Soldato
Swapped my antec h20 620 for a DH-15 a few months ago. A guy I worked with had an AIO leak and kill a load of his parts, it terrified me into changing out ASAP.
Very happy with my Noctua.
Very happy with my Noctua.
AIO vs Air (Noctua coolers) - Hardware Canucks comparison
- Thread starter Perfect_Chaos
- Start date
While leaks are not common they do happen. And don't believe all the hype about getting hardware replaced by company who's name is on CLC. I don't know of anyone who didn't have a nightmare of a time and even if they do get some sort of reimbursement, they always get short-changed. It always takes a couple months of real, live horror show full of grief, anxiety and frustration.
I've never understood the fuss surrounding them, they've always offered about the same cooling as top end air coolers which are considerably cheaper. Not to mention with a heatsink the only thing that can ever die is the fan and it can be easily replaced, with an AIO if the pumps dies you need to replace the whole thing.
And CLC are way noisier too.
Noctua isn't the only good air cooler made. There are lots of other air coolers out there just as good .. some better.I just wish I didn't despise those Noctua fan colours so intensely.
Edit: see post #15 above.
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Soldato
Indeed. Noctua are great but they aren't the only air coolers around... Thermalright, Phanteks, Prolimatech, Cryorig, Alpenfohn, all good brands with good customer service on top.
Soldato
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They're cheaper/easier than a custom loop and take up less space than an air cooler, while cooling very well... and even better if you change out the included stock fans, which are always naff, for some reason. Some also have LEDs on them!!
My original H100 was always pretty quiet and the custom loop I have now is not really any quieter.
I'm going to pick your post apart.
- They're cheaper than custom loop, but way noisier, not as dependable and garbage quality .. air cooling cools as well with less noise and quality components.
- Total area of both is virtually the same. The illusion of being smaller is created by radiator and fans being mounted on case rather than over motherboard.
- Adding more expense to an CLC that is already more expensive than comparable cooling air cooler to make it quieter is throwing away more good money.
- H100 are not 'quiet' .. most custom loops are much, much quieter .. and good air coolers are definitely a lot quieter.
AIO CLC pumps move about 0.1 GPM
Alphacool Eisbaer /be Quiet! 0.3 GPM
EK's Predators'. move about 0.6 GPM
Swiftech's AIO pumps move 0.9 GPM
Custom loop MCP35X about 1.2 GPM
Custom loop MCP50X about 1.3 GPM
AIO CLCs us aluminum radiators
All others us copper radiators
The differences are all too obvious.
Only down side is decent AIO are more expensive than CLC .. about as much more as CLC are than air. But the quality, performance and noise levels are also light years ahead of CLC.
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Caporegime
Love my NH-D15, cracking cooler, low temps, and very quiet, even with both fans attached 
Soldato
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It'd be rude not to... as would not replying!!I'm going to pick your post apart.
[*]I said they're cheaper. That was it, as far as that side went.
[*]Total area/spatial volume, not a thing - You still have more open space inside the case to access your RAM, get more airflow to the board, etc...
[*]It's about adding capability to the AIO that an AC cannot manage - Four fans in push-pull vs two, respectively. If an AC could take two extra fans, I'd still have the cost of those to factor in.
As it was, I got my H100 cheaper than my air cooler was, so it was a no-brainer from that perspective.
[*]My H100 was as quiet as my current EK-based custom loop is. Both pumps make a little bit of noise and since most people seem to be putting their head inside the case when complaining about how loud these things are, I don't have a problem with a barely-perceptible buzz from 3' away. My GPU makes more noise when it coil-whines on the Heaven shutdown screen!
To top it off, my H100 shaved about 15ºC off the temp that my AC was achieving, so again no brainer.
I doubt I'd ever go back to an AIO now, but neither would I go pure air either...
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I went from an H80i to a Phanteks PH-TC14PE last year and have no regrets.. being honest.. I should have done it sooner.
I really liked the look of the Noctua NH-D15 but the Phanteks came up local at a good price so I went for that instead as had been looking at both coolers and couldnt decide which one to go for.
I think if the Phanteks hadnt came up local I would have ended out with the Noctua
I really liked the look of the Noctua NH-D15 but the Phanteks came up local at a good price so I went for that instead as had been looking at both coolers and couldnt decide which one to go for.
I think if the Phanteks hadnt came up local I would have ended out with the Noctua
I'm glad you took it as intended.It'd be rude not to... as would not replying!!
It'd be rude not to... as would not reply to reply!!
Indeed, cheaper in all respects.
Indeed, it is a little easier depending on motherboard and cooler used. There are many top tier coolers that give good RAM and PCIe socket clearance. The few cables that might be harder to reach are usually not an issue if planned for.
Let us separate AIO into AIO and CLC .. with AIOs being pre-filled component systems versus CLC being sealed disposable systems. The difference in component in each is huge and makes big difference in how they perform. CLC pumps flow a small faction of the coolant real pumps flow. Even the lowest AIO (Alphacool Eibear & be quiet! Silent Loop) pumps move about 3 times as much coolant as Asetek pumps do. Custom loop pumps move 9-12 times as much coolant! That is a huge difference!
Adding fans and increasing airflow can sometimes add cooling ability.
That is quite different from cooling capacity based on coolant flow rate and radiator area.
- Coolant flow rate determines heat transfer from waterblocks, and low coolant flow rates limit severly limit the amount of heat they can remove.
- Radiator area and efficency (and airflow) lower the water temp from heat source and return cool water to heat source.
- It's the radiator area/heat transfer ability that is key much more than what fans are used.
- A good low resistant airflow radiator will cool as well with push as it will with push/pull.
- Not needing push/pull means quieter cooling as well.
- CLC pumps flow marginally enough coolant at best, and CLC low quality radiators require massive airflow to transfer the heat from the coolant. Again, more fans and higher airflow result in much more noise.
Shaving 15c from air to CLC means either your air cooler was very poor or more likely your case airflow was supplying your cooler with air 10+c above romm ambient. 5c from mid-range cooler to H100, maybe 8c, is believable with lower cooler performance and hotter air into cooler. More than that is almost always because case is not flowing like it should.
Thanks for your replies. I enjoy discussing these things.
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Those results are at 1.3v.
They also say:
40DBa not 'close to silent' in my book.
Reviews to support one's opinion are a easy to find. My opinion is based on use and testing as well as other people I know and trust who have used and tested them. Combine the two and we have a recipe for inaccuracy.
Here is some data I do trust. All radiators are running as exhaust. Still, this testing is an anomaly in that the cooler intake air temp says very consistant for both air and water cooling tests.
We need to remember most reviewers test and post reviews to please their supplies. Combine that with many of them don't know how to do a real laboratory / scientific test.
Best example is testing in a case to 'give real world comparisons'. Testing is a user's case without monitoring component cooler intake air temp is not testing cooler based on their own cooling ability, but testing a system with different coolers. The reason is the case airflow changes almost every time a cooler's fan speed changes. Combine that with changing cooler which means they use different fans, and the airflow temp changes even more. I always monitor component intake air temp, regardless of if test is in a case or on a bench. Knowing cooler intake air temp gives us an accurate baseline temperature to calculate delta temps with.
Another good example is comparing air cooler with CLCs in cases, especially if CLC is has it's fans mounted as intake (something Corsair used to say to do in their CLC instructions). Doing that means CLC is getting room temperature air while air cooler in a case
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I'm using a NH-D14 and was considering a move to an AIO. Probably wont now
I just want a cooler that looks prettier through a case window. Apparently the Dark Rock Pro 3 is a pain to install?
It's a piece of cake mate. You just need to pre install the nuts on the bracket tighten them then all you have to do is screw it from behind the mb.
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Soldato
I would have used D15 if it is not extending to my 1st PCI-E slot.
So I went on to build a custom loop lol
So I went on to build a custom loop lol
Good excuse to do custom loop, even if offset base on D15S might have cleared PCie sockets.
There are several coolers just as good as D15 that give better PCIe clearance.
Soldato
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Or the reply to the reply to the reply...It'd be rude not to... as would not reply to reply!!
With an AIO, I don't even need to plan...
Let us separate AIO into AIO and CLC .. with AIOs being pre-filled component systems versus CLC being sealed disposable systems. The difference in component in each is huge and makes big difference in how they perform. CLC pumps flow a small faction of the coolant real pumps flow. Even the lowest AIO (Alphacool Eibear & be quiet! Silent Loop) pumps move about 3 times as much coolant as Asetek pumps do. Custom loop pumps move 9-12 times as much coolant! That is a huge difference!
But I can usually add more fans to an AIO rad than I can to a heatsink cooler.
If you're having to worry about things at that level, it's usually time for a custom loop, IMO.
done properly, push-pull is always cooler, though it depends on how well your chosen combo of rad and fan interact.
Except that they all seem to come with crappy, noisy, low airflow fans to begin with, so almost anything is an improvement.
I believe the case airflow was being snatched by the massive air cooler, rather than having sufficient room to circulate inside and cool the components, resulting in those components heating the case air and raising temps. Even with stock fans, my H100 was vastly cooler.
I'd be interested to know what volumes people consider 'silent', given some of their complaints...40DBa not 'close to silent' in my book.
My reply to the reply already replied to.Or the reply to the reply to the reply...
True
That's what I said!
More fans do not necesarily mean more airflow or better coolng
More detailed answer two below
Why not same money and us AIO? 3-8x more flow than a CLC makes a huge difference.
Not always. Only if using same fans as in push / pull as in single use. It all depends on what the total flow of fans are. A single 140cfm / 4.0mmH2O fan pushing will always move more air than stacked 80cfm / 2.0mmH2O fans will in push / pull. The maximum flow of single 140cfm fan is .. you guessed it! .. 140cfm. The maximum flow of 2x 80cfm fans is .. yup .. 80cfm. Staking fans does not increase their rated airflow, it only increases their rated static pressure. If radiator has 1.5mmH2O resistance, then one fan 2.0mmH2O fan will not move as much air as 2x 2.0mmH2O fans. but even 2x of these 80cfm fans are not going to move as much air as a single 140cfm / 4.0mmH2O fan can move.
So buy a better product, like AIO that has better fans to start with. Swiftech and Predator are about the same price as CLC with push/pull replacement fans.
Case airflow is airflow going through the case.
Air cooler airflow is airflow going though the air cooler .. just like CLC airflow is airflow through the radiator.
If case airflow is setup properly it flow at least as much air as air cooler and other case components do, and do so without the air cooler and other components heated exhaust air mixing with the cool case intake air going to components.
If the above is not done, the case airflow heats up resulting in higher component temps not because the air cooler is not as good or better than CLC, but because case is not flowing air like it should. I've seem CLC and custom loops have the same problems when case airflow is not matched to their needs.
To me quiet is 25-30dB. Few of us live in areas with less than 30dB noise level.