Soldato
What would be a suitable replacement to the fans already supplied?
Ideally, I'd like some blue LED fans with good airflow.
Ideally, I'd like some blue LED fans with good airflow.
What about this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-049-BX&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=4
Alternatively, You could try checking out Enermax, they have some pretty showy fans that are pretty damn good, they're not cheap though
On the fan front, generally speaking you either want looks or performance, you'll have a hard time finding both in suitable quantities
for the H100 my personal choice would be some GT AP-15's (Gentle Typhoons), ugly as sin, but god they are fantastic fans, I have 2 cooling my custom cpu waterloop and they do a brilliant job.
Enermax cases? I wouldn't have a clue tbh, never owned an enermax case.
A corsair case on the other hand, are very very nice, I had a 800d early last year and apart from being obscenely large, it was the best case i ever had, excellent build quality, tonnes of room and brilliant cable management features. Prices aren't cheap, but they are definitely worthwhile.
I would swap the fans for the GT-15's in a heart beat, they might be a little noisier than the stock corsair fans but the performance will be quite a bit better, If you add a shroud to the mix (a shroud is basically just something that distances the fan from the radiator, to remove any dead spots where the fan might not be generating air to cool the rad) you can buy custom made ones, but you can also just cannibalize some old fans laying around, just rip the innards out, and keep the frame, voila, 1 custom cheap shroud
Watercooling, as in a proper custom loop is a walk in the park, You just need to read, loads, If there is anything your unsure about, ask!
Watercooling can be as quiet or noisy as your hardware and or pockets dictate, obviously more devices under water will cost more, and you might need quite a few fans depending on what your cooling, If it's for the rig in your sigblock, All you would need is a cpu block, gpu block, 360 radiator, 3 fans, some tubing and fittings and a res/pump. Brand new, you'd be looking at around the 250 mark
But 2nd hand, If you got lucky it wouldn't cost more than £150
And no, Ocuk don't offer such a service i'm afraid, Depending on where you are, I know of other people that have asked for help and some veteran watercooling guys from this board go over and actually help them out with building etc etc. Ask, again, you might have some luck
To break it down into simples;
H100i
Pros
Simple, easy to install, basically no maintenance needed, plug and play pretty much
Cons
Expensive for what it is, not the best performance, If anything goes wrong you have no cooler.
Custom loop
Pro's
excellent performance, If anything goes wrong, it's a simple job to remove said part for an rma. Upgrade options, you can chop and change everything, all that's needed is a healthy bank balance, time and the courage to know you won't mess it up!
Cons
Expensive, (towards the higher end, very expensive), Time consuming, to install everything, check everything works, fill a loop etc etc you'd be looking at 3-4 hours depending on your ability, In the worst case scenario, if something goes badly wrong depending on the fluid, you could lose your entire computer in a single sitting. but that is a very extreme case and it doesn't generally happen if you read topics on what do to by people that have been there and done it
If you want somewhere to start reading i recommend this > http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18290835
The best 120 mm fans for quietness and airflow are these:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-009-NC&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=4
I have a couple on an H50 in push-pull configuration and they are super quiet and have very, very good airflow. They have extraordinarily good reviews.