CPU Cooler - Fan or water cooled?

lifeinfocus · November 2, 2011

Anybody have any opinions on a CPU cooler, whether it be fan or water cooled?

I am building a new Win7 machine for CS5 and video creation - photos, videos, text, etc. (using Photodex Proshow Producer, which is likely to be 64 bit in the next release).

I am looking at either the (two fans) Noctua NH-C14 140mm x 2 SSO CPU Cooler, or the Corsair H100 water cooler.

Tradeoffs are - Noctua is quiet and energy efficient but huge and may barely fit in the case and the H100 fits easily in the case, but not as quiet.

I am leaning toward the Noctua dual fan.

Phil

Shooter84 · November 2, 2011

lifeinfocus wrote: »

Anybody have any opinions on a CPU cooler, whether it be fan or water cooled?

I am building a new Win7 machine for CS5 and video creation - photos, videos, text, etc. (using Photodex Proshow Producer, which is likely to be 64 bit in the next release).

I am looking at either the (two fans) Noctua NH-C14 140mm x 2 SSO CPU Cooler, or the Corsair H100 water cooler.

Tradeoffs are - Noctua is quiet and energy efficient but huge and may barely fit in the case and the H100 fits easily in the case, but not as quiet.

I am leaning toward the Noctua dual fan.

Phil

It really depends If you plan on overclocking or not and if so how much. I personally have the Noctua and love it. IMO given the information you have provided I would say there is no reason the Noctua wont be everything you need and more.

jww · November 2, 2011

I agree.. if you don't have multiple gfx cards for gaming as well as overclocking the CPU, there really is no real huge need for water cooled.

Not sure what case you are using, but Ultra makes some nice cases that support quite a few extra fans. I also like their power supplies as the cords are modular. Only need to plug in the amount and type of cable you need.

angevin1 · November 2, 2011

lifeinfocus wrote: »

Anybody have any opinions on a CPU cooler, whether it be fan or water cooled?

I am building a new Win7 machine for CS5 and video creation - photos, videos, text, etc. (using Photodex Proshow Producer, which is likely to be 64 bit in the next release).

I am looking at either the (two fans) Noctua NH-C14 140mm x 2 SSO CPU Cooler, or the Corsair H100 water cooler.

Tradeoffs are - Noctua is quiet and energy efficient but huge and may barely fit in the case and the H100 fits easily in the case, but not as quiet.

I am leaning toward the Noctua dual fan.

Phil

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

Phil, I have the above linked Fan . I am overclocked to 4.0GHtz from 2.83Ghtz. I watch OCCT during renders and so forth, am able to keep temps <81c.

Thanks,

roakey · November 2, 2011

Having recently stood up a couple [Intel based] machines, I'm wondering what made you decide that the fan that comes with the processor is insufficient (assuming that you're not overclocking and you're buying a retail boxed processor)?

Roak

Ps. And as an aside, what processor and motherboard are you looking at?

borrowlenses.com · November 2, 2011

Personally I'd say go with the fan. Easier to install and the big units provide great cooling power. Like Shooter84 said, only use water if you plan to over clock.

lifeinfocus · November 2, 2011

Thanks all - more details
Thanks all for your comments.

More details:
Case - Corsair Carbide Series 500R - new, very large side fan.

Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601960

Not planning on overclocking, yet.

WilliamClark77 · November 4, 2011

I'm running a Corsair Hydro H50 liquid cooler on an amd Phenom ll 6 core mildly oc'd to 3.6 ghz on a Winders 7 64 machine I built a few months ago. I really like it over previous fan setups. It's far overkill for my needs. I do no gaming. During long video processing the temps barely increase above where they sit at idle. I have a big ugly case with great air flow. Fans cooled adequately.

What I like about it is it seems to create less static that draws in dust to be cleaned. Previous fan coolers on other machines I've built would gum up the heat sink. Since I built this one in February I have yet to remove the case cover and it is still clean inside (the case cover is clear). The other thing I like best is the noise. There is none. Silent. My computer is in my living room. We play ripped movies from it through my entertainment system via hdmi. I never notice fans humming away using the computer, but watching movies it gets annoying. I like how with the liquid cooler we can't even tell the computer is on.

It is big. The radiator is anyway. The cpu cooler/pump is small. There's plenty of room though. I can look when I get home and/or take pics if you want. Also, you'd think it would be simple to mount to the cpu. The directions are nil and it takes some thinking to figure out though.

lifeinfocus · November 4, 2011

WilliamClark77 wrote: »

I'm running a Corsair Hydro H50 liquid cooler on an amd Phenom ll 6 core mildly oc'd to 3.6 ghz on a Winders 7 64 machine I built a few months ago. I really like it over previous fan setups. It's far overkill for my needs. I do no gaming. During long video processing the temps barely increase above where they sit at idle. I have a big ugly case with great air flow. Fans cooled adequately.

What I like about it is it seems to create less static that draws in dust to be cleaned. Previous fan coolers on other machines I've built would gum up the heat sink. Since I built this one in February I have yet to remove the case cover and it is still clean inside (the case cover is clear). The other thing I like best is the noise. There is none. Silent. My computer is in my living room. We play ripped movies from it through my entertainment system via hdmi. I never notice fans humming away using the computer, but watching movies it gets annoying. I like how with the liquid cooler we can't even tell the computer is on.

It is big. The radiator is anyway. The cpu cooler/pump is small. There's plenty of room though. I can look when I get home and/or take pics if you want. Also, you'd think it would be simple to mount to the cpu. The directions are nil and it takes some thinking to figure out though.

Thanks for your response. I have read a lot about cooling and not one article mentioned a cleaner box using a liquid cooled system. Good information.

HeroOfCanton · November 5, 2011

I have an AMD 955 BE oc'd to 3.6GHz on air that sits in a full tower, crossfired gpu's, 4 physical HDD's and 2 optical drives. The only cooling I have is 2 - 80mm fans on the front and 2 - 80mm fans on the back. I had the stock AMD fan on there for a year or so but moved up to CoolerMaster Hyper 212. I do extensive gaming and put a lot of stress on my machine and it stays cool the whole time.

With your setup, the only reason to go water cooling, IMO, is for silence. You aren't going to be overclocking and while I've heard tale that the Intel coolers don't work as well as they should, I've not much hands on experience with Intel setups beyond building them. I think you will be fine as far as cooling goes, now it comes to noise level.

lifeinfocus · November 5, 2011

HeroOfCanton wrote: »

I have an AMD 955 BE oc'd to 3.6GHz on air that sits in a full tower, crossfired gpu's, 4 physical HDD's and 2 optical drives. The only cooling I have is 2 - 80mm fans on the front and 2 - 80mm fans on the back. I had the stock AMD fan on there for a year or so but moved up to CoolerMaster Hyper 212. I do extensive gaming and put a lot of stress on my machine and it stays cool the whole time.

With your setup, the only reason to go water cooling, IMO, is for silence. You aren't going to be overclocking and while I've heard tale that the Intel coolers don't work as well as they should, I've not much hands on experience with Intel setups beyond building them. I think you will be fine as far as cooling goes, now it comes to noise level.

Thanks for your comments. Noise is one of the ten high level criteria I set for the machine. I have built machines before but it has been awhile. I have been involved in IT for many years and researching and building this machine exclusively for photography and video creation has been fun. I am thinking about writing a paper on it and maybe more.

Phil

Dan7312 · November 5, 2011

http://pugetsystems.com uses a sealed liquid cooling system in their systems. http://www.pugetsystems.com/parts/CPU-Cooling/Puget-Hydro-CL3-Liquid-Cooling-System-7617 I don't know if it is available as a separate part, but I have one of their and it does help keep things quiet.

Overfocused · November 5, 2011

I like this thread.

Since you won't be needing a powerful video card I'd also just get the fan/heatsink. At 30db max, it will not be audible unless the room is very very quiet. If you have a really dusty place I'd recommend buying a sheet of anti-allergen air filter cloth and patch some pieces over your fan vents. It will clean your house out while keeping dust out of the case. My computer runs double duty as an air purifier when it is on

Dan7312 · November 5, 2011

I find that on my machine when I render video with either Camtasia or Premiere it really up's the temp on the processors and ratchets the fans up to full speed. I've got liquid cooling, but the fans speed is controlled by processor temperature. My video card only has a heat sink, no fan.

During video editing the system is usually is pretty quiet, occasionally the fans will speed up if the editor has to do some rendering to patch things together. I've never heard the fans speed up when I'm using Lightroom.

I also do screen recording to make instuctional videos and have found it's the system isn't really quiet enough to record the voice while I record the screen. Now I do the voice recording separately, in the basement away from the computers, and add it to the video during editing.

You can get dead silent systems if you want, they are just heat sinks and radiator passive cooling with no fans, but the systems are on the lower end of performance.

Quiet depends on what you feel is quiet. Most of the systems (non game) that I've seen in the last couple of years are plenty quiet to not be irritating but are marginal to be a media controller in your living room and too loud to use when recording voice.

HeroOfCanton · November 6, 2011

Overfocused wrote: »

If you have a really dusty place I'd recommend buying a sheet of anti-allergen air filter cloth and patch some pieces over your fan vents. It will clean your house out while keeping dust out of the case. My computer runs double duty as an air purifier when it is on

Hey! that's a great idea, thanks!

lifeinfocus · November 6, 2011

Dan7312 wrote: »

I find that on my machine when I render video with either Camtasia or Premiere it really up's the temp on the processors and ratchets the fans up to full speed. I've got liquid cooling, but the fans speed is controlled by processor temperature. My video card only has a heat sink, no fan.

During video editing the system is usually is pretty quiet, occasionally the fans will speed up if the editor has to do some rendering to patch things together.

I also do screen recording to make instuctional videos and have found it's the system isn't really quiet enough to record the voice while I record the screen. Now I do the voice recording separately, in the basement away from the computers, and add it to the video during editing.

Quiet depends on what you feel is quiet. Most of the systems (non game) that I've seen in the last couple of years are plenty quiet to not be irritating but are marginal to be a media controller in your living room and too loud to use when recording voice.

I do record voice, but often I do it onsite with a laptop. But I may do some voice recording using this desktop. Noctua has a very quiet CPU cooler but it is very large. I will be receiving components shortly and will do some measurements to see if that fits. I have the dimensions for the CPU cooler from Noctua and the space available from the motherboard to the side of the computer case is close, very close.

So, I am going to test first with the standard cooler and if that is cool enough and quiet enough then I am done.

If that doesn't work I am going to look at Noctua NH-C14 140mm x 2 SSO CPU Cooler, or the Corsair H70 which allows you to use your own fans. Noctua and others make some very quiet fans. That may be a great combination.

Phil

HeroOfCanton · November 6, 2011

I buy all of my fans from frozencpu.com, they have an amazing selection and in 5 years, I've never had a problem with them. It's the only other place besides newegg that I will shop

jww · November 6, 2011

Just an fyi.. frozencpu.com is a nice place for all stuff cool and extra fun goodies. Besides newegg, tigerdirect.com is pretty nice as well. Last 3 systems I have built have all been from parts I have purchased from tiger direct. Never a problem and really quick shipping.

lifeinfocus · November 9, 2011

Corsair Liquid CPU Coolers Reviewed as of Nov 7 2011
AnandTech, one of the better computer review websites IMO, just released a review of three of Corsair's liquid CPU coolers. Noise levels also tested.

Note that Corsair makes a water cooler, the H70, that allows you to use your own fans in case you have some around or in the event you want to try super quiet after mark fans. Worth a try?

Anatech Corsair watercooler review

basflt · November 9, 2011

with liquid coolers its usually the pump that makes the noise
for that , i think air-coolers are better and more quite

liquid cooling is only useful for gamers

Dan7312 · November 9, 2011

Actually the liquid cooler on my Puget Systems custom system gave me the quietest system I could get. Fanless, pure radiator systems, are more quiet but could not handle the power my system required.

In typical usage, editing that sort of stuff or even recoding video off the screen, the pump itself is less noise that a fan on low speed. When I start doing rendering or the other high computation stuff that I do the fans typically rachet up to full speed and the system becomes quite noisy.

basflt wrote: »

with liquid coolers its usually the pump that makes the noise
for that , i think air-coolers are better and more quite

liquid cooling is only useful for gamers

basflt · November 9, 2011

i guess there also very silent pumps

but as i whole , i still think fans are preferred , as there exist very silent fans

also
fans speed can be adjusted to your needs
both via hardware controlers as software controllers
[ Speedfan is freeware ]

and
fans are cheaper
easier to install
no risk of leaks
no yearly fluid replacement

[ just my idea ]

Chris Geiger · November 9, 2011

I have an 875K i7 cpu overclocked to 4.0G. I was using a large fan/heat sink and that worked well for all of my still photography work including very large batch runs with Photoshop (700+ images). It was on the edge and did get as high at 80c during heavy usage. This year I added video to my offerings and rendering in premiere quickly pushed the temps much higher. I purchased a Corsair Hydro T100 and put it in the top of my cooler master case. It is working great and is much quieter than the cpu fan I had before. It's been great for me and my CPU temps (both idle and under load) are much lower.

MomaZunk · November 9, 2011

I have the Corsair H50. It is completely sealed, no annual water replacement, simple to install, and similar cost to an aftermarket cooler. I have a moderately overclocked iC7-930, so I usually add an after market cpu cooler. The noise reduction is what I noticed, and I will probably use this cooler in future builds. I was not interested in a full blown liquid cooled system due to cost and maintenance.

CPU Cooler - Fan or water cooled?

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