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]

Corsair h100i or NZXT Kraken X61 for aio. Noctua NH-D15 for air. Based on those ambient temps though, I think your best bet is an aio.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

CPU Cooling:
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/FFFPxr/nzxt-cpu-cooler-rlkrx6101

and for Case Fans:

Combination of Corsair AF/SP either 120 or 140; depending on what all your Case allows for.
Setup and test until for positive airflow & pressure are achieved. I dislike the "Quiet" edition versions of these fans though, since they are too limiting. If need be, get a fan controller for manual control over your fans.

[Arya]

Publicado originalmente por shiel:

Corsair h100i or NZXT Kraken X61 for aio. Noctua NH-D15 for air. Based on those ambient temps though, I think your best bet is an aio.

Excellent, thanks.

You know, I'm really glad to hear that. I almost went ahead and bought a Kraken(X61), but second-guessed myself because I thought a 280mm design might be overkill. The NH-D15 was my other key contender, but my local supplier has been having difficulty getting hold of them.

[Hare+Guu!]

Just buy the biggest radiators you can find/afford. More surface area = more cooling. Same goes for both air and liquid coolers.

[Arya]

I'll do a bit more research for myself, but more than likely I'll be getting a Kraken. It seems to be a very good system, and takes fully advantage of my case's top-mount slot.

Thanks for the inputs, guys. Appreciated.

[just.kamk /idle]

You sure about that? The Kraken isn't really quiet, at all.

NH-D15 beats it in every category. Could also check out the D14 if you don't plan to go super nuts with OC anyways.

[shiel]

Publicado originalmente por cl_luck 0:

You sure about that? The Kraken isn't really quiet, at all.

NH-D15 beats it in every category. Could also check out the D14 if you don't plan to go super nuts with OC anyways.

The issue is ambient temps. He will get better cooling from an aio. I personally would prefer air coolers every time but it isn't always practical.

[just.kamk /idle]

Publicado originalmente por shiel:

The issue is ambient temps. He will get better cooling from an aio. I personally would prefer air coolers every time but it isn't always practical.

Well, he's not limited by space, nor options. Ambient temps won't make a difference, and he needs decent airflow for all of his components anyways, a decent air cooler would just help in this regard as well.

[Arya]

Publicado originalmente por cl_luck 0:

Publicado originalmente por shiel:

The issue is ambient temps. He will get better cooling from an aio. I personally would prefer air coolers every time but it isn't always practical.

Well, he's not limited by space, nor options. Ambient temps won't make a difference, and he needs decent airflow for all of his components anyways, a decent air cooler would just help in this regard as well.

I beg to differ. From personal experience, ambient temperatures have a huge effect.

We're not talking about the US, Luck. This is Australia, a summer day can go past 115 fahrenheit - 45 degrees celcius. That has a major effect on PC performance and can trigger throttling at much lower loads than normal. I know, because I've watched it happen.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Unless you do an expensive custom loop that would yield better high load temps; no AIO will really do better than a NH-D15 can do. And yes regardless of which manner of config you go, ensure to keep good airflow over the motherboard / VRMs; which can be difficult by just installing an off the shelf AIO LC unit.

Some just dislike how you install coolers such as NH-D15 and how the finished look is overall; but again, compare the cooling, you won't really find any AIO that is better than such an air cooler as this.

[Arya]

Noctua are academic right now. I know the NH-D15 is comparable with most AIOs, problem is I couldn't buy one even if I wanted to. There's a problem with supply - for some reason the suppliers I've looked at don't have any in stock, and can't give an ETA on when they will.

I need this delivered sometime around September, according to the stores I've phoned that's just not going to happen.

[just.kamk /idle]

Publicado originalmente por Okami:

...That has a major effect on PC performance and can trigger throttling at much lower loads than normal. I know, because I've watched it happen.

Water cooling does nothing else than moving heat from A to B, in the end it's still "air cooled", and in the end it's still a matter of cooling performance - it doesn't matter how warm ambient is in this regard.

Ccooling is insufficient, or airflow is screwed up.

[Deagle Training]

Doubt his house is heated to 115 degrees lol

[Arya]

Alright, we have two remaining contenders. Representing water cooling, with have the NZXT X61 Kraken. Representing air cooling we have the Noctua NH-D15.

Getting a Noctua would be quite inconvenient. I would have to delay the build - I can't find any in stock anywhere in Melbourne, which means having them brought from another store. Given the distances between cities in Australia, that's gonna take a while. I'm also concerned about the weight. It weighs 1.34 kilograms fully assembled, and that's a lot to have effectively unsuspended over your system.

For the plus side, it's a really excellent design and pulls a lot of airflow across other components. It's also extremely quiet, a bit over 25db at full speed - only marginally quieter than an idling X61 Kraken, despite comparable cooling performance.

The Kraken brings serious quality concerns. If it fails, then I would need to replace an expensive system. I don't want to do that. This is made worse by some worrying reviews I read suggesting that other Kraken models(which use the same waterblock) have a potential design flaw where the water tubes connect - which can potentially spray liquid onto other parts. If the liquid isn't conductive, I've not worried. Unfortunately by what I've heard, it does seem to be a conductive solution.

For advantages, the Kraken is more compact and looks vastly better than Noctua's big brown eyesore. More importantly, there's very little weight directly on the CPU with the bulky cooler supported on sturdy rails at the top of the frame. It's four times louder than the NH-D15, but still reasonably quiet with a 25 db idle and 40 db at full capcity.

Which leaves me with a dilemma. A great Air Cooler that's not actually avilable to buy right now. Or a great Liquid Cooler with a potentially fatal design flaw.

[just.kamk /idle]

Keep in mind that an air cooler like this will never ever need to run fans at full speed. Throw in the low noise adapter, and it's basically unhearable at all times. After all, you're only cooling some 6700k.

How about the NH-D14, or D15S?

Or other manufacturers maybe? I.e. Dark Rock Pro 3 looks quite neat, and is quite close in terms of performance to noise ratio.