Noctua NH-D14 or Corsair H80i? 28-33C ambient temp

[madmeatballs]

Well, I've got a problem about deciding which one to buy.
My ambient temperature is 28-34C (Tropical Country)
I plan to OC my 1090t to at least 4.0 or 4.2. Currently have it OC'ed at 3.7 seems stable with prime95 for 3hrs.

here are my temps(load prime95), its high because my damn ambient is high and my cooler isn't strong, its a Corsair A50 with Scythe SlipStream 1900 fan which I am wanting to change but I can't decide between the H80i or the NH-D14.

 

[doyll]

NH-D14 over H80 any day. NH-D14 cools just as good and only thing to go wrong is fan failure.. so system is always functional.

H80 has a history of being unreliable (mostly pumps) and when the pump goes you have no cooling at all, system shuts down, and until you change coolers you cannot use system.

 

[Mandrake4565]

madmeatballs, a few things that you need to take into consideration.

I plan to OC my 1090t to at least 4.0 or 4.2. Currently

Will your chip even do those clocks? The probability is good that it will but some just will not.

28-33C ambient temp

Whether you choose Air or All in One Water, they both can only do so much with high ambient temperatures. I am not a fan of the AIO heatsinks, I feel they are more of a headache then they are worth. In my mind if your going to go water, do it right the first time. Go into the water cooling section and start reading about full custom water. If not then my choice is the Noctua, it's arguably, one of the best Air coolers out there and the only problems you are likely to have with it is a dead fan,after years of use. Unlike the AIO units which seem like they have pump problems all the time. In addition, I would look at the comparisons between the two, I'd bet the Noctua is a better cooler then the H 80 also. Another consideration if you can get one is the Phanteks it's as good as the Noctua.

 

[manu2b]

What mandrake says: with a nh-d14, I hit 4.25/1.55v prime stable with a 18/20ºC ambient, max core temp below 55ºc.

With a 28/30ºC, my cpu max [email protected], still 1.55v on load.

And it is an above average chip...

 

[madmeatballs]

Okay I just found out that NH-D14 will not support my Ram's height. sad to say I have to scratch it off my list now since as much as I want the NH-D14 now I can't. It would block my ram slots. I guess I'll have to go for the AIO? or is there an alternative for the NH-D14?
I'm pretty sure my case wouldnt support the Silver Arrow aswell as the Phanteks which is not available locally anyways. I guess I am left with the h80i?

Edit: I don't want to opt in a full custom watercooling kit for some reasons. 1st those kits for example the XSPC RASA RS240 kit is over priced locally like x2 the price. 2nd Maintenance. 3rd I do not intend to OC very much just a standard OC would do for 24/7 operation. 4th no budget for custom water cooling.

 

[Mandrake4565]

From what I've seen those Dominators sit pretty high there probably isn't much choice for an Air cooler. Is it possible to remove the top of the heatspreader?

 

[madmeatballs]

From what I've seen those Dominators sit pretty high there probably isn't much choice for an Air cooler. Is it possible to remove the top of the heatspreader?

well, it is possible to take of the light bar but it still is high.. (I google someone who compared the Dom platinum with a regular Dom the platinum one seems to be higher.) too bad for me no NH-D14

 

[Mandrake4565]

I had a look at them and it doesn't look like its all that easy to get the bar/fins off. So I agree with you an AIO unit looks like your next option other then a full custom water set up. though you might be better off with the H100i over the 80, if it will fit in the case.

 

[madmeatballs]

I had a look at them and it doesn't look like its all that easy to get the bar/fins off. So I agree with you an AIO unit looks like your next option other then a full custom water set up. though you might be better off with the H100i over the 80, if it will fit in the case.

well yea I made a mistake buying this case aswell as the ram. eventually if I replace my case I'd probably grab a swiftech H220 instead. Anyway thanks!

EDIT: you think 2 yate loons would be nice for a push/pull for the H80i or 2 Scythe GT 1900s?

 

[doyll]

I think a Silverstone HE01 will fit.

 

[Mandrake4565]

EDIT: you think 2 yate loons would be nice for a push/pull for the H80i or 2 Scythe GT 1900s?

My yates in p/p work fine though the Scythe GT's are better fans all around, I'd stick with them.

And doyll found what looks like another option.

 

[madmeatballs]

My yates in p/p work fine though the Scythe GT's are better fans all around, I'd stick with them.

And doyll found what looks like another option.

well, I tried looking for what doyll suggested locally. Couldnt find one available here. So I went for the AIO Corsair H80i. It have improved my temps very much I mean before I idle at 38-41 with the A50 and around 75C on load now I idle at 28C then load at 41-42C.

about the P/P fans. I'll buy another Scythe then.

 

[h4rm0ny]

well, it is possible to take of the light bar but it still is high.. (I google someone who compared the Dom platinum with a regular Dom the platinum one seems to be higher.) too bad for me no NH-D14

I have an 1100t (so similar to yours) and a NH-D14 and Dominator RAM! So I'm pretty much a test case for what you want to do.

The Noctua is excellent. I'm not sure what my ambient temperature is here (sorry), but I run a 24/7 4GHz overclock and the temp is reluctant to go over around 40 in any normal use. With sustained HyperPi I can force it up to around 57! Which is incredible. (I do live in the UK, though. ).

I had a problem with RAM fitting. On my Sabretooth motherboard, it overlaps the inner two RAM slots. I did manage to remove the heat spreaders on the Dominator RAM. It wasn't easy, but doable without damaging the RAM. The effect on the RAM is neglible imo. Maybe if I were really overclocking the RAM?

There's an alternative though. Simply saw off the bottom two fins of the cooler. You can do that with a cheap fret saw. Just be careful not to damage it, but that shouldn't be too hard. I've not done this but the effect on the Noctua of losing two of it's 60 or so fins should be barely noticeable, I would think.

It's also silent as a nun, so if it's the one you want, I'd say go for it and do one of the two things I suggest to deal with the RAM issue. (note, you may feel a few tears welling up when taking a saw to the Noctua, but it's only very minimal surgery. ).

Hope that helps,

 

[GoD_tattoo]

You could also just lift up the fan a little bit on the side that is too low for the ram. I'd rather do that than remove heatspreaders which can sometimes make the ram go bye bye. Especially with the price of ram currently.

 

[h4rm0ny]

this is very difficult to understand

If talking about lifting up the fan, that's actually very easy on the Noctua. You just clip it on a little bit higher. I did that with mine. But you have to keep in mind the size of your case. Without the lid on, I could lift as high as I want. But in practice, it will only give me about an extra centimetre of clearance with my case because then the fan is too tall. Of course you could clip on a slightly smaller fan on one side. I don't know how much difference that would make to the cooling but probably nota large amount. However, on my Sabretooth motherboard it wasn't just the fan that was the problem, it was the fins themselves. I had to remove the heatspreaders on my Dominator RAM. But as I said, you could easily take off the lowest two or three fins on that side and you'd be sorted.