Water cooling vs air cooling

[Deleted]

I am looking to buy a new computer and overclock it but i was wondering which cooling system to go for. Here are the 2 contenders where the megahalem is £9 more expensive.

Asetek 510LC / Xtremegear Liquid Cooling system w/ 120mm Radiator vs PROLIMATCH MEGAHALEMS Rev. B Gaming CPU Fan with 6 direct heatpipes

[vesseblah]

Cheap watercooling is just as good as expensive air cooling to bring temperatures down, only real difference is how it makes your case look inside and where you put the radiator. I wouldn't get the cheap watercooling simply to avoid any possible leaks that might happen few years from now.

[Chronius]

I have no personal experience with that "liquid" cooler you link, i do however have a Megahalems myself. It's a very nice cooler and even though its not "new" any longer it's still in the top10 of the tower coolers, with only a thin spread between all of them. Remember that the megahalems does not come with a fan/s so your going to have to spend a little extra on that.

[Deleted]

Get a good watercooler, not a cheap one. But watercooling i find way better for cooling the pc.

[Deleted]

Just take something like noctua. You don't need watercooling for big overclocking. ( I said big, not biggest ).

[Kallidus]

I have an overclocked PC with a Corsair H50 and thats fantastic, I beleive the H70 is out now which is a revision of this AND there is the H60 coming out.

Cheap and very effective water cooling solutions.

H70

H60

I have mine in push pull for maximum cooling, with 2 Akasa Viper fans.

If you do get something ilke the Corsair or Asetek enclosed water cooling systems make sure you get fans with a good Airflow and static air perssure as the fins on the coolers are close together.

[kittycuddler]

A good quality case will go a longer way than water cooling. If you're going to be doing some really serious OC'ing (like more than 1GHz up) then I would certainly suggest water cooling, and good quality at that. If you're only going a bit up though a good case with air cooling is just fine. I've got a Corsair 600t graphite series case and the two giant fans plus other smaller ones keep my system plenty cool with minor OCing. 3.06 to 3.56 ish or so on the cpu, nothing else oc'd though atm.

[Deleted]

An proper aircooler is just fine. Unless you want to do real serious(and risky) overclocking you're fine with an air cooler.

Water coolers generally add another risk in possible leaks. Which usually end in having replace the parts getting hit. Also water coolers require alot more maintenance. I personally cba to have a build in aquarium in my pc. Air coolers with leds are just as cool anyway <3

[Kallidus]

Water cooling systems like the Corsair or Asetek are just as easy to install as a normal air cooler and provide more efficent cooling than air based coolers.

[Deleted]

Water coolers generally add another risk in possible leaks. Which usually end in having replace the parts getting hit. Also water coolers require alot more maintenance. I personally cba to have a build in aquarium in my pc.

Liquid coolers such as H50/H70 are closed systems, zero maintenance - also an aquarium has water, modern liquid cooling systems do not use pure water as that is not practical in systems like this, instead it's a mix of distilled water with propylene glycol ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol ) that prevents various things like microbiological growth and corrosion.

Air coolers with leds are just as cool anyway <3

My computer produces less noise than the ambient sound even at 100% Prime burn - hence I'd say liquid cooling is a realistic choice for those who want to maximize performance but minimize the noise levels.

Don't judge liquid cooling based on your limited experience, state facts - not opinions.

[Deleted]

to get a decent water cooling i would have to upgrade my case (like £50) and then buy the better WC system (around £50 again) and i am on a budget of £950 and i am on £920 already so not really an option

[Chronius]

to get a decent water cooling i would have to upgrade my case (like £50) and then buy the better WC system (around £50 again) and i am on a budget of £950 and i am on £920 already so not really an option

Well Tzunki, from what i gathered from a few mins of browsing the web, no one seems to recommend that liquid cooler your talking about. From what i gather it's a "weaker" version of the corsair H50, Asetek makes a clone of that one aswell called 550LC.

---------- Post added 2011-02-17 at 12:19 PM ----------

Air coolers with leds are just as cool anyway <3

=) Oh really? Guess that's a subjective matter, cause personally i haven't seen a pure air cooled rig come close to the hawtness of a totally black case with yellow/gold UV reactive coolant, god it's sexy.

---------- Post added 2011-02-17 at 12:29 PM ----------

This is from a fella at Asetek
Hi there,

If you want to get an idea of the performance you should expect from this cooler, check out this video I put together comparing it to the Intel 980X cooler, which is a pretty good performer in it's own right.

There are some very high end air coolers that give you better performance than the 510LC, but at the expense of noise and case access.

If you are looking for more performance than you might want to consider the 550LC (same cooler as the Corsair H50) or the 570LC (same cooller as the Corsair H70).

Let me know I can give you any more information. Take care,

-Zack (Asetek)

[FlawlessSoul]

One thing that is important with overclocking (for first generation i5/i7 and before, at least) is cooling of the motherboard chipset.

There are aftermarket air coolers (I have one that I no longer use, it's a single heatpipe with a heatsink on it, that can have a fan fitted to it) but more commonly, with watercooling setups, you use an additional waterblock for the entire motherboard chipset in the same loop as your CPU.

[Enola]

I have an overclocked PC with a Corsair H50 and thats fantastic, I beleive the H70 is out now which is a revision of this AND there is the H60 coming out.

Cheap and very effective water cooling solutions.

H70

H60

I have mine in push pull for maximum cooling, with 2 Akasa Viper fans.

If you do get something ilke the Corsair or Asetek enclosed water cooling systems make sure you get fans with a good Airflow and static air perssure as the fins on the coolers are close together.

Very honestly I got a Sylver Arrow for less then what it would cost-me a H50 or H70, performance wise it is superior, noise wise it is better has the two 140mm fans spend most of the time at 600rpm, and even at full power they are extremely silent, maintenance basicaly 0 for both (H50 and SA), don't realy get the point on the h50, well maybe ppl with small cases.

[FlawlessSoul]

Very honestly I got a Sylver Arrow for less then what it would cost-me a H50 or H70, performance wise it is superior, noise wise it is better has the two 140mm fans spend most of the time at 600rpm, and even at full power they are extremely silent, maintenance basicaly 0 for both (H50 and SA), don't realy get the point on the h50, well maybe ppl with small cases.

Considering I've seen tests putting the Titan Fenrir as one of the better air coolers, and never even heard of the Silver Arrow, I doubt very much that it'll match the H70, or possibly the even the H50.

I've had both the Fenrir and the H70 on different machines, and while the Fenrir is a fantastic cooler, the size of such large heatsinks can be a drawback. The H70 matches it with push/pull fans, and is as quiet if not more so.

Your fans make a huge impact on your cooler, however. Stock Corsair fans on the H series are not great - for the H50 you probably only need one, but for the H70 you'll want two fans similar to the Noctua NF-P12. Scythe make some good fans, as do (horror!) Coolermaster, at least in my own experience.

[Enola]

The Termalright Silver Arrow is the current king of the hill, check some good reviews if you want.
Yes it is massive, but realy? I don't have to move my pc, the I picked it up once to install thats it, it fits the case..kk it's a pretty big has well, with stock fans against stock fans it beats the h50 and 70, and pretty sure with improved fan's has well, but won't vouch for it has not 100% sure, it's decently more silent, in fact it's basicaly noiseless most of the time, to be fair it can work passive till a certain point.
Not saying the size isn't a drawback, but it isn't a drawback to me.

[FlawlessSoul]

Did take a look, and yes, I had overlooked newer aircoolers since I havnt been in interested in buying any new ones recent (still got my Fenrir, which took my i7 to 4Ghz, H70 which went to 4.2 but then didnt like how hot chipset and GPU were getting so put it all in a loop. Fenrir is now retired, and H70 is sitting in my other machine with a single fan on it)

[asetekzfa]

Hey guys,

I thought I would pop in here and see if I could provide some help.

I actually shot a series of videos that compares the 510LC with the 550LC (same cooler as Corsair H50), and our 570LC (same cooler as Corsair H70). They are compared with the high performance air cooler on the Intel 980X.

Because I can't post links yet, you'll have to visit our site or youtube to check them out.

Hopefully they give you a better idea of how they all compare in terms of performance. Take care!

-Zack (Asetek)