240mm aios- worth it?

[Sauron]

Hi everyone!

 

Some of you may know that recently I got my hands on a corsair obsidian 800D and a corsair H100. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to return the H100 because it turns out that the original owner still needs it and gave it away by mistake. At this point, I find myself needing a cooler (I'm sick of the stock intel one) and while in a previous thread I had dismissed water cooling because my current case wouldn't allow it without some serious tinkering, with the 800D it would almost be a shame NOT to watercool.

 

Now I know some of the higher end air coolers often perform better at a lower price, however they tend to be extremely bulky and a pain to mount, so since my new case allows for water coolers up to 360mm no problem I figured that I'd be willing to pay a bit more and sacrifice a little bit of performance for the sake of ease of use and quieter operation.

 

My cpu is a core i7 2600, so my overclocking headroom is pretty small (I managed to reach 4.2ghz off of the multiplier and was debating wether changing the bclk made any sense or not) and I don't need extreme cooling performance; however from what I understood a 240mm cooler would need lower rpm and hence be quieter, as well as keep the system cooler in general. Initially I was thinking to get a corsair h80i, however the h100i and h105 are just about 20 bucks more which isn't much after all. Should I go for one of those instead? Do you have other suggestions?

[AlwaysFSX]

I would say they are. If you buy one now you have great cooling for your current chip. And if you decide to upgrade and still have the AiO you can probably get some decent performance out of it.

[ShadowCaptain]

Should I go for one of those instead? Do you have other suggestions?

 

I am super happy with my h100i, it looks great and performs fantastic 

[Shaqo_Wyn]

 Initially I was thinking to get a corsair h80i, however the h100i and h105 are just about 20 bucks more which isn't much after all. Should I go for one of those instead? Do you have other suggestions?

Definitely get a 240. AIO's have their ups too (less bulkyness, the flash of watercooling etc.) You can get the Seidon 240M at a great price right now from Newegg and it performs just as good as the Corsair AIO's.  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rls24m24pkr1

[Sauron]

Definitely get a 240. AIO's have their ups too (less bulkyness, the flash of watercooling etc.) You can get the Seidon 240M at a great price right now from Newegg and it performs just as good as the Corsair AIO's.  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rls24m24pkr1

 

Wow that's a nice price! I'm not sure it's available to me though, I'll have to check. If I can't get it, which would be the best choice between a corsair h100i, an h105, an enermax elc240-tb and an nzxt kraken x61 (would this even fit in my case?)?

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Wow that's a nice price! I'm not sure it's available to me though, I'll have to check. If I can't get it, which would be the best choice between a corsair h100i, an h105, an enermax elc240-tb and an nzxt kraken x61 (would this even fit in my case?)?

I was looking at the 800D a few days ago and according to the tech specs the top can only take 120mm fans, so 280mm AIO's are out of the question. Normally I'd say the H100i but lately so many people seem to have problems with it. You could go with the H105, I can't find a real difference between it and the H100i expect for Corsair link and the H105 having switchable colors for the CPU block. 

 

Other 240 AIO's you can give a look are the Silverstone Tundra TD02 and Swiftech H220-X. They're both good. I don't know about the Enermax AIO though

[Sauron]

I was looking at the 800D a few days ago and according to the tech specs the top can only take 120mm fans, so 280mm AIO's are out of the question. Normally I'd say the H100i but lately so many people seem to have problems with it. You could go with the H105, I can't find a real difference between it and the H100i expect for Corsair link and the H105 having switchable colors for the CPU block. 

 

Other 240 AIO's you can give a look are the Silverstone Tundra TD02 and Swiftech H220-X. They're both good. I don't know about the Enermax AIO though

 

Ok thanks! I may get back to you if and when I get to order a cooler ^^

[Faceman]

Ok thanks! I may get back to you if and when I get to order a cooler ^^

Cooler Master Seidon 240M for only $56 on Newegg.

[Sauron]

Cooler Master Seidon 240M for only $56 on Newegg.

 

I live in Europe ^^

[Faceman]

I live in Europe ^^

oh, well then.  Stay away from the H100i.  I have heard and seen too many people complaining about bad mounting and high temperatures.  Go for the H105.

[Sauron]

oh, well then.  Stay away from the H100i.  I have heard and seen too many people complaining about bad mounting and high temperatures.  Go for the H105.

 

ok, I'll bare that in mind, thanks!

[mathijs727]

oh, well then.  Stay away from the H100i.  I have heard and seen too many people complaining about bad mounting and high temperatures.  Go for the H105.

Got the h100i 2 days ago.

Can confirm the crappy mounting, it just didnt fit: it assumes the motherboard is like 5 meters thick or something.

Had to get some plastic rings from the local hardware store to fix it.

 

But temps are great. Havent tested much, but some little results (4790k + gtx780):

OCCT test (just 2 mins): 50C

BF4 (15 mins): 45C

 

This is with the h100i mounted on the top as exhaust (wanna run fans in push because they dont close of good enough for pull).

I think these temps are pretty good compared to air...

[Faceman]

Got the h100i 2 days ago.

Can confirm the crappy mounting, it just didnt fit: it assumes the motherboard is like 5 meters thick or something.

Had to get some plastic rings from the local hardware store to fix it.

 

But temps are great. Havent tested much, but some little results (4790k + gtx780):

OCCT test (just 2 mins): 50C

BF4 (15 mins): 45C

 

This is with the h100i mounted on the top as exhaust (wanna run fans in push because they dont close of good enough for pull).

I think these temps are pretty good compared to air...

Those are good temps, but 2min and 15min are not enough to get a good reading.  OCCT will likely push temps much higher the longer it goes, and BF4 for me, depending on the fan speed of my Seidon 240M doesn't break 50C when fans and pump are at 1200rpm.