Self-contained CPU water coolers

keybaud · 29 Apr 2014 at 20:16

Are these any better than air coolers for normal use or overclocking or are they just hyped up?

Loxa · 29 Apr 2014 at 20:42

Its mainly for the clean aesthetic look but they do perform nicely but not as good as say a noctua d14 (example).

monkeypants · 29 Apr 2014 at 21:23

I have an ageing Corsair H80 and I'm thinking of ditching it for a cheap air cooler. Performance is not great, especially for the cost. I am using an old Q6600 though, which may kick out a lot of heat, and newer versions of the cooler might be better, but personally I'd pass on them unless you're worried about weight on the CPU socket.

spankingtexan · 29 Apr 2014 at 22:37

keybaud said:
Are these any better than air coolers for normal use or overclocking or are they just hyped up?

AIO coolers do the job very nicely, they're no better than high end air coolers but do just as good a job and look much nicer, I currently have a Corsair H100i on a [email protected] and it never exceeds 60c in heavy CPU dependant games and most of the time sits between 40c and 50c while gaming, idle temps are 25c. Also had an Antec 920 on a [email protected] and it kept it under 70c after 2 hour prime 95 test.

There are some very good air coolers though so I suppose it's down to personal preference really, don't be put off either type, even a cheap Corsair A50 cooled my [email protected] without any problems. Just go for what you prefer.

abbotsmike · 29 Apr 2014 at 22:57

I have a H70 with a pair of fans on it, dont think I ever see temps above 65 according to coretemp even on extended runs (video encoding etc). I'm also running a fairly conservative and quiet fan profile.

That's on an i5 clocked to 4.5ghz, in a corsair 540.

Art · 30 Apr 2014 at 08:35

Just to butt in on this, how do you guys find the pump noise on these units? I'm thinking about a quiet ITX build where an air cooler would be tricky but I've read a lot of threads about grinding pump sounds or stock fans that are noisy at low RPM.

abbotsmike · 30 Apr 2014 at 10:35

Can't say I've ever heard the pump. Fans are pretty quiet at low load too. Not sure what fans they are, but they're corsair and came with it! I believe they are the SP120L

ocmanus · 30 Apr 2014 at 11:57

I'm put off that you can't perform any real maintenance on them. At least with an air cooler the worst that will happen is the fan will fail.

I've also read of a few people that weren't careful with their installation and had water go everywhere. Knowing my luck, I'll probably encounter that.

ttaskmaster · 30 Apr 2014 at 13:05

keybaud said:
Are these any better than air coolers for normal use or overclocking or are they just hyped up?

Depends how cheaply you can pick one up and which kind it is.
My H100 does a notably better job in both normal and overclocked modes than most air coolers. I got a refurbed one for £40, which was far better bang for buck than most of my options. It's a cheap, hassle-free entry to watercooling.

It can also depend on things like your case/fan setup. I have a side fan intaking directly into the space from which the H100 fans draw air and push through the rad.

ocmanus said:
I'm put off that you can't perform any real maintenance on them. At least with an air cooler the worst that will happen is the fan will fail.
I've also read of a few people that weren't careful with their installation and had water go everywhere. Knowing my luck, I'll probably encounter that.

Air coolers are also big and heavy. I heard some have bent motherboards in the past, though I'd expect most to have resolved that issue by now.
AIO coolers are supposed to be maintenance-free, sealed units, though.
Yes, you have to be a little careful during installation, but probably no more than with any custom loop radiator. Obviously I can only speak for the H100, but I wasn't especially delicate about it. I suspect build quality depends on the brand.

Art said:
Just to butt in on this, how do you guys find the pump noise on these units?

Again, I can only speak for the H100... It's noticable, but not especially loud. My GPU fans at 40% drown the sound. I have a friend with a proper custom loop and it's about the same volume as his rig.
What makes more noise is the air being pushed through radiator and case grilles, meshes, etc.
The stock 120mm fans are pretty high performance and shift mega air (156m³/h (92CFM), generating 7.7mm/H20) but are consequently noisy as heck on full chat (40db at 2500rpm).
I swapped those out for a pair of Noctuas, personally and am happy with those in place.

mmj_uk · 30 Apr 2014 at 13:48

ocmanus said:
I'm put off that you can't perform any real maintenance on them. At least with an air cooler the worst that will happen is the fan will fail.

This is my view as well, you are just increasing the likelihood of a failure with the AIO units as there is significantly more to go wrong (fluid/pump/leak etc). With a decent air cooler all you have to worry about is fan failure and replacing those is childs play and unlikely to result in any downtime (I would guess that everyone owns several 120mm fans).