Luxury air, or bargain budget water?

[directhex]

Thinking about cooling for my Haswell-E rig

Should I go with my original plan of a high end air cooler (Noctua NH-D15), or buy a similarly priced sealed watercooling unit, like the Corsair H110?

[Bonebreaker777]

Not sure is the H110 is fit to be called "bargain budget" but I would go with the AiO H2O cooler.

[Ttaskmaster]

Check performance specs first.

I personally would highly rate the high-end AIO coolers, like Corsair ones. I wouldn't touch the cheaper ones.
AIOs are mostly far superior to air coolers... mostly.

However, a few top-end air coolers will outperform the AIOs for about the same money. Noctua coolers are probably on that short list.

If it comes down to an AIO or a top-end air cooler, either split hairs over performance stats or look at the price.
Corsair sometimes do refurbished AIO coolers and for the low low price they sell for, you'd be *insane* not to get one!!
That's how I got my H100.

[kalniel]

Does either choice have a consequence in terms of whole system airflow/cooling?

And if that's negligible/mitigated, would you see any actual consequential performance difference between your choices (ie, faster CPU or lower noise etc.)? If yes, does it outweigh the costs/complexity?

[MrJim]

I think Intel recommend an AIO water cooler for Haswell-E



Of course they happen to recommend their own branded one, but any decent one should do the job.

[Ttaskmaster]

Double post

[Ttaskmaster]

Does either choice have a consequence in terms of whole system airflow/cooling?

Personally, I like to think that a 240mm AIO will shift more heat out of the case than an air heatsink. The CPU temp on an AIO will probably be a few degrees higher than that of a heatsink, but the overall case temp will be lower and this cooler air will quite quickly feed into the CPU via the AIO.

That's how my rig works, anyway... YMMV.

[MrJim]

Does either choice have a consequence in terms of whole system airflow/cooling?

I think there are some tower air coolers which have angled fins to direct some airflow over motherboard power circuitry, but otherwise you just need to make sure there's adequate case-fan airflow.

[DaveBC]

If you have the room in your case for the D15 it's a solid cooler, that said I prefer an AIO like the H110 for looks. Something to note though is that some people complain the AIOs H110 H105 and to some degree the H100i can be a little noisy unless you manually set them. Personally I haven't noticed it but others have.

[Jeremy Chan]

Dollar for dollar, air wins until you get into custom water loops, but be careful of the sizes of the coolers (RAM clearance).

[Ttaskmaster]

Something to note though is that some people complain the AIOs H110 H105 and to some degree the H100i can be a little noisy unless you manually set them. Personally I haven't noticed it but others have.

The stock fans for Corsair AIOs have terrific performance, but DO sound like Tornados gearing up for take-off.
Many swap the fans for quieter ones and don't lose much on the performance. Corsair SP120s are very good. Their Quiet Editions drop in performance as well as volume.
My preference is Noctuas, as they drop *slightly* in performance (3-4º at full chat) but are vastly quieter.

Dollar for dollar, air wins until you get into custom water loops, but be careful of the sizes of the coolers (RAM clearance).

Unless you have the option of refurbed AIO...

[Spec-Chum]

If you have the room in your case for the D15 it's a solid cooler, that said I prefer an AIO like the H110 for looks. Something to note though is that some people complain the AIOs H110 H105 and to some degree the H100i can be a little noisy unless you manually set them. Personally I haven't noticed it but others have.

Agreed, my H105 runs my OC'd 4690K (4.6Ghz @ 1.21v) at around 60C on full load with the fan never going above 40%, it's virtually silent.

That's on a normal load mind you, if I slam Prime 95 AVX mode or some other chip frying benchmark through it can get to 75C and the fans go up to about 60% (my fan profile is very gentle slope until 75C then ramps up very quickly - never gets this far), but for anything but benchmarks my PSU fan is louder - and that's not loud.