Is it worth changing from a twin tower cooler to a closed loop water cooler?

DrHycodan

Is there much difference in temp between a good twin tower cooler and a closed-loop water cooler like the H80?

Veteran · 05-17-2012, 23:15 | posts: 7,405 | Location: United kingdom

If your gonna go watercooling then i suggest you research it properly and do it properly by going customi mean you have an awesome 3930k cpu and 2x680s and you talk about putting an H80 on that baddass cpu...Huge LoL.

---TK--- · 05-17-2012, 23:35 | posts: 14,730 | Location: New Jersey, USA

real agua or just stay high end air

BLEH! · **Memory**: 24GB @ 1600 @ 9-10-9-27

The H80 is just about on par with a huge air cooler like Noctua's NH-D14. You need to invest a fair amount of cash in custom water to get anything better.

automaticman · 05-18-2012, 07:02 | posts: 664 | Location: Orange County, CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLEH!

The H80 is just about on par with a huge air cooler like Noctua's NH-D14. You need to invest a fair amount of cash in custom water to get anything better.

yeah, except that i thought I've read about how much noisier the H80 is.

BlackZero · 05-18-2012, 10:09 | posts: 8,078 | Location: United Kingdom

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLEH!

The H80 is just about on par with a huge air cooler like Noctua's NH-D14. You need to invest a fair amount of cash in custom water to get anything better.

This.

Closed loop water cooling isn't going to be massively better than high end air but you do get the benefits of more space, better aesthetics and in many cases less noise.

Sever · 05-18-2012, 13:00 | posts: 4,826 | Location: Land of the Great Downunder

i went from a corsair h70 with custom fans to a full xspc ex360 kit with a raystorm cpu block. temps dropped about 10c, so the improvement is there.

the main thing is the cost though. the xspc kit didnt cost too much more compared to the corsair, so for me, it was worth it.

check the costs of the xspc kits, theyre a cheap way of getting into watercooling and they perform quite well. the xspc pump can be a little noisy if you havent filled the reservoir completely with fluid though. the pump is submerged in the coolant, which helps to dampen vibrations and reduce noise, so i'd recommend keeping it full.

sykozis · 05-18-2012, 00:09 | posts: 13,495 | Location: US East Coast

With a "proper" custom loop.....it's easy to get better results than an NH-D14....with half the noise....

WhiteLightning · 05-18-2012, 07:46 | posts: 20,488 | Location: Netherlands

i prefer my H70 over my NH-D14. less heat and noise.

fr33k · 05-18-2012, 17:51 | posts: 1,784 | Location: USA

i kept researching the d14 and the main problem i have is it covers ram slots and so do just about every tower cooler out there.
So i decided to get a xspc kit. I was looking at the h100 and too many people have problems with them still for their price.

With a kit i can swap out parts to increase my WC loop any time i want. Like if i want to add a block to my videocard i can simply get a new res and pump and have that.

I just felt overall a better investment in cooling is one of those kits.

Sever · 05-20-2012, 05:54 | posts: 4,826 | Location: Land of the Great Downunder

Quote:

Originally Posted by fr33k

i kept researching the d14 and the main problem i have is it covers ram slots and so do just about every tower cooler out there.
So i decided to get a xspc kit. I was looking at the h100 and too many people have problems with them still for their price.

With a kit i can swap out parts to increase my WC loop any time i want. Like if i want to add a block to my videocard i can simply get a new res and pump and have that.

I just felt overall a better investment in cooling is one of those kits.

depends on which xspc kit you get. the pumps that come with the ex/rs/rx360 kits have enough pressure to cool a GPU, CPU and mobo as long as you force it to pump through the components before the radiator (which is the better way of running it). but if you intend to add any more GPUs to the loop, you'll need a beefier pump.

iirc, the 240 and 120 kits have weaker pumps.

BlackZero · 05-20-2012, 16:33 | posts: 8,078 | Location: United Kingdom

Pressure is important for maintaining gpm. in a closed loop the gpm will remain the same regardless of where you place blocks/radiators.

fr33k · 05-26-2012, 08:42 | posts: 1,784 | Location: USA

finished installing my rasa 750 rs360 tonight. It went in smoothly but taking apart and putting back together always sucks lol.
Anyway, i'm maintaining a 25c idle and am absolutely satisfied with the overall result.
noise level is completely worth it alone. It hums like normal but there is no fan noise.
My next GPU will involve a waterblock for sure.

BrightCandle · 05-26-2012, 18:14 | posts: 88 | Location: UK

If anything watercooling is worse at idle than a decent high end air cooler. The water temperature gets added and sometimes the loop can end up a little worse at idle. At load however its not uncommon to see an extra 100-200 Mhz be possible (when you are thermally limited not voltage limited).

Its a lot quieter, and I wouldn't have 2 7970's without it as they sound like hair driers constantly running, and now they make absolutely zero noise.