Air Cooling or Liquid Cooling for Price and Performance PC ?

Discussion in 'Overclocking & Cooling' started by Jakub, Sep 3, 2011.

  1. Jakub

    Jakub Geek Trainee

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    I am building an price and performance pc, I want the lowest price and the best performance, should I do air cooling or liquid cooling?
     
    Jakub, Sep 3, 2011
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  2. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

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    Sniper, Sep 3, 2011
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  3. Matthew Lizares

    Matthew Lizares Geek Trainee

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    to water cool or to air cool, there are some advantages to air cooling, and some to water cooling. id post some advantages to air cooling

    air cooling
    1. less maintenance required
    2. while it cools the processors it also effectively cools the motherboard vrm in most cases
    3. a lot of choices from affordable to costly and large air coolers

    water cooling
    1. lighter than an air cooler with the same price point and performance
    2. may be a little quieter
    3. looks a lot cleaner to look at especially if you have a windowed case

    the advantage of air generally is the disadvantage of water and vice versa. but generally if the price are relatively the same, they'd most likely perform in the same level.

    there is a review of a sealed type water cooler that might be of interest to the forum corsair h40 review
     
    Matthew Lizares, Feb 22, 2012
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  4. Lotuscore

    Lotuscore Geek Trainee

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    If you want to go for lowest price, air cooling would be better for you.
     
    Lotuscore, Mar 16, 2012
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  5. Ghostman 1

    Ghostman 1 Mega Geek

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    Arctic Freezer 7 PRO Rev. 2 / or the Arctic Freezer 13 pro

    I just bought the Arctic freezer pro 7, it works great..it will drop your temps down to a 37 degrees or lower..
     
    Ghostman 1, Mar 16, 2012
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  6. Big B

    Big B HWF Godfather

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    Closed-loop watercooling kits are available that can give some high-end air coolers a run for the money. It seems as though Corsair has the largest selection of units here, but Antec and Thermaltake offer some good options. A DIY water cooling option can also work, but it requires a bit more money and time, even if you get a kit from say, Swiftech or Danger Den, there's a lot that goes into the assembly.

    Some of the closed-loop water cooling kits don't seem to be any more complicated than some of the high performance air coolers. Arctic Cooling has some inexpensive mid-range coolers that are a great value for the money, however brands like Noctua and Prolimatech offer even greater performance.

    You can spend well over $100 for the cooler plus fans in air cooling, but also find something that beats out the stock cooler for $20-40. Closed-loop water cooling kids start at $60-70 and go up.
     
    Big B, Jun 2, 2012
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