H50 vs normal heatsink and fan

RobSheffield · 24 Mar 2011 at 13:43

I am looking at building a gaming PC with an I5 2500K in an Antec 1200 case, the case has a space for a cooling rad, but is the H50 actually any better than a heatsink/fan combo.

Thinking in terms of noise, thermal efficiency and price.

I do plan to mildly overclock the CPU.

I was also considering a full water cooling system and leaving the case fans on 'low' to keep noise lower.

bifday2k · 24 Mar 2011 at 14:41

The H50 is about on par with mid £30-45 air coolers. Where the H50 comes into its own is if you are using memory with high heatsinks on them, where a normal air cooler may block them and son on.

But if you are using normal memory (small heatsinks) then id just go for a normal air cooler, for example the akasa venom.

Reldar · 24 Mar 2011 at 14:56

RobSheffield said:
I am looking at building a gaming PC with an I5 2500K in an Antec 1200 case, the case has a space for a cooling rad, but is the H50 actually any better than a heatsink/fan combo.

Thinking in terms of noise, thermal efficiency and price.

I can't help but feel these "all in one liquid cooling kits" are overrated and not worth it to be honest.

I'd either get a standard heatsink/fan or do custom liquid cooling.

RobSheffield said:
I do plan to mildly overclock the CPU.

But saying that, if you only intend a mild overclock you probably won't need anything special/too expensive.

Alasdairhurst · 24 Mar 2011 at 15:00

what i want to know is getting one of these with some quiet fans going to be quieter/cooler than a standard heatsink.
(by cooler i mean cooling capability plus actual heat output out of/into the case
-the h50 would fire hot air out of the case, and the venom lets say, would fire it into the case heating it up.

mikeyholt · 25 Mar 2011 at 10:50

Noise is only real advantage, and the advantage isn't that great over other coolers with good fans anyway.

~REALiTY · 25 Mar 2011 at 11:15

Love my H50

easy to install and silent

that is the biggest advantage, the cooling is great aswell but like a few others said it is on par with the £35 - £40 air coolers

crisbduck · 25 Mar 2011 at 11:38

I was going to go for a h50/60 but heard if it leaks after your warranty runs out and breaks something its your fault? And I'd want my £50 cooler to last more than 3? years

Trackside · 25 Mar 2011 at 12:11

I've been running my (first ever) build for nearly a week now and I ordered an H50 as it was cheap and offered noise reduction advantages. I've got my i7 2600k running at 4.5ghz on 1.26v and with 2 fans in push pull ( into the case) I'm not going much over 60deg after 1 hour on Prime 95. Case temps are only 10deg above ambient so no worries there. I'm thinking of turning all the case fans to vent so as to pull even more air through the rad but as I clearly don't have a CPU cooling problem it's just for fun...