DangerDen water cooling vs BEST air cooling?

[foodfightr]

Lets say you had a choice between an dangerden water cooling kit or a really top notch air cooling setup. I'm talking big powerful fans and heatsinks with no wires in the way to block immediate and powerful air circulation.

Assume they both make the same amount of noise.

Which would keep the cpu cooler? 😕

 

[JBDan]

Water under load:Very similiar @ idle. *This coming from someone who has never used water.

 

[JEDIYoda]

from what I understand the entry level water coolers and the high end air cooling such as the XP120 and XP90 copper and Big Typhoon as well as the Scythe Ninja and Shogun and Zalman 9500 as well as a few others are neck and neck if not sometimes getting better temps than the entry level water..

But I have never had water....
yet if I was to go water I would do a custom job from DangerDen.
The main reason being I know I would not be satisfied with an entry level water unit!!

But with that said I do like the Zalman reserator 1 Plus as well as the Thermaltake line of water coolers!!

I personally like the Aquarius 3 -- http://www.thermaltake.com/watercooling/a1681.htm
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cooling/Tt_Aquarius_III/pg_5.html

Conclusion
Some ups and downs here with these results but far and above they are ups. The SLK-800 did beat out the Aquarius III but it should be noted that the SLK-800 was cranking 49 dBA for its 44 degrees while the Aquarius III made its 46.5 degrees at a very tolerable 21 dBA. I think this alone speaks volumes. Some water cooling kits are designed for cooling molten lava and have the loud fans just as do their high performance air cooled counter parts. One of the major points of water cooling is the ability to cool very efficiently and very quietly. ThermalTake has moved its focus for the majority of its cooling line up to excellent performance at exceptionally low sound levels. The Aquarius III exemplifies this in my opinion.

My 2 cookies worth--




But thats just me!!!

 

[foodfightr]

By entry level I meant danger den....

 

[JEDIYoda]

lol 😛

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: foodfightr
By entry level I meant danger den....

Uhhh... You can make a pretty nice system from their website that would kill an uber high-end aircooling solution.

 

[kamranziadar]

I don;t like DangerDen's Water cooling at all, they are expensive and they used cheap products.

 

[vanvock]

All things equal I would stick to air. I don't like the thought of something springing a leak & peeing all over my hardware.