Recommended first CPU water cooler.

[trawetSluaP]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to purchase a water/liquid cooler for my CPU - an i7-4770K. My motherboard is an MSI MPower Max Z87.

I'm looking for some advice and recommendations for a 1150 socket cooler. I'm new to water cooling as I'm currently using a Phanteks PH-TC14PE air cooler and wondered if switching to water/liquid will provide a noticeable reduction in temperatures.

I must point out that as I am new to this sort of cooling I am looking for a ready made cooler like the Corsair H series. My case is the Corsair 730T - http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/graphite-series-730t-full-tower-case

Any help is appreciated.

Paul

 

[remember300]

are you planning on OC'ing? or anything like that? other wise id say go for a small AIO unit like the h55 or h60, other brands do their own i just like corsair, i use my h100i and have had no issues, and there is now a few more variants available at that size too.
the main advantage of AIO is the noise reduction, some air coolers still give as good results but tend to be noisey to give the same result.
Do you want a specific brand?

 

[theDTP]

100% Corsair H105.

 

[trawetSluaP]

are you planning on OC'ing? or anything like that? other wise id say go for a small AIO unit like the h55 or h60, other brands do their own i just like corsair, i use my h100i and have had no issues, and there is now a few more variants available at that size too.
the main advantage of AIO is the noise reduction, some air coolers still give as good results but tend to be noisey to give the same result.
Do you want a specific brand?

Hi,

I'd like to overclock, yes. There are two other reasons why I'd like to switch to water cooling. 1) Size, the Phanteks cooler I have is HUGE and tends to get in the way a fair bit. 2) Noise. I've heard water cooling can be considerably quieter then air cooling.

I had no brand in mind but Corsair seems to be very popular.

As there any reason to go for a H105 over the H100i? Also, will a radiator double the size reduce temperatures drastically? As I like the look of the H80i.

 

[remember300]

going for the larger units will allow you to have lower fan speed profiles while keeping the temps down,

If you like the h80 then go for it

i think the h105 is cheaper then the h100&h100i but not sure.

i like the led on the H100i but thats just cos im sad lol

 

[MadShadow]

It really depends on how much you plan to overclock and how loud you can let it be. If you buy a cooler with a dual rad (like the H100i), you can run the fans slower and still get decent cooling. On the other hand, if you get a single-fan rad, you will have to run at faster rpms. So yeah, it all comes down to how much money you want to spend. Also, remember to update your sig with your new case.

 

[trawetSluaP]

It really depends on how much you plan to overclock and how loud you can let it be. If you buy a cooler with a dual rad (like the H100i), you can run the fans slower and still get decent cooling. On the other hand, if you get a single-fan rad, you will have to run at faster rpms. So yeah, it all comes down to how much money you want to spend. Also, remember to update your sig with your new case.

Haha, thanks for the reminder.

So can you run the fans slow enough on a H100i that it'd be quitter than my air cooler?

I've seen in reviews these things can get really loud!

 

[remember300]

i have my QE SP120's at full and theres barely that much noise and i sit next to my rig

 

[iBeInspire]

Just stick some corsair SP quiets on the cooler and be done with it

 

[trawetSluaP]

Just stick some corsair SP quiets on the cooler and be done with it

I have been looking at the H105. I also have just realised I have 2 x 120mm be quiet! Silent Wings 2 PWM fans I can replace the stock ones with. This seems to be the way to go for me.

With regards to mounting, what is the best way to attach the radiator and fans? I was thinking of mounting the radiator directly to my case and having the fans underneath sucking air into the radiator and out of the case. Is that ok, or a bad idea?

 

[Feronix]

I would recommend having the fans between the radiator and the case, pulling air through the rad and pushing it out of the top of the case.

Makes it easier to clean the rad, and push or pull doesn't matter for temperatures