What is better, a water cooler or an air cooler for CPU's

>>58814644
depends on the model
h100iv2 on sale for $90 is good if you don't want chinkbrands, which are cheaper
cryorig h7 and noctua dh-15/cryorig r1/BQ DRP3 are great air coolers

>>58814644
H100iv2 is good, but I switched to a H80i so I can do a Push/pull method in the rear and put 980Ti SLIs rads at the top of my case for exhaust.

AIOs are good if you don't want to setup a real geeky water cooling system which costs an arm and a leg. Also AIOs are quieter.

>>58814644
Water only if it performs better than the best air cooler. Because AIOs are more noisy. Also water pumps can go bad.

>>58814690
How are AIOs quiter?
They have a pump that spins at 1000-2000rpm on top of regular fans.

>>58814690
Just did an install of one of those. Only issue is the bolts seem to expect a thicker mounting point. When I got them all the way home there was still around 2-3mm of slack. So I uses two washers per bolt and only in the corners leaving 4 spare. But the fans also have this issue. 2-3mm slack but being in push and overhead so it's no too much of an issue because they don't rattle around.
Temps on the FX8350 went from 70-75c on 100% load to 37-38c.

>>58814771
The h100 V2*
The H80 I'd only use on duo cores.

>>58814644
I had H75 AIO and it was noisy. Now I use air-cooler EVO 212 and it's much quieter. In fact, I don't even hear my computer even when the CPU is at 100% for a long time.

air > AIO

The noctua 140mm cooler cucks your RAM slots, you need low-profile RAM, which will have shittier frequency/timings which will go against the goal which caused you to get an aftermarket cooler in the first place: having more CPU performance

I have a corsair H60 and a delidded 7700k @ 5ghhz, it never goes above 60deg celsius even in stress testing. What you need more than a good cooler is a good delidding with high-quality TIM, ideally coollab ultra.

>>58814824
>he doesn't remove ram heatspreaders

Water is more efficient at cooling but unless you're doing some seriously overclocking, it isn't necessary.

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>>58814644
A cheap and decent air cooler will destroy any entry-level AIO in most cases, although a lot comes down to if you plan on OC'ing or not. You need to dump $100+ on an AIO if you want it to be worth it AND is gonna be affixed to a beefy OC, otherwise, any one of the usual twin-fan-twin-tower air coolers will do everything you want it to do on stock speeds or a modest OC

Quality control is also absolute ass for cheap AIO's, I see people laud their $200+ AIO's in guts threads, but I've yet to hear anything positive in the lasting sense for AIO's with the standard single 120mm radiator

>>58814679
Weanus peanus

>>58814915
Depends. Some chips do throttle, but a decent air cooler should do the trick.
I went water for easier venting of heat and reducing motherboard temps. I need to cool my VRM's next, and just leave the FX-card open air. Shouldn't affect temps too much.

>>58814771
Damn I want that, I've been looking at buying an H100 since my 8310 keeps throttling at 76c.

>>58814869
It's not exactly for the faint of heart, since some brands might as well have superglued the spreaders onto their shit. I was taking my G.SKILL spreaders off to make room for a new cooler with some cheap LP spreaders I soldered heatsinks onto, and it felt like I was going to yank the modules off half the time, even after heatgunning that shit

remember to apply your thermal paste in an X shape, anon!

it's proven to yield the lowest temperatures!

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Thermal-Paste-Application-Techniques-170/

huge heatsink and a big fan > everything else.

all these mid size hsf's need to fuck off.

aio's are too expensive for what you get.

>>58815211

nigga a pea size is fine, x shape is maximum autism. i've taken off plenty of coolers where the pea shape ended up in an almost perfect square coverage. it's about the amount, notsomuch the shape. newfags end up overapplying with x shape.

>>58815178
I can't fault it other than performance mode being 'noisy'. But that should only be used for setting up your overclock. Balanced does the job fine after that.
Do get some extra washers tho for installing you'll need 8-16. System noise is very low. The stock 8350 cooler is louder at idol temps than this thing. Shouldn't really kick up too much noise unless the room it's in is 30-35c for obvious reasons.

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>>58815322
>overclock
LOL

Stock. Noise won't be an issue the fan is already loud can't imagine it getting any louder. Idle temp for me is around 45c. Pic is the processor. After thermal paste was applied properly, Temps did not change. Help.

>>58815376

whqt the fuck m i lookin at m8?

>>58815376
Oh, that's right. Screwing down the sink/pump is a prick. Just half awkward to get it on the standoffs, and makes you second guess if you put the right ones in because of how little thread pokes out of the flange.
I'll have to take a pic when I redo paste. But will be a few months yet. Wonder how square on I got it. I tend to under paste so should be a little CPU unpasted.

>>58814755
They are quieter because you can run the fans at lower speeds, around 1000-1200RPM for lets say a Noctua IPPC per fan, it's usually inaudible.

The stock fans always suck balls, so I recommend a good set of fans that have good static pressure.

It will cost an additional $15-20/per fan, but totally worth the peace of mind.

I use SilentWing 3's and Noctua fans.

>>58815955
Fuck off noctious shill. You're worse than audiophiles.

>>58815979
I'm actually an audiophile, I have an LCD3 with a decent Woo WA7 audio setup.

How can you be so cheap not to afford a $30 fan upgrade after spending hundreds on a GPU you cheap fuck?

It took me weeks to figure out the noise/heat level on my mATX setup. I love it now cuz I bought 4xSilentWing 3's for rads and 2x Noctuas (for front intake)...it's quiet and runs really cool on full loads and I have SLI support.

>>58815997
"""Quiet""" Fans are not an upgrade. They do the same fucking job.
Half the decibels of almost fucking nothing is still almost fucking nothing.
I've got my setup right next to my monitor with the H100i fans and three thermaltake fans and can still use $20Aud headphones as if they were desk speakers.
>30usd to aud
$40 fucking bucks for two cents of plastic and a cheepass electric motor.
You need your fucking head checked.

>>58815955
But you can run air cooler at same speed, the biggest problem is the high speed pump.
And if you think lower speeds are 1000-1200 then I guess silence doesn't even matter to you that much.

I run my NH-D15 400rpm idle and 800rpm load.


>>58816073
You only buy expensive fans for their silence. Your h100 and thermaltake setup tell me you don't care about silence.
Don't get me wrong that's actually great. I need silence though. I can't seem to focus working on my pc with computer noise. It needs to be inaudible at idle. Weird I know.

>>58815376
Way too much paste. Excessive paste acts more as an insulator than a conductor. It's only meant to fill in the microscopic pits in the surface of the lid and heatsink.

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>>58814803
>he didn't swap the fans
>he didn't even bother to lower fanspeed

air cooling is the best for general use

all-in-one water cooling is best for small form factor cases where you can't fit properly sized air coolers
it performs better at no metric versus air cooling
it is more expensive, it is less quiet, and it removes less heat from the system

custom water cooling is best for performance

>>58814644
>he thinks it depends on anything other than W/h heat drain

>>58814644
Air is better. It's quieter, does approximately as good a job or better, and is often about the same price. It lasts far longer as well if you're getting something good.

Water is better if you'll spend retarded amounts of money on a custom loop, but then you have to buy the parts, put it together, maintain it, etc. The time you spend dicking around with it will probably negate the .1 GHz and you're not even guaranteed shit. Might as well buy an equally dumb $500 motherboard and hope for the same thing because then you won't be hassled by building+maintenance. Or get both I guess.

Water is basically for nerds ricing a Honda.

>>58815376
to much paste and judging from the surrounding filth you live in a skin shedding, dander filled environment. clean plz.

Air is "better" in the sense that it's best for most people. Cheaper, no chance of leaks, does the job well. Only people on the bleeding edge of hardware and overclocking need watercooling.

>>58817285
My room is actually clean, windows are open at least 5 days a week. The pic was before cleaning.

>>58816965
That pic was before repasting it, way less but also some of the shit was caked on the sides and I couldn't get it off, what do.

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>>58817635
very carefully use a q-tip/toothpick and get that gunk off, you can also use a breakdown solution such as (pic related)

petrol/gasoline works fine as well

>>58815955
>aio
>peace of mind
Enjoy your leaks, boy.

>>58817666

>that overpriced shit

a big ass bottle of 90+% alcohol is like a dollar at walmart and just works.

>>58814644
EVGA 280 CLC is best

>>58817140
>>58814644
air is better from a sub 100$ point of view, once you go triple rad air cant really do a whole hell of alot.

as for noise.

only have experience with a custom loop, the pump is silent even at full speed, the fans are almost silent, if it wasn't for the motherboards leds you wouldn't know it was on.

this custom loop also beats the shit out of air.

but if you don't overclock, not worth it,
gpu water cooling is also not really worth it unless you got golden silicon, otherwise you crashing and instability before you really hit a heat issue.

>>58817677
I got the pictured kit for $5 just because I was ordering some other stuff and figured I'd give it a try

tested it compared to isopropyl alcohol and it did indeed remove some additional TIM that the alcohol couldn't pick up and I couldn't even see

>>58814803
>Use a shitty single fan aio
>Base opinion on one example
You're a retard

>>58818695
>this custom loop also beats the shit out of air.
Yeah but it also costs way more and probably doesn't get more than .2 GHz unless you were seriously heat limited before, which doesn't happen so much with current chips. Well it does, but I mean in the sense that you can't turn it up much further without the temperatures exploding. Like you might get a 7700K up to 5.1? 5.2? And then good luck doing anything more.

It's excellent if you're willing to put up with and pay for it, just an extreme solution for not much extra performance.

>>58818787

i use methyl ethyl deathaline when i can instead of regular isopropyl 90+%, works like a boss.

>>58818695
Air is limited only by room in the case. An air cooler of a given radiator size is better than a water cooler of a given radiator size, because you don't lose conductivity in a series of tubes.

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>mfw using intel stock cooler for LGA1155 + a drop of thermal paste
>keeping my i5 at 28-32 °C idle temp

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AIOs ("All-in-ones" Those water cooling units you see on Newegg) are technically better performance wise most of the time but are simply not very reliable and expensive. Airs are far cheaper, far more reliable and generally are more than good enough for most people. Custom loops are extremely expensive and are high maintenance but just think of all the people on the internet you'll impress

>>58819044
oh fuck yea, not really worth it, the cleaning the cost of tubes, rads, blocks pump... hard to justify...

however good cpu blocks can be reused, if you treat the water right you can avoid needing to clean it often if at all, so on so forth...

I would say if you do hit that heat wall, this is a decent option.

You want to do something stupid, you can have the water go out of the computer, and through your walls/into an air return/into a water bucket you fill with ice every now and then and get a gaming machine/render box that literally does not heat up your room. It's the best use of a custom loop I can think of, but it's HIGHLY impractical.

>>58819164
the best air cooler is a noctua d15, and it can beat out damn near everything but a custom loop and some triple fan rads.

see, you don't loose conductivity, you are pushing water through a chunk of chromed copper, with a fuck ton of very small fins inside of it, and that water carries the heat out to the rad, this cools so much better then air its ridiculous. however 1/2 fan rads just cant beat out a d15, only a triple rad can, any bench that shows stock single or dual rad designs beating a d15 did not bench for long enough.

>>58819901
Of course you lose conductivity through tubing. You lose conductivity any time you add anything.

I use the nzxt x52

It cost me more than other alternatives because of meme rgb shit, but the tubes are more flexible than the competition, like the corsair h100i v2. I use the ncase m1 and spave is very limited, so only mediocre medium size air coolers fit, even the evo 212 is too big. So AIO or if you're insane enough to custom loop in something so small yields better temps overall.

>>58819943
>evo 212 doesn't fit
Good god man, I have a Rosewill Challenger case that I'm too cheap to replace and even it fits an evo 212.

>>58819871
>having to manually refill your cooling system with ice
lol
Guess it's better than just pouring liquid nitrogen over it at least. I'm sure you could automate it considering refrigerators do it. I'm sure someone could figure it out.

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>>58819980

This thing is tiny man, only way I can keep my [email protected] without thermal throttling is with a liquid cooler.

>>58819986
Refrigeration units use a fair amount of power and most are pretty loud.
It's plausible but the only person likely to do it is going to be the type who has liquid nitrogen anyway.

>>58820014
I have considered going liquid for the same reasons on my 4790k in my challenger.

I must admit that case is kinda kawaii.

>>58814690
I did the same when I threw my 1080s in but swapped the stock fans it came with for noctua's

>>58820015
>Refrigeration units use a fair amount of power
I don't think people care about electricity at that point.
>and most are pretty loud.
It'll be in another room. And there might be options for other units I'd hope.
>It's plausible but the only person likely to do it is going to be the type who has liquid nitrogen anyway.
Yep, kinda. I mean with liquid nitrogen you'd have to replace parts frequently where with this it would kind of be a full-time thing, almost. A complicated one, but maybe someone could sort it out. I'd imagine there's some market for it somewhere.

This makes me wonder what the best full-time setup anyone's ever built is.

>>58820105
Don't get me wrong I really want to see someone go for it.

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>>58817666
I tried with both qtip and a toothpick, was using around 75% isopropyl. Shit is fucked yo, I'll try again tomorrow and get a picture.