been running that Cooler?
is it audible?

hiya Pal

approximately 8 months

the unit makes no noise other than a barely audible squirt on startup, more of a clunk than a squirt i suppose as the pump starts.


I think it looks great too


ASUS

MSI
extra fan on reverse of rad

right now

yesterday i bought Corsair H100 240mm for 25 quid with no fans and a couple of bruised fins, i will replace the fans and conceal the fins with the new fans........

 

[jboydgolfer]

hiya Pal

approximately 8 months

nice. Yeah i have the Older no longer manufactured H-70 C edition and it is DEAD silent (aside from the start-up "swoosh"), and has been running Strong for 5 or 6 years now 24/7. I was only asking because I read several complaints that the newer models were on the louder side, but from looking @ pictured, the pumps look the same as the old ones..maybe just bologna-heads complaining for the sake of complaining.
Here My 'ole girl..notice the old TERRIBLE "ribbed" for Noones pleasure tubing

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

the H100 has a dial on the unit where you can adjust the fan speed of the 4 fans you attach to the pump itself


which means more trailing cables because the fans dont plug into the board.

i will control the fans through a multi header on the mobo instead, rather than dangling cables everywhere.

 

[jboydgolfer]

just as a test i tried not plugging in the Pump plug and the CPU still stayed cool. You can actually see in that older pic , I had the pumps cables tied up on the ribbed pump tubing ..

That h-100 never seemed like a fit for me... the 70 keeps me @ sub 70C so i see No reason to go any bigger. but im only running a 2500k , not a xeon


i AM kind of jealous the newer ones have the pump light though...i wish mine did.

i will control the fans through a multi header on the mobo instead, rather than dangling cables everywhere.

yup..the old one i have has those damn cables too. iiirc there are 3... two for plugging fans in, and one to run the pump.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

at 4.5ghz 100% load i hit 70 degrees on the hottest core, I am ok with that considering that is a 50% o/c over stock

http://hwbot.org/submission/3039735_capslockstuck_cinebench___r15_xeon_x5670_1026_cb/

The H100 is more than likely going with an X5650 which will also enjoy a 50 % o/c. It is a huge rad but i am thinking of building " a PC in a hamster cage" for gaming so the rad can just go on top.

 

[peche]

well air coolers are great, I have used a couple of Thermaltakes air units as typhoon and mini typhoon, Frio OCK and nic3, they are great, also some noctua units but I prefer AIO water-cooling solutions, closed loops are excellent due the minimal maintenance they do require [cleaning the fins on the rad is the unique maintenance you have to do, when you clean your case, ]

I have been running an closed loop since year and a halg ago, Thermaltake's Water 3.0 Pro, thick 120mm rad with x2 thermaltake Riing 12' fans, totally silent, those fans even at max speed still silent and are great for heat dissipation, so you cannot go wrong lad, think it twice before get air cooler for an OC'ed Ivy processor, those are hot chips, they retain heat between CPU Die and I.H.S. due the crappy paste intel uses there, if you could delid that chip could get better temps and stability for over clocking,

More about Water 3.0 Pro, I have purchased this unit because I was needing a 120mm rad based solution, so I have read about the 4 finalist I got at that time,

Corsair h80i
Antec 920 Khuler
Coolermaster Seidon 120V
Thermaltake's Water 3.0 or 2.0 Pro

Corsair H80: wasn't that great, also the most places I visit for example tom's hardware and Overclockers.net shown several reports of faulty and leaked units,
late 2012-2013 versions,

Spoiler

Antec 920 khuler: Thick rad too! unfortunately was pretty hard to find I'm my country and a little overpriced in the places that I found a couple of older models, like 2010 models for example, so decided to put apart too or last option, but is a great unit, solid enough and gooooood lasting, I have seen people that is running units like these from more than 6 years ad waterpump still good enough, it’s a shame that was pretty hard to find here, and the availability of newer models

Spoiler

Coolermaster Seidon 120V: weak tubing, also thin tubes that didn't gave good feeling about the system and most of them came with thin rad and just one fan, also was the most available unit, and the last model in the search, reviews about this units were like 50/50 bad /good, so was in the list still,

Spoiler

Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro: go excellent reviews about the version but the biggest problem, the price and availability, older model that was available only online, so warranty may be a pain in the ass for me, but still excellent unit that outperforms others 240mm based rad units such as h100 and seidons 240V, found a couple of used units at local used markets… but pretty worn, decided to take apart in the list.

Spoiler

Thermaltake Water 3.0 Pro: same reviews about quality and some others claims that pump was upgraded on this version, also the same thick 120mm rad, comes with 2 fans also, availability here was excellent the same as warranty [got 3 years warranty from a local distributor and trusted friend!] and also the fact that a 120mm unit could perform same and even better compared to a 240mm unit made me got as soon as possible, no regrets on this unit, later on decided to replace white stock fans with Riing 12 blue led fans, made the unit more silent and didn't noticed improvement over temps, so far unique bad thing for most people about this unit is that stock fans aren't silent at full or mid speeds, but the performance and cooling of this unit is pretty great, and I fully recommend you to grab one and try it out! if you connect stock fans to molex temps will decrease like 5c for sure, stock fans un this unit are insane but loudly …

Spoiler

 

[fenurch]

Thanks a lot peche,

That's very insightful and helpful.

 

[peche]

Thanks a lot peche,

That's very insightful and helpful.

added some pics! thanks !

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Provided I may only clock up to 4.5 GHz

That's actually quite high. If you had said 4.2GHz, I think most of us would have said 212 EVO.

they can't block my first PCI slot

That basically limits you to 120mm air coolers, such as the 212 EVO, or the CRYORIG H7 Universal, or the Phanteks PH-TC12DX
Moving up to AIO's, I'd suggest taking a look at the (140mm!) NZXT X-41. It's a little above your budget, but it's something I think you should take a look at. I don't know if you can mount it in the front of your case, which would help with noise.

Is a closed loop setup really that bad?

No, as long as they have software controls. The benefit that an air cooler has is that the noise is located inside the case, which helps to "bury" any noise it makes.

 

[fenurch]

That's actually quite high. If you had said 4.2GHz, I think most of us would have said 212 EVO.

That basically limits you to 120mm air coolers, such as the 212 EVO, or the CRYORIG H7 Universal, or the Phanteks PH-TC12DX
Moving up to AIO's, I'd suggest taking a look at the (140mm!) NZXT X-41. It's a little above your budget, but it's something I think you should take a look at. I don't know if you can mount it in the front of your case, which would help with noise.

No, as long as they have software controls. The benefit that an air cooler has is that the noise is located inside the case, which helps to "bury" any noise it makes.

Well, 4.5 is just something to that I could eventually get up to but I don't think I would bother with buying a lower end cooler now and if I decide to go above 4.2, buy another.
It's a shame about the overly obtrusive powerful air coolers but I've kind of made up my mind about getting an AIO anyway now simply because if it requires no maintenance from me (apart from getting the dust out of the radiator and fan or whatever) as well as looking pretty nicely then that appeals more to me than a large, heavy air cooler. Mounting shouldn't be an issue anywhere in the case, I used to have 240mm radiator in the bottom, currently have 2x 120mm fans in the front as intakes (but there's space for 2x 140mm) and have 2x 120mm (but space for 140) fans at the top. Noise is only a concern for me when I'm idling and browsing the web or whatever, if I'm playing a game or something then it doesn't matter as my Sapphire sounds like a jet engine anyway. I'll definitely look into the Kraken.

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I used to keep my pump in the optical drive bay and so that would seemingly be an ideal location for the radiator, provided I went for the Kraken.

Thanks a lot.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

It's a shame about the overly obtrusive powerful air coolers

Cooling is all about surface area. It would be nice to see a "D12" though.
Are you sure the D14 won't work? It's listed as compatible by Noctua without any remarks. (actually, the same can be said for the D15)