Liquid vs. Air Cooling an i7 3930k

[Morne]

Hi all

Let me start by saying I'm NOT going to overclock. With that in mind I need a pretty quiet case/overall solution

HDD will be SSD obviously - although I would like to hold on a bit until the PCI SSD become mainstream
Currently I have an Antec case. It was fine 4 years ago, but now it's noisy like you can't believe. I don't want to be cleaning fans every week.

So now that you dont get cooling boxed WITH the cpu anymore, are there good air cooling systems that you wont hear, or for same price better to go liquid cooling?

Is liquid cooling still in nowdays?

[alvius]

For CPU you should go with with Noctua NH-D14 or Thermalright Archon coolers. I'm using D14 on workstation and Archons on rendernodes. Both are super quiet.

Noctua also makes some great 12/14cm fans.

Never tried water cooling a cpu. So cannot comment on that.

[Franx]

Since you're not overclocking, there's not much point going for expensive cooling solutions. The all in one water coolers like the Corsair H100 are much more noisier than fan + heatsink, and the Noctua NHD14 (which I have) is overkill if you dont OC. It's really huge and may cause fitting issues in some smaller cases. You also have to remove it to access ram slots and wont fit with tall ram heatsinks (like the Corsair Vengeance). Noctua also advises to remove the heatsink altogether if you have to travel with your computer since it's so heavy it might damage the motherboard. I'd go with something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103099 which is the third of the Noctua's cost and is much smaller. Of course, if you ever decide to OC, get the Noctua, which performs as good as the H100 without the stress and noise that comes with liquid cooling.

[joconnell]

Picked up a thermalright macho hr-02 for a 3930k build - rate quieter and cheaper than the dh-14. Can potentially operate as a passive heater too!

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1279-page6.html

[MoonDoggie]

The all in one water coolers like the Corsair H100 are much more noisier than fan + heatsink

I totally disagree. My Antec 920 is the most silent solution I've ever heard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835209054

My computer sounded like an aircraft. Installed my dual 120mm fan water cooled heatsink, and it's incredibly quiet.

[Franx]

Well the external double wide radiator of the H100 sounded much louder than the Noctua. I guess it all depends on what case you fit it to...

[MoonDoggie]

Fair point. And I know that anecdotal evidence is only so useful, but I love my liquid cooling Antec. PS. It dropped my CPU temp from 85C to 45C and (I believe) it's much quieter. My rig is OC'ed from 3.2 to 3.9.

[Franx]

Now I dont want to be an ass, but I've got 45C @ 4.5ghz with the Noctua Still, it's one big and ugly mofo with its big brown fans (not that I care much, but why oh why) and it will surely be quite an hassle if I ever need to reach the ram sticks for whatever reason. On the plus side, I'll never have to worry about leaks...

[danio]

I've got a custom water loop on my main system. I don't find it to be amazingly better than a good heatsink\fan for the CPU. What it is great for, though (for me), is the GPU. I've got a evga hydro-copper 580 and it stays very cool even doing VRay RT, gaming, modelling, whatever. Never tops 40C no matter what.

Just my experience...I love watercooling

[super gnu]

45 degrees, under load? on an air cooler at 4.5? wow! what cpu and ambient temps is that with? i have a 3930@ 4.5 on decent watercooling, and i often hit 60+ degrees under stress testing..