What are good AIO water coolers?

[LuckyTheLadyBug]

Seems like I can never suggest a AIO cooler without someone saying:

"It's too loud."
"There are better ones."

Well, I would like to start getting my info straight.

What are the best AIO coolers?

Price is not anything to be worried about because I'm not buying one, I just need info.

If you can, suggest AIOs that are in a variety of prices though.

Also, if any air coolers deserve to be on the list, please add them too.

If Tom's has a tier list that would also make things a lot easier.

Thanks!

 

[anti-duck]

The best AIO's are the open loop one's, like the Swiftech H240X/H220X, Raijintek Triton and the Nepton 240L (with the pump running at 5-7v). The new Corsair H110i GT is the best closed loop AIO right now and it beats the best air cooler (NH D-15).

 

[FreshPineApples]

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-cpu-cooler-rlkrx6101 One of the best
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-h110
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-cw9060021ww Typical
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rls24m24pkr1 Few degrees hotter under load than the h100 but more price/performance

H220-x water cooling kit really nice temps but some reported fan temps.

 

[LuckyTheLadyBug]

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-cpu-cooler-rlkrx6101 One of the best
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-h110
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-cw9060021ww Typical
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rls24m24pkr1 Few degrees hotter under load than the h100 but more price/performance

H220-x water cooling kit really nice temps but some reported fan temps.

I've been told to stay away from the Corsair H100i (GTX or normal) and the CM siedon because they are loud and get outperformed by air coolers.

 

[LuckyTheLadyBug]

The best AIO's are the open loop one's, like the Swiftech H240X/H220X, Raijintek Triton and the Nepton 240L (with the pump running at 5-7v). The new Corsair H110i GT is the best closed loop AIO right now and it beats the best air cooler (NH D-15).

Since there is no 240L, I assume you meant the 280L or the 240M?

I also was told the Raijintek doesn't provide good cooling and is made with bad parts?

Thank you very much!

 

[anti-duck]

The best AIO's are the open loop one's, like the Swiftech H240X/H220X, Raijintek Triton and the Nepton 240L (with the pump running at 5-7v). The new Corsair H110i GT is the best closed loop AIO right now and it beats the best air cooler (NH D-15).

Since there is no 240L, I assume you meant the 280L or the 240M?

I also was told the Raijintek doesn't provide good cooling and is made with bad parts?

Thank you very much!

Sorry, I meant the Cooler Master/Alphacool Eisberg 240l.

The build quality of the Triton is pretty good, it's whether it gets to you in one piece because of the crap packaging that I would worry about lol. It's not the best, but from a price😛erformance perspective, it's pretty good and can be expanded.

 

[synphul]

The swiftech's anti-duck mentioned are good along with the kraken x61 FreshPineApples mentioned. On a budget, the corsair h80i's aren't too terrible. Unless someone is dead set on an aio or they have a really small case that won't fit many air coolers the problem is efficiency. Most single 120mm rad aio's are expensive and are matched or beaten by air coolers which tend to be quieter and less problematic by default.

It's not saying aio's 'suck', but objectively anything with more complicated moving parts is more prone to problems. Air coolers have a heatsink with heat pipes and anywhere from 1-3 fans. There's no quirky software, just plug in the fans, adjust the fan curve or use the pwm in bios and that's it. Aio's have pumps which can fail, tubing that can get kinked, bubbles can form and cause air to get trapped around the pump etc etc. The complexity just adds to the headaches with little performance gain to show for it.

Unless it's an overclocked 8 core fx cpu, most cpu's aren't running hot enough to need the extra cooling performance of water cooling. Most of intel's cpus can be kept well within safe temps with just decent air cooling. The gpu is the bigger heat source and just within the past year or two have manufacturers been including a variety of products for gpu aio cooling.

Most aio's are in a rough position, they cost more than air coolers and perform the same or barely any better. They don't offer the kind of performance a custom loop can/does. Though comparatively they do cost quite a bit less ($100-140 vs $300-400). The reason aio's tend to be noisy, in order to provide the performance needed with compact radiators they have to push the fans harder/faster meaning more noise. It's not like having a 480mm radiator in a custom loop purring along with fans turned down.

 

[LuckyTheLadyBug]

The swiftech's anti-duck mentioned are good along with the kraken x61 FreshPineApples mentioned. On a budget, the corsair h80i's aren't too terrible. Unless someone is dead set on an aio or they have a really small case that won't fit many air coolers the problem is efficiency. Most single 120mm rad aio's are expensive and are matched or beaten by air coolers which tend to be quieter and less problematic by default.

It's not saying aio's 'suck', but objectively anything with more complicated moving parts is more prone to problems. Air coolers have a heatsink with heat pipes and anywhere from 1-3 fans. There's no quirky software, just plug in the fans, adjust the fan curve or use the pwm in bios and that's it. Aio's have pumps which can fail, tubing that can get kinked, bubbles can form and cause air to get trapped around the pump etc etc. The complexity just adds to the headaches with little performance gain to show for it.

Unless it's an overclocked 8 core fx cpu, most cpu's aren't running hot enough to need the extra cooling performance of water cooling. Most of intel's cpus can be kept well within safe temps with just decent air cooling. The gpu is the bigger heat source and just within the past year or two have manufacturers been including a variety of products for gpu aio cooling.

Most aio's are in a rough position, they cost more than air coolers and perform the same or barely any better. They don't offer the kind of performance a custom loop can/does. Though comparatively they do cost quite a bit less ($100-140 vs $300-400). The reason aio's tend to be noisy, in order to provide the performance needed with compact radiators they have to push the fans harder/faster meaning more noise. It's not like having a 480mm radiator in a custom loop purring along with fans turned down.

Seems like swiftech is the clear winner, sadly, seems like they are never in stock.

How would a $30 CM 212 EVO stack up to a NH D-15 up to a Kraken x61?

 

[synphul]

Looking at these tests, the kraken keeps an overclocked i7 4770k (4.5ghz) at 67.33c while the nh d15 keeps it at 69.33c. Most other large air coolers perform similarly. The 212 evo wasn't included in this test, but a close match was the be quiet shadow rock 2 at 81.25c. They don't list the overclock rates on the cooler testing, but if you click the link to testing and methodology and go to their software and settings page in that article, they've set the multiplier to 45 for the overclocked tests.
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6803/nzxt-kraken-x61-280mm-aio-cpu-cooler-review/index8.html

Here's a comparison of the shadow rock 2 and 212 evo, it performs slightly better than the 212 evo by a couple degrees.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/beQuiet/Shadow_Rock_2/6.html

 

[LuckyTheLadyBug]

thanks