Hi folks. Its my friends birthday coming up. He's not a rich fellow, so I thought I'd buy him a new AIO cooler for his rig, since at the moment he's using the stock cooler. He's currently got a Athlon X3, but hopefully will upgrade next year to an 1155/1150, since he's been saving up for about two years for a new rig. I'm therefore looking for someting About £40 AM3 and Intel compatible PWM would be nice 120mm (he doesn't have a case that will fit rads any larger) Scan have several nice options here: Corsair H60 - 2013 Factory Refurbished version Coolermaster Seidon MSI Dragon Antec Kuhler 650 Personal preference would be either the Seidon or the H60, because I think the MSI Dragon looks a bit gash, and the Antec has a fan that cannot be changed, but what does everybody else reckon?
MSI's Dragon 90's tattoo logo is ****ing horrible and ruins there otherwise great products. Iv used a H60 in a friends build and its excellent for the money. Also looks the smartest. just make sure he dont use PWM with the pump. It has to be running at full power all the time otherwise you can fudge the pump.
I have been doing some research into sub £40 AIO coolers. Apparently the antec coolers are loud and then the fan can't be replaced. The H60 is a solid performer but not much better than the H55. The coolermaster has gotten some great reviews and preforms as well as the H80. I have seen some reliability issues on forums though. maybe the newer batches have addressed this. http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2744&page=5
I'd personally go with the Seidon given its warranty is longer than the H60 at 2 years as opposed to 90 days for the latter. Otherwise I would have taken the H60.
Wow, the results for that Seidon are pretty incredible! EDIT: Though it seems that is with the fan at 2400rpm at which speed its pretty noisy.....
Does he have heat problems? Note it is the case's responsibility to provide a sufficient supply of cool air flowing through the case. The CPU fan need only toss the CPU's heat into that flow and today's OEM coolers are fully capable of doing that even with mild to moderate overclocking. If not extreme overclocking and still overheating, I recommend upgrading his case cooling as that will help the rest of the components too. If he is not overheating, then I say buy him something that provides tangible performance gains, he can actually see, like more RAM.
Without intending to be rude (and I note your considerable experience in the field of IT), I'm struggling to see how this is a relevant suggestion based upon the OP. If the OP's buddy is planning to go Intel -K series (and overclocking), using the stock cooler is simply daft. Also, remember, given the nature of this forum, it'll be based on an aesthetic viewpoint too Moreover, the AMD stock coolers are, in my experience, loud, less-than-brilliant, and visually a bit naff. In the quest for quiet, an AIO is a champion choice for the money.
I can't speak for refurbs, but I have been using an H60 for a while now in push-pull and it's coped fine with everything, although a bit loud with two fans.
I don't mean to be rude either but you are basing your comments on your own "what if" that was never suggested. All we know is "hopefully" next year, he will get a new mobo. Nothing was said about overclocking. And while alternative cooling devices do look cool (no pun intended), we don't even know if he has a windowed case. And IMO, a tidy case interior with proper cable management provides great, professional aesthetics too. And true, we don't know how much RAM is in there now, but at least with RAM, depending on the starting point, you can install it and see instant performance gains, get instant gratification, instant better gaming, etc. If he is not overheating now, adding alternative cooling will NOT make his system more stable. It will not improve his gaming experience, his Internet performance or anything else. Once you install the AIO cooler, then it is out of sight out of mind - assuming he's like me and prefers to pay attention to what's happening on his monitors, instead of inside the case. As for noise, both Intel and AMD have heard the complaints and the new OEM coolers are much quieter than they were just few years ago. Plus a good case will do much to suppress fan noise, and for sure, AIO fans are not immune to fan noise (or worn bearings) either. Not to mention, as meandmymouth noted, not all that quiet either. And again, I am saying "what if" too - that is, "IF" this friend only has 4Gb or less now (and "IF" he has a 64-bit OS), adding more RAM will result in a better performing computer that can be seen from day one and then on. That's more power and who doesn't want "more power (arr arr arr!)". Regardless, as Ljs points out, Parge's friend has a very generous friend.
Ah but what you're missing is that I know Parge IRL, rather limiting the 'what if' factor Additionally, I still don't understand how your reply is helping the OP? He said nothing about improving performance or anything like that - in fact, he merely posed the question 'which of these AIO coolers shall I buy my friend', not 'I'm buying my friend a birthday present, and I have looked at all of these AIO coolers, but I might just buy something completely different'. That said, I understand a) your desire to help in general; and b) that a RAM increase, inter alia, would provide a performance boost if RAM is limited at present. However, it doesn't help Parge choose which AIO to buy! FWIW, I'd go with the H60!
He IS buying a gift for his friend's birthday. Is there some harm in suggesting something different? Something that is still computer related?
The reason I didn't suggest RAM is because he has 8GB already, and no more slots to fit additional RAM. Stock coolers are loud and suck for OCing, hence the upgrade there. After looking at the Seidon, it appears to look very 'cheap', so I think I'm going to go with the H60 in the end. I'll probably hook him up with some nice fans in push pull to replace the stock ones too!
The H60 in the end mate. It just looks much smarter than the rest, and I've had very good experiences with Corsair kit in the past. With the non standard fan on the Kuhler, and the crappy looking logo on the MSI one, it came down to the Seidon or the H60. The Seidon has really good performance, but in the flesh looks really plasticky - you can see how they cut the corners, that's for sure. As an aside, for myself, I just picked up two H55s and two NZXT Kraken G10s from eBay for £70 all in, buyer even included two SST-FM93 92mm Silverstone fans with it that seem to be going for £9 a piece (though the cable isn't even braided - for £9 you'd expect it to be!). If they can get one GPU per eye working in VR, then my next Rig is going to be SLI. Its hard to go back to air cooling after water - I don't miss all the silly fiddling about, but I do miss those amazing temps - and this setup should hopefully be the best of both worlds.
