AIO water cooling recommendations

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blarf

Limp Gawd
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Aug 12, 2005
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Hi guys,

I'm building a system based on the 6700K and an Gigabyte Z170 gaming 7 in a Phantek Evolv ATX case. I will overclock the cpu. I'm looking at getting another AIO cooling system.
I already own the Corsair H100 on my 2500k.

Would you recommend the H115i or something like the Swiftech h240 x2 (or even the h320 x2)???

Also which fan would you recommend for either one of them?

Thank you in advance for your help.
 
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I'd reccomend trying to go with an AIO that uses a copper radiator and not the aluminum most of the cheaper ones use. The reason being you'll get much better performance, and if the pump portion of the AIO goes tits up, you can just plug in a real pump and block and save up for a better rad.
 
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If you could save up about $100 more, you could go with a full custom loop. $200 is close, but all the small stuff adds up (tubing, fittings, clamps, fans, fan splitters etc) If you already have proper fans and the wiring bits it helps.
 
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Honestly I'd look for the largest form-factor you can fit in your case with a copper rad (usually a 280 or a 360).

Overkill? Sure. Maybe. But I tend to over-engineer so I'm not running a system at its limits.

I went with an NZXT Kraken X61 (280mm), mostly because I wanted the larger, quieter 2x140mm fans, as opposed to the 360mm rad with 3x120mm fans.
 
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Chas said:
Honestly I'd look for the largest form-factor you can fit in your case with a copper rad (usually a 280 or a 360).

Overkill? Sure. Maybe. But I tend to over-engineer so I'm not running a system at its limits.

I went with an NZXT Kraken X61 (280mm), mostly because I wanted the larger, quieter 2x140mm fans, as opposed to the 360mm rad with 3x120mm fans.
Click to expand...

So far I'm interested by the Swiftech H240X2
 
Alright i just purchased a noctua nh-d15 in the meantime until I can decide what water cooling solution i want. The more i read about it and the more I think I'm gonna go custom loop....
 
arestavo said:
It looks and performs very nicely, but many folks have problems with Swiftech's QC so you know.
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If picked up a Swiftech 240 X2 and had quality issues. My plan was to go partial custom with the X2 as the base. Block was cracked, and shoddy construction in general. Disappointing as I'd spent a lot of time getting everything together, driving for parts, ordering others all to go to waste.

Returned it and went with another Corsair AIO (H110i GT now known as the H110i V2). It's supposedly better than the H110i GTX / H115i. For the GPU I picked up a 980 Ti Hybrid.
 
H100i GTX is a great value for CPUs. It works great til 170W TDP at which point it eats shit due to lack of flow rate. At 170w it almost matched the EK predator 360. When you hit 200 plus watts EK predator wins but only a little.

breaking 200 watts on a CPU runs into the issue of not being able to remove heat off the chip without massive flow rate like 10 gallons or TEC/Phase

If you only have a 4-6 core get the H100i GTX and save the money. If you add GPUs or 8 core plus get the EK Predator or custom.

there is no real improvement with thicker rads or anything with the H1xx series. It is flow rated limited if you look at my review as I noticed the rad was cooling 200w TDP just fine but the input was super hot. forget the numbers off my head. Go find my stupid long review of messing with high performance fans showing AIOs have a flow rate issue unless it is EK predator type AIO.
 
EK or Swiftech are both good kit. but I prefer custom loop rather than a kit, you pay once upfront and use for long time
 
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