Looking for a 240mm AIO for around $100

[FineVisionz]

Looking for a 240mm AIO to cool my 3800x for around $100 give or take.

 

 

[boey]

any chance you'd want to get a beefy air cooler instead? there is no reason to get an aio over them, besides them being bulky, and some people prefer the aesthetic of AIOs

the dark rock pro 4 should outperform most, if not all, 360mm AIOs while being cheaper than most 240mm ones, it's quieter and won't fail nearly as often

as long as you have 2 sticks of regular ram or 4 sticks of low profile ram, and your case allows for the height of the air cooler, it should fit.

 

anyway, to answer your question,

Fractal Design Celsius S24 is pretty much the only one here which I haven't heard bad news about. It is outperformed by many smaller(and much cheaper) air coolers though, such as the be quiet Dark Rock 4 or the Noctua NH-U12S

[FineVisionz]

33 minutes ago, _d0nut said:

any chance you'd want to get a beefy air cooler instead? there is no reason to get an aio over them, besides them being bulky, and some people prefer the aesthetic of AIOs

the dark rock pro 4 should outperform most, if not all, 360mm AIOs while being cheaper than most 240mm ones, it's quieter and won't fail nearly as often

as long as you have 2 sticks of regular ram or 4 sticks of low profile ram, and your case allows for the height of the air cooler, it should fit.

 

anyway, to answer your question,

Fractal Design Celsius S24 is pretty much the only one here which I haven't heard bad news about. It is outperformed by many smaller(and much cheaper) air coolers though, such as the be quiet Dark Rock 4 or the Noctua NH-U12S

Yeah, I'm one that would prefer the better aesthetics over the absolute best cooling.

[boey]

3 minutes ago, FineVisionz said:

Yeah, I'm one that would prefer the better aesthetics over the absolute best cooling.

Then you should probably invest in a 360mm AIO, running AIOs at max/high pump speed is generally a bad idea for longevity

 

If you wanna save money then air coolers are the way to go, if not spend more, low quality AIOs are absolute ass

[FineVisionz]

1 minute ago, _d0nut said:

Then you should probably invest in a 360mm AIO, running AIOs at max/high pump speed is generally a bad idea for longevity

 

If you wanna save money then air coolers are the way to go, if not spend more, low quality AIOs are absolute ass

I don't plan on running the AIO at max/high pump speeds as I don't plan to do much overclocking.

 

I was thinking of going with maybe the NZXT x52 as it seems to be a very popular AIO. 

 

I'll keep air cooling in mind though and keep looking around.

[lansing]

Take a look at Fractal Design Celsius S36, it's one the quietest if not the quietest liquid cooler out there, and it's not costing you a bank like Corsair or NZXT.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NMtWGX/fractal-design-celsius-s36-876-cfm-liquid-cpu-cooler-fd-wcu-celsius-s36-bk

[SolarNova]

or just a say "fk it" and go with a beginner custom loop.

 

As far as im concerned when it comes ot cooling the path goes:

 

Stock cooling

Mid range aftermarket Aircooling

Top of line aftermarket Air cooling

Beginner Custom loop

Full custom loop

 

 

AIo's should only ever be considered in SFF builds. where air coolers simply dont work due to height constaints.

[boey]

12 hours ago, FineVisionz said:

I don't plan on running the AIO at max/high pump speeds as I don't plan to do much overclocking.

 

I was thinking of going with maybe the NZXT x52 as it seems to be a very popular AIO. 

 

I'll keep air cooling in mind though and keep looking around.

Corsair H100i is pretty good too, NZXT is known to have pretty bad customer service regarding AIO failure

[FineVisionz]

10 hours ago, SolarNova said:

or just a say "fk it" and go with a beginner custom loop.

 

As far as im concerned when it comes ot cooling the path goes:

 

Stock cooling

Mid range aftermarket Aircooling

Top of line aftermarket Air cooling

Beginner Custom loop

Full custom loop

 

 

AIo's should only ever be considered in SFF builds. where air coolers simply dont work due to height constaints.

Well, how much would a beginner custom loop cost me to just water cool the CPU?

[FineVisionz]

32 minutes ago, _d0nut said:

Corsair H100i is pretty good too, NZXT is known to have pretty bad customer service regarding AIO failure

Dang, I wasn't expecting to spend so much on a 240mm AIO.  To be honest the DeepCool Captain 240 Pro was the AIO I was originally looking at getting.

[boey]

Just now, FineVisionz said:

Dang, I wasn't expecting to spend so much on a 240mm AIO.  To be honest the DeepCool Captain 240 Pro was the AIO I was originally looking at getting.

It has some pressure release valve to prevent leaks apparently, I haven't seen reviews for the Captain 240 Pro though

[FineVisionz]

22 minutes ago, _d0nut said:

It has some pressure release valve to prevent leaks apparently, I haven't seen reviews for the Captain 240 Pro though

Yeah, not quite sure on how well that feature works or how well the cooler actually cools... Especially for the price.

[SolarNova]

7 hours ago, FineVisionz said:

Well, how much would a beginner custom loop cost me to just water cool the CPU?

Depends on how 'cheap' and how 'mainstream' you want to go.

 

EKWB fluid gaming Aluminium series for example is one of the 'mainstream' Aluminium kits you can get. High quality, but Aluminium instead of copper. Still a good starting point for beginners though.

Thats about $160. Comes with everything you need for a CPU only loop. Just need to add some distilled water to mix with the included coolant concentrate.

 

The copper version is about double that price but affords more compatibility since its copper not Aluminium.

 

(Note: AIOs are Aluminium)

 

If you want to go cheaper then you can buy kits from reputable Chinese brands such as Barrow and Bykski

 

[FineVisionz]

46 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

Depends on how 'cheap' and how 'mainstream' you want to go.

 

EKWB fluid gaming Aluminium series for example is one of the 'mainstream' Aluminium kits you can get. High quality, but Aluminium instead of copper. Still a good starting point for beginners though.

Thats about $160. Comes with everything you need for a CPU only loop. Just need to add some distilled water to mix with the included coolant concentrate.

 

The copper version is about double that price but affords more compatibility since its copper not Aluminium.

 

(Note: AIOs are Aluminium)

 

If you want to go cheaper then you can buy kits from reputable Chinese brands such as Barrow and Bykski

 

I think I'll stick with an AIO.

[Quadriplegic]

https://www.alphacool.com/detail/index/sArticle/22106

Or if you can spend bit more:
https://www.alphacool.com/shop/new-products/22107/alphacool-eisbaer-lt360-cpu-black?c=21228

Copper rad, expendable, refillable, stronger pump than usual AIO