Best AIO CPU Coolers of 2014

Sounds like the pump is going bad .. progressively moving less coolant resulting in progressively higher CPU temps. I'm assuming the radiator is clean.

With all due respect it's not the pump. The power draw is the same as it was when new. The rpms are the same as new and there is no noise. I can use a stethoscope and hear the pump running. It's nice and smooth with no air bubbles going through it. I think the coolant used is supper freaking cheap and not to spec. Thus it's breaking down and clogging the block micro fins, insulating the cpu from the water path. I've seen examples of this on the net concering Corsairs liq. coolers. I have also seen it in my professional life.

I work for a manufactures rep that deals with this stuff. We rep Xylem Company's like Bell & Gossett a massive pump manufacture. Xylem bought Lang and we use a lot of the Lang's in Radiant Heating, Solar Panels and other applications. I work with heat exchangers at a massive level. Again Bell & Gossett, Standard Co., Sentry, Heat exchangers in boiler and chillers. And rep a cooling tower line. And work with many others. We also rep Dow Fluids used in these systems that are safe for humans at the food grade level.

I think Corsair has used a very cheap coolant mixture in there coolers. Over time it separates and breaks down. Sometimes very quickly. And leaves a gelatin type martial stuck in the wrong places. Almost all people that have broken down a AIO notice a very fowl smell from the fluid. This is because the additive used is organic. Good cooling / heat / protective additives will have no smell. Or at worse smell like auto antifreeze.

Anyway proper parts are on order. I want this junk H100i gone. :) I knew better than to buy this junk!
 
With all due respect, if the pump impeller to housing clearance is increasing, the flow rate will be decreasing and heat will increase. If impeller is slipping on the motor shaft the flow rate will also decrease.

The truth, as you say, is the H100i is poorly designed and built, as are most all CLCs.
 
The software sucks. My H100i has been letting the cpu temps rise since install sept. 2014. I've worked with 5 tim's, many fan combos. And it just keeps getting worse. I have a sick feeling the china fluid in my unit is turning into jello and pluging up the copper base. The aluminum rad is truly crap. The first rule of water cooling is never mix alum, brass and copper. Just based on rule #1 I knew better than to get this junk. I just ordered proper water cooling parts today. Hope they are here before next weekend so I can get this machine finished up and move on to other projects.

Sounds like the pump is going bad .. progressively moving less coolant resulting in progressively higher CPU temps. I'm assuming the radiator is clean.

sounds like something that could be warrantied.

I had an h60 warrantied pretty easy from corsair. and its replacement is still chugging along in this machine im typing this reply on.
 
Just installed the H80i and it seems to work good so far.
load temps are 10+* cooler than my Freezer Pro.

Frezer Pro,


H80i


 
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Just installed the H80i and it seems to work good so far.
load temps are 10+* cooler than my Freezer Pro.
Isn't it also a LOT louder than the Freezer Pro, though?

Could just slap better fan(s) on the old heatsink and get a similar trade-off on noise vs. cooling.
 
Isn't it also a LOT louder than the Freezer Pro, though?

Could just slap better fan(s) on the old heatsink and get a similar trade-off on noise vs. cooling.

freezer pro was louder under load. I can barely hear the system at idle and loaded it is just a low hum.
I have 4 120mm fans in the case, 2 on the radiator and 2 on the front.

the Freezer pro was blocking my ram slots as well, which is why I swapped coolers.
 
With all due respect, if the pump impeller to housing clearance is increasing, the flow rate will be decreasing and heat will increase. If impeller is slipping on the motor shaft the flow rate will also decrease.

The truth, as you say, is the H100i is poorly designed and built, as are most all CLCs.

I understand your logic completely. The H100i does use a open vane design. It is a true open impeller with a sight taper. The pump has been and is now silent. Absolutely no mechanical interaction happening between the drive end housing and open face of the the impeller to the volute. And given the power consumption the mag-drive is working to spec. I wish my doppler would fit on the H100i's small tubing so I could plot out it's true gpm and place it on the manufactures pump curve. And figure the pressure drop across the rad and block.

It's been kind of fun trouble shooting this AIO. The wife has taken a interest in it. She knows I work with this stuff at a massive level concerning hospitals, university's, fortune 500 company's and on and on. It becomes very clear real fast. They have more money than brains. So she has learned a lot about hydronics and thermal dynamics. There is now way to cool or heat anything cheap with water,,, period.

I'm looking forward to taking this unit a part and fully inspecting it.
 
sounds like something that could be warrantied.

I had an h60 warrantied pretty easy from corsair. and its replacement is still chugging along in this machine im typing this reply on.

I don't want warranty. They had there shot and blew it. I want a proper loop in my rig. Then I will inspect the unit. Then I will shoot it up at my range. And if I feel like it I will send the remaining parts back to them and suggest they stick to ram and fans as a business model. ;)
 
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Guess I'm spoiled by my Megahalems: http://www.amazon.com/Prolimatech-Black-Megahalems-CPU-Cooler/dp/B005869KES/

Have yet to see an AIO that beats it on noise-to-cooling ratio. Idle noise levels will always be poor by-comparison on AIO coolers, since there's really no way for "two fans and a pump" to be quieter than the single Arctic F12 I've got mounted to it now.

I can't even hear the pump and 2 fans on the radiator at idle, all I hear are the 2 front case fans.
2.5 ft from the case shows noise at 43db.

I run a little heater in my garage near my feet and it's 51db with that running, so I don't even hear the PC at all with the heater going.
The music video I am watching is 74db, and that is not loud at all and I don't hear the heater or the pc.


EDIT:
I just ran prime95 again and measured the sound at 100% load and it is 44db,
So it seems it is pretty quiet and cools pretty good,
 
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I understand your logic completely. The H100i does use a open vane design. It is a true open impeller with a sight taper. The pump has been and is now silent. Absolutely no mechanical interaction happening between the drive end housing and open face of the the impeller to the volute. And given the power consumption the mag-drive is working to spec. I wish my doppler would fit on the H100i's small tubing so I could plot out it's true gpm and place it on the manufactures pump curve. And figure the pressure drop across the rad and block.

It's been kind of fun trouble shooting this AIO. The wife has taken a interest in it. She knows I work with this stuff at a massive level concerning hospitals, university's, fortune 500 company's and on and on. It becomes very clear real fast. They have more money than brains. So she has learned a lot about hydronics and thermal dynamics. There is now way to cool or heat anything cheap with water,,, period.

I'm looking forward to taking this unit a part and fully inspecting it.
Am interested in what you find when you open it up.

I can't even hear the pump and 2 fans on the radiator at idle, all I hear are the 2 front case fans.
2.5 ft from the case shows noise at 43db.

I run a little heater in my garage near my feet and it's 51db with that running, so I don't even hear the PC at all with the heater going.
The music video I am watching is 74db, and that is not loud at all and I don't hear the heater or the pc.


EDIT:
I just ran prime95 again and measured the sound at 100% load and it is 44db,
So it seems it is pretty quiet and cools pretty good,
With a ambient noise level of 43db it's not surprising you can't hear the cooler. Unplug the case fans if you want to find out how loud it is.

Many mid-level coolers out-perform a Freezer Pro by 10c with significantly less noise.

43db would drive me crazy. my room ambient is 30-31db (minimum reading is 30db .. what it show about 1/3 of the time with movement to 31db, occasionally 32db. I hear HDD, but nothing else until system is under heavy load. (34-35db) when I have to strain to hear the fans.

So do any/all of you disagree that the Thermaltake is the best AIO CPU cooler?
Get real. Thermaltake is well down the CLC list .. and it is a CLC kind of AIO.

Only AIO that is good is Swiftech.
 
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Get real. Thermaltake is well down the CLC list .. and it is a CLC kind of AIO.

Only AIO that is good is Swiftech.

The Swiftech H220-x is almost $30 more for near-identical cooling performance from what I gather from all the reviews I've read. Seems to have the advantage of being smaller and running slightly quieter under load, but I'm not sure if it's actually worth $30 more. If you believe it would last longer, then maybe I can see why it's worth the extra coin. Is it no different to install than a closed-loop cooler for users who have no experience with that sort of thing?

EDIT: Upon further thought, the ability to add GPU cooling to the loop in the future is rather enticing, if that's possible. I have no experience with liquid cooling aside from an H80i I purchased long ago.
 
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Considering that the Swiftech is more a component system with better quality parts I suspect it will last longer than a factory sealed system. The fact CLC are sealed at the factory with no provision for collant change or ability to top up coolant is an indication of how long they are expected to last.
 
Considering that the Swiftech is more a component system with better quality parts I suspect it will last longer than a factory sealed system. The fact CLC are sealed at the factory with no provision for collant change or ability to top up coolant is an indication of how long they are expected to last.

Okay, my sights are definitely on the Swiftech then. Smaller, and quieter with better performance, longer-lasting, and the ability to upgrade.

Does anyone know how much it would cost to implement a 980GTX GPU cooling block into the mix?

Thank you guys

EDIT: Either way, I have it ordered now - pulled the trigger, should get here before my case. I really hope I didn't just buy into a couple of fanboy opinions ;) (Just kidding, all the reviews indicate that this is definitely one of the quietest, best AIO coolers I can get, I trust you guys). I really hope it's still top-dog 9 months from now when I get a current gen CPU/MOBO setup. Think it will last out the competition? Should I buy some new thermal paste, or use whatever is included, or should I use some old Arctic Silver 5 that's laying around?

Double Edit: Doh! The H240-X! I'm gettin that instead, but it's backordered so I'll have to wait a little.
 
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I can't even hear the pump and 2 fans on the radiator at idle, all I hear are the 2 front case fans.
2.5 ft from the case shows noise at 43db.
Damn, that's REALLY loud... far louder than I'd find acceptable for any air or water cooled system.

What I said before is still true, though. You're not going to get better idle noise figures out of an AIO cooler when compared against an air cooler of equal value. Even if you use the same fan(s) on both coolers.
 
I am using my iPhone with the Logitech UE db meter so I am not sure how accurate it is, it showed 33db when everything was off and there was no sound at all in the room.
 
db, dbA, dbm? db is a relative value, not much use without a reference.
 
30-33db/dbA/dbM is average quiet room ambient noise level. 40dbA is generally considered the maximum level most of us can listen to without it becoming annoying.
 
So, speaking of the best cooler - the Swiftech H-240X that is - would of any you find it worth replacing the fans it comes with? Like with good Noctua fans, for example? Or would it be a waste of $?
 
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can you back any of those statement?. because [H] results tend to simply disagree with you from 2 articles:

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From a older review you can see how the H100i its on par with the Silverstone HE-01:

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But also tested specifically in a bench vs NH-D14

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Another Link in 1155 and 2011 socket test again AIO H100i in quiet outperform the Phanteks PH-TC14PE at full speed by 5degrees. or 11degrees when the H100i its at max speed (but this is insanely loud but again the 11Degrees delta are there)

To end here. the Majority of users who tend to attack CLC and AIO is because they have never used it..

I use a H105 Extreme on my 4690K at 4.5Ghz on 1.25v and my idle is max 27-28c and strees with all cores around an average of 60c tops. The fan i am using are the corsair SP120 quiet edition running at performace setting on my motherboard, so yeah umm my AIO is pretty damn good, also i always wanted to water cool my Pc but cannot afford the 300$ for a good starter DIY setup. also i have bad OCD and well that would just complicate things.
 
Water is a more efficient design than air, but more expensive. Given time, AIOs will be quieter and more effective than air. It took Noctua a lot of R&D time+money to get air cooling to where it is now (And Phanteks none to copy them). Of course innovation in the field has to find a way around the asetek oatent as well...
 
Water is a more efficient design than air, but more expensive. Given time, AIOs will be quieter and more effective than air. It took Noctua a lot of R&D time+money to get air cooling to where it is now (And Phanteks none to copy them). Of course innovation in the field has to find a way around the asetek oatent as well...
Indeed, water can cool better, but I don't believe it is necessarily better. It is more complex than air .. making it inherently more expensive and more prone to possilbe failures.

It has taken muchR&D.. But Noctua is definitely not the only one who have spent years doing it. Several companies were doing it before Noctua became a company .. and others shortly after.

Thermalright founded 2001
Scythe was founded in 2002
be quiet! founded in 2006
DeepCool founded 1996
Prolimatech,founded in 2008
Noctua wasn't founded until 2005.

Not saying Noctua doesn't make quality products. Just pointing out they are one of many out there who have been doing it for as long or longer .. including new companies like Cryorig, Phanteks and others. Also keep in mind younger companies are often composed of people who were in the older companies for years before the started their own company. Prolimatech,founded in 2008
 
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The H240-X looks like it's sold out everywhere... where's the best place to get one? I have a back order on GigaParts.com but have no idea when they'll get more stock.
 
No, they are not.
GPU coolers not having as big or as much cooling as CPU coolers has no bearing on how CLC market is more hype than fact.

In fact there are no full block GPU CLCs out there, only adapters to use CPU block CLCs with little or nothing being done to improve cooling on the other GPU components.

Of course it does. And not only do they not have as much space, but a lot of that space available is not very efficient because you have areas of the heat sink that have hot air blowing over them from other portions of the heat sink. It's the same concept as a water cooling radiator losing efficiency with thickness, and why sandwiched GPUs especially are very hot.

CLCs move the heat away from the GPU, away from the entire GPU board, and directly out of the case. Heat pipes do not have the range to do that well. And vapor chambers work best right at heat source. AMD's 295 X2 was a perfect example of how well a CLC worked, and they also had a air cooled heat sink for everything else on the card. And that was using crappy CLC too. Imagine if what will happen once they start to improve.
 
The H240-X looks like it's sold out everywhere... where's the best place to get one? I have a back order on GigaParts.com but have no idea when they'll get more stock.
It keeps coming in and out of stock, they'll likely have more in next week. I ordered one on Gigaparts a week ago and noticed the next day it came back in stock at Swiftech, so I cancelled my Gigaparts order and got it directly from their site. It's sitting next to me right now - just waiting for my Gelid GC Extreme Paste from USPS before I put it on.
 
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