Hi,

I'm in doubt about what cooler to get for my upcoming system with a i7-3930k and a Antec P280 - I am planning a small oc to 4.0GHz and maybe something like 4.5GHz later depending on how difficult it is.

I am very tempted to go for a Corsair H100 because of it's size and fit in the case, whereas the Noctua NH-D14 is a really big heatsink that occupies so much room (should fit though). However, the performance seems to be about equal for these coolers.

I have been worrying about the possiblity of leaks, but a lot of people are saying don't worry because it's so unlikely with these closed/sealed loop systems?

I am also thinking about the noise, some say the H100 is very quiet, some say it's quite loud - but I guess if I find it loud I can just get some better fans to replace the stock corsair fans? Would quality fans be able to stay quiet with H100 on max performance setting so I both the get top cooling and quietness? I know this would make it quite expensive and then you may suggest me to go for a custom water setup instead, but I don't want the hassle with this

What's your opinion? What would you pick?

I hope you can help me decide as I'm in two minds about this. Thanks in advance.

From my local hardware dealer the Noctua NH-D14-2011 with PWM fans is significantly cheaper than the Corsair H100. I am not sure you would see such much difference in cooling between the two, even when overclocking. The issue might be the exent to which you could control the PWM fans, and for this reason it might be worth considering one of the Asus X79 boards for their superior BIOS fan controls. The Asus BIOS controls would give you the choice of three pre-set modes and a manual mode allowing a custom fan profile to be constructed if required. This would at least allow you the choice of balancing CPU and system temperatures against fan speeds and noise.

Have you considered that Noctua NH-C14. SPCR ranks it slightly less powerful than the Noctua NH-D14. But frostytech ranks it slightly more powerful. It certainly takes up less space than the Noctua NH-D14... and in addition it helps cool your motherboard components.

Thanks for your replies

The price difference where I live is not significant between the NH-D14 and H100 - so the price shouldn't really be factored in.

I just looked at some photos of the NH-C14 and it still looks like a quite big cooler (with the fans attached), then I feel I could just as well go with a NH-D14

It's not like I don't have space for the NH-D14, but I just think it would be really neat with a H100 in terms of size - I would be able to change ram, fans, whatever more easily - if it's too noisy I guess I can just replace the fans?

I know that will be a more expensive solution overall, but the cost for the fans on their own is not so much.

Do you think the possibility of leaks with the H100 is so low that I shouldn't worry about it?

Btw, I will be getting an Asus board, more specifically a P9X79 Pro.

If you're unsure go with air cooling.
The Noctua NH-D14 is a great cooler. You should consider the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E, too.
The fans are high quality and have an even larger diameter then the one on the Noctua.
Before you buy the i7-3930k make sure whatever software you're planning to use will put those six cores to good use. Otherwise the upcoming i5-3570K (Ivy Bridge 22nm 3.4GHz Quadcore) would be more than enough.

Why do you say I should go air cooling if I'm in doubt?
I've been reading reviews and user comments the last few hours and I'm actually starting to think I should go for the Corsair

And yeah I will be utilising all the cores of the 3930k (3d rendering)

If you are looking for something small and powerful, take a look at the Noctua NH-U9B. It is amazingly small and powerful. It uses 92mm fans. The most current version comes with two fans. The Noctua 92mm fans are one of the quietest, if not the most quiet 92mm fans.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.c ... 270&page=5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... Tpk=NH-U9B

Also take a look at the Thermolab BADA that uses a 95mm fan. It is a real powerhouse of a cooler that is only 135mm high... better than a great manner full size tower coolers.
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.c ... 467&page=5

Thanks for the suggestions. Dont get me wrong regarding my needs for a smaller sized cooler though - A NH-D14 could be fine even though it's huge, but I'm considering the H100 because it performs about equal while at the same time being very small so it is going to be easier to change graphics card/memory/whatever, I'm just regarding the small size of H100 as an added luxury, not a complete must

If the H100 was performing much worse than a NH-D14 I wouldn't consider the H100 too much

Hi, I have a NH-C14 on i7-2600k @ 4.5GHz and struggle to get enough cooling. This is with 4 cores, you're going to have 6 cores... I would suggest the bigger the better as far as possible. Probably NH-D14 or new Silver Arrow SB-E the way to go for air coolers, especially the Silver Arrow as it's enormous and has 8 heatpipes.
For 140mm fan I think anything over 1000rpm is starting to be quite loud but we all have our own perceptions of noise level.

If you find reviews of the H100 on over-clocked SB-E and the temps look good then maybe go for that.
Seb