What do you use for cooling? Is Air still the standard? POLL

[Koalaman]

Hello, I was wondering what you all use for cooling in your rigs to see what is the new normal. Please explain your build in terms of size, overclocking, and noise level. Thank you!

 

[eelhead]

H60 in a Corsair 300R case.
Sabertooth X58 set up for now, need to put in the GA-X79-UD5

 

[the_gael]

I replied closed loop on the poll as I have more of these. I have two X58A-UD3R boards with Xeon CPU's one using H40 with an extra fan added push/pull and the other with a custom built water cooling system, I have a Z77X-UD5H, i7-3770k which also uses a H40 with extra fan and finally a H61M-S2PV, Pentium G540 with stock air and finally a P45-DS4 with Q6600 and a Noctua Air Cooler.

The custom water cooled system is easily the best cooling system but "bang for buck" I go for the all in one water cooling unless I want to do more than mild over-clocking.

The Z77X-UD5H, i7-3770k system is mildly over-clocked to 4.6ghz at 1.26v and the closed loop system copes OK - if I was to over-clock further on this particular setup I would swap to full water cooling as I can have 40C + ambient temps where I live.

The two X58A-UD3R boards with Xeon W3520 CPU's are both over-clocked to 4.2ghz, the H61M-S2PV with G540 is stock. The P45-DS4 is over-clocked to 3.2Ghz.

In terms of noise levels the the machine with the H61M-S2PV and G540 with stock fan is the noisiest but that is in a modded G4 case using the large stock fan in the G4 Quicksilver case. The other machines are not silent but noise is unobtrusive and actually allthough the H61 is the noisiest it is still not obtrusive.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Always been tempted by water-cooling but never tried it. Something about water and electronics not mixing underpins my reasoning!

Heatpipes helped improve air-cooling no end; prior to my latest build I'd always used Zalman pure copper 'sinks but now that heatpipes are more common I'm happy to try other brands if they quietly keep CPU temps below body temperature - something which always struck me as a sensible goal!

Presently running at no more than 36-c under load using air only - not a high-performance CPU I know but I'm happy

 

[Koalaman]

Seems like water systems and air are tied right now. I myself have owned 2 different H60s, both with defective pumps. Yes I know I could have bought the H80, but I didn't have the extra 40$. So I have since stuck with air.

 

[Stork]

On my Thunderball build, I'm using the

Thermaltake Water2.0 Performer Sealed Water Processor Cooler - Amazon || Newegg

which MacMan recommended to me. It works great but I've not gotten into OC'ing, yet.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Good old Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B.

Keeps my 2700k around 28-30 degrees and I can't hear it at all in normal operation.

 

[Koalaman]

On my Thunderball build, I'm using the

Thermaltake Water2.0 Performer Sealed Water Processor Cooler - Amazon || Newegg

which MacMan recommended to me. It works great but I've not gotten into OC'ing, yet.

I was looking at this one, is it really worth the price? EDIT: Woah, the last time I saw that one it was 120$, now it seems more reasonable.

 

[tlace19]

Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO, it barely fits in the case and on the motherboard but damn, for an mini ITX i am constantly hovering in at around 26-27 C which for me was a big just from the 45 I was getting with the stock fan, The Bitfenix prodigy is perfect fit for this cooler. Only about a cm space above the heatsync here is a picture of this magnificent cooler:

 

[Koalaman]

Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO, it barely fits in the case and on the motherboard but damn, for an mini ITX i am constantly hovering in at around 26-27 C which for me was a big just from the 45 I was getting with the stock fan, The Bitfenix prodigy is perfect fit for this cooler. Only about a cm space above the heatsync here is a picture of this magnificent cooler:

I used to have that cooler, loved it. But it barely fit in my ATX case!