Recommend a liquid CPU cooler..

Defy Belief

Defy Belief

Defy Belief

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29 Sep 2010
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Hi guys, I have a phenom 955BE and currently a Prolimatech Genesis, which is an animal, but it's so big in my case and I just want a cleaner look in my system. Last time I checked liquid CPU cooling seemed to be abit far behind air cooling but I much prefer the look and more open space in the case.

Recommendations? :cool: I want something that's decent and is as quiet as possible at stock, i don't wanna be changing fans.. budget of around £70
 
Don't think they are quiet. Well the Corsair certainly aren't. The antec 920 uses fan control but still will be louder as they still ramp up.

They just aren't particularly efficient. You could undervolt the fans but you'd have high temps then I suppose.
 
All true, bare in mind when buying one you going to want to set aside another £30 max an additional fans as (tealc mentioned) stock fans are very noisy.

I'm a big fan on the AIO liquid coolers, many aren't. Most just come to the assumption that they are noisy and thats the end of it, the truth is with some after market fans they not only equal the top line air-coolers, in some cases beating them.

*Awaits flak*
 
So you end up paying twice the price of an air cooler just to try and get the same performance. The problem is that people believe that getting a couple of fans will magically reduce noise as well as temps by a large margin when that isn't the case. Sure you could get some better fans that are quieter but performance will also reduce.
 
I can't say in my experience I noticed, going from stock to a pair of vipers dropped temps by at least 2c as well as a major drop in noise.

I understand that cost comes in as a big factor, but if you don't want a huge chunk of metal hanging off the side of your motherboard and have the money to do so IMO its worth it. All in all my H80 has cost me around £105 so far (£80 for the H80 and £25 on vipers) and I couldn't be happier.

All I'm getting at is its pretty crappy how as soon as an ALC cooling method is mentioned everyone just jumps on it saying "its too noisy" "its not as good as a silver arrow" "too expensive" etc...Every single time someone fails to mention that not only can the match the top end air coolers, in some cases (H100) they beat them, yes its at extra cost, especially when buying new fans, but its not an idea that should be thrown out entirely.
 
i swapped my true 120 REV c for a H80 and was impressed on the temp drop, i am on the 3rd unit though due to the pump being noisy and the rpm on the pump was slow on the second one, they are very quiet on balanced mode with standard fans on idle under load you can hear them if benching ect but gaming you will never hear them , i did mod it as well i.e adding 2 shrouds which mad the it even quieter:). i went for the corsair over the Antec just for the warranty and no messing around RMA.
 
pgi947 said:
All true, bare in mind when buying one you going to want to set aside another £30 max an additional fans as (tealc mentioned) stock fans are very noisy.

I'm a big fan on the AIO liquid coolers, many aren't. Most just come to the assumption that they are noisy and thats the end of it, the truth is with some after market fans they not only equal the top line air-coolers, in some cases beating them.

*Awaits flak*
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im currently using the stock fans and they are quiet.
 
it is hard to replace them fans as there is no fan that can match the static presser even the silverstones, i tried a few on the h80 even a P14 FLX if anything i got hotter temps.
 
wazza300 said:
@pgi what temps do you get with your cooler?
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Stress temps between 66-70c across all cores with a package temp of 68c, please note that I have a VERY low voltage for 4.8ghz.

Gaming temps rarely rise about 50c over any core, usually retaining a package temp of around 46c. I have seen it rise as high as 56c after 6 hours of BF3 with the central heating on however.

With the deafening Corsair fans I was around 72-78c on all cores with a package temp of 73c.

And Stinger you're right, they can indeed be quiet, the H80 and H100 both have fan profiles built into the pump, provided the fans are plugged into the pump headers you can set them at 1 of 3 modes to best suit your needs.
 
It depends on CPU too,some need a lot of voltage but tend to run cool and some need less but run on the hot side,are there any air alternatives to the h80?

The best I got was 4.2ghz @79c using 920 d0 and thermolab baram with akasa Apache fans trouble is its only 1366 socket
 
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pgi947 said:
I can't say in my experience I noticed, going from stock to a pair of vipers dropped temps by at least 2c as well as a major drop in noise.

I understand that cost comes in as a big factor, but if you don't want a huge chunk of metal hanging off the side of your motherboard and have the money to do so IMO its worth it. All in all my H80 has cost me around £105 so far (£80 for the H80 and £25 on vipers) and I couldn't be happier.

All I'm getting at is its pretty crappy how as soon as an ALC cooling method is mentioned everyone just jumps on it saying "its too noisy" "its not as good as a silver arrow" "too expensive" etc...Every single time someone fails to mention that not only can the match the top end air coolers, in some cases (H100) they beat them, yes its at extra cost, especially when buying new fans, but its not an idea that should be thrown out entirely.
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Noise is very subjective, that's for sure. But you compare a Silver Arrow to a H100, the latter requires the fans to be a good 500-1000RPM higher to match its performance which inevitably ends up much louder. It might not be loud by your definition but it is to me and relative to other good air coolers. This is where the argument comes from. I can easily sacrifice 2C for MUCH quieter operation. The H100 is good and I even reviewed it as such but there are so many negatives that would sway me to an air cooler if I was in the position to buy a cooler.

Since the OP doesn't like the look of a bulky air cooler then an ALC is a good alternative, albeit a costly one and my suggestion would be an Antec 920 for that budget.
 
my problem with the big air coolers yes you get better temps but people never look at the Mb temps they also ways jump 3-5c higher over the normal after market coolers say around the same size as the True, one reason i went for one of the closed loop types, and in some cases your gpu temp can drop due to better airflow.

that's one main grip i have about reviews they never mention Mb temps:confused:.
 
Tealc said:
Don't think they are quiet. Well the Corsair certainly aren't. The antec 920 uses fan control but still will be louder as they still ramp up.

They just aren't particularly efficient. You could undervolt the fans but you'd have high temps then I suppose.
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UNless you swap out the fans for Gentle Typhoons (As I Have Done On My Antec 620) or some Vipers..

I cant hear my 620 now even with the GT'S 1850rpms at full pelt...

Helios1234 said:
So you end up paying twice the price of an air cooler just to try and get the same performance. The problem is that people believe that getting a couple of fans will magically reduce noise as well as temps by a large margin when that isn't the case. Sure you could get some better fans that are quieter but performance will also reduce.
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Well my temps have dropped over 10oC by adding an extra fan for push/pull and is a hell of a lot quiter than stock fans
 
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REAPERUK said:
my problem with the big air coolers yes you get better temps but people never look at the Mb temps they also ways jump 3-5c higher over the normal after market coolers say around the same size as the True, one reason i went for one of the closed loop types, and in some cases your gpu temp can drop due to better airflow.

that's one main grip i have about reviews they never mention Mb temps:confused:.
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Not sure what you mean there. Air coolers are designed so that the fan can also cool below the area surrounding the CPU. The middle fan of the NH-D14 is 140mm not only for better performance/noise ratio but to also help dissipate heat from MOSFET/NB heatsinks. In fact, there is little difference in motherboard temps comparing a tower cooler to a top down cooler that is designed with that very purpose in mind. Reviewers probably don't mention motherboard (not necessarily chipset) temperatures because sensors might be located in various places that may have little influence from any coolers and most motherboards these days have effective heatsinks that can cool the various onboard components.

As for airflow, air coolers compliment chassis airflow much better. In fact, whenever I've used Corsair ALC coolers, my chassis temperature increases because they are designed to intake air which in my case leaves me with no exhausts. Switching the orientation leads to poorer temperature but better internal temperature so why should I have to reach a compromise when a tower cooler just works.

Also I'm very skeptical about how adding a second fan would reduce temperatures by 10C. The radiators on those ALC units are so small that lack of airflow isn't the biggest limiting factor as such, it's the surface area. I would argue that such a difference in temp is due to changes in ambient temperature or the fact that you've just installed the fan and tested it when the system hadn't been on for a while. I would expect a 5C change max.

Anyway, ALC coolers have their places but for me considering costs, noise, and sheer performance, air coolers will always win. I don't say that because I'm defending them but because that's the experience I've had.
 
Kingy1968 said:
I cant hear my 620 now even with the GT'S 1850rpms at full pelt...
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See that's the trouble with subjective hearing. To me ANY fan at more than 1000rpm is too loud and can be clearly heard above the ambient sound in my home.

To the OP. don't be misled by claims such as can't hear these 1800-1900'rpm fans. You will hear them.
 
tried a few coolers over the years and the very big ones do make the mb Hotter, the ones your saying designed you probable mean something like the AC freezer which had the bent fins pointing towards the heatsink/phases which is a few years old that D14 is the only cooler i have seen that even gets near this and is not advertised to cool the Mb, may be a Design fluck due to the fan design yea?
but we are talking real world in case temps not the out of case bench temps, there is a big difference in temps once you take the Ambient room temp ect ,
Reviewers imop are stuck to a key card review process other than using there own mind, but you could put the free hardware given a good payoff though which is understandable, put it this way Mb temps are never mentioned Simple as if it was a big thing it would be said but it never is,

i do use this H80 as an exhaust my Cpu temps dropped around 9c clocked at 4ghz (over the true) and the mb in the low 30's and the nb low 40's thats with current setup and the 480 has the standard cooler and 4 Hdd's in the CM830.

thing is there is allot of faulty closed loop coolers out there i went through 2 once you get the correct working one this will replace any air cooler, if it did not then i would go the big coolers but then you have Mb temps hotter.











Helios1234 said:
Not sure what you mean there. Air coolers are designed so that the fan can also cool below the area surrounding the CPU. The middle fan of the NH-D14 is 140mm not only for better performance/noise ratio but to also help dissipate heat from MOSFET/NB heatsinks. In fact, there is little difference in motherboard temps comparing a tower cooler to a top down cooler that is designed with that very purpose in mind. Reviewers probably don't mention motherboard (not necessarily chipset) temperatures because sensors might be located in various places that may have little influence from any coolers and most motherboards these days have effective heatsinks that can cool the various onboard components.

As for airflow, air coolers compliment chassis airflow much better. In fact, whenever I've used Corsair ALC coolers, my chassis temperature increases because they are designed to intake air which in my case leaves me with no exhausts. Switching the orientation leads to poorer temperature but better internal temperature so why should I have to reach a compromise when a tower cooler just works.

Also I'm very skeptical about how adding a second fan would reduce temperatures by 10C. The radiators on those ALC units are so small that lack of airflow isn't the biggest limiting factor as such, it's the surface area. I would argue that such a difference in temp is due to changes in ambient temperature or the fact that you've just installed the fan and tested it when the system hadn't been on for a while. I would expect a 5C change max.

Anyway, ALC coolers have their places but for me considering costs, noise, and sheer performance, air coolers will always win. I don't say that because I'm defending them but because that's the experience I've had.
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Huh, I'm not sure what you're trying to say there. I do all my tests inside a case and look at delta temperatures so everything is done with the greatest of attention and consideration of ambient temperatures, which I would argue you don't. Think logically, why would an air cooler heat up the motherboard exactly compared to an alc unit. In fact, your findings are based on coolers used over several years which I assume are based on different platforms. What exactly were the motherboard/chipset temperature differences between the true and the H80 because you fail to give the actual values. If you've read my reviews, you would have seen thay I sometimes do include motherboard temperatures when they are relevant, and have even commented on the impact alc units have on them. But like I say, generally this isn't needed because my motherboard temps don't vary much and are always well under control anyway regardless of cooling.

I'm still failing to see why you are putting so much emphasis on motherboard temperatures though...
 
mmm now i understand your a hardware reviewer lol, Bigger coolers = hotter mb temps simple, thats why your taking taking the mb temps to heart so much, your reviews may not cover all cases and there most done on a bench,if mb temps are not a big one why say relevant or emphasis:confused:.

point is the less the size of the heatsink on the mb the cooler the board i.e flow over the mb, simple logic wins there over mass testing there, but that is easy done.
 
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