Liquid vs. Air

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ginningfool97

ginningfool97

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Dec 10, 2015
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I am on my pc all day long gaming on it but I have a stock CPU cooler so It gets pretty loud and probably to hot for a long time. For example 10 minutes of playing Spintires makes the CPU run at 100 degrees Fahrenheit. im on a budget of about 110 dollars. Any suggestions ?
 
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With $110, both air and liquid are equal in raw cooling performance. However, the air coolers of that price are EXTREMELY big, bulky and heavy. I'd suggest going liquid just because it's way lighter and 3/4ths of the cooling system is mounted directly on the case instead of directly on the CPU socket itself.

However you don't need to spend that much on a cooler, good chances are you only need $70. What are your computer specs?

If your not overclocking, all you might need is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608041
 
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+1 for the H105 if you can fit it in your case. If not, the H80i can typically fit in just about any case as it attaches via your rear 120mm fan spot in the case. I can tell you first hand that you're probably looking at only about 5 degrees temp diff under heavy load between those two coolers. The thing about liquid is it helps your CPU cool down QUICKER after its heated up, where air coolers take longer to cool the CPU back down. A high quality air cooler can keep your CPU just as cool as a lot of closed loop liquid coolers.

Note that stock fans on the corsairs are kind of loud and "whiny." I always replace them. You just want a decent high static pressure fan. I use Cougar 120s personally (even LED versions), which don't move as much air as the stock fans, but do have solid static pressure for "average RPM" fans and are super quiet. I only notice a few degrees of difference in cooling running these at 1200RPM full time instead of having the higher RPM fans running faster. The Corsair SP120 HPs are more comparable to the stock fans and still much better sound than stock.
 
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Well, if your system's CPU temp is running at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, that translates into about 38 degrees Celsius. And that's pretty darn cool for a PC and doesn't indicate any problem with overheating. Now if your CPU cooler is noisy to the point where it bothers you that's a different matter. By & large we've never found Intel stock CPU heatsinks particularly noisy over the years so assuming you're dealing with such it may be a defective unit.
 
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pc specs Case: Corsair air 240, Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT usb3 CPU: AMD FX-4350. When I play games with my headphones on after a while I can hear the CPU fan. And I was thinking of the Corsair H100i GTX 240mm.
 
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For that CPU you don't need a H100i, you'd be FAR FAR better off buying a FX 8320 and an H60 or something like that (or at least saving up for it).
 
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That's a cool little case! Yes, the H100i is overkill. BUT, consider that one day you may upgrade your CPU and need better cooling, especially sticking with AMD. So is it overkill now? Yes. Will it be if you upgrade next year? Well..... Again, the H80 is also very strong.

I'd go H105 instead of H100i ever day too. Main diff is the H100i supports Corsairlink software, but my experiences with that software have been miserable and its super buggy. Reviews all over will indicate it seems to work better with some mobos than others for whatever reason. I just rely on the motherboards' fan controller to adjust fan speed as needed, based on CPU temps.
 
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Actually, depends on your definition of "easy." You may have to pull everything out to get it installed, if you need to get a the back of your mobo to install. I'd download & read the manual. Granted, if so, you'd have to do this with ANY new cooler.
 
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