What snazzy AIO CPU cooler should I get?

[mrjordann]

Hey LTT! So, I had a Raijintek Triton AIO CPU cooler. It worked great for over a year, ran my CPU at 27 degrees. It started to crack and leak, and I had to immediately remove it because it spilled a VERY alarming amount of water onto my motherboard. Luckily my motherboard survived thanks to the fact that it's an UltraDurable motherboard. Anyway, Raijintek sent me a replacement. I'm not stupid, so I am not going to put another raijintek cooler in my PC.

 

What cooler should I get? I want an AIO cooler so I don't have to mess with it or refill it.

 

Yes, I know the corsair ones are great and all, but they're just black and boring. The Raijintek Triton matched my green build, at least. I am interested in the NZXT Kraken because they're LED. Are those any good? Which other coolers are good options?

 

Thanks for reading, I hope you have some recommendations

[Mr.Meerkat]

3 minutes ago, mrjordann said:

UltraDurable

What is this? Gigabyte marketing material in your post? 

 

Anyway, corsair and NZXT are known for the best warranty and support for AIOs so...probably just pick one from them?  

 

[paddy-stone]

Yeah, the Kraken x61/62 are supposed to be pretty good from what I have read about and seen reviews of.. that's my choice I think for when I next do a build, either for myself or friends/clients etc.

[mrjordann]

3 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

What is this? Gigabyte marketing material in your post? 

 

Anyway, corsair and NZXT are known for the best warranty and support for AIOs so...probably just pick one from them?  

 

Thanks. And I wanted to emphasize that it was actually an UltraDurable motherboard, and it wasn't just a regularly durable motherboard.

[mrjordann]

3 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Yeah, the Kraken x61/62 are supposed to be pretty good from what I have read about and seen reviews of.. that's my choice I think for when I next do a build, either for myself or friends/clients etc.

Thanks for the input. So you build PCs for people? How much do you charge for the assembly? When I build them, I was thinking of charging 10% of how much the PC is worth. Is that too much? (Basically $100 for building a $1000 PC)

[CFstorm]

11 minutes ago, mrjordann said:

Hey LTT! So, I had a Raijintek Triton AIO CPU cooler. It worked great for over a year, ran my CPU at 27 degrees. It started to crack and leak, and I had to immediately remove it because it spilled a VERY alarming amount of water onto my motherboard. Luckily my motherboard survived thanks to the fact that it's an UltraDurable motherboard. Anyway, Raijintek sent me a replacement. I'm not stupid, so I am not going to put another raijintek cooler in my PC.

 

What cooler should I get? I want an AIO cooler so I don't have to mess with it or refill it.

 

Yes, I know the corsair ones are great and all, but they're just black and boring. The Raijintek Triton matched my green build, at least. I am interested in the NZXT Kraken because they're LED. Are those any good? Which other coolers are good options?

 

Thanks for reading, I hope you have some recommendations

Try the Deepcool Captian 240 Ex

[paddy-stone]

2 minutes ago, mrjordann said:

Thanks for the input. So you build PCs for people? How much do you charge for the assembly? When I build them, I was thinking of charging 10% of how much the PC is worth. Is that too much? (Basically $100 for building a $1000 PC)

Depends on what components and how much time they take to build/test and deploy really.... put it this way, I don't make PCs for lower end market as they generally don't want to pay hardly anything to have them built because of budget constraints.

I wouldn't consider myself a master builder or anything, but I always check my work and test the systems before feeling comfortable enough that the client will enjoy their new PCs with no problems.

TBH, I don't even source the components as I can't get great prices anyway being a small business, what I do is advise the clients on what to buy, link them to Amazon for instance (affiliate kickback then), but if they choose another company to get them from it's fine, but in the event of part failures they are the ones that have to deal with the company. then they get them shipped either to themselves or my workplace, they just have to make sure I know it's coming and when (hopefully) and that it will show their name as the recipient so I can log those parts to whichever customer those parts are intended for - so there are no inaccuracies of serial numbers etc being wrong in the event of an RMA being needed. Anyway, haven't had anything come back so far, so pretty pleased with that and take pride that the customer is enjoying their PCs. Mostly I've had clients contact me about software problems, that obviously aren't covered by me. I'm happy to help them, but they have to pay... I do disclose that I am not liable for any parts/software doing it this way and that they are basically just hiring me to build the system for them. But also they get the added benefit of most, if not all parts are covered by warranties ranging from 3 years upwards and that I troubleshoot problems for a fair fee (reduced) for customers that have bought my services.

Hope that helps you in some way. I'm not a big business by any means, but get by doing my stuff and business is good, I actually have to say to some people that I don't have time to build for them right now as I am busy - I am also less-abled and have to limit my exersions and have some relaxing times. Most customers understand and appreciate I am straight with them, so not saying "yes, suer I can have that with you next week" type of thing, and then 3 weeks later they are still waiting for it... I hate that shit!

I DO prioritize builds, and it's first come first served.. but if I am waiting on parts for whatever reason, I do tell that customer that there will be a delay with their build proportionate to my wait time for components and possibly a bit longer as I can't drop someone elses's build that I have started just because the parts I was waiting for came in for them. I try to be truthful and straight forward with them, I think they appreciate it and definitely haven;t had any complaints with my work. I mostly do performance slanted builds, so basically function over form... I don't do modding, unless you count adding LED strips etc as modding? LOL. I AM trying to get more "ooh pretty" builds going, but that takes extra time that the client would have to pay for obviously, so mostly doing my own stuff right now and working on different building stuff when I can.

 

TL:DR - Not a set amount of a build as such, more a time to cost ratio... I've noticed people will try to get you to do more stuff if setting a % rate, when they have to pay for the time however they are happy with it taking less time, lol. They still look nice, they're just not custom watercooled and stuff. AIO is the limit for builds unless they want to pay for my time doing it - and remember they aren't covered by MY insurance, it's at their own risk as I don't know what's happened to that PC after it left my office.

 

I apologise for the long winded explanation.. good luck with your business. If you ARE going to set a % amount of the build, my advice would be to make sure it's worth your while doing still... are you going to be laible for the PCs replacement and fixing after sale? if so, add some on top for sure, you could end up losing more than the cost of the PC if something terrible goes wrong... make sure you have liability insurance if so, that WILL save your business.