which liquid cooler is best?

RENEG4D3

RENEG4D3

RENEG4D3

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B'HAM UK
hi

im building a new system, and would like water cooling over air, and yes i have read a lot of how air is better; which i do agree to. but for this time i would like to give water ago so to see how good it is with my own eyes.

so my question is which water cooler is the best, or which water cooler parts are the best? (doesnt matter if it is closed system or not)

thanks in advance:D


-sys specs
-i7 2600k (lga1155), asus maximus iv extreme, 8gb ddr3 dominator gt /geil black dragon,ax1200(1200w psu),gpu not decided yet, haf x case
 
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No offense to any H50/H70 owners but they perform as well as high end air coolers and thats it, which is poor for watercooling units, but that is understandable given their cost/design and the market they are made for.

Anyone seriously looking into watercooling, should go with a custom build, but it is worth bearing in mind that with the sandybridge cpu you will hit a frequency wall, and that will stop you ultimately over temperature. making the cpu 20c cooler with water will still not yield any better result at that wall.
 
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deffinitely set yourself a budget for the cooling , otherwise you will chase down rare parts all in search of that extra 0.01°c/w that is not worth it.
But this might help you get started;

EK-Supreme CPU block. (links) is not bad, sadly seems OCUK is OOS of pumps/blocks/rads etc atm.
 
CPU only can be done for £120ish (Pump/block/dual RAD and gubbins) it wont be high end but would be a good start.(in fact if you go to EK website they have some fairly decent kits for sale)
The price of water cooling adds up rather quickly as the SB aren't limited by temps but more by Voltage getting yourself a prebuilt system might suit your needs better.
 
well, i dont min dforking up a lot of money if its worth it(up to 300ish)
oh and i will be cooling my cpu and my gpu and if possible anything else really(ram and mobo)but again mainly cpu and gpu. could some one please give me a list of what i need and the manaufacturers; i dont need a kit but not botherd and dont mind buying seperatley if thats better.

just in case, sys specs:
-coolermaster haf x case
-intel i7(lga115) 2600k (going to overclock high like 4-5ghz)
-8gb dual channel corsair dominator gt ram
-1200w psu (corsair ax1200)
-gpu, hopefully the new gtx590 or 6990
 
Monster ninja said:
no no h50/h70 are great! i have been using a h50 for about a year now on a OC phenom 2 965 @4ghz @ 30 degrees and the h70 is far better! but far more

i would say if you got the money grab the h70 if i cant get that try this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-031-TT
Click to expand...

Im trying to decide if I should get the H70 or the Frio now, i will most likely be ordering all my component's tomorrow so any last minute advice would be great. Im buying the i5 2500k and do plan to overclock to perhaps 4.5Ghz? The H70 is like an extra £25 dont wanna get it if it's not worth it!!
 
Take a look at the threads here, http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=126 that is what I have been doing to try and get straight what I need, so far I have got a EK DDC X-RES 140, and just got hold of a Laing DCC 1T 10w pump to go with the reservoir(these fit together), next for me to get is radiator/s may get an EK240 radiator for now for the cpu and if at some point I decide to do the GPU's I will get a EK 120 radiator for extra coooling, I will be getting one of the EK cpu blocks, maybe the HF Nickel version
 
i think thats down to preference over performance. many brands offer many items that are of negligable difference in performance if you were really anal about shaving the odd 0.1 deg here and there youll be in the realms of spending silly money on a fully optemised loop.

EK, Black Ice, Phobya, XSPC are a few names to look out for. other cheaper brands like swiftech offer good alternatives to the more budget conscious user.

you could ask who makes the best gear all day long. the truth is: you and your budget make the best watercooling loop. your only limited by your own resources really. but advice is often easy to find when you ask a less general question. :)
 
thanks, that made a lot of sense, i suppose what i want is a list of parts. effectively something which is cost effective, not too woried about 0.1 degree, jus something which is dramatically cooler than air coolers.
 
Depending on what you wish to achieve by watercooling will mean different components would be better for you. For example if you are looking for the absolute highest performance and dont care how noisy it is there is only 1 choice for a rad, hw labs gtx as it has a high fin count. Alternatively if you are looking for the best performance with low noise/rpm fans then the sr1 series are king. Watercooling is very much about matching parts to your requirements, if you can tell us what you want to achieve and the case this is going into would be a big help. Most people would recommend manufactures like, hw labs, thermochill and ek.
 
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first of all i really apreciate the help, so thanks

and as for requirements i would like a water cooling system that can (price is not the issue):

-optimum cooling(most effective parts)
-noise requirements say not too loud and thats it, so on a scale of 1-10 (where 1 is cant hear anything from cooling , and 10 which is i have to crank the volume up) say 7/10

could someone compile a list for me too look at, i am very gratefull for all the help, i know this is asking a lot but unfortunatley i dont know much when it comes to water cooling.

and once again thanks
 
I enthusiastically recommend both the search button and google as effective ways of learning things about watercooling.

Strangely enough you're not the only person who thinks water might be a good idea but hasn't bothered to learn anything about it, so there's a few threads about which are the spitting image of what this one might eventually become.
 
no, that isnt compleely true, i have read on the internet before posting this thread, the reason i posted this thread is that which manufacters are best at which part, hence the reason why i asked for a list of parts and manufactures. i have read on the internet but everyone is recomending different things and differemt manufactures so i dont have a clear idea. and ppl say it depends on you, now i cant really ask google that now can i.

so i came here to ask for help regarding this topic, i am not a noob, just a noob at water cooling since i have nver done it before.
 
Taken from a post in my build log, linked in my sig if your interested in a high end near silent solution.

I read the ocuk advanced overclocking sticky
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17803239
Trawled the xs forums
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=70
and the stickies there
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=202394
and then discovered skinnee and martin, two of the best reviewers of watercooling gear. This is where delta temps and watercooling clicked in my head, the graphs and tables didn't mean much to me at the start now i go straight to them to see how many watts can be disapated at XXXrpm fan speed
http://www.skinneelabs.com/
http://martin.skinneelabs.com/
 
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