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

[heretolearn]

H80
Just put it in last week and wasn't happy with cooling.:
Just opened it up to see and only a quarter of the cpu was even touching the cooler, how in the world it didn't fry.
I would have checked it sooner but it was as cool as the stock cooler.
Reseat it and much better. LOL

 

[lofie]

Here's a run down of what we've used over the past few years... all with fans supplied with the coolers.

130w TDP core i7 920
Stock intel - noisy !
Mugen II rev B - blissfully quiet
Scythe Big Shuriken II - a great cooler but not quite up to it on this processor. The latest rev looks to have solved a few of the problems with this cooler but it is so damn expensive in the eu.

95w TDP core i5 2400 (spcr shows these rarely use over 70w)
Coolermaster Hyper 612s
Hyper 212evo - not tested in anger, but a quick test shows the fan is noisier than the 612s. Always installed the 612s as we get them for only 4 euros more than the 212evo.

95w TDP Q9650
Macho HR-02 - a beast of a cooler with a 140mm fan. Probably the best value for money in the eu if you want quiet cooling performance. (and you have a big case)

65w TDP E6500
Scythe Big Shuriken II - great cooler, very quiet.
Coolermaster Hyper 412S - could run this fanless! But since the PSU is louder than everything else, still run this with the stock fan at slowest speed.

in brief - since the CM Hyper 612s does such a great and quiet job for the sub 95w cpu's I'm not looking elsewhere for coolers. We get them at a great price, and not much more than the Hyper 212's there's no reason to look elsewhere. The Hyper 612s is the no brainer option if it fits in the case.

A

 

[atrain85]

I use a Noctua DH-14 and it seems like a standard fan for many setups. Very quiet to me too, which is a bonus.

 

[PabloMoCa]

I use a Corsair H100 cooler, which is too big for my case I unfortunately found out. With a little bit of tinkering I got it to work though. I ended up placing the fans out side of the case right above the radiator pulling air through which seems to do the trick. I'll post a pic when I get a chance.

 

[Macblack4]

I just installed the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus on my i5 3570K (not overclocked). While running the Prime 95 torture test for an hour, CPU temperature remains at 66-68C, compared to 90C with the stock Intel cooler.

 

[RedEG6]

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

same reasoning. i'm using a CM Hyper 212 Evo. i initially wanted to use the V8, then the V6GT, also from CM. then i kinda' found out that performance-to-price ratio wasn't good for the two. i then targeted the close-loop units, then i read and saw some rigs with leaking units (a rag on top of the videocard was the turning point) and close-loops having a limited life expectancy (5 years i think?). didn't want to be bothered with those facts and also i wasn't overclocking that much. during my research, i read a lot of good reviews for the Hyper 212 Evo, that's why i went for it. i can overclock with peace of mind up to 4GHz on my E8400.

 

[McFarley]

Corsair H60, and I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

 

[MK500]

I really like air with monster heat-sinks and slow moving fans. I appreciate the quiet and low-risk nature. If a fan goes out, then cpu will heat up rather slowly (with that monster sink). Also fans can give you redundancy (I have two or more fans on critical components). They also tend to "buzz" before dying. If a water cooling system goes out (dead pump, leak, whatever) it can turn catastrophic pretty fast. I've had bad experiences with liquid cooling.

My system is a 4.2Ghz 6-core with Noctua cooling and after-market air cooling on my HD6870 also. Everything documented in my build link. It's very quiet, reliable, and cool.