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SOLVED Self-contained liquid cooling?

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RockstarX74

RockstarX74

Registered
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Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Location
British Colmbia, Canada
I'm building my first gaming PC from the ground up and geared towards overclocking.

Specs:
Case: CM Storm Trooper
MB: ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3
CPU: Intel i7 2600K
RAM: 16GB (4x4gb) Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600MHz (XMP)
GPU(s): 2x MSI N560GTX-Ti HAWK(OC) (SLI)
PSU: OCZ ZX 850W 80+ Gold
SSD: Crucial M4 Micron C400 64GB (SRT)
HDD: Seagate Constellation ES 1TB

I've been doing a lot of reading on different cooling options and one piece of hardware has peaked my interest. Self-contained liquid cooling units. In particular the Antec Kuhler H20 920. I would greatly appreciate some experienced viewpoints and/or recommendations. Thanks!
 
I have a hard time recommending anything in the single 120mm range. TBH a quality air cooler is what you want unless your willing to go with the H100 or a custom loop.
 
I wouldn't have a problem recommending that LCLC system. I haven't tested it, but from what I've read it's roughly comparable to the Corsair H80, which I have tested. And a H80 will easily handle a 2600K for cooling.
 
ssjwizard said:
TBH a quality air cooler is what you want unless your willing to go with the H100 or a custom loop.
Click to expand...
I considered going with a push/pull air heatsink for my CPU but I didn't like that I had to give up memory slots to do so. I haven't seen any that were well rated and small enough to leave the closest memory slot to my CPU free. I was looking at the CM V6-GT but once again it took up too much board real estate. I'll take a closer look at the H100. thanks! :)
 
If you get low profile RAM, it's typically not a problem. :) The 2600K does not run all that hot, and you could probably get by with a cheaper heatsink, though the H80/Antec equal is a very good unit.

Btw, could probably go cheaper on the motherboard/case. Also, one higher end card is typically preferred then two midrange cards like you have. Then you can leave SLI/CFX as an easy upgrade option :). (Consider posting in the General Hardware section. It's less specific advice but we can critique the entire build as a whole.)
 
Knufire said:
Btw, could probably go cheaper on the motherboard/case. Also, one higher end card is typically preferred then two midrange cards like you have.
Click to expand...
Already have the case and MB and one of my GPU's(as well as PSU, Optical drive, 2x4GB RAM and OS). I'm buying my system a piece at a time! Next up my CPU! I didn't decide to go SLI until after I had my first card... Won't be getting the second GPU for another month or so. When the price on the 590 drops significantly I'll probably switch to it. But for now though the best I can do is pick up another 560-Ti after I have the remaining components(CPU, 2x4GB RAM, SSD, HDD, CPU cooler, wireless Networking card) for my system.
 
Running the H100, easily the best cooler I've ever used, by a long shot. Highly recommended. Just make sure you get a case that will fit it.
 
RockstarX74 said:
I'm building my first gaming PC from the ground up and geared towards overclocking.

Specs:
Case: CM Storm Trooper
MB: ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3
CPU: Intel i7 2600K
RAM: 16GB (4x4gb) Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600MHz (XMP)
GPU(s): 2x MSI N560GTX-Ti HAWK(OC) (SLI)
PSU: OCZ ZX 850W 80+ Gold
SSD: Crucial M4 Micron C400 64GB (SRT)
HDD: Seagate Constellation ES 1TB

I've been doing a lot of reading on different cooling options and one piece of hardware has peaked my interest. Self-contained liquid cooling units. In particular the Antec Kuhler H20 920. I would greatly appreciate some experienced viewpoints and/or recommendations. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I use a Corsair H70 on my 2600k gaming box and I use a Corsair H80 on my HTPC.

I like the H80 better, but that's because of its improved mounting system and the fact I replaced the OEM Corsair Fans with Cougar CF-V12HP units. Very please with the performance and cooling the combination provides.
 
mjw21a said:
Just make sure you get a case that will fit it.
Click to expand...
I can mount 2x 120mm fans either at the top-rear or bottom-front of my case. If I go with the H100 I was thinking of running it at the bottom if the hoses are long enough. if not I'll have to remove the 200mm fan at the top. I'm still liking the Kuler 920 which I can mount in place of the rear fan and it comes with the software to control the PWM fans with a custom running scheme possible. Not a big fan of having to purchase software for a product on top of the products purchase price which is the case with the H100.
 
the h80 and 920 are pretty much equal to each other, less the 1 degree difference in most tests. You can check http://www.overclockers.com/prolimatech-genesis theres a chart with a lot of air coolers and a handful of Liquid cooling systems listed there. As you can see the h80 beats all and the 920 would be right there with it. Unless your doing really heavy overclocking a thick 120 such as the h80 or 920 will serve all your needs and the benefits of an h100 wont become apparent until you push above 5 ghz and then its still not a huge improvement. Recently picked up an H80 myself.

*edit* Heres a test between h80 and h100 with the performance numbers of the 920 http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...-920-review-thermal-acoustic-performance.html that was stock, and here is a heavy overclocked chart http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...0-and-antec-920-review-maximum-overclock.html
 
Last edited:
RockstarX74 said:
I can mount 2x 120mm fans either at the top-rear or bottom-front of my case. If I go with the H100 I was thinking of running it at the bottom if the hoses are long enough. if not I'll have to remove the 200mm fan at the top. I'm still liking the Kuler 920 which I can mount in place of the rear fan and it comes with the software to control the PWM fans with a custom running scheme possible. Not a big fan of having to purchase software for a product on top of the products purchase price which is the case with the H100.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I'd be more worried about clearance. I thought the H100 would fit in my Fractal R3 as it took 2x 14cm fans at the top. Not so, not enough clearance from the mainboard. I ended up replacing my case to fit the cooler. Returning it to the shop was never an option :p
 
57udl3y said:
the h80 and 920 are pretty much equal to each other, less the 1 degree difference in most tests. You can check http://www.overclockers.com/prolimatech-genesis theres a chart with a lot of air coolers and a handful of Liquid cooling systems listed there. As you can see the h80 beats all and the 920 would be right there with it. Unless your doing really heavy overclocking a thick 120 such as the h80 or 920 will serve all your needs and the benefits of an h100 wont become apparent until you push above 5 ghz and then its still not a huge improvement. Recently picked up an H80 myself.

*edit* Heres a test between h80 and h100 with the performance numbers of the 920 http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...-920-review-thermal-acoustic-performance.html that was stock, and here is a heavy overclocked chart http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...0-and-antec-920-review-maximum-overclock.html
Click to expand...
First off thanks for taking the time to collect these links. Much appreciated! :)

I'm probably going to take the lazy mans approach and let my motherboard software set the stable clock for me (at least until I understand more about what I'm doing). Should get between 4.4GHz and 4.8GHz. Definitely looking forward to checking out UEFI Bios. Gotta love ASUS boards! :)
 
On many of those tests of the Antec Kuhler H20 920 (120 rad) vs corsair h100 (240 rad), they test them both at max fan speeds, ie significant fan noise, or stock settings which dont show difference at OC power.

But if you use the cooler as intended on auto fan speed, a heavily OCed cpu on antec kuhler had much higher temp than corsair h100 on auto, see toms review here.

If your using an overclock that air can easily handle, and your only using 120 rad self-contained liquid because air cooler wont fit or whatever your doing, then you may be ok with 120 rad. But if you want better cooling than air at quieter fan speeds for a significant voltage OC, you might want to think about one that uses 240 rad. Though you can always run a fan fast/loud enough to cut the difference to a few C, but are you going to be happy with fan that loud.
 
rge said:
But if you use the cooler as intended on auto fan speed, a heavily OCed cpu on antec kuhler had much higher temp than corsair h100 on auto, see toms review here.
Click to expand...
Well I definitely won't be trying to break the 5.0GHz barrier so I probably won't see the temps shown in the those graphs the noise level may be another matter but i'm hard of hearing as it is so probably won't bother me too much... I hope! My biggest problem with going the H100 route is that I'd prefer software control over my cooler as opposed to having to open up my case to adjust the fan speed. I looked at the system for monitoring and controlling the H100 and I'm looking at spending an extra $100US to get the cool-link system just so I can have software control which the 920 will give me out of the box. Now if only there was a 240mm rad out there that gave me the push-pull aspect of the 920 with software control that wasn't going to cost me twice as much and did it's job.
 
Say I do go with the H100, would it make any difference if I mounted the rad on the bottom of the case as opposed to the top and how long is the tubing? there's no mention of how long the tubing is in any of the specs I've seen.
 
From all appearances the tubing is 16ish inches long. Mounting at the top or bottom of the case is purely cosmetic/situational. If you can fit it in either location I say use it in the one that your not already using for fans.
 
I don't know if the tubing length is different on the H100, but the H80 tubing is around 11 inches long, as measured by myself. Since they are both sourced from the same OEM, they are liable to be similar.
 
Thanks guys! Your recommendations along with the bazillion reviews I've read and watched have steered me to going with the H100 despite the added cost for the link setup. It seems like the best choice for low profile CPU cooling despite my preference towards the 920's aesthetic qualities. I hope 11.5" is long enough to reach my CPU from the bottom of my case if not bye bye 200mm fan.
 
RockstarX74 said:
Thanks guys! Your recommendations along with the bazillion reviews I've read and watched have steered me to going with the H100 despite the added cost for the link setup. It seems like the best choice for low profile CPU cooling despite my preference towards the 920's aesthetic qualities. I hope 11.5" is long enough to reach my CPU from the bottom of my case if not bye bye 200mm fan.
Click to expand...

Woa woa woa where are you mounting this radiator at? Keep in mind the pump has to be the lowest point of the loop otherwise air gets into the pump and ruins it. If you cant fit the dual 120 at the top of your case you really ought to look at the H80 instead. The difference between the H100 and H80 is minimal; none if you use a high pressure fan.
 
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