Liquid AIO, hard to decide which one to get, or if to get one at all

[Deleted]

Situation: building a new PC for ultrawide gaming 3440x1440 bit by bit, basically only have the monitor and GPU left to buy. No rush as I'm waiting to see if Vega will force a price drop on the 1080 Ti etc.

Anyways I have an i7 7700k on a ITX board (ASUS Z270i) for now with my old GTX 760 and 1080 monitor, with a Cryorig C7 CPU cooler because of my small mobo and case (Lian Li PC-Q37).

The idle temps are wild always jumping around from 38 to 50 C and probably averaging around 43. After playing Overwatch for about 45 minutes the peak package temperature was 86 C! Way too high for my liking.

So seeing as I have an ITX board with high profile ram, any (much) better air cooler for my CPU is off the table. I don't want an expensive sidegrade or very slight upgrade. So that leads me too liquid AIOs, but then I'm reading so much stuff about noise and how they sound like jet engines, most have only 2 years warranty, very expensive, very small chance of leaking but I'm not too worried about that. And then which one to choose is even harder. Mostly I like the Corsair H100i V2 and the soon to be released Deepcool captain RGB edition. My case only has room for a 240 radiator.

Anyways it's a hard choice, it seems also all the current radiators are aluminium and copper rads can get up to 10 degrees C better temps? I think some companies are going to be releasing them soon.

Anyone willing to offer any opinions? Any suggestions of what to get? Thanks!

[Novakhoro]

My H60 is god tier, you dont need crazy shit just something to bring it down. Haven't had a single problem with it for 3(ish) years?

Edit: It's also well quiet

[Lathais]

While that cooler is slighty better than the stock coolers when not OCed and under load, just about any AIO will blow it out of the water.

In this benchmark:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/748...ew/index6.html

You can see that with an OC and under load, your current cooler performs about the same as the stock cooler. The H100i GTX is under half the temp. Over 50C cooler. That's not even the V2 you are considering either, which is slightly cooler and slightly quieter IIRC.

As for the noise levels, it really depends on the radiator design. Some radiators cause a "whooshing" sound as air is pushed through them. As you can see in that same benchmark posted above, your current cooler is making about 26dB and the H100i GTX makes about 40dB. So yes, it will be louder. I'll let you determine if that's worth it to you or not. Remember that ambient room noise level is about 30dB.

I will say though, that you should definitely do something. Whether that is dialing back your OC or replacing your cooler I leave to you. I would not run my CPU over 80C with any regularity. If benchmarks get it that high, not a big deal, but under normal gaming usage, should relly keep it below 80C.

- - - Updated - - -

My H60 is god tier, you dont need crazy shit just something to bring it down. Haven't had a single problem with it for 3(ish) years?

Edit: It's also well quiet

If he can fit a 120, he should get a 120. Not something that small. Also, quiet is relative:
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...pdate_review/3

It's actually noisier than his current cooler, and even noisier than ambient room sound. That said, it's 1dB louder than my NH-D14, which if my daughter isn't playing a game on the computer next to me and my wife didn't leave the TV on, is certainly audible to me. May not be to some people, including yourself, but again, it's relative.

[zeropeorth]

Situation: building a new PC for ultrawide gaming 3440x1440 bit by bit, basically only have the monitor and GPU left to buy. No rush as I'm waiting to see if Vega will force a price drop on the 1080 Ti etc.

Anyways I have an i7 7700k on a ITX board (ASUS Z270i) for now with my old GTX 760 and 1080 monitor, with a Cryorig C7 CPU cooler because of my small mobo and case (Lian Li PC-Q37).

The idle temps are wild always jumping around from 38 to 50 C and probably averaging around 43. After playing Overwatch for about 45 minutes the peak package temperature was 86 C! Way too high for my liking.

So seeing as I have an ITX board with high profile ram, any (much) better air cooler for my CPU is off the table. I don't want an expensive sidegrade or very slight upgrade. So that leads me too liquid AIOs, but then I'm reading so much stuff about noise and how they sound like jet engines, most have only 2 years warranty, very expensive, very small chance of leaking but I'm not too worried about that. And then which one to choose is even harder. Mostly I like the Corsair H100i V2 and the soon to be released Deepcool captain RGB edition. My case only has room for a 240 radiator.

Anyways it's a hard choice, it seems also all the current radiators are aluminium and copper rads can get up to 10 degrees C better temps? I think some companies are going to be releasing them soon.

Anyone willing to offer any opinions? Any suggestions of what to get? Thanks!

Get AIO for looks or case compatibility, not for perceived superior performance. Air coolers have no concerns of failed parts outside a rare fan death; though not implying pumps go out very often or leaks are extremely common; it is just more points of failure.



Also, when you see tests, you need to take in account how the systems themselves work. Air coolers will hit their peak temperatures sooner and barring heat soak in the case, will just stabilize at that point. With water, it takes more time before water hits this point, but on long periods of usage, the temps will be closer than it seems on shorter tests.




Research for knowledge, and there are a lot of good content producers in the PC market.

[Novakhoro]

If he can fit a 120, he should get a 120. Not something that small. Also, quiet is relative:
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...pdate_review/3

It's actually noisier than his current cooler, and even noisier than ambient room sound. That said, it's 1dB louder than my NH-D14, which if my daughter isn't playing a game on the computer next to me and my wife didn't leave the TV on, is certainly audible to me. May not be to some people, including yourself, but again, it's relative.

Ah missed the bit on size, and true i guess quiet to someone who lives alone and plays mainly CS/OW (and PUBG now tbf) with headset volumes around deafening its not too loud :P listen these people OP hope you find something that works for you

[Thunderball]

NZXT Kraken X52 is the best 240mm AIO right now, get it if you can afford it. Other than Arctic Liquid Freezer 240 is pretty good value option.

[Deleted]

So I got a Cryorig A40 and installed it yesterday. I Went with it cause I like the Little extra White fan look more than some of the RGB options like the NZXT x52 etc.

Temps Went from idling around 43 but jumping everywhere to a steady 35-ish and during stress testing and gaming it's peaking at around 69-70 C now. Before it was almost reaching 90 with my C7 air cooler!

It's also MUCH more quiet after I set all the fans to silent mode in Q-fan Control BIOS.

Sooo happy with the decision.

[Lathais]

So I got a Cryorig A40 and installed it yesterday. I Went with it cause I like the Little extra White fan look more than some of the RGB options like the NZXT x52 etc.

Temps Went from idling around 43 but jumping everywhere to a steady 35-ish and during stress testing and gaming it's peaking at around 69-70 C now. Before it was almost reaching 90 with my C7 air cooler!

It's also MUCH more quiet after I set all the fans to silent mode in Q-fan Control BIOS.

Sooo happy with the decision.

Awesome. Glad to hear it. That C7 really was just barely better than a stock cooler. Nearly anything would have been an improvement, but looks like your temps are not only improved but very good as well. Idles just slightly higher than my system and peak usage isn't really that much higher either. Being a hotter chip in a smaller case, that's very impressive.

[Skroe]

I build computers for my guild about 5 times a year. I've been using the Corsair H100i (and variants, improved versions thereof) for them and for myself for a few years. Very easy to install. Extremely reliable. I strongly suggest it.