Corsair H80 Liquid CPU Cooler ??

Hey Guys,  Im new here and am about to purchase my first computer from DS.  I am planning on getting the i7 3930k overclocked to between 4.0-4.5ghz, the ASUS Rampage 4 Extreme mother board, and the Cooler Master Elite 430 case, just to name a few specs.  The computer also comes with the Corsair H80 Liquid CPU Cooler .  I have heard different things about liquid cooling and I wanted to know what you guys thought of this cooler.  I want something that is reliable and will not fail.  Some of my friends say that I should just stick to air cooling so the other option would be the  Noctua NH-D14 Extreme Performance  fan.  What you guys think?

Thanks for the feedback.  I am going with the 430 case because of its smaller size.  The other cases are simply just too big for my application.  The Noctua should fit just fine in the 430 from what I have been reading.  Does anyone think it will not fit?  Also so you would recommend the Noctua air cooling versus the Corsair stage 2 liquid cooling seups?

Alex, thanks for the information.  As you mentioned, the Corsair and the Noctua will both perform very well.  I guess one of my main concerns is the longevity of each unit.  I will probably be using this next computer that I am about to purchse for the next 5 years and I just dont want the liquid cooler to fail before then.  Not to say that it WILL fail, I just dont have any experience with liquid coolers.  I know they are maintenance free but how likely are they to fail, leak, or just experience issues?  Would air cooling units like the Noctua be more reliable than liquid cooling units?  I am also planning on running Corsair Vengeance ram which has large heatsinks.  Will I have any issues fitting the Noctua in a cooler master 430 case with corsair vengeance memory?

oh thats a good idea Frank, I appreciate you guys taking a look.  Here is my configuration number: 629896 

Frank, I Have been thinking about what you said about the cooler master 430 case and I am now looking at an alternative option.  I am limited on space so the HAF cases will not be an option for me.  But I like thie Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced case and it seems to have excellent reviews.  thoughts?

Alex, I have been looking into the Noctua and I am finding mixed answers as to if it will fit in my case.  I am planning on using either the cooler master 430 case or CM690 II advanced with ASUS Rampage 4 extreme mother board and either 16gb or 32gb of corsair vengeance ram.  What are your thoughts, do you think this will fit?

Thanks Martys, good thing you told me.. ill have to look into this further before I make a decision

Hi kane860,

I tried to respond earlier today but the site wouldn't let me save my configuration.

You have some problems with your system or at least things that I wouldn't do.

1. I know you want a mid-tower but you are looking at the wrong cases. You want to avoid 120mm fans if you can. They turn at high speeds and don't push as much air. For sure you don't want to replace a 200mm fan with a 120mm fan. The best mid-tower case out there for air cooling is the HAF 922. It is a mid tower with very good cooling. I have the feeling you are picking your cases based on looks more than performance. If you don't want the HAF 922 then take a look at the Corsair 600T case.

2. Drop the Corsair memory and get the 1600 DS certified. Performance is the same and it doesn't have the heat spreaders.

3. I dropped out the Raid configuration. You only had one HDD ordered and it is not a good way to go.

4. I added the WD 1T. I am not sure what you had.

5. I changed the 580 to a 570. I don't know your resolution but the 570 is great for 1920 X 1080.

6. I changed your CPU cooler to the A-70. With a mid-tower case you will have more room and still get good cooling.

7. I dropped the blue fan change. If you want blue fans you need to get the 200mm led fans not the 120mm ones.

8. I changed the OC to stage 2. This will give you a speed of 4.5/4.6 with great performance.

9. I changed Win-7 to the Pro. You need that for the 32Gb of memory.

I listed below a system for you to consider. It is just as powerful as your system with a higher OC and less money.

Frank


Build number: 629998 Cost: $2980

If you Pick the HAF 922 instead of the HAF-X then you can reduce your price by $30 or so.

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 DELUXE (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1050W Corsair Pro Silver 1050HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (120GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 320 Series)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology) (EVGA Edition)
Add-on Card: USB 3.0 4-Port PCI Express Card
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Corsair A70 Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro or Deluxe Series Motherboard)
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Pro(64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - Yes
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

Edited by FrankW - 09 Dec 2011 at 4:49pm

Hi DST4ME, yea I asked some of those questions but he never replied. I posted before I saw you had replied or I would have just let you take care of it.

Frank

Edited by FrankW - 09 Dec 2011 at 4:58pm

Hey Guys, sorry about the multiple threads, I thought it would be best to keep each thread separate so that people could reply to the ones they wanted to, sorry about that.  As for your questions, here they are:

Ok kane lets clear up a few things.

a. yes fsx does not utilize sli correctly, however metro and bf3 do and need it. 3D will need sli also.

b. for fsx you are not going to notice a difference between 580 and 570.

c. you have no need for the Rampage extreme nor does it offer you anything over say the deluxe.

d. what are you trying to raid and what is the raid for?


e. I doubt the 2600k is better in gaming then the 3930K in gaming, they might be equal, but for everything else you mentioned the 3930k is much better.

for your res and what you have mentioned, frank's build is the one you want, I would go sli 570 right off the bat.

nothing wrong with stage 2 oc you just want to ask them for vcore lower then 1.4.

now if you don't agree with what we are saying, then help us understand why, for example why do you need the Rampage mobo? Also you sure you need 32GB of ram?

The extra vram helps in aa at 2560 x 1600 res and higher, at 1900 x 1200 it makes no difference.

the oc is not pushing or stressing the cpu at all, just ask for a vcore below 1.4 and your cpu will out live your pc itself.

Your build looks good along as you have need for 16GB of ram.

Ask DS specifically for this fan to be added to the top, so you endup with 4 x 200mm fans:

haf 200mm non led fan

Awesome build. I think I'm jealous. What a way to bring in the New Year.

 Now I Just need to pull the trigger and place the order which is easier said than done!  Hard to let go of that much money   but it will be worth it from what i hear

Congrats you didn't forget the extra fan I hope

Edited by DST4ME - 23 Dec 2011 at 5:31pm

nope.. i got an email today actually saying that my extra fan was added.. I was surprised by the cost though, an extra $30... I thought they would use the one that was $15

ohhhh yah my bad, how did I not even realize that lol  sometimes we customers dont even realize those things  since we are only thinking about "when the hell is our new rig going to get here"  hahahaha

im on stage 3 now... unfortunately my build is still waiting on the 3930k chip since its out of stock... eta is around January 7th.. and also still waiting on new se2011 noctua cooler to arrive I guess.. anyways I cant wait!