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Need some help with a cooling solution

D

DeathSmasher

Gawd
Joined
Apr 14, 2006
Messages
579
Heres my situation i recently built a new rig in a corsair 800d (i7 920, 6gb corsair dominator ram, xfx 5870, asus p6x58d) I would like to better the cooling of the system an make it as quiet as possible. Also i would like it to be low maintenance such as open the case once a month to clean dust etc. I am interested in water cooling but have no experience or knowledge on it. Is it high maintenance? what are pros an cons. Or would i just be better off going on air? Thanks in advance for all the input an recommendations.
 
The absolute best (and coincidentally quiet) air cooler you'll get is the Noctua NH-D14.
 
Best is a relative term. The D14 is also probably the most expensive air cooler out there right now. Also, [H] found it to be out performed by several other air coolers. Air cooling will be low maintenance other than the need to open of your case to blow out the dust.

In terms of noise, water cooling isn't necessarily quieter, in that it all depends on how many fans you have on your rad. A single fan on a rad isn't going to be any different than a single fan on a air heat sink. There are a ton of options out there for quality fans that will give you good performance but keep the noise down.

What it really comes down to is price and performance. Air cooling can perform very well these days, and with the exception of the Corsair h50, you will have a hard time getting a water cooling setup that will match the price of air cooling. However, water cooling does have more potential than air cooling. It's really just up to you. Are you considering just cooling your CPU, or would you want to get a water cooling setup that will also do your GPU, motherboard, etc?

I guess that what you need to do is think about it in terms of fans. Both air cooling and water cooling are going to need fans.
 
Though it's expensive, I fully recommend a Megahalems with two Scythe GentleTyphoons. With my current setup(two 1450rpm fans) I get great cooling with a fairly low noise level, at least for me. You could go with two even lower rpm fans and still have superb performance.
 
If you're interested in air cooling the Megahalems seems to be like today's TRUE. Water cooling probably wouldn't be any quieter if you're interested in performance.

Definitely costs more though. I dropped a couple hundred on mine, but now I don't have to worry about temps.
 
depends on whether you plan on oc'ing or not. if you want to oc then give yourself the headroom with a mammoth cooler and some decent fans. if you dont, then you can get away with alot more. you might even look at the corsair h50 as a simple solution.
 
I love both my H50 and my Noctua NH-U12P SE2.

Hardware details in sig. When folding (95+ percent.) my q9550 stays between 49C-57C. Ambient being 18C-25C. This with the CPU fans at 800 of their possible 1500 RPMs The Noctua (On a stock e6850 for now.) gave similar numbers on the q9550.
 
Full blown Watercooling is expensive compared to high end air cooling. There is a sticky in the Watercooling subforum http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1451956 if you are interested in spending $200 and up for water cooling and if you want to go that route a post in the subforum after reading the stickys would get plenty of opinions/help/whatever. There is a sticky here and one in Watercooling concerning the H50 vs air coolers and that, from poster feedback, seems to be a toss up. The info is here if you bother to look for it. We really do not need another thread on this. Watercooling maintenance opinions can be found by searching the Watercooling subform for of all the strange things "maintenance".
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1417367&highlight=maintenance

Come on down the waters fine.
 
Last edited:
JapaneseGorilla said:
Best is a relative term. The D14 is also probably the most expensive air cooler out there right now. Also, [H] found it to be out performed by several other air coolers. Air cooling will be low maintenance other than the need to open of your case to blow out the dust.

In terms of noise, water cooling isn't necessarily quieter, in that it all depends on how many fans you have on your rad. A single fan on a rad isn't going to be any different than a single fan on a air heat sink. There are a ton of options out there for quality fans that will give you good performance but keep the noise down.

What it really comes down to is price and performance. Air cooling can perform very well these days, and with the exception of the Corsair h50, you will have a hard time getting a water cooling setup that will match the price of air cooling. However, water cooling does have more potential than air cooling. It's really just up to you. Are you considering just cooling your CPU, or would you want to get a water cooling setup that will also do your GPU, motherboard, etc?

I guess that what you need to do is think about it in terms of fans. Both air cooling and water cooling are going to need fans.
Click to expand...

In his case best would be the only proper term in regards to the D14. It performs well and Noctua fans are famous for being efficient and dead silent.

I don't trust H reviews anyway, many other reviewers have put it in the top spot
 
I have done all of the reading in the stickies an searches but was still unsure of my decision between water an air. I would like a small overclock if possible an less noise. Right now the stock intel cooler is not cutting it, it is very loud an the cpu still runs very hot IMO 50c idle an roughly 88c load. Still open for suggestions. Thanks alot Brian
 
DeathSmasher said:
I would like a small overclock if possible an less noise.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like a decent air cooler would suffice, or the H50.

I was considering water cooling, but I am having second thoughts as I don't really need it. My q9550 is at 3.5Ghz, and fine on both air and H50. If all you want is a small OC, air is all you need. (Unless you live in a desert with no air conditioning and game all day or something.) The maintenance is another thing I am not keen on doing. (Basically more work for not a lot of gain.) Maybe if I was aiming for an OCing record or something, but I am a simple gamer looking for that free boost, whatever it may be.
 
surprised no one has said anything to the effect of watercooling maintenance. i could be completely wrong but i thought that watercooling required frequent cleaning...:confused:
 
neybis said:
surprised no one has said anything to the effect of watercooling maintenance. i could be completely wrong but i thought that watercooling required frequent cleaning...:confused:
Click to expand...

wrong, just kept mine filled and good monthly dusting unless i changed parts.
 
Thanx for all the feedback. I to was wondering about the maintenance of water cooling. Some people say keep filling as needed some people say do i complete drain an clean every month. Which one is it? Also another question im sure it has been answered elsewhere an i was unable to find it but with the h50 what is the life expectencey i like to leave my system on 24/7 so if i wake up at 3am an wanna do a quick round of BFBC2 i can get right to it.
 
The h50 is a sealed water cooling unit. There is almost no chance of a leak and is fairly quiet. It's performance is on par with the best air coolers.
 
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