Water cooling or High End Air cooling?

territt · 9 Jul 2009 at 12:46

Hey guys,

just looking for some advice regarding how to go forward with cooling and overclocking, my specs are

i7 920 - Stock cooler
EVGA Classifed motherboard
6gb ram 1666mhz i think
4870x2 stock cooler at the moment, may look at buying a second one when they drop below 180 mark.
2x WD Black 1tb drives.
Cosmos S case
24"samsaung

so what i need is some ideas on the best way forward with cooling and if watercooling would be the best idea? in regards to money i dont mind spending £300 over a couple of months if needed, but i want something that cools well, and looks good.

HazardO · 9 Jul 2009 at 12:47

For the highest clocks, you want water cooling, the following air coolers are good enough for 4GHz on the i7....

Titian Fenrir, the Prolimateh megahalems, the xigmatech Thor's hammer, Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, and the venerable (but still very competitive) Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (TRUE).

Water will take you further. You will be looking at £200 plus though.

Bradley8988 · 9 Jul 2009 at 12:49

As above 4Ghz is fine on any of the above coolers.

territt · 10 Jul 2009 at 10:19

thanks guys, but im also worried with aircooling the heat will be put in the case heating everything else up?

Missing.String · 10 Jul 2009 at 10:32

territt said:
thanks guys, but im also worried with aircooling the heat will be put in the case heating everything else up?

Not as long as your case has decent airflow to remove the hotter air.

JonJ678 · 10 Jul 2009 at 12:31

Missing.String said:
Not as long as your case has decent airflow to remove the hotter air.

Watercooling is the evolution of this. Still uses fans and heatsinks, but allows you to put them wherever you like. Rather simplifies moving heat about when it tends to follow the tubes.

Water is better. However it costs more and needs considerable resources spent on it. I do not recommend doing it because it 'looks good'.