Water Cooling, or Air Cooling?

[Assassin0706]

So i desperately need a new CPU cooler, as I have an AMD FX-8320 with the stock cooler. with all 8 cores active im idling at 59 celcius. that is absolutely ridiculous. so can i get some pros and cons of the Noctua NH-D15 and the other highend aircoolers? same for some good liquid coolers?

 

[geofelt]

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler.

I like the noctua NH-U12s.

 

[Zerk2012]

100% air is the best way to go besides a potential leak that is very, very rare if the pump goes out your PC is 100% down till it can be replaced. If the fan on your air cooler goes out they you can run to best buy and buy a new fan or just move one from your case to the cooler.
Any of these would work just fine I would pick the Cryorig H5 if your not going to overclock much if your going for a fairly high overclock then the R1 is one of the best air coolers made I use it.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2%2Ccryorig-cpu-cooler-crr1b%2Ccryorig-cpu-cooler-h5universal/

 

[Assassin0706]

im not too sure the nh-u12s would be right for me, as i plan on overclocking to atleast 4GHz and the amd 8-cores get ridiculously hot.hell, to keep it somewhat cool when gaming ive mounted an industrial 140mm cooling fan that plugs into the wall onto my case to blow air directly onto the crap heatsink and fan and that still idles at 50 and it sounds like a damn jet engine. i also dont have a great case (Rosewill Challenger) as i was on an extreme budget when this build started. i will be upgrading to the NZXT Phantom 410 soon though. these are really my last two crap parts that need replacing and should make my computer actually useable.

 

[Assassin0706]

ive heard decent things about cryorig, but i dont really see how the R1 could work better than the nh-d15, but ill still look into it.

 

[geofelt]

im not too sure the nh-u12s would be right for me, as i plan on overclocking to atleast 4GHz and the amd 8-cores get ridiculously hot.hell, to keep it somewhat cool when gaming ive mounted an industrial 140mm cooling fan that plugs into the wall onto my case to blow air directly onto the crap heatsink and fan and that still idles at 50 and it sounds like a damn jet engine. i also dont have a great case (Rosewill Challenger) as i was on an extreme budget when this build started. i will be upgrading to the NZXT Phantom 410 soon though. these are really my last two crap parts that need replacing and should make my computer actually useable.

The U12s addresses compatibility issues with graphics cards adjacent to the cooler.
The U14s does the same.
On a 125w load, the difference is only 1c.; not significant.
Here is a review:
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2749

 

[Assassin0706]

Noctua NH-U12S it is. id rather save $26 and have my temps be 1 degree higher. and if i need i can always buy another noctua fan and mounts to put another one on the other side of it. one last thing, What thermal paste or grease would you redommend? ive got Arctic Silver 5, and its okay, but i know theres gotta be better ones out there.

 

[geofelt]

Noctua NH-U12S it is. id rather save $26 and have my temps be 1 degree higher. and if i need i can always buy another noctua fan and mounts to put another one on the other side of it. one last thing, What thermal paste or grease would you redommend? ive got Arctic Silver 5, and its okay, but i know theres gotta be better ones out there.

Truthfully, paste makes little difference.

AS5 is fine as is the paste that Noctua includes with all their coolers.
I use either interchangeably.
The key in applying paste is no not use too much. Too much acts as an insulator.
A small drop the size of a grain of rice in the middle is fine.
It spreads out under heat and pressure.
It really is hard to use too little.