corsair h55/h60 vs Low profile air coolers (i5 4690)

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diymaker

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Nov 22, 2012
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i am planning to get a new system with i5 4690k, but i need a cooler that has a total height of about 5cm including the mobo.
The rig will be used for gaming and rendering.
My questions is which is better water cooling like the h55/h60 or low profiles air coolers like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608029&cm_re=NH-L9i-_-35-608-029-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709017&cm_re=H-TC90LS-_-35-709-017-_-Product

any other suggestions for better LP coolers?
or these LP coolers will be the same performance as the stock cooler ?
i am not planning to overclock soon.
 
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diymaker

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Nov 22, 2012
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that was my belief at first ,but after doing some searching i found opposing thoughts :/ lots of people hate water cooling idk why
 
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oczdude8

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its because they have never used it, and they think watercooling now is what it was 20 years ago. I've personally used an H50 cooler for 5 years, and just recently upgraded to a custom loop (h50 still works too!). My h50 kept my 150W overclocked cpu well within its temperature limits; Something the highly praised evo 212 failed to do. Its also important to note that the size and airflow of case will make a big impact on the performance of an air cooler. While a watercooler and an air cooler may perform the same on an open test bench, put them in a small case with low airflow and the air cooler will become siginificantly worse then the watercooler. This point is often missed in reviews and comparisons between air and watercooling.
 
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synphul

synphul

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Very true, with a cramped case and poor airflow the air coolers won't perform as well. So long as radiator can breathe (exhaust heat) it would work better in that scenario. Single rad aio's are barely 'watercooling' however. The reason many don't care for water cooling, despite being more common now than they once were they're becoming cheaply mass produced. More than one person has experienced leaks, failing water pumps etc on top of failing fans (which is all that can fail on an air cooler). Budget $50 aio's are trying to ride on the coattails a bit of real custom loop water cooling and the two are nowhere near the same. Somewhat to be expected, custom water loops cost a lot more as well.

I don't know what cpu oczdude8 used the 212 evo on, but if there's space for one (normal case, mid tower etc, not small form factor where it won't fit) the 212 evo is more than capable of cooling a 4690k at mild overclocks. It's not my favorite for it's mounting system but it's quite capable for the price. Anymore I think the cryorig h7 is a better cooler and would have been my pick but it wasn't available yet when I got the 212 evo. The 4690k isn't that hot of a cpu that it requires anything more than decent air cooling in a standard midtower/fulltower. Not saying all aio's fail but take a look through the forums at all the trouble people have with aio's. From software management of the pump, pump failure, high temps, leaks etc. Just be sure to keep an eye on it like you would any water cooler if you go with an aio and keep the warranty card handy.
 
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diymaker

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Nov 22, 2012
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for me i am towards watercooling but the only problem i have is just the space, regarding the air cooler wont be efficient cuz of the small form factor case.....the case will be custom built it willl have a height of about 5cm , so if i added one of the low profile air coolers and opened a window ontop of it so it takes fresh air directly, does that make any difference?
also this is off topic but, is the h55 suffient for this cpu or it might need the h100i?
thanks
 
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diymaker

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Nov 22, 2012
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u get the same reply as oczdude 8 since you both have the same answers:

for me i am towards watercooling but the only problem i have is just the space, regarding the air cooler wont be efficient cuz of the small form factor case.....the case will be custom built it willl have a height of about 5cm , so if i added one of the low profile air coolers and opened a window ontop of it so it takes fresh air directly, does that make any difference?
also this is off topic but, is the h55 suffient for this cpu or it might need the h100i?
thanks
Click to expand...
 
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synphul

synphul

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Having fresh air like a vent directly over the cooler would help some but you're still dealing with a very confined space. The low profile coolers are top-down so even if it's pulling cooler outside air in over the cpu, the heat from the cpu will be blown around directly into the cramped case. The case itself would need good airflow to overcome the heat flowing around. A watercooler has the advantage that the heat would likely be blown directly out of the case. Some people may have luck with the smaller aio's like the h55 but they typically have to run full out (somewhat loud) to be effective and even then they're limited because of their size. My personal preference would be a 240mm dual fan radiator like the h100i.
 
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diymaker

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Nov 22, 2012
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thanks,
i understand that u favor the h100i but will it differ alot from the h60? putting into consideration that every cm in my build is precious and as i said i wont be overclocking and also fan noise doesnt matter to me. Also for me case with a small crowded "case" :p , how will i setup my rad and fan , will the fan be placed directly to fresh air"open vent" and the hot air be directed to a side vent or fresh air will be withdrawn from another far opening in the case that makes the air flow pass by the motherboard and the ram then have the hot air from the rad go directly out of the vent?

 
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oczdude8

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Again as I pointed out, I was using an older corsair h50 cooler (thin 120mm rad) to cool an i7 920 which put out around 150W of heat. It handled it well. There's no reason why the newer h55/h60 cannot handle your cpu which puts out only 88W of heat.

Of course, the h100i will cool better, but the h55/h60 is enough if you absolutely cant spare room for the bigger h100i.
 
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