Air or Water, a CPU cooling question

[Arya]

Hi guys. I'm working on a new project, and would like some opinions on what CPU cooling solution to go with. The key complicating factor is ambient temperature, I live in a very hot country and the ambient temperature will be around 30-35 degrees celcius in summer - enough to seriously effect a CPU. Please bear that in mind.

Alright. My budget is $300 Australian, or about $220-230 American. I have an intel i7 6700K CPU on an MSI Pro Gaming 7 motherboard. The case is a Corsair 760T that can support either high airflow, or any size of radiator via top mount. The i7 is running factory default clocks, I don't plan on overclocking it for a couple of years yet. When I do, I also plan on uprating the cooling.

My main priorities are quiet running and protecting the CPU through the height of summer. I'm willing to consider AIO liquid and air cooling solutions, although my preference would be for water cooling - purely because of the clean aesthetics.

Final note; Arctic Cool and Be Quiet! aren't options. They don't export to Australia, and I'd really rather not import via grey-market due to taxes.

[shiel]

As far as size goes(I have the NH-D14 which is roughly the same size), your main concern will be ram height. I was concerned by the weight as well but installed properly and with the bracket it is very solid and will not cause any damage to your mobo.

I have ddr3 Corsair Vengance Pro RAM and the outside fan of my cooler has about 1mm of clearance and the NH-D15 has a bigger outside fan than the 14. That being said, the fan can be mounted higher (assuming your case is wide enough to allow it), so as long as you don't have a huge heatsink on your ram, it shouldn't be an issue. You could also use the 2/4 dimm slots as opposed to 1/3 to give yourself some more leeway there.

The fans on the Noctua are dead silent but, at least in the case of the 14, are only 3 pin.

I really can't comment too much on aio as I've always preferred to use air coolers.

[Arya]

Alright, the NH-D15 and D14 are both out of contention. As it happens, my RAM heat spreaders are too tall for them to fit. All eyes now on the 15S.

I do like it. It's much less of an eyesore than the lower NH-D models, but still hideously ugly. My other concern is moving the weight even futher out into the case - applying even more leverage on the mounting bracket. Noctua may describe their mounting system as "synonymous with safety" but I don't really trust it to support that kind of mass. I'm not thrilled about having to remove it every time I shift the system by car, either.

Again, the elephant in the room is water cooling. All the weight securely mounted onto the loadbearing structure of the case rather than the board, more portability for LAN use and no need to worry about it fitting in the case. The one remaining concern I have are the pipes themselves - I'm somewhat skeptical about NZXT's quality control.

The last NZXT product I owned was a PC case with a door on the front. Before the warranty ran out, the door had quite literally fallen off it's hinges due to abysmal welding. After that experience, I'm wary about suspending a water-filled object designed and built by them above a very expensive new build. If it follows type and bursts like a water balloon, I'm $2200 USD out of pocket with no hope of getting it back.

Water cooling is louder, but it's becoming clear to me that I can't have my cake and eat it to. If having a practical, working system means accepting 40 decibel - then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

[just.kamk /idle]

You can always move the fans, they're not fixed.

I guess you dislike the fans color, can't blame you there. You can always replace it of course, to something like this:
http://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-industrial/nf-a14-industrialppc-2000-pwm
Or this:
http://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-chromax
Or any other of your liking, even from other manufacturers.

If you might drive on super bumpy roads with your PC in the back, and you want to be extra careful, then just remove the cooler from the backplate - takes you just a few seconds to dis- / mount. It's just two screws on the top, nothing else.

In this regard you should be rather careful with HDD mounts as well (often rather loosely mounted inside the chassis).


Edit & P.S.: there's also other, smaller, air cooling solutions. You do not intend to OC, then some D15 would be quite overkill anyways.

[shiel]

I'd say just lay the pc flat on its back. The mobo isn't as fragile as you'd think it would be.

[Arya]

After another few hours of research, a small mountain of reviews and finally a direct comparison test by Tom's Hardware between the NH-D15 and the Kraken, I'm declaring the Kraken to be the winner. It better fits what I need and want, wouldn't require me to compromise my build, and has fewer practical problems.

That's not to say anything against the NH-D15. I'm massively impressed and consider it to be better value for money, but it's shear size and mass means it's not practical for my build.

[Ray tracing is faster]

Swiftech. Real water cooling but pre-assembled. No aluminum radiators, legit pump, even a reservoir. AIOs from everyone other than EK and Swiftech are crap and not long term solutions. See:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1603455/aios-why-they-should-only-be-considered-a-short-term-product

Yes some of the other AIOs perform closely in reviews, with fans twice as loud with twice the static pressure. Feel free to replace the fans.

[Arya]

I respect the opinion of whoever on the internet wrote that, but it doesn't effect my decision. Building a custom loop isn't a practical option, I don't have the skills to do it right and I don't have the time to learn, or to maintain a system of that sort. It would also be hugely expensive compared to my other options.

Honestly though, that thread seemed pretty heavily biased. I know fanboys when I see them.

[Ray tracing is faster]

Escrito originalmente por Okami:

I respect the opinion of whoever on the internet wrote that, but it doesn't effect my decision. Building a custom loop isn't a practical option, I don't have the skills to do it right and I don't have the time to learn, or to maintain a system of that sort. It would also be hugely expensive compared to my other options.

Honestly though, that thread seemed pretty heavily biased. I know fanboys when I see them.

I wasn't talking about custom loops. Look up Swiftech H140-X, H220-X2, H240-X2, and H320-X2. Quality water cooling pre-made and plug and play.

They're not all biased although a number are indeed biased in favor of superior products (that is an enthusiast community).

[Arya]

After a first look, I will definitely consider the EK solution. So thanks for the tip - I really appreciate having another option.

I picked the Kraken because I didn't have any other practical choice. I don't like NZXT and having to rely on their cooling tech didn't sit well with me. The EK Predator may be $80 more expensive, but that's an acceptable price for peace of mind - and a lot cheaper than replacing components after a leak.

I'm not saying it's what I'll go with, but it seems very likely - I'll do some more research tomorrow and we'll see.

[Ray tracing is faster]

Glad to hear it. Swiftech outperforms EK and EK had really bad QC issues at launch but I think the issues are fixed now.