h75 or h100i refurb?

[Chris Bradshaw]

I am currently shopping around for a new gaming rig based around an Carbide air 540, so space is not an issue. I am looking for a good cooler for my i5 with a modest overclock. My two best choices are a brand new H75 hydro for £58 from scan.

My other choice is a refurbished H100i for just £2 more. I know that the 100i is a much better cooler and is compatible with corsair link and such, but is it worth the risk to go for the refurbed model?

My maximum budget for a cooler is £65. If neither of these are good choices, can you suggest an alternative?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: for even less than the H75, I could get a refurb H80i, opinions?

 

[legend001523]

Is this from scan? if so, get the h100i

 

[Michael Valen]

I think you should go for the H100i since you get bang for the buck since it is just £4. And you get so much more potensial for overclocking the i5
The could aslo be the air cooling from Noctua noctua nh-d14 for great performance and around your budget. If you don't care about overclocking that much but just a little one. You should get the best bang for the buck cooler out there and that is Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo for quite less.

It is your choice really. Personally I think the H100i would be great for your choice or anyone in that mind if you got the money for it

 

[Chris Bradshaw]

I think you should go for the H100i since you get bang for the buck since it is just £4. And you get so much more potensial for overclocking the i5
The could aslo be the air cooling from Noctua noctua nh-d14 for great performance and around your budget. If you don't care about overclocking that much but just a little one. You should get the best bang for the buck cooler out there and that is Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo for quite less.

It is your choice really. Personally I think the H100i would be great for your choice or anyone in that mind if you got the money for it

I did look at noctuas. While, I love the colour scheme they use (honestly) it would be a bit out of place in my black and red MSI rig... So the 100i seems to be the general consensus, so i'll go for that. thanks.

 

[geofelt]

What i5 are we talking about?

I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
Even if you can handle the heat, how much do you really need that extra multiplier from say 4.4 to 4.6?
My thought is that it is better to use the exotic cooling funds for a quieter and less expensive air cooler.
Anything extra can go to a stronger graphics card for the gamer or a SSD.

 

[Chris Bradshaw]

What i5 are we talking about?

I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
Even if you can handle the heat, how much do you really need that extra multiplier from say 4.4 to 4.6?
My thought is that it is better to use the exotic cooling funds for a quieter and less expensive air cooler.
Anything extra can go to a stronger graphics card for the gamer or a SSD.

I'm only using a basic haswell 4570 with the multiplier raised from 32 to 36, nothing good and nothing else is possible. After this upgrade, I plan to go to a 4790k or a new x99 cpu. I will probably get the h100i just for the future proofing aspect.