Looking for two cooling recommendations. Best Water & Air.

[fubar569]

I'd like to know what the absolute wildest batshit crazy aircooler is that can still mount to S775 with some sort of upgrade path.

I'd also like to know the best waterblock currently on the market.

the last time i did this stuff a DD RBX was king. i had twin watercooled AXP Tbred-B's. that was a coon's age ago in the tech world.

I currently have a Xiggy HDT-S1283 on my Q6600 and aside from my woefully inadequate case cooling setup it does alright. 3.3ghz at 1.35ish after droop (1.4v in BIOS roughly, cpu VID 1.325 ) with temps in the 60's under burntest and in the very low 50's folding for team 33 24/7 - ambient in the case is high. i will correct this for the next upgrade.

what's the best out there?

 

[Tsumi]

I believe one of the EK blocks is considered the best, I believe it is the EK Supreme. The Swiftech Apogee GTZ (I think) is also one of the best.

Best air cooler is the NH-D14.

 

[TheOne&OnlyZeke]

I love my new Corsair A70.
Quiet enough and keeps my cpu nice and cool

 

[Cruiza]

From what I've read, the Prolimitech Genesis is now the best-performing air cooler, but it's still difficult to find for purchase and doesn't fit some boards. The best water block... that's debatable, as there are a few that are within one or two degrees of each other. Generally speaking, though, the EK Supreme HF is often regarded as the best in terms of performance.

 

[Archmage]

Best Heatsinks: Thermalright Silver Arrow (lower noise, better fans - I have 3 of these fans, and they are the best 140-mm sized fans I've found. They're still not as good as the Scythe GT fans), Noctua NH-D14 (higher noise, but the actual heatsink is about equal performance given the same fans).

I don't know anything about the Prolimatech Genesis... or some of the other heatsinks that compete with these behemoths. Perhaps there is something better out there... there is certainly room for improvement upon the existing designs, but not a whole lot.

The Prolimatech megahalems and Thermalright Venomous-X perform similarly, and are reasonably-sized single-tower heatsinks. They will be a few Celsius behind the twin-tower heatsinks, given the same noise level.

Best CPU block: EK supreme HF (The Cu or full nickel version... more copper = ever so slightly better performance); there are other blocks that perform similarly, but this one doesn't sacrifice flow-rate.

Best fans: Martin, from Xtremesystems and other forums, has done EXTENSIVE testing on this matter: Scythe GT AP 13, 14, and 15. ---> If you want the best performance/noise, then even if you have 140mm-sized radiators, these are the fans to use (with a 120-140mm adapter of course). These will improve the performance/noise metric of heatsinks and cases as well. AP-13 for 1150-RPM silence, AP-15 for a decent 1850-RPM, AP-14 for in-between at 1450RPM. The AP-15 can be put on a fan controller, and this works well (although there are certain narrow RPM-ranges of high resonance, and this may vary fan-to-fan), but testing has confirmed that it's best to get the model closest to your needs.

Below 1000-RPM, the difference between fans is negligible, and thus the AP-13 (which still dominates) is the slowest fan for which I'd pay the price-premium.

* Certain people have noted that they do NOT like this series of fan. It's always down to personal preference. Objectively, these fans measure quite well in terms of dB/cfm. Subjectively, I think the noise-spectrum is quite pleasing, but not everyone agrees.

There are less expensive alternatives... I just haven't found any that I like as much.

 

[flexcore]

@Archmage: What would you suggest for 140mm case fans. Isn't there a 140mm fan thats better than using 120mm w/ adapter. That just seems strange to me. And whats up w/ Scythe and 140mm fans?

 

[Archmage]

Unfortunately, I don't think actual 140mm fans can outperform 120mm fans + adapter. The manufacturers need to release some more competitive fans... perhaps some of the Sanyo Denki or other industrial 140mm fans are good, but they're not competitively priced, nor has anyone tested them in-depth...

120mm fans = better selection.

Here is some testing (and this guy has gone through various testing methodologies to arrive upon this one - best fan-testing I've seen):

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=261778 - a huge summary of previous tests

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=263193 - 140mm fan testing (includes 120mm fan results)

If you look at that last link, the Thermalright X-silent 140 fares well for a 140mm fan. According to x-bit's testing here: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/140mm-fan-roundup_12.html#sect0 - the Thermalright TY-140 is better than the X-silent. The TY-140 is the best 140mm-sized fan (NOTE: it uses 120mm mounting holes, and is actually shaped irregularly) I've found, but it's NOT as good as my Scythe GT fans. Look at the performance gap in that test... my wholly scientific "hand-air-resistance" test confirms that the scythe GT fans are pushing more pressure (which is important when pushing through any restriction (heatsink / radiator).

As good as they are (and they are good), I actually somewhat regret purchasing the TY-140 fans.

As for other 140mm fans: I don't have much experience there... sorry. Maybe those tests will be revealing - too much information.

Edit: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1595584 - in this thread, there is a link to an OCN thread started by "ehume." He has done some testing of 140mm fans on his NH-D14 heatsink. He may not have the same caliber of equipment that Martin has, but I trust his opinion and his work. So far, the TY-140 is looking pretty good...as it should. That Prolimatech Vortex fan seems to be a good low-noise option. I'm not sure if he will test 120mm options, and obviously it'd be difficult to use 120-140mm adapters on a heatsink, but the 120mm fans should still work quite well there (according to 120mm fan NH-D14 testing at SPCR), and perhaps better with some minor mounting/spacing modifications to act as a sort of mini-adapter - though that prob. isn't worth the effort.