NZXT x41 AIO -> Dark Rock 3 (air) a major downgrade?

[Gerr]

In my bedroom backup gaming system, the one I use when I want to hide from the kids, I have an OC'ed 6700K with a 1070 Ti.  The 6700K runs at 4.5Ghz@1.26v and is being cooled by the x41 AIO.  The chip can go higher, but since I game at 1440p, I saw no difference between 4.7Ghz, 4.6Ghz, and 4.5Ghz except for the heat it pumped out.  My 1070 Ti is constantly running hot, so my boosts are not high.  I caught the Dark Rock 3 (DR3) non-pro on sale recently, so was thinking about putting that on the CPU and grabbing the NZXT G12 and use the x41 to cool my GPU instead.  I plan on starting to do some x265 encoding on this system, so the CPU will be at 100% for long periods of time unattended, not sure I trust an AIO in that situation either.  Most reviews say the DR3 can hang with or beat most 120mm AIO's, but the x41 is a  37mm thick 140mm push/pull AIO.  Just making sure I am not taking a big step down in cooling.  I have room to spare at 4.5Ghz@1.26v as I could easily handle a 5* increase, but don't want to push more than 10*.  I do plan on getting a 2nd fan for push/pull on the DR3.

 

Thoughts?

[19_blackie_73]

The DR should be more than capable handling that, especially in Push-Pull

[For Science!]

22 minutes ago, Gerr said:

-Thoughts?

Hard to say but in a noise normalized scenario I think the DR3 should outperform, however even at max rpm I don't think you can get the DR3 to match the noise of a 120 mm AIO and so the max performance (noise independent) may roll in the favor of the AIO in push/pull

[Gerr]

Not asking which is better as I expect the x41 to be a better cooler.  What I am asking is how much of a drop off can I expect.

[wildgg]

i would say those 2 coolers are really close in performance and i don't think you would notice a difference

[ewitte]

Good air will do better than a 120mm aio and some 240s.