Corsair H110 vs Swiftech H220 vs Noctua NH D14

I've been waiting and waiting to pull the trigger on a cooling setup so I can finally overclock. Currently I am on the stock Intel cooler and I absolutely hate it. Not only does it vibrate and produce this weird pulsating hum, the load temps I am getting are in the upper 90c

I have narrowed it down to the corsair H110, the newly released Swifttech h220 and the Noctua NH D14.

Current Setup :

Cpu : I7 3770k
Ram : 16gb Gskill
Case : Fractal Design R4
PSU : Seasonic 760w platinum


Personally, I am not the type to care if whatever cooler I buy the temperatures are +/- 5c of one another. What I want is silence first, and performance second. That's not to say that I don't want whatever I buy to perform beautifully. I would hopefully like to overclock to about 4.5ghz while keeping everything silent and cool. Was wondering for any input if anyone has had experience with these products.

I have only owned the Noctua NH D14 and it is whisper quiet, but the reviews that I have read also state that the Swiftech H220 performs extremely well at a low noise level. I will likely be picking up the H220 to replace my Silver Arrow due to the size. I am keeping my NH D14 for my HTPC.

I went from the D14 to a Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme and just love it..but I dont think either of the water coolers you mentioned will disappoint you.

I say grab the H110 and a decent fan controller. Big heat sinks like the large D14 and Silver Arrow has gone. People that bought them will still use them. While the preform great the shear weight and size makes them get second looks now. As now more and more people are going to a smaller case and those big heat sinks will not even fit in most small cases now. Last thing I feel like seeing is some big whopping heat sink starring me in the face every time I look in the case to check something.

hmm i just read that the corsair h110 wont even fit in my fractal R4 case without some modding...so i guess ill throw that option out. Im leaning more torwards the swiftech atm.

They are three very different products. The NH-D14 is by far the cheapest, is as quiet or quieter than the H110, but blocks your RAM slots. There is no worry about a pump failure, and fans are easily replaced.

The H110 frees up space above your motherboard, but is a lot more expensive. The AIOs also use fairly cheap pumps, which, from what I've seen, typically fail in anywhere from 6 months to 3 years. Once the pump fails, you have to replace the entire unit.

The Swiftech H220 is a full watercooling kit. It's sealed at the factory, and guaranteed for 5 years. However, it is very simple and easy to expand the loop, since it just uses normal watercooling parts. The pump is Swiftech's proprietary pump, and there's no word so far on how long it lasts. The pump is significantly stronger than the ones used in AIOs. It's also the most expensive option.

All of the above are perfectly capable of handling a 3770k 4.5 ghz overclock. It's when you're pushing for 4.7+ that you start needing better cooling.

I wouldn't consider the H110 at all-it isn't in the same league of quality as the D14 and H220, as Tsumi mentioned above. It comes down to cost and size/weight-both are going to perform fairly similarly (both thermally and acoustically). As for RAM clearance, my G.Skill RipjawsX cleared the D14 by miles, but some of the taller ramsinks might have clearance issues. I actually had clearance issues in a different area-the top most pci-e x1 lane on my mobo.

ive got the same ripjaws X 2133, so i should be good on that. I think ive decided on the swiftech h220 though due to the fact ive never watercooled and always wanted to, so i guess its a good time to give it a shot. Now i just have to wait for someone to have them in stock lol..

I know its not on your list, but I have the 212 Evo running my 3570k at 4.8. Push pull, one Cougar and the stock fan. They run about 17db, so its really quite. The stock fan needs to be controlled to keep the noise down. I have mine at 60% from the bios.

Swiftech H220. Rings a bell. I run swiftech gear since many years. A swiftech 355 pump, their CPU block and a MCW80 GPU block and their tripple rad radiator. Quality stuff has not had a single issue.

I have had cheap pumps like Koolance. I wouldn´t invest in such a system unless you like maintenance . Less performance more noisy and louder. Loose, loose, loose.

Shame I didn't see this earlier today. Jab-Tech had it in stock for a short while today. Picked it up on my lunch for $143 shipped after the Facebook promo code.

illitirit said:

ive got the same ripjaws X 2133, so i should be good on that. I think ive decided on the swiftech h220 though due to the fact ive never watercooled and always wanted to, so i guess its a good time to give it a shot. Now i just have to wait for someone to have them in stock lol..

Click to expand...