About water cooling,

[Jaffakeik]

Hi, just a piece of advice.I got some extra money and decided to buy my first watercooling for my new cpu,read some rewievs online and decided to go for NZXT KRAKEN X40 AIO.Is it a good choice for small overclocks?BEcuase i trust you so I decided to hear your opinion.Before i place order.
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ANd extra question does OEM version of CPU goes with termopasta?ANd what pasta better to use for it?

 

[buildzoid]

AIO coolers are barely better than high-end aircooling (noctua nh-d14 or noctua uh-d14 have reviews here on tpu) so get a high-end aircooler instead.

 

[the54thvoid]

AIO coolers are barely better than high-end aircooling (noctua nh-d14 or noctua uh-d14 have reviews here on tpu) so get a high-end aircooler instead.

I'd love to disagree with this (because i love watercooling) but i can't. I have a custom loop with a lot of radiator space and you cannot beat custom builds. AIO coolers however tend to have minimal radiator heat dissipation and to work well require high fan speeds.

If you go AIO, I'd get a dual radiator option at least. Otherwise, as Buildzoid says, a high end air cooler will be better.

 

[Jaffakeik]

with dual radiator it will take up too much space witch i dont have in case.Than only option is aircooler again

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Well my Corsair h55 is keeping my 2500k@4.6ghz at 22-25 idle and 60 max, so I have to be on the AIO side.

 

[a_ump]

jc, what is it in AIO water coolers that's lacking? is the plate that connects to the CPU contructed poorly? you get to use your own liquid mixture for the cooling don't you? or can change it?

Or is it a combination of the contact plate and pump being poor?

 

[MxPhenom 216]

jc, what is it in AIO water coolers that's lacking? is the plate that connects to the CPU contructed poorly? you get to use your own liquid mixture for the cooling don't you? or can change it?

Or is it a combination of the contact plate and pump being poor?

you can't use your own liquid really. AIO are closed loop. They come with pre installed liquid (glycol variant)

Most AIO coolers just have weak pumps, and very little liquid.

Id still use one over an air cooler though.

 

[buildzoid]

I have no clu what makes them so crap but I do know that an h100 was hitting 85c on my 3960x but then I switched to custom cooling and I was at 63c. And an h100 is louder than an nh-d14 and like 3c cooler so not worth it you can check the cooler reviews here for proof.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I have no clu what makes them so crap but I do know that an h100 was hitting 85c on my 3960x but then I switched to custom cooling and I was at 63c. And an h100 is louder than an nh-d14 and like 3c cooler so not worth it you can check the cooler reviews here for proof.

AIO kits will never be as good as custom water. AIO kits also arent really meant to compete with real water cooling either.

 

[Flibolito]

Also the AIO coolers can leak/fail (pump) leaving a PC unusable. A nice air coolers failure point is the fan in which case can easily be replaced or even run without if you have to. If a case has good ventilation getting by without a working fan is doable for many processors @ stock clocks. AIO just scare me in terms of reliability, the only one that I was interested in was the Swiftech H220.

 

[a_ump]

yea i just looked up some AIO reviews on the H60, which included the H80/100, swiftech 220 vs the Noctua NH-D14. All the AIO cooler had better performance than the Noctua except for the H60. but then the H60 is about 20 bucks cheaper too, and takes up less space. Sorry for hijacking the thread OP XD i have an i5 3570k that i will be overclocking in the future and had to ask a few questions.

 

[Jaffakeik]

In the end despite your advices,i went for Kraken a40,I really wanted watercooling.And I had it for cheap price,and in the end they send me 2 identical krakens,so one I will sell will get extra money So in the end even its not high end watercoolant atleast i made some money from it.

 

[buildzoid]

In the end despite your advices,i went for Kraken a40,I really wanted watercooling.And I had it for cheap price,and in the end they send me 2 identical krakens,so one I will sell will get extra money So in the end even its not high end watercoolant atleast i made some money from it.

If you have an AMD GPU you can zip tie the block to the core using the cooler mounting holes so you could use the extra kit for cooling you GPU. You can see a more in depth guide here

 

[Aithos]

The only AIO coolers that perform less well than air are the single 120mm ones. Even the best air coolers (including the Noctua D14 and U14s) don't come close to the dual 120mm (240) AIO coolers. If you look at any review site (Anandtech) or youtube (Linus/NCIX tech tips) the AIO coolers DESTROY air at load.

With that being said, if you don't have room for a dual 120mm one just stick with air. I am going back and forth between the Noctua U14s and the replacement for the Swiftech H220 (Coolermaster Glacer 240L). The H220 and it's replacement have much better pumps than average AIO coolers and you can fill it yourself and expand if you so desire. As a side note: If you buy an AIO you need to make sure you get adequate fans, some come with decent fans but most don't. When Linus did his tests he used the Noctua NF-F12 fans on each cooler he tested and the AIO beat the air cooler by almost 15 degrees...

 

[Jaffakeik]

My Kraken a40 does very good job it holds CPU 10-20C on idle.will test it later on some programs

 

[Vario]

I've got an h100 and it never really performed a whole lot better than a coolermaster v8 with a high pressure radiator fan inside and a lot of wind in the case (intakes, positive pressure!)

 

[steponz]

Those closed loop coolers Are not worth the price compared to a big air cooler.. they idle decent but there's not that much volume of fluid and they really suck When you generate a lot of heat.

A custom water setup is so much better, but it also depends on your skills AMD the products you buy. A monster heartsick with fans will do the same job If not better with load..

I have dual rad closed loop.. 3 monster air coolers.. chillers, phase change systems.. cascade.. Ln2 puts galore... along with a bunch of water stuff.. believe i have tested alot...

Also buy tim too.. alot of the stuff that comes with any coolers Are a joke.. it all depends on the cooler though.

 

[Jaffakeik]

dont know about what u tested but i tested 1h of 100% load on CPU and it didnt got over 50C

 

[steponz]

But have you tested a beefy air cooler also? You might be surprised. What you see..

All that means is that the radiator can handle your load up to a certain load wattage.

I'm not saying that there all bad.. All I am saying is that there not such better or better at all depending on the cooler.

There's all This hype about closed loop coolers... and alot of them aren't much better or could be worse then a good air cooler.

 

[Jaffakeik]

I'm satisfied with my kraken a40 with 2 went cooling radiator.Maybe there are better air coolers,but I got this very cheap just 70£ with buy one get one free.So in the end i got it for free,because i will sell 2nd one to someone.so only deliver chaarges will be made.SO i cant think anyone aircooler beat this price.

 

[steponz]

That does sound like a good deal . Have you tried overcooking at all?

 

[theonedub]

The Kraken series work well and cool better than others since they are 140mm (X40) and 280mm (X60) versus the more common 120mm and 240mm versions.

I use the X60 on my i7 3770K @ 4.2ghz and it works very well. Next to no noise, and excellent cooling performance. I previously only ran high end air coolers, but my experience with CLCs hasn't had me going back since I dropped my Megashadow.

Looks like I will be getting a chance to dabble in DIY water cooling in a week or two, it will be interesting to see if its all everyone says it is.

 

[Jaffakeik]

TIll now I did only minor OC still in progress to study my new rampage extreme,did OC to 4.2 temps vent up to 60 on full load,so probably case ventilation helps a bit too.bu i mostly use standart clocks to save my PC life OC is mostly for fooling around,if game runs ok without OC why should I OC?

 

[theonedub]

If you're happy how it is now, don't bother OCing. Down the road when it feels sluggish and you dont have the means to upgrade, clock away.

 

[Rickkins]

AIO coolers are barely better than high-end aircooling (noctua nh-d14 or noctua uh-d14 have reviews here on tpu) so get a high-end aircooler instead.

I just replaced my Corsair H80i, with a Noctua NH-D14, and the D-14 blows the H80i away, hands down.

Not to mention that the H80i relies on software for proper functioning, and Corsair seems to be having serious issues with anything that needs software to run.

Not only that, but the D-14 is quieter too.