boiler1990 :
[citation]As for all the idiots putting down closed loop water coolers, some people are using three of them (CPU, 2 x GPU in crossfire) without any problems and WITH BETTER TEMPS than the stock coolers. Bite me...
The H100 is as good or better than any pure air solution on the market and it doesn't hang a ton of metal off your CPU socket.[/citation]
Realize most of the people that you're arguing with aren't contesting that air is better than all-in-one coolers; they're saying that an investment in a custom loop (or even a kit loop) is much more cost effective than all-in-one units.
The two statements above are what make AICs cost-ineffective in many cases - they cost a pretty penny, but they really only beat out the stock coolers and *some* air coolers. Realize the stock coolers are only designed to keep the cards and CPUs from hitting their thermal ceilings (which on some GPUs is 100C or more), so anything lower than that is an improvement and modified AICs will definitely perform better.
However, for the same money you spend on the H100 to hit the mid 50Cs on a CPU, you can get a better kit loop that could get you below 50C. Sure, the AICs are more convenient, but don't be a dick and start bragging when you have no idea what thermal performance really is. My 670 hits 35C max with low speed (i.e. near silent) generic Cooler Master fans. Put some Gentle Typhoons on my rad, I'm looking at maybe 30C max.
Wow, I don't know why I was never notified of this reply. but you are wrong in that, I have an excellent idea what thermal performance is. In fact, with many of the newer water coolers, they beat the top end air coolers. Also, there is just no way I'm going to find a complete open loop for $100. It just ain't going to happen. There are also many other advantages as well, like keeping the system portable, and no maintenance. Also, regarding air coolers, many of us don't like having this huge thing in the middle of our case, weighing a tone, and hanging off the cpu/motherboard.
One thing you completely skip over is overclocking. Closed loop coolers are great for overclocking. Sure, they won't let you hit the max like higher-end openloop systems, but then they also don't max out your bank account either. On the very first CL system I bought (the H70), not only was I running 20c cooler than the stock air cooler, but it was also overclocked by 800MHz while it was running under load. So, 20c less temperature, and 800MHz faster. That's pretty decent.
As I mentioned in my first comment, I'm not saying air coolers (the top end coolers) are bad, but some of us just don't want all the metal hanging off of our motherboard/cpu. Some of us also think it looks ugly as well.