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Looking for best 120mm AIO water cooler

4K views 59 replies 13 participants last post by  seanwee 
#1 ·
Hey guys , i might get a new compact gaming PC using AMD's Zen next year.

I would use a larger water cooler but im afraid that smaller cases wont support larger water coolers so i want to get a 120mm aio, unless you guys have case suggestions.
I prioritize GPU cooling so the case must have good airflow for GPUs.

Thanks in advance!!!
 
#3 ·
Hello

I think the best 120mm AIO is the NZXT Kraken X31 or Corsair H75..
 
#5 ·
Neither are good. Most aircoolers will be better.
 
#9 ·
Is there a reason to get bitfenix prodigy m. It si due to what you have available or cost?
As you limit what you can do.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sp33d Junki3 View Post

Neither are good. Most aircoolers will be better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanwee View Post

I know , but the problem here is that the case I prefer to use(bitfenix prodigy m) does not really go well with air coolers.I think that a water cooler will do better.
I would not see why, AIO's need fans and a rad also.

I guess he's looking for portability perhaps, but an AIO will add a lot of weight to it.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sp33d Junki3 View Post

Is there a reason to get bitfenix prodigy m. It si due to what you have available or cost?
As you limit what you can do.
I chose the prodigy m as my case of choice as it has great gpu cooling (I can mount fans on the top vent constantly bringing cool air into the case). Besides, it looks portable enough.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mong Grel View Post

I would not see why, AIO's need fans and a rad also.

I guess he's looking for portability perhaps, but an AIO will add a lot of weight to it.
Well, if you look at the case after the gpu and PSU are mounted, the air cooler would not have much breathing space.Also, if I mount it so it takes in air from the back or the bottom, lots of hot air will just stay in the case.

Weight isn't really an issue if it's 10kg+- total.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanwee View Post

How much better are 140mm rads compared to 120mm rads?
120mm rad = 144cm2
140mm rad = 196cm2

144/196 = 0.73469

If the rad size scales linerally, you're looking at roughly a 33% increase in cooling area moving from 120 to 140mm rad.

EDIT: To clarify, your temps will not be 33% cooler on the 140mm rad. Cooling performance will probably render you around 5 degrees less on the 140mm compared to the 120mm rad.
 
#16 ·
The Asetek 49mm rad. A couple of companies use that rad (H80i V2, Arctic Cooling Freezer 120, and I think Zalman has one too.), and it's as good as you're going to get as far as aios go. I have the H80i GT/V2, and it will cool a 1.3v 4930K with good temps. The H80i v2 has performance similar to its 240mm counterpart minus a couple degrees.

AMD Zen looks to be a bit more efficient than my old Ivy Bridge E, but we won't know until reviewers get their hands on one. Also, I'm sure AM4 will require new brackets for their socket, so it might be a good idea to have another go at this when coolers are updated for that and when we have more information on Zen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Pistol View Post

120mm rad = 144cm2
140mm rad = 196cm2

144/196 = 0.73469

If the rad size scales linerally, you're looking at roughly a 33% increase in cooling area moving from 120 to 140mm rad.
Well, you also have the thickness. There aren't any thick AIO 140mm rads. Asetek's 49mm thick 120mm rad has a larger thermal capacity than any of the 140mm ones.
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by airisom2 View Post

Well, you also have the thickness. There aren't any thick AIO 140mm rads. Asetek's 49mm thick 120mm rad has a larger thermal capacity than any of the 140mm ones.
I was not taking thickness into consideration, but you are correct. The only downside of a thick radiator is that it needs a fan with better static pressure to be effective.
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Pistol View Post

I was not taking thickness into consideration, but you are correct. The only downside of a thick radiator is that it needs a fan with better static pressure to be effective.
How much static pressure approximately? I currently use cm blademasters with 3.90 mm/H2O. Good enough?

I would get the Silencio performance edition but I can't find any over here
frown.gif
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Pistol View Post

I was not taking thickness into consideration, but you are correct. The only downside of a thick radiator is that it needs a fan with better static pressure to be effective.
Yeah, especially that 49mm. The fpi on it is pretty dense. It's a good thing that it ships with two fans, which together offer enough static pressure to utilize the rad.

To add on to your last post, 140mm fans have worse static pressure than their 120mm counterparts, so that narrows the difference a bit more, but you're still right that a 140 rad will perform better than a 120 of the same thickness and similar fans. Any deficiency in static pressure on 140mm fans isn't enough to fully offset the larger surface area of the 140mm rad.

E: Never mind. Too many variables at play to compare 120mm vs 140mm fans.
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanwee View Post

Also, do thicker rads benefit more from push/pull configs compared to thinner rads due to their resistance?

And is it true that it is beneficial to have a slightly higher cfm pull fan compared to the push fan on push pull configs?
Your first question depends on the fpi of the rad. A thick high fpi rad will benefit more than a thick low fpi rad because there is more metal in the way.

It's beneficial to have as much cfm as you're comfortable hearing. There's nothing wrong with having matched rpms on your fans. The first fan's airflow will lower anyways vs. the second fan because of the rad's resistance, so it would actually be better to have a faster push fan, but why stop there when you could just run the second one faster as well? It will only improve temps.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by airisom2 View Post

Yeah, especially that 49mm. The fpi on it is pretty dense. It's a good thing that it ships with two fans, which together offer enough static pressure to utilize the rad.

To add on to your last post, 140mm fans have worse static pressure than their 120mm counterparts, so that narrows the difference a bit more, but you're still right that a 140 rad will perform better than a 120 of the same thickness and similar fans. Any deficiency in static pressure on 140mm fans isn't enough to fully offset the larger surface area of the 140mm rad.

E: Never mind. Too many variables at play to compare 120mm vs 140mm fans.
Lol, I used to be confused too until I did some research on fans.

Basically , the static pressure is a measure of how much the cfm drops when faced with an obstruction. (Static pressure is a bad real life measurement IMO).For example a 4mm/h2o fan retains 70% of its cfm when going through a xxfpi rad while a 3mm/h2o fan only retains 40% of its rated cfm. So that's why people recommended fans with at least 2-3 mm/h2o fans for rads.

So you can't really say for sure that 140mm fans are better/worse than 120mm fans for radiator usage.It all depends on which fans you are talking about.
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by airisom2 View Post

It's beneficial to have as much cfm as you're comfortable hearing. There's nothing wrong with having matched rpms on your fans. The first fan's airflow will lower anyways vs. the second fan because of the rad's resistance, so it would actually be better to have a faster push fan, but why stop there when you could just run the second one faster as well? It will only improve temps.
Nah , it was just an unconfirmed rumor .

Gentle typhoons for the win
biggrin.gif
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanwee View Post

Lol, I used to be confused too until I did some research on fans.

Basically , the static pressure is a measure of how much the cfm drops when faced with an obstruction. (Static pressure is a bad real life measurement IMO).For example a 4mm/h2o fan retains 70% of its cfm when going through a xxfpi rad while a 3mm/h2o fan only retains 40% of its rated cfm. So that's why people recommended fans with at least 2-3 mm/h2o fans for rads.
Well, you really can't trust static pressure ratings nowadays. It's best to just test the fan's airflow through a rad instead of relying on those types of numbers because all of these companies test differently, and because of that, you can't directly compare static pressure ratings, or cfm or dba. You can find those types of reviews at thermalbench.com.

Quote:
So you can't really say for sure that 140mm fans are better/worse than 120mm fans for radiator usage.It all depends on which fans you are talking about.
Yeah, that's why I edited my previous post. There are too many variables at play to compare different sized fans, especially for radiator use because 140mm fans go on 140xn rads and 120mm fans go on 120xn rads.
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by airisom2 View Post

Well, you really can't trust static pressure ratings nowadays. It's best to just test the fan's airflow through a rad instead of relying on those types of numbers because all of these companies test differently, and because of that, you can't directly compare static pressure ratings, or cfm or dba. You can find those types of reviews at thermalbench.com.
I know , companies tend to overrate their stuff but at least it's something right?

I refer to the benchmarks here http://www.overclock.net/t/1274407/fans-the-most-complete-and-comprehensive-array-of-tests-and-benchmarks
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by airisom2 View Post

The Asetek 49mm rad. A couple of companies use that rad (H80i V2, Arctic Cooling Freezer 120, and I think Zalman has one too.), and it's as good as you're going to get as far as aios go. I have the H80i GT/V2, and it will cool a 1.3v 4930K with good temps. The H80i v2 has performance similar to its 240mm counterpart minus a couple degrees.

AMD Zen looks to be a bit more efficient than my old Ivy Bridge E, but we won't know until reviewers get their hands on one. Also, I'm sure AM4 will require new brackets for their socket, so it might be a good idea to have another go at this when coolers are updated for that and when we have more information on Zen.
Golly that radiator is huge. Not sure if it will fit in the prodigy m.

Yeah, I've seen pictures of the am4 socket and it definitely is bigger than the am3. Hope it fits so there won't be any problems.

And are stock thermal pastes good enough? Or should I invest on those silver nano filling whatever thermal pastes?
 
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