Struggling to decide

[greenbrucelee]

I am going to be building a system soon and its been 8 years since I have and have always used Air cooling

I will be getting an 8700k (not sure if I will dellid it), asus x maximus hero, 16GB Ram, an NVme drive, an ssd and a platter drive in a fractle define design r6.

I have been thinking of venturing in performance AIO water cooling, I dont want a normal AIO like a corsair H100i or something but was thinking of getting an EK performance 380 or 360 kit or stick with what I know and use a Noctua NH-D15.

Is the EK kit worth it and will it be easy to do or should I stick with air?

 

[Robbie_G]

The EK kits are really good and they have everything you need to get going. They are just CPU loops so not to difficult to put together.

If you fancied something a little stronger than your usual AIO we have just listed the EK Phoenix AIO cooler which should be in stock next week.

A little more expensive than all the other AIO coolers but the performance is much better.

Water cooling looks much better though

 

[greenbrucelee]

The EK kits are really good and they have everything you need to get going. They are just CPU loops so not to difficult to put together.

If you fancied something a little stronger than your usual AIO we have just listed the EK Phoenix AIO cooler which should be in stock next week.

A little more expensive than all the other AIO coolers but the performance is much better.

Water cooling looks much better though

Thanks will take a look

 

[oldbanana]

When you have a D15 going water wont really help you, these days water is just for looks and tinkering, you wont really get any better OC or lower noise with water.
Unless you have a 7980XE or something ridiculous. Hardware is mostly locked down from the manufacturer, and THE OC you get is moreso upto the silicon lottery.
I would say save your money and stick to air.
For comparison I have a loop with a 560 rad here with 1xCPU 1xGPU and it is noisier than my air setup, while not really performing better to the extent you would notice it.
Air setup is a measily Schyte Mugen 5 PCHG ( handles 8700K @ 5ghz fine ) and Rajintek Morpheus 2 with 2x120mm fans ( GTX 1080 max temp during overnight uncapped witcher 3 was 47c in 22c ambient) , which together cost about 120€... Not to mention you can keep using it year after year, on all the cards that come out, from day one.
Vs the 500€+ you spend on water.

 

[greenbrucelee]

When you have a D15 going water wont really help you, these days water is just for looks and tinkering, you wont really get any better OC or lower noise with water.
Unless you have a 7980XE or something ridiculous. Hardware is mostly locked down from the manufacturer, and THE OC you get is moreso upto the silicon lottery.
I would say save your money and stick to air.
For comparison I have a loop with a 560 rad here with 1xCPU 1xGPU and it is noisier than my air setup, while not really performing better to the extent you would notice it.
Air setup is a measily Schyte Mugen 5 PCHG ( handles 8700K @ 5ghz fine ) and Rajintek Morpheus 2 with 2x120mm fans ( GTX 1080 max temp during overnight uncapped witcher 3 was 47c in 22c ambient) , which together cost about 120€... Not to mention you can keep using it year after year, on all the cards that come out, from day one.
Vs the 500€+ you spend on water.

Thanks. I have decided to stick with air