Needing new AIO water cooling suggestions

[elkido122]

So i have had my noisy x61 for about 2 years now and i am getting tired of the thing unfortunately with the pump noise and all. I have read about corsair but have not read to great of things. i need a good cooler that is 280mm and not pump loud. suggestion? Going on my 6700k stock speeds.

 

[elkido122]

Bump

 

[XavierMace]

Have you talked to NZXT about your pump? I've had mine for at least a couple of years now, no noise.

Most of the AIO's are rebrands of the same Asetek pumps so there's not much difference between them. If you're wanting a better pump, you'd need to step up to either a custom build or something like the Swifttech customizable AIO.

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

Or consider a good air cooler instead. Watercooling isn't all it's cracked up to be...and just how do you diagnose a failing cooler? Noctua makes some nice quiet (but uuuuuuugh-lee!) air coolers.

 

[elkido122]

I don't want some heavy thing on my motherboard sorry

 

[elkido122]

i have seen people complaining of the swiftech leaking, so no on that one.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

i have seen people complaining of the swiftech leaking, so no on that one.

That's true. You might have had it delivered in a wrinkled and water-soaked box. If there were no parts broken, you might be able to fuss over it enough to make it leak-free and functional. the H240 X2 and similar is supposed to be a "customize-able" AiO, but count on it requiring some "custom" attention. Or -- bet on it, anyway . . .

"Heavy thing hanging on my motherboard." The Great Myth is immortal. The original Intel spec going back to early previous decade was about 400 to 500 grams for cooler weight. But the risk to the motherboard isn't just "weight:" It's torque -- equivalent to weight times distance from center-of-gravity or center-of-mass.

Most of a cooler's weight is concentrated nearest the base. When you add fans, the center-of-gravity shifts, and torque increases. A fan (120mm or 140mm) weighs about 7 oz.

The weight of a Noctua NH-D15 "monster-cooler" is about 980 gm without fans. The weight of a TR Le Grand Macho is about 920 gm without fans.

The only risk to your motherboard, given decently-designed mounting hardware for the cooler, arises when you take your computer and throw it across the room, knock it down, or transport it off-road in a 4x4 needing new shocks. For shipment, if it only requires two screws removed to separate the cooler from the IHS, you could probably even preserve the thermal paste if it is IC Diamond, placing some wax paper over the exposed surfaces. Alternatively, you could pack the shipment with cardboard inserts to stabilize the cooler and alleviate any shock-stress to the cooler mount.

I suspect that the Myth gets some extra life because of cooler appearances: the larger the cooler and its fins, the more "hinky" it looks for appearances-sake.

There's also a myth about accessibility, and the height-dimension of RAM modules. While some RAM modules might present a problem for the nearest memory-slot of an NH-D15, different cooler designs like the TR LG Macho completely expose memory slots for a dual-channel motherboard.

If you have a system with quad-channel memory, water-cooling is a more effective choice anyway.

 

[XavierMace]

Some people just don't like having a massive heatsink impeding access to everything or some have cases they simply won't fit in. There's a variety of cases that will take a 280mm radiator but not one of the massive tower coolers.

 

[elkido122]

well besides nzxt, what AIO 280mm unit should i get for good results as well.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Some people just don't like having a massive heatsink impeding access to everything or some have cases they simply won't fit in. There's a variety of cases that will take a 280mm radiator but not one of the massive tower coolers.

Definitely an important point. I can imagine folks picking a case for building a system based on the aesthetics primarily, then wishing this or that feature or lack of feature supported their emerging needs as the building goes through a "discovery" process.

Answering Elkido122, I think there is an EKWB Predator 280. There is most certainly a 360 model, but looking at Maximum PC's recent 5960X "silent" system built with EKWB parts, you're left with a limited set of places for HDD and SSD storage, like the back-side of the motherboard pan accessible from the right side-panel. Me? I need an optical disk and some hot-swap bays. And I want some front-panel USB3 ports and eSATA ports.

As opposed to the PRedator line, you can get EKWB kits with various part specs that include radiators as desired.

For the record, I'll give the rundown on "accessibility problems" I face with my own Skylake system in a Stacker 830 with a TR LG Macho. The fins are designed as I said to leave the mobo area forward of the processor latch completely unobstructed, more or less as you choose to install a 120 or 140 mm pusher fan. I can reach the top x1 PCIE slot to install a card -- a bit tedious. Slightly less tedious for connecting SATA cables to a PCIe controller in that slot. For me, I have to pull off a Lexan motherboard duct to get at anything, but all the cables are laid and hardware installed so that it just pops on and pops off: I have to slide it carefully over the Macho fins, but that's no problem either. There is only one item which is really difficult to access: the 40mm Noctua intake fan at the I/O plate, made inaccessible by the TR accessory accordion duct of the Macho. In order to get at that fan, I must first remove all 9 motherboard mounting screws (with a magnetic screwdriver, certainly), and I have to slide the motherboard an inch or two forward so that the accordion duct can be removed or pushed aside to access the fan-plate.. Then, again with the magnetic Phillips, I must remove two screws on that plate installed in the plastic shroud of my Sabertooth's I/O plate and VRMs, and remove the Noctua from the plate.

If the 40mm fan is being replaced, then we go through the same process once more in reverse.

You can ask yourself "what kind of access?" and "How often this access?" I'm fine with the Macho. I was just thinking today that I could look again at the Predator 280, the Swiftech H240 X2 and similar items. I could look at some kits. I could look at some quick-release fittings. I could fret over it considerably. I just don't know at this point, but the old Stacker 830 is completely ready to rock-and-roll in the water.

You can check the OS forum to see what I've been through lately to feel that I've reached the top of Everest or K2 without water-cooling. All I want to do at this state of affairs is game and game and game, or fool around with my other software. For most things, the processor never heats up beyond 45C. That shouldn't change much, if I crank it back up to 4.7 Ghz after troubleshooting my Build 1703 difficulties. I will still match the performance of either the EKWB or H240 X2 by themselves each with a completely virgin retail-box shrink-wrapped processor. Mine was re-lidded with CLU for a 12C improvement in temperatures.

 

[XavierMace]

OP: Again, have you talked to NZXT? I've got an X61 and 2x X31's. No noise issues with any of them. But I've found their support to be great to work with the few times I've talked to them. If your pump is noisy, contact them.

Bonzai:

Different people have different tolerances to accessibility "issues". Personally my response to what you just described with your case would be "lol, no". But I go out of my way to eliminate clutter/frustration. If memory serves, hard drives won't clear a large cooler either in that case when being removed/installed, requiring you to either move the cooler or the whole drive "box" when installing/replacing drives. You obviously don't mind these "issues" so the case works for you. Nothing wrong with that, it's a matter of preference. However, let me explain what tasks in my case require me to touch my CPU cooler.

1) Removing the CPU.
2) Removing the motherboard.

Technically I don't even need to remove it for #2 unless I'm replacing the board. When I say touch, I mean that literally. I'm not having to grow extra joints or try to wiggle my way around things. There's not a single item in my case that requires me to remove/move something else to access. I can access every single device and plug without removing/moving any other device just by removing two thumb screws and pulling off my side panel. I can technically say the same thing about my HTPC with a little patience, but it's usually easier to remove the one optical drive to get to the RAM. CPU/GPU/Drives can all be accessed without removing anything other than the lib though.

Answering Elkido122, I think there is an EKWB Predator 280. There is most certainly a 360 model, but looking at Maximum PC's recent 5960X "silent" system built with EKWB parts, you're left with a limited set of places for HDD and SSD storage, like the back-side of the motherboard pan accessible from the right side-panel. Me? I need an optical disk and some hot-swap bays. And I want some front-panel USB3 ports and eSATA ports.

That depends entirely on the case. None of those things are strictly mutually exclusive with a suitable case. It may limit your case choices and even require purchasing a more expensive case. But that's part of making your purchases line up with your requirements. I've had a case with 10x hot swap drives, two optical drives, and 2 360mm radiators. That still left me with 2x drive bays which could be used for USB/eSata ports or whatever.

You can check the OS forum to see what I've been through lately to feel that I've reached the top of Everest or K2 without water-cooling. All I want to do at this state of affairs is game and game and game, or fool around with my other software. For most things, the processor never heats up beyond 45C. That shouldn't change much, if I crank it back up to 4.7 Ghz after troubleshooting my Build 1703 difficulties. I will still match the performance of either the EKWB or H240 X2 by themselves each with a completely virgin retail-box shrink-wrapped processor.

Again, we've had this discussion before but you're matching the OoB performance from the high end AIO's with hours and hours of tweaking, fabricating, etc and installing ducting in your case. You enjoy doing that, so great, more power to you. I'll even give you that some of your results are impressive, although not terribly surprising for anyone who's used to dealing with servers which are always ducted.

But at the end of the day, you've simply matched the cooling performance I got from installing a retail item as is and then never touched again. If you're not wanting to mess around with your computer, that may be a better option.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OP: Again, have you talked to NZXT? I've got an X61 and 2x X31's. No noise issues with any of them. But I've found their support to be great to work with the few times I've talked to them. If your pump is noisy, contact them.

Bonzai:

Different people have different tolerances to accessibility "issues". Personally my response to what you just described with your case would be "lol, no". But I go out of my way to eliminate clutter/frustration. If memory serves, hard drives won't clear a large cooler either in that case when being removed/installed, requiring you to either move the cooler or the whole drive "box" when installing/replacing drives. You obviously don't mind these "issues" so the case works for you. Nothing wrong with that, it's a matter of preference. However, let me explain what tasks in my case require me to touch my CPU cooler.

1) Removing the CPU.
2) Removing the motherboard.

Technically I don't even need to remove it for #2 unless I'm replacing the board. When I say touch, I mean that literally. I'm not having to grow extra joints or try to wiggle my way around things. There's not a single item in my case that requires me to remove/move something else to access. I can access every single device and plug without removing/moving any other device just by removing two thumb screws and pulling off my side panel. I can technically say the same thing about my HTPC with a little patience, but it's usually easier to remove the one optical drive to get to the RAM. CPU/GPU/Drives can all be accessed without removing anything other than the lib though.



That depends entirely on the case. None of those things are strictly mutually exclusive with a suitable case. It may limit your case choices and even require purchasing a more expensive case. But that's part of making your purchases line up with your requirements. I've had a case with 10x hot swap drives, two optical drives, and 2 360mm radiators. That still left me with 2x drive bays which could be used for USB/eSata ports or whatever.



Again, we've had this discussion before but you're matching the OoB performance from the high end AIO's with hours and hours of tweaking, fabricating, etc and installing ducting in your case. You enjoy doing that, so great, more power to you. I'll even give you that some of your results are impressive, although not terribly surprising for anyone who's used to dealing with servers which are always ducted.

But at the end of the day, you've simply matched the cooling performance I got from installing a retail item as is and then never touched again. If you're not wanting to mess around with your computer, that may be a better option.

Maybe I mistook you on this minor point: I needn't remove the cooler to get the motherboard out. But no arguing otherwise. Also, the hard disk cages and drive installation for the Stacker 830: there are two cages, each with three parts. The side-plates that screw into the case have rubber mounts isolating the "box" of the cage, and the cages remove from the front-panel. Of course, your traditional cheap punch-out case has you bumping your HDD into a graphics card, pulling it out from inside the case.

It's a trade-off in time and trouble, versus the < 5% chance of difficulties at multiple failure points. Most of the work I put into this came before the final decision to abjure the Predator/H240-X2 and other options, so the case was initially prepared for the radiator. I'm guessing that installation of a Predator 240/280 would net me a 5C improvement in temperatures, only adding that margin to what resulted with the CLU-relid.

I won't have any hesitation reinvestigating water options if I build a system with a 140W TDP processor, or even something greater than 100. But! I could use the same case for it, now!

 

[ScottAD]

I also echo the contacting NZXT. My x61 is dead silent except when I first boot and the pump kicks on. I can't hear that noise when the case is shut but I can when it is open for obvious reasons.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm interested in multiple comparison reviews for a Kraken x62 so I can compare what I don't know now with what I do know now: "If X > Y AND Y > Z THEN X > Z."

If I avoided logical inference in these proceedings, I probably would've sprung for an AiO last year -- maybe earlier. But with more information, I could give one a try . . . also . . .

 

[aigomorla]

90% of all AIO's are rebranded asetek.
They sued everyone who made AIO's and won because they managed to get the patent to it, even tho swiftech was the founder of the AIO pump with the Apogee Drive unit.


So basically OP your stating.. i am tired with my toyota... anyone recommend me a scion or lexus?

Your just asking to replace your NZXT for another same AIO unit just branded a different name...

Also i +1 in contacting NZXT if your pump is making funny noises / ratting.
It shouldn't make any audiable noise unless you got your ear right up on your PC, and the noise your hearing could be coming from something else like dying fans possibly.

 

[XavierMace]

and the noise your hearing could be coming from something else like dying fans possibly.

THIS. A while back I was intermittently getting a loud grindy noise on startup that I thought was the pump. Turns out it was one of the front intake fans.