To replace stock cooler or not?

[fredsone]

Hi
We are building a pc and are considering adding an aftermarket cpu cooler.
We have an Intel i5-4590 processor, an ASRock Z87 Pro3 MBoard and a NZXT Source 210 Elite case.
I have looked at a LOT of replacement coolers and am leaning toward a liquid cooler. This is simply because in my uninformed view the idea of having a huge cooler hanging of a vertically mounted motherboard doesn't look good. So what is the view of those with experience 🙂 ? From what I have read we should have 160mm clearance from the motherboard to the side of the case.

Also, as I wrote I like the idea of liquid coolers but am not sure if I could fit one (e.g. a Corsair H60-75) in the case.

Thanks.

 

[kwa-e]

While it does look uniformly better in my eyes it isn't exactly worth the $50 you'll spend for a liquid cooler, especially if you're not overclocking. but you should be able to fit one just as long as a 120MM exhaust fan slot is nearby the CPU which is standard these days.

This is just a question out of curiosity but have you already bought the parts (i5, z87 etc.) listed above?

 

[fredsone]

oops

 

[simonmarkis]

Some good videos on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu7wI4Kn6sc&feature=iv&src_vid=c66inwtS8_E&annotation_id=annotation_1873026729

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c66inwtS8_E

 

[madmatt30]

Unless you have room for a twin 240 mm rad & fans then most of the decent air coolers will perform better.
The single rad h60 is not that good a cooler ,look at the cryorig h7,raijintek themis or even the old 212 evo for good cooling on a budget.

 

[fredsone]

Hi Kwa-e
yes we already have the parts, the original plan was to upgrade our old compaq so started down that road and ended up "adding" bits to the original plan, I bet we are not the first to make that error... 🙂

 

[kwa-e]

The h60 will cool about 1-4 degrees cooler than the 212 evo and for a non-overclocking system, it isn't exactly worth it over a cheap cooler like the 212+/EVO .

 

[fredsone]

hmmm
something is up...
It doesn't look like my text is always getting posted when I try to reply to the answers, and I have had a number of popups saying that our pc is exhibiting some suspicious behavior.

 

[fredsone]

Thanks for the answers.
I think a room for a twin 240 mm rad & fans won’t fit, I have seen a video where the person removed the 3.5 inch bays so they could fit a 240 mm rad with fans.
I was thinking there may be room for a 120mm set up but having seen the replies here and the links provided by Simonmarkis I have decided against a liquid cooler and gone with a Cryorig h7.

Thanks to all who posted an answer, much appreciated.

 

[kwa-e]

Glad we helped