Been out of the loop on air coolers

[UNhooked]

So got a request from a friend to build a gaming rig that is geared more towards silence than overclocking. So everything will be running mostly stock. The plan is to air cool the cpu and water cool the GPU's.

With that said what's the best premium air cooler. Direct touch was the biggest thing when I was into air coolers. Do they still apply?

I know the CM eVo is mostly recommended, is there anything better than that?

 

[dma0991]

Any reason that you're not including the CPU in the loop? CM Hyper212 Evo works fine but swap the stock CM Blademaster fan with a lower RPM or better quality fan with an adapter that reduces the voltage.

 

[UNhooked]

Plan is to build a xfire/sli setup with 1 240mm rad so don't think that's enough to run a cpu in the loop as well. Plus who knows he may just go with all air. Not building this system until Haswell comes out so thought I ought to do my research before that.

 

[dma0991]

Most cases with 240mm radiator support should be capable of supporting a 120mm radiator at the back. That should be borderline sufficient for a dual GPU and CPU.

My POV is that I wouldn't make a WC system if the person whom I'm building it for has no knowledge about maintaining it afterwards. I'd use air cooling on builds that aren't mine as it is less of a trouble when it comes to maintenance. Unless he's paying you to do maintenance/repairs every time something goes wrong; KISS and have less liabilities.

 

[UNhooked]

Yep more than likely it's going to all air. He hasn't made up his mind yet. Hence looking at air coolers for now.

 

[aigomorla]

Yep more than likely it's going to all air. He hasn't made up his mind yet. Hence looking at air coolers for now.

well as u assemble the system you could show him how easy maintenance is and give him that option.

If you set things up correctly, then it only really needs to be top'd off every couple of months.
If you use silver, you can probably go 6-8 months without flush.

And he would get his silent computer by watercooling.
Of course he's paying for it in the LC eq.

But its really hard to build a gaming PC which is silent.
Because when your gaming, that roar from the gpu fan is shrouded by things blowing up and you getting shot at.

 

[infoiltrator]

Without Overclocking, Ivy Bridge I7 is 77 watts, Haswell I7 is apparently 84 watts, uncertain how much of that is iGPU.
The CM 212 EVO is a good $30-35 cooler, fan is quieter than the Blademaster from the 212+.
Phanteks has some air coolers out that reviews found very quiet, as does BeQuiet.
More traditional coolers tend to be larger and heavier.
I do not see you "needing" more than a CM 212 EVO, but there are many great $50-60 air coolers.
IF you wish to spend more, the smallest, quietist efficient cooler has an appeal.
Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow or Macho have top performance.

 

[UNhooked]

Cool thanks guys! Looking at a some of the Zalman coolers. Local Frys has some good rebate on them. I can also get the Swiftech Polaris for $39 but I may need to change out the fan on those.

But its really hard to build a gaming PC which is silent.
Because when your gaming, that roar from the gpu fan is shrouded by things blowing up and you getting shot at.

Yep I learnt this with my 7970's. While my cpu was cool the reference gpu coolers got loud to a point where my wife was annoyed. Hence I switched to WCing which I am used to from the the AMD Barton days.

 

[TY-1]

The Xigmatek Dark Knight 2 is a decent mid-level cooler as well.