zalman air or koolance H2O??

[none1]

Hi. building a new comp, needs to look professional, so my getto water cool car radiators won't work.

gonna be a P4 2.4 or so, overclocked, raid 200X2 WD 2 gig ram

So what do I cool this with?

I've heard good things about the zalman HSF, BUT, I tend to like H2O, BUT, I've heard that koolance is poor H2O.

So which one will cool my system better? Is koolance water any better than good air?

Thanks!

[vonkaar]

Koolance is a fine system, just don't expect a lot of overclocking headroom. But... the same can be said about the Zalman HS. Basically, you'll get pretty equal temperatures between the two, and TBH, the sound-level will be pretty equal as well =p.

[James McGee]

Originally posted by none1
Hi. building a new comp, needs to look professional, so my getto water cool car radiators won't work.

gonna be a P4 2.4 or so, overclocked, raid 200X2 WD 2 gig ram

So what do I cool this with?

I've heard good things about the zalman HSF, BUT, I tend to like H2O, BUT, I've heard that koolance is poor H2O.

So which one will cool my system better? Is koolance water any better than good air?

Thanks!

Temps will be about the same between good air and the Koolance system, the difference mostly will be sound. The Koolance at its lowest settings are quite quiet. Even at its highest settings the 3 small fans are quieter than most high performance air cooling. You will probably be able to overclock a bit better with the h20, but don't expect large gains.

[fafnir]

i've got a koolance exos and a thermalright slk800 with a sf2 and between the two, i'd say that not only is my koolance quieter by far, and it has given me better temps.

at stock voltages or just a bit more, they're about even, maybe even the slk pulls ahead a bit...

BUT

at what i'm at right now,... 58 celcius and 2.2v vcore on 2.5ghz barton, the koolance pulls ahead by far...

i know the 58 celcius sounds a bit high, but the slk CAN'T get my chip to 2.2v vcore never mind the 2.5ghz (=intel 3.3ghz w/875)... and the koolance does that WHILE cooling my gFX ultra card... (different block attached)

i'd say that the zalman is as good as the SLK 800 or maybe even a bit better, but with the smart fan 2 turned on max, i'm pretty sure the slk would cool better...


but since you're going with a p4 system, i really don't know...

i would however RECOMMEND WATER OVER AIR, any time, given that the water system is of decent QUALITY not performance...

and besides, how much r u willing to spend on this thing? cause if you haven't got ur case yet, ever consider stuff like a premodded comserver lian li?

[fafnir]

http://www.comservercom.com/images/BlackCaseRollover_01.jpg

http://www.comservercom.com/images/BlackCaseRollover_01-Bla-03.jpg

http://www.comservercom.com/images/WaterBlockRollover_01.jpg

http://www.comservercom.com/images/WaterBlockRollover_03.jpg

[Cytomax]

If you dont like the look of the radiator why not get something like the BIXII it actually looks very good and i would imagine isnt THAT far behind a heater core and you still can keep a great performing w/c system.