3x AIO Liquid cooler vs 280mm Liquid cooling kit.

TheMine98

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Mar 4, 2015
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Hi,

I'm planning on watercooling my parts in the future, before i go ahead of my self i noticed that my case, the nzxt s340 won't be able to handle 360mm radiators, although it can handle 3x 140mm radiators vs all in one coolers. 3 140mm all in one coolers for dual gpus (r9 290x) and a i5 4690k. As of now i don't have any of the parts, but i'm planning on getting them by the end of the month, but i've already purchased the case and waiting for it to deliver. I'm getting a used r9 290x for now with a Xeon x3470 until the summer which would be when i would upgrade my whole setup excluding the chassis and the gpu. So if i had to choose for watercooling. 2X corsair gpu water block for all in one coolers cost apx 70$ + 3x 140mm radiators cost about 250-300$ which would result in 350$ minimum + shipping to my country (im outside of the us) which would be 400$, or a custom 280mm loop which would cost roughly the same. Or is this all not worth it? should i stick to air coolers?
 
Solution
it really depends on what you want to do with your PC and if ambient temps are just too high for you. Honestly, a custom water loop will be best. Although the AIO cooler will not need maintenance every 6 months to a year like a custom loop will. But, if they're the same price then I would go with the custom loop hands down. Also, for the most part a triple 140mm radiator will be enough to cool the components you listed fairly well. Make sure to buy high static pressure fans if you go the custom loop route. If you want high airflow go for static pressure fans with high RPMs. For the rest of your case use higher CFM (airflow) fans.
it really depends on what you want to do with your PC and if ambient temps are just too high for you. Honestly, a custom water loop will be best. Although the AIO cooler will not need maintenance every 6 months to a year like a custom loop will. But, if they're the same price then I would go with the custom loop hands down. Also, for the most part a triple 140mm radiator will be enough to cool the components you listed fairly well. Make sure to buy high static pressure fans if you go the custom loop route. If you want high airflow go for static pressure fans with high RPMs. For the rest of your case use higher CFM (airflow) fans.
 
Solution


i didn't really get it, so i would need 1x 280mm radiator + 140mm radiator, for a custom loop? if thats the case i might go alongside it. Although it's going to be in a few months, by that time air coolers could've been upgraded.
 


A 280mm rad is 140x2 in one rad. I was meaning one rad that was big enough for 3x140mm fans on it. If you don't have room for that then have a 280mm and a 140mm separately will do the same amount of cooling. I hope this answered your question.
 


After all, i would eventually stick to air coolers, the cost is too high, the performance would be similar.
 


Performance will not be the same if you have a custom loop as I had mentioned before. If you go with like a AIO cooler then there will be one or two air coolers that will be able to out perform them. But, mostly they won't.

Also, I agree if you don't need it then don't buy it. If you plan to overclock a lot or run the PC as close to ambient temps as possible then you need water cooling.
 


Water cooling would need a really high budget, i might go ahead and install a custom loop next year, for now i would stick to air cooler or stock coolers since i don't really overclock.