Advice wanted for a all in one cpu water cooler

MG44

MG44

MG44

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Joined
27 Dec 2008
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76
Iv been looking at some of the all in one cpu water cooling kits and i'm finding it hard to make the best choice.

I'm currently running
core i5 2500 k @ 4.5GHz
8GB DDDR3
OS on 60 Gb SSD
2 x 500GB HDD
ati 4850
mobo gigabyte z68ap-D3
case fractal design R4

I want to try and push my cpu past 4.5 as a lot of my work is cpu intensive and the more power the less time i have to wait for my output.

a lot of the reviews have also said they replaced the fans on the kits, is this worth doing? And if so what fans would be best. I'm also looking at getting 2 new 120mm fans to replace the stock case fans.

I have space for a 120mm rad at the back or a dual mounted in the roof.
Budget around £80 including fan replacements

Any advice would be great guys

Cheers
 
AIO sealed liquid coolers are not the best CPU coolers out there. The H100 isn't quite so bad but the rest of them make up for relative lack of efficiency at heat transfer by using > 2000 RPM fans to shift heat out of the radiator. Better air coolers exist that run at much lower noise levels, have better heat transfer but do take a up a fair bit of room. I think most people swap the stovk fans out because they are too noisy, this isn't just because they are rubbish, just that they are running at high speed as previously mentioned.

What cooler do you have right now?
 
Says he has an Akasa Freedom Tower in his sig, not sure how good they are. Judging from how it looks, I doubt an all in one watercooler would be that much better, but obviously the space is a bonus.
 
Tealc said:
AIO sealed liquid coolers are not the best CPU coolers out there. The H100 isn't quite so bad but the rest of them make up for relative lack of efficiency at heat transfer by using > 2000 RPM fans to shift heat out of the radiator. Better air coolers exist that run at much lower noise levels, have better heat transfer but do take a up a fair bit of room. I think most people swap the stovk fans out because they are too noisy, this isn't just because they are rubbish, just that they are running at high speed as previously mentioned.

What cooler do you have right now?
Click to expand...

Sums it up pretty well! :)

Unless you have a specific reason for wanting an ALC unit, I'd go with a cheaper, more effective air cooler. Buying those ALC units only to have to spend more to make them quieter is false economy.

Add to that the fact that air coolers are far more reliable which is something you don't want to overlook if you are doing CPU intensive work.
 
A quiet all in one cooler either doesn't perform well or need's you to spend £20+ on fans for it. Have a noctua D-14 myself and wouldn't change from air to water. No chance of leaks and better value for money. Oh, and I can hardly hear it on full speed, on low it's inaudible unless 1 inch away.
 
Not a technical explanation but I used to use a Corsair H50 to cool my 2500K it was fine, I used Apache Blacks fans in push pull config.
 
iTek said:
Not a technical explanation but I used to use a Corsair H50 to cool my 2500K it was fine, I used Apache Blacks fans in push pull config.
Click to expand...

They are not bad units as such but they are not cost effective. My own H50 is still going strong for the person I sold it to but unlike these coolers, you'll never hear the report of a high end air cooler going wrong.
 
thanks for all the reply guys.

Space isnt really and issue for me, yes the asaka is large but its fits in the case.
Defiantly dont want to be spending extra on a £60 quid piece of kit to shut it up. I hate noise!!

So if i was to replace the asaka what would your recommendations be, also i have only 2 case fans atm, one at the front one at the back.
I have space for 7 in total.
2 front 120mm, 2 top 140mm, 1 bottom 120mm 1 back 120mm 1 side 120mm
Any suggestions on which fans would be a good buy?

Cheers
 
If space isn't an issue then it might be worth going for a loop kit rather then an all in one. Something like the EK kits are great for first timers.
 
MG44 said:
thanks for all the reply guys.

Space isnt really and issue for me, yes the asaka is large but its fits in the case.
Defiantly dont want to be spending extra on a £60 quid piece of kit to shut it up. I hate noise!!

So if i was to replace the asaka what would your recommendations be, also i have only 2 case fans atm, one at the front one at the back.
I have space for 7 in total.
2 front 120mm, 2 top 140mm, 1 bottom 120mm 1 back 120mm 1 side 120mm
Any suggestions on which fans would be a good buy?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Fan round-up:
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/120mm_and_140mm_fan_comparison,1.html

Cooler round-up in my sig but you'll be looking at the Thermalright Silver Arrow, Phanteks PH-TC14PE, Noctua NH-D14 and Alpenfohn K2.
 
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