Air or AIO?

I prefer them as they tend to free up space on the motherboard for access later on, on mine the radiators are at the rear and top of the case with the motherboard surprisingly empty looking now. I'm using AIO on both GPU and CPU, quieter? probably not but there certainly isn't much in it as I have them set to a constant speed so when I am gaming I notice no difference in volume, to be honest I rarely notice the PC at all when I'm using it.

4 120mm fans going in total on the AIOs, 2 more on the case + the PSU and a VRM cooler + G10 fan, doubt it'd be any quieter with a high end CPU cooler and I know the GPU stock one would be nosier even though it's a 980 ultra air boss which I've ripped the stock cooler off of.

IMHO if you are after quiet, you either go AIO and set fans at a constant rate, or go for the best air cooler you can get and ignore accessibility.
 
Air is quieter and cooler and cheaper but it doesn't look as clean as a AIO!

Whatever you do, dont get a Fractal S24 or S36... louder than my 290... >_>
 
The only reason to get an AIO cooler is if you are limited for space and have height restrictions on top of the CPU. Otherwise high end air is simply better. Quieter, cooler, cheaper and I know lots of people say AIOs look cleaner, but IMO that's not necessarily the case. With the AIOs, you have lots of cables sprawling around from the fans and the pump whereas with air coolers, you can tuck the fan cables underneath the heatsink.

As for accessibility, what exactly do you really need to access around the CPU area so often that an AIO would be more convenient for you? Some of those dual thickness radiators take a surprising amount of space!
 
Thanks for all the help, I checked the Noctua site and to my surprise the nh d15 is compatible with the mobo I'm getting (Asus z97i plus) I was worried the pcie slot would be blocked as on a lot of micro ATX boards it does so on a mini itx I thought it defo would be. Still not decided which way to go though lol although the 980ti I want will be the EVGA AIO so I would hear the pump noise from that anyway
 
It depends what your looking for. I find AIO coolers look better and free up space around the socket. But an air cooler is cheaper, and can actually be quieter.

The only thing I find to make a big difference to both temperatures and noise is a custom loop with ample radiator space.
 
Just ripped my 1250 out and stuck a Zalman FX70 Passive in (coz I could get it cheap) - nothing really beats a large air cooler for low noise - my experience with AIOs has been that they are way too random how bad pump noise is and its far more annoying than fan noise if its bad.
 
Have a look at the Cryorig R1 Universal and Ultimate heat sinks (both very similar although one is more suited to smaller build). They're pretty much top of the pile for air cooling, and they don't have ugly coloured fans either.

Ordered one myself for a new 4790k MATX build after looking at numerous heatsink cooler reviews. Unfortunately OCUK don't stock them
 
This thread Sums things up nicely, personally I wouldn't go with AIO but I hear a custom loop can be quieter due to one of the pumps you can buy. My only gripe with air is a good one will be quite big making things uglier. However I'm no big overclocker anyway so a medium sized air cooler does the trick and it's a win win :)
 
I have a H105, I turned the pump speed down a touch via a fan controller to stop a buzzing noise, then all my fans are set to 700rpm and it's very quiet. And temps are also very good.
 
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