Noctua vs liquid cooling

[dani199ar]

So I'm planing to buy parts so I can assemble my own desktop, but I dont know which cooling system would suit me better, we all know the problems of AIO water cooling systems (liquid evaporation after many months of use, noise, and specially leaking, as this will damage my rig) on the other hand I think that the only option for air cooling is the Noctua NH-D15, I already know the pros and the cons of them, the thing here is that I'm almost sure I will be gettin the GTX 1080 Sea hawk edition from MSI which is water cooled, but i can manage to fit all the parts a bit far from the motherboard, thing that I wouldn't be able to do if I get a CPU AIO water cooling system as well. Any recomendations?, experiences?

 

PD: I have in my mind for the water cooling system basically 2 options: corsair H100i V2 or the  Kraken X61.
PD2: I've read that warranty nowadays cover any loss if there is a leak, is this true? (I will loose the data in that case anyway, and my desktop for a few weeks which is still a con.)

 

Thank you.

[Guest]

What case, do you have?, max CPU cooler height?

[dani199ar]

haven't bought anything yet....wanted to take every single thing in consideration...from the thermal paste to the GPU and CPU. I don't want to make anything wrong, or regret of what I build

[Peakfire]

The NH-D15 is better and quieter than probably all AIOs, certainly better than the X61/H100i.

I'd go either NH-D15 or custom loop.

[dani199ar]

12 hours ago, Peakfire said:

The NH-D15 is better and quieter than probably all AIOs, certainly better than the X61/H100i.

I'd go either NH-D15 or custom loop.

Many thanks for your reply, I still have some doubts:

NH-D15 with stock fans?, also, do you have any personal experience with it?.

Should I stay with the sea hawk edition of the 1080 or should I get one with just normal fan cooling?...

 

And shortly, how much would it be for a custom loop cooling? for a normal computer, nothing too fancy but something that gives me that extra performance that I would be paying for?.

 

againg thank you.

[Speakerator]

22 hours ago, dani199ar said:

Many thanks for your reply, I still have some doubts:

NH-D15 with stock fans?, also, do you have any personal experience with it?.

Should I stay with the sea hawk edition of the 1080 or should I get one with just normal fan cooling?...

 

And shortly, how much would it be for a custom loop cooling? for a normal computer, nothing too fancy but something that gives me that extra performance that I would be paying for?.

 

againg thank you.

The "stock fans" of the NH-D15 / the ones it comes with are pretty much top of the line fans which cost ~20$ each if bought individually.

Regarding its cooling performance, there are multiple tests online that confirm a similar cooling performance than a 240mm AIO (always within a certain margin of error, even if you use the same fans & speed, pump speed and increased noise will affect the results)

 

Anyhow, a large air cooler (like the NH-D15) will always be more quiet than an AIO (noise of idle fans vs. pump noise) and more reliable, since the metal heatsink itself will pretty much last forever (corrosion aside), while many AIO's are prominent to fail. Fans can be exchanged on both.

 

If you don't mind having a big ass cooling tower sitting in your rig (personally, I like the way that looks), I'd always go for the Air Cooler.

 

A custom loop (if done with quality brand parts and not something off ebay) will set you back at least a few hundred bucks. As a place to start, check out:

- the watercooling subforum: https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/36-liquid-and-exotic-cooling/

- their Getting Started Thread as well as: 

- these Custom Loop Kits offered by EKW.: https://www.ekwb.com/shop/kits

[dani199ar]

12 hours ago, Speakerator said:

The "stock fans" of the NH-D15 / the ones it comes with are pretty much top of the line fans which cost ~20$ each if bought individually.

Regarding its cooling performance, there are multiple tests online that confirm a similar cooling performance than a 240mm AIO (always within a certain margin of error, even if you use the same fans & speed, pump speed and increased noise will affect the results)

 

Anyhow, a large air cooler (like the NH-D15) will always be more quiet than an AIO (noise of idle fans vs. pump noise) and more reliable, since the metal heatsink itself will pretty much last forever (corrosion aside), while many AIO's are prominent to fail. Fans can be exchanged on both.

 

If you don't mind having a big ass cooling tower sitting in your rig (personally, I like the way that looks), I'd always go for the Air Cooler.

 

A custom loop (if done with quality brand parts and not something off ebay) will set you back at least a few hundred bucks. As a place to start, check out:

- the watercooling subforum: https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/36-liquid-and-exotic-cooling/

- their Getting Started Thread as well as: 

- these Custom Loop Kits offered by EKW.: https://www.ekwb.com/shop/kits

Ok, decided, I'm buying that air cooler....which takes me to the next part of my build, any good combo of mobo and RAM (I'm aiming to have 32GB) that fits that huge air cooler? (just to finish the topic here).

 

thank you again.

 

PD: should I stay with the sea hawk edition of the 1080?

[Speakerator]

11 hours ago, dani199ar said:

Ok, decided, I'm buying that air cooler....which takes me to the next part of my build, any good combo of mobo and RAM (I'm aiming to have 32GB) that fits that huge air cooler? (just to finish the topic here).

 

thank you again.

 

PD: should I stay with the sea hawk edition of the 1080?

Sorry, I'm no good with MoBo's and RAM - I still rock a 5 year old CPU on an equally old board with pretty much basic sticks of ram in it. As far as I recall, RAM speeds only make a very negligible difference overall, but don't quote me on that.