Closed-loop watercooler?

[JHeaton]

Hey all, looking at putting together a small build to replace my current machine and the idea of watercooling came up. The case I'm considering (BitFenix Prodigy) is probably too small for a full loop (and to be honest, I'm a bit scared) so I was wondering about these closed-loop ones for CPUs. Are they any good? Is there one that you'd recommend for a small case like this? It will probably be going on an i5-3570K and I'd want to do a little bit of overclocking. Am I likely to see a big benefit over using an air cooler such as the Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro? Also, how big is the risk of the coolant coming out during use?

Wouldn't want to get it all over the other components.

Cheers.

 

[imb4tman]

I've been very happy with the H50. The biggest air coolers will probably out preform it but if you're worried about space a single rad closed water cooler is a good buy.

 

[andybird123]

all in one water coolers tend to be;
more expensive, noisier and not as good at cooling as decent high end air coolers

there are a couple of threads in this section devoted to ones that have decided to dump their coolant all over other hardware and the support (or lack thereof) people get from the manufacturers in such circumstances

if you don't want the hassle of watercooling then the all in ones can be the worst of all worlds

the freezer pro is an alright air cooler but there are some much better ones

 

[Cleeecooo]

An air cooler will often beat the AIO cooler for noise and thermals, however, if you're really strapped of space, then the AIO would be my choice

 

[craarc]

dont be scared of a custom loop its not that hard ! in fact its verybasic and will out perform the other stuff u mention there enough people here to help you

suprising what u can do with an itsy bitsy pump and a metre of 1/2 inch tube no need to go mental with 2 pumps 9 metres of pipe 3 resevoirs and external loops if you dont want to ...

custom loop can be simple affairs. and much more satisfying imo