Forgive me for jumping in and post
Definitely AXP-140 guys. I'm using it with thermalright TY-140 together with AP-180 fan from silverstone sg07 case. The temp is nothing but miracle @ 30C idle. I haven't really bothered to stress test the temp, but I guess idle means something already. The even bigger plus is the noise. At idle, I can't even hear the fan and while the case is sitting about 2ft from me on my desktop. Of course, I did tweak the fan thru Asrock's utility to level 2 or 3 iirc, yet the temp is still amazingly low.
It surely was a pain to install, but no more than Corsair's liquid system with relatively larger radiator, e.g., H60 and above. Ironically, I sold my first AXP140 because I wanted to try out the liquid cooling yet it failed in the way of higher temp and higher noise level (my personal experience). Maybe it had something to do with TWO faulty H60 I got. Both H60 I got had relatively annoying noise from the pump, which wasn't very bad but unacceptable to me. So I bought another AXP 140 and be happy with it since then.
The install is definitely a pain, but it is manageable, especially when considering that I was a total noob the first time I install this monster (it's a bit larger than my previous ITX board...). I got several cuts on my hands and I messed up with thermal paste several time because I couldn't seat the cooler right... BTW, definitely go with low-profile memory. It makes the installation much much easier. The first AXP140 I mounted took me 2 hrs to properly seat it and screw tightly and everything, with Ripjaw. The second AXP140 took me <20 minutes with Ares series. If a noob can do it, anyone can.
The other factor I considered and went with air cooler as a result was the traveling. I do not want to mess with liquid when doing air travels, especially the international ones. I did some intensive research on this topic, and looks like there is just no consensus on this topic. Some people report that it's all good without any hassle, but some reported horrendous experiences. So an air cooler can save you much more trouble.
In addition, for my case (SG07), it was not at all easier to install a liquid system compared to air. The air system install is like a one-step success or fail, while liquid cooling was a two-step process. Install the heatblock is easy, but radiator in my small case was a PITA. I almost broke the pipe of one of the H60s because I had to twist the radiator and pipes to get everything properly placed inside the case. The pipe of these coolers are really stiff and I feel like breaking them all the time. They are like some ugly octopus when I finally put everything in place, because the pipe is stiff and twisted, and touches almost everything in the case (video card, mobo, RAM, HD, etc.) So I quit the liquid cooling.
Last but not the least, it looks so cool to have a industrial-look cooler that's a tad bit larger than the MOBO
Enjoy building
Definitely AXP-140 guys. I'm using it with thermalright TY-140 together with AP-180 fan from silverstone sg07 case. The temp is nothing but miracle @ 30C idle. I haven't really bothered to stress test the temp, but I guess idle means something already. The even bigger plus is the noise. At idle, I can't even hear the fan and while the case is sitting about 2ft from me on my desktop. Of course, I did tweak the fan thru Asrock's utility to level 2 or 3 iirc, yet the temp is still amazingly low.
It surely was a pain to install, but no more than Corsair's liquid system with relatively larger radiator, e.g., H60 and above. Ironically, I sold my first AXP140 because I wanted to try out the liquid cooling yet it failed in the way of higher temp and higher noise level (my personal experience). Maybe it had something to do with TWO faulty H60 I got. Both H60 I got had relatively annoying noise from the pump, which wasn't very bad but unacceptable to me. So I bought another AXP 140 and be happy with it since then.
The install is definitely a pain, but it is manageable, especially when considering that I was a total noob the first time I install this monster (it's a bit larger than my previous ITX board...). I got several cuts on my hands and I messed up with thermal paste several time because I couldn't seat the cooler right... BTW, definitely go with low-profile memory. It makes the installation much much easier. The first AXP140 I mounted took me 2 hrs to properly seat it and screw tightly and everything, with Ripjaw. The second AXP140 took me <20 minutes with Ares series. If a noob can do it, anyone can.
The other factor I considered and went with air cooler as a result was the traveling. I do not want to mess with liquid when doing air travels, especially the international ones. I did some intensive research on this topic, and looks like there is just no consensus on this topic. Some people report that it's all good without any hassle, but some reported horrendous experiences. So an air cooler can save you much more trouble.
In addition, for my case (SG07), it was not at all easier to install a liquid system compared to air. The air system install is like a one-step success or fail, while liquid cooling was a two-step process. Install the heatblock is easy, but radiator in my small case was a PITA. I almost broke the pipe of one of the H60s because I had to twist the radiator and pipes to get everything properly placed inside the case. The pipe of these coolers are really stiff and I feel like breaking them all the time. They are like some ugly octopus when I finally put everything in place, because the pipe is stiff and twisted, and touches almost everything in the case (video card, mobo, RAM, HD, etc.) So I quit the liquid cooling.
Last but not the least, it looks so cool to have a industrial-look cooler that's a tad bit larger than the MOBO
Enjoy building