Recommended first CPU water cooler.

[trawetSluaP]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to purchase a water/liquid cooler for my CPU - an i7-4770K. My motherboard is an MSI MPower Max Z87.

I'm looking for some advice and recommendations for a 1150 socket cooler. I'm new to water cooling as I'm currently using a Phanteks PH-TC14PE air cooler and wondered if switching to water/liquid will provide a noticeable reduction in temperatures.

I must point out that as I am new to this sort of cooling I am looking for a ready made cooler like the Corsair H series. My case is the Corsair 730T - http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/graphite-series-730t-full-tower-case

Any help is appreciated.

Paul

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Both ways are frequently done, and both have their upsides and downsides.

Intake (generally done at the front, not top, so you keep convection) gives better CPU temps, at the expense of GPU/VRM cooling. Higher OCs, but higher temps on everything else.

Exhaust tends to be more common, and gives better GPU/VRM cooling at the cost of lower OCs.

Please don't try to call someone 'very inaccurate' without reputable sources, especially if the person you're calling wrong is similarly reputable on the site to you.

 

[Deuce65]

Both ways are frequently done, and both have their upsides and downsides.

Intake (generally done at the front, not top, so you keep convection) gives better CPU temps, at the expense of GPU/VRM cooling. Higher OCs, but higher temps on everything else.

Exhaust tends to be more common, and gives better GPU/VRM cooling at the cost of lower OCs.

Please don't try to call someone 'very inaccurate' without reputable sources, especially if the person you're calling wrong is similarly reputable on the site to you.

This is simply wrong though. I'm looking at my thermometers right now. The air going into the rad is 31.9c (it's warm in here) and the air coming out of the rad is 29.2c. There is no difference. The air inside the case itself is 34.3c so it makes literally no difference at all in the temperature of the GPU, VRM, or anything else involved. Doing it as an intake lowers temps on the cpu by several degrees vs as an exhaust and doesn't affect anything else in the system at all. This is simply a fact, and no amount of opinion will change it.

I will say it again, all too often on here we see this, where people who quite frankly don't have any real idea what they are talking about (or the more polite version, have no experience with it) give opinions as if they were fact, and then it gets taken up as if it IS a fact. I wouldn't care except now the guy in the OP who has a perfectly nice setup is going to screw it up because you have a bunch of people here who have obviously never run a water cooling setup in their life are giving him bad advice that is factually wrong, based on nothing more then something they read somewhere (also probably written by someone with no experience, possibly on here) and what they think their common sense says should be true.

A wc rad does not exhaust hot air. It can't; the water itself that is "heating" the rad is only going to be 5-10c above ambient to begin with!

 

[trawetSluaP]

I think the best think I can do at this point is try both ways and come back with my findings.

What you're saying Deuce, makes a lot of sense.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

The air coming out of the rad should (basic physics) be slighty warmer than the air going in. If not, you're getting confused by either mis-calibrated thermometers, insufficient heat, or wind chill.

I'm not certain what a common temp for water in the loop is, but are you testing it at idle or load?

EDIT: It's not going to be a big difference. <5C is certain. But that can still be a difference.

 

[Calvin3200]

Just because I'm new to this site, doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm talking about. Spewing an opinion, repeatedly, that is factually inaccurate is a demonstration of a lack of knowledge.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Perhaps we need to sort something out...

Do not call other people's opinions 'factually inaccurate' without proof. You can say you think they are, but unless you can provide some evidence, their statements hold just as much water as yours.

I'm definitely wiling to accept that having the fans as intake won't raise the case temps much, but there's a difference between no change and a small change.

 

[Calvin3200]

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Is this proof enough? From the Corsair manual...

 

[Someone Somewhere]

For best performance. CPU performance.

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

Whether you're using Warm air or Cooler air is irrelevant in this case. Physics has the answer and the answer is simple. Warm air is lighter than cooler air. As a result Warm air rises. Any fans installed on the rear of the case (or the TOP) ought to be exhaust fans. Radiator or not. The idea is to get the warm air out of the case while sucking in cool air into the case from intake fans on the bottom, sides and/or front of the case.

If you install your radiator at the top of the case, set it to exhaust heat not intake heat. Same thing goes if you install your radiator on the rear of the case. It may sound "intelligent" to set it to intake air but the whole point of those intake/exhaust points, in your case, is to utilise the laws of Physics and allow rising warm air to escape while bring in cooler air.

If you install you radiator on the front of the case, then it should intake air. Same with the bottom or side. The point is to not only cool the components connected to the water-loop but also all of the other components in the case.

If you want the best performance set the radiator on the front of the case as an intake.

 

[Deuce65]

The air coming out of the rad should (basic physics) be slighty warmer than the air going in. If not, you're getting confused by either mis-calibrated thermometers, insufficient heat, or wind chill.

I'm not certain what a common temp for water in the loop is, but are you testing it at idle or load?

EDIT: It's not going to be a big difference. <5C is certain. But that can still be a difference.

This. This right here. You freely admit you don't water cool. So why are you answering? You don't do it, you have no experience with it, so why do you present information that you really don't know anything about? You say you want facts, but when I present facts you ignore them. When the other guys shows you in the manual what the manufacturer themself recommends you ignore that. Because you, who have never done it, know better.
Whatever I'm done with this thread, do whatever you want.
OP, good idea. Do it both ways and see the difference. I guarantee you 100 percent temps will be better with it as an intake, all else being equal.

 

[Calvin3200]

^

Couldn't have said it any better.

 

[ElMoIsEviL]

The air coming out of the rad should (basic physics) be slighty warmer than the air going in. If not, you're getting confused by either mis-calibrated thermometers, insufficient heat, or wind chill.

I'm not certain what a common temp for water in the loop is, but are you testing it at idle or load?

EDIT: It's not going to be a big difference. <5C is certain. But that can still be a difference.

This. This right here. You freely admit you don't water cool. So why are you answering? You don't do it, you have no experience with it, so why do you present information that you really don't know anything about? You say you want facts, but when I present facts you ignore them. When the other guys shows you in the manual what the manufacturer themself recommends you ignore that. Because you, who have never done it, know better.
Whatever I'm done with this thread, do whatever you want.
OP, good idea. Do it both ways and see the difference. I guarantee you 100 percent temps will be better with it as an intake, all else being equal.

To be fair... none of you watercool per-say. You install these nifty-looking plastic components that pump some liquid across cheaply and quickly made copper surfaces in most plastic waterblocks.

That's not what is mean't by owning a watercooled PC. My watercooled PC easily beats any air cooler on the market by a long shot. That's not the case with most pre-fabbed all in one kits.

I honestly couldn't give a rats ass what Corsair thinks about watercooling considering they're selling people a piece of junk that will stop working in a year or so.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest... The rear of your case is an exhaust. Your case is designed that way. The top of your case also likely has one or more exhaust placements for fans. The front, bottom and sides are generally spots for intake.

The logic is simple... As I stated above... warm air rises. Bring in cool air in the lower areas of the case and exhaust it out the warmer areas of the case. This allows for a natural air flow and reduces dead spots. It also helps keep the static pressure in check.

So if you want to get the best performance out of that Corsair thing you just bought. Install it in the front of the case. As an intake. If you put it in the back of your case then install it as an exhaust.

Reason being is that you've got heatsinks on those components in your motherboard. You've got a Graphics card too. All of them need to be cooled. If you mess with the natural flow of air you will create dead spots over your motherboards VRM heatsinks.

That's it. That's how you install one of these things taking all variables into consideration.