Corsair H60/80 vs Antec Kuhler HELP!

Scythe · 9 Sep 2011 at 22:46

Hi, I was looking at an air cooler, but my parents have agreed to help me out for a water CPU cooler for the extra money. I was looking at the Corsair H60, but then the H80 and the Antec Kuhler range.

I'm after some experienced opinions on which to go for.

Ideally I'm after:

Reasonably quiet
Good cooling (obviously)
Max Budget is £80

Also, is it worth getting arctic silver 5 or just using the only pre-applied compound? Is it good enough?

Is the extra money of a 920/H80 worth it over a H60/other £40ish water cooler?

I don't want to make my own loops, just a sealed cooler like one of these.

What can you recommend?

Thanks!

Helios1234 · 9 Sep 2011 at 22:51

Get an air cooler if you want something quiet but with good performance. Even those water coolers have difficulty beating the likes of the Silver Arrow or the NH-D14 especially at low noise.

Scythe · 9 Sep 2011 at 23:00

Helios1234 said:
Get an air cooler if you want something quiet but with good performance. Even those water coolers have difficulty beating the likes of the Silver Arrow or the NH-D14 especially at low noise.

I've already got 2 fans in at the moment, it's my cpu cooler which is the loudest. Sliver Arrow is too big for my case unfortunately and I'd much rather go for a closed loop for better temps. The idea of having a big air cooler isn't great for me.

Helios1234 · 9 Sep 2011 at 23:10

What case do you have?

Scythe · 9 Sep 2011 at 23:10

Just read this review which gave some great points, I'm edging towards the H80 but other's personal input and experiences are welcome

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...s-antec-kuhler-h2o-920-review-conclusion.html

I have an Coolermaster Elite 430. I already have an rear exhaust fan, is it possibly to mount the radiator and fans on the top exhaust spaces?

Helios1234 · 9 Sep 2011 at 23:17

Well there have been a few people who have fitted the Silver Arrow in the cm case. Personally I'm still not convinced by these coolers after using the 920. Good performance but so loud!

Scythe · 10 Sep 2011 at 05:06

Helios1234 said:
Well there have been a few people who have fitted the Silver Arrow in the cm case. Personally I'm still not convinced by these coolers after using the 920. Good performance but so loud!

Just seems a bit of a gamble with the height of the cooler. To be honest, the sound of my two case fans will most likely drown any watercooling noise out at idle, but when my cpu cooler spins up it sounds like a plane and it isn't very cold.

Just read up on some reviews, rating the Noctua NH-D14 as actually better than even the H100, which is slightly worrying. I'm now split between this and the H80, I suppose this thread is in the wrong area now! Looks like size COULD be an issue though, dunno whether the -5C or so is worth it over the H80, which is much smaller and 'neater' in comparison.