[SOLVED] Corsair h60 VS Cooler Master ML240L VS Dark Rock 4

[alexander0hamilton]

I am deciding between the Corsair H60, the cooler Master masterliquid ML240L and the Be Quiet Dark Rock 4. The H60 is $20 cheaper and was wondering which is one best. I have a R5 2600 and the nzxt h500 case.

 

[Karadjgne]

Forget about the H60, it's a 140w 120mm aio. It's basically equitable to a CM hyper212. Both the ML240L at 240mm and the Darkrock 4 are considerably higher in ability. Either will work well, it's pretty much an aesthetics choice, some prefer the looks of the aio, some the air cooler.

 

[Azzyasi]

The reliability is way ahead for air coolres than AIO and any custom water-cooler. For the lazy install and forget type, the air cooler is unbeatable.. also a big hefty aircooler may even work as a passive cooler if the fan dies. (did that for about 2years with mugen rev1 on a q8400. cpu never got above 70 in passive cooling mode with stress-test) Not that is recommended but it works.

Water-coolers have the thermodynamics to support massive improvements (like sub-zero fluids chilled by AC - see jayz2cents abut his custom turbo chill from air conditioning), bigger rads, faster pumps, etc.. all sort of potential game changers in OC.. but then again, by the time you want to overhaul an AIO you will need a better pump, a better waterblock for more pressure and flow, better everything and will reach a moneypit custom loop that is way out of the budget and turns the whole watercooling/OC into a hobby.

Idk, your call.. i'm the lazy type so air coolers for me. Heatpipes (phase-change) are amazing and reliable technology.

 

[Karadjgne]

Since I'm one of those not so lazy types, AIO's have one huge advantage over aircoolers. Control. There's Cam, iCue, Corsair Link, built in mode control, Evga flow control etc all built specifically to monitor temps, customize and control fan curves, pump speeds, noise etc.

The old brick of an aircooler gets 3 choices. Bios, motherboard software and SpeedFan. Bios is a joke, you set the finishing duty/temp and thats all you get. Motherboard software can be better but honestly mine has only 2 adjustable points, so start - end. SpeedFan is a royal pain to setup correctly, there's no automatic anything until you say so and everything is run through addresses. Get the wrong address and your exhaust fans respond to cpu and cpu fan spins 20% forever. That's if you can get it to work right in Win10.

At least with aio software it's graphically customizable, self starting, set-it-and-forget-it.

You can also put an aio in any case that mounts 120mm/140mm/240mm/280mm mounts. Good luck with putting a $30 CM hyper212 evo in even half of the available cases out now, same goes for the similar hight NH-D15S at 160mm.
And let's not go into ram clearance issues on anything, even my Cryorig R1 Ultimate has serious ram clearance issues, covers both the 1+2 slots.
Most cases come stock with 2x case fans. Aircoolers almost require purchase of additional case fans to meet airflow needs. Aios double as case fans, eliminating that extra expense.

AIO's have advantages over air, and Aircoolers have advantages over liquid. They both do the same job in respective ranges, just in slightly different ways. It really just boils down to preference and aesthetics once past case physical limitations.

 

[rubix_1011]

AIOs have gotten better over the last couple years, which is something I have trouble saying as an advocate for custom watercooling. AIOs do serve a purpose and fill a gap between air cooling and full watercooling, although more at the level of good air cooling than nearly as well as custom watercooling does, although lower TDP of components does make this easier to do in recent time.

Heatpipe air cooling is effective and works well - it's why there are literally hundreds of heatpipe tower coolers out there and we really don't see the slab and fin heatsinks anymore, other than the boxed Intel and AMD stock coolers. The next step will be heatpipe coolers that use different forms of applied technologies to improve upon existing designs. I've talked to a couple people doing something to this degree, but I'm under an NDA right now, so you'll know more once I actually have more to speak to and gave provide to the public.