Just curious, who is selling a 92mm AIO? I assume it is a CLC?I agree...these AIOs perform much better than a huge air cooled HSF. I recently put a small 92mm AIO on an i7-6700k (on a system I upgraded to give away to family for Christmas) and it idles at 20 degC and is anywhere from 45-50degC under load (stock clocks), using the stock TIM that came on the AIO. Keep in mind that this is for the smallest AIO there is at only 92mm.
Pretty damn good if you ask me...
I really don't care what coolers you use. I just don't like seeing people fall for all the marketing hype about how great CLCs are.
Look at all the "refurbished" and "remanufactured" CLCs being sold. Where do you think they get all the ones that need to be repaired?
Have you ever seen any "refurbished" or "remanufactured" air coolers for sale?
Truth is the only AIOs that are equal to top air coolers are Swiftech and EKWB Predator .. and neither of them are CLC. They basically are pre-assembled & pre-filled component kits .. with much better pumps, copper radiators, independent CPU waterblocks, and easy to add additional components, change / top off coolant, replace old components, etc to them. CLCs (Asetek originally called the LCLC (Low Cost Liquid Cooling)) are just that. cheap, disposable coolers. The only thing CLCs have in common with real water cooling loops is water.
Real water loop users think of CLCs as "wann-a-be" water coolers
I don't have a Haswell, but I do have i7 920 and two i7 980 systems running at 4.2GHz, 4.4GHz & 4.4GHz on air, and none ever go above 70c or make more than 38dBA, even when stress testing.
I also have a 6700K under the new Cryorig C7 in my HTPC.