AIO Water Cooler vs Tower Air Cooler

[NeoThuNder]

Hai Guys,
i used AIO for more than 5 years now. The AIO i used is Corsair ICue H100i Elite Capellix RGB Platinum 240mm. the warranty already gone cause its only 5 years warranty.
I'm thinking of move to Tower Air Cooler, Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black. is it same performance with AIO that i currently used or AIO is still the best performance over Air Cooler ?

i want to move to Air Cooler cause AIO ( That i know ) i cannot change the liquid if something happen in liquid or cannot change the pump if its broken. I'm thinking of sell my AIO cause its still very good condition and change to Air Cooler from Noctua. is it worth ?

Every time new processor socket generation release, they will add the socket compatible to every Noctua product instead of buy a new cooler, i can used my current cooler and only need to buy a new socket compatible ?

 

[Todestrieb]

The old NH-D15 is quite outdated, and the new and improved version of NH-D15 is around the corner unless it gets delayed again, but sources below don't think it will delay. If you want black, and everything goes right ...which seldom happens in Noctua, a black variant should be available half year later. https://www.hwcooling.net/en/noctua-new-140-mm-fans-to-premiere-on-a-cpu-cooler/

If you want the the outright best air cooler on the market right now, the best bet is the ThermalRight Phantom Spirit 120 EVO. No comment on the support though because I don't know.

 

[joemama]

AIOs usually preform better than air coolers, but since you only have a 5700X, air coolers should be good enough.
I doubt if anyone would wanna buy your 5 year old AIO, but on the other hand I wouldn't risk using an AIO without warranty as any leak could kill a lot of other components, so changing to an air cooler is a good option.
You don't need to worry about new socket generations as you will likely sell the air cooler with the cpu and mobo when upgrading.

 

[NeoThuNder]

The old NH-D15 is quite outdated, and the new and improved version of NH-D15 is around the corner unless it gets delayed again, but sources below don't think it will delay. If you want black, and everything goes right ...which seldom happens in Noctua, a black variant should be available half year later. https://www.hwcooling.net/en/noctua-new-140-mm-fans-to-premiere-on-a-cpu-cooler/

If you want the the outright best air cooler on the market right now, the best bet is the ThermalRight Phantom Spirit 120 EVO. No comment on the support though because I don't know.

the new generation of NH-D15 is only 140mm fan ?

AIOs usually preform better than air coolers, but since you only have a 5700X, air coolers should be good enough.
I doubt if anyone would wanna buy your 5 year old AIO, but on the other hand I wouldn't risk using an AIO without warranty as any leak could kill a lot of other components, so changing to an air cooler is a good option.
You don't need to worry about new socket generations as you will likely sell the air cooler with the cpu and mobo when upgrading.

Yes i doubt too but i can try to sell it with cheaper price at least there is a money back.
so NH-D15 is enough to cooling down the 5700X.

 

[HTC]

Every time new processor socket generation release, they will add the socket compatible to every Noctua product instead of buy a new cooler, i can used my current cooler and only need to buy a new socket compatible ?

Unless there's "100% incompatibility", like AM4 VS Threadripper for example, yes.

I speak "from experience" since i still use a cooler from around 2011, which was obviously NOT made with AM4 socket in mind and yet, upon proving ownership of the cooler + AM4 board (CPU instead of board would do as well), they sent me an AM4 mounting kit FREE of charge.

Expensive? YES, ... BUT ... a "pro" like this outweighs the price "con", IMO.

 

[NeoThuNder]

Unless there's "100% incompatibility", like AM4 VS Threadripper for example, yes.

I speak "from experience" since i still use a cooler from around 2011, which was obviously NOT made with AM4 socket in mind and yet, upon proving ownership of the cooler + AM4 board (CPU instead of board would do as well), they sent me an AM4 mounting kit FREE of charge.

Expensive? YES, ... BUT ... a "pro" like this outweighs the price "con", IMO.

you're use Noctua NH-C14 and its still working well till today ?

how to get free mounting ?

 

[natr0n]

Don't get brainwashed from a video on yt from a failed aio batch.

They can be serviced after warranty by you if you know what you're doing.

 

[Todestrieb]

the new generation of NH-D15 is only 140mm fan ?

Not sure what's the question here.
It's a new version of NH-D15, so, 2 big fat towers with 2x 140mm fans.
If you are dead set on wanting the best from Noctua, IMO you should wait for the new NH-D15.
Below is a news article about it, back when Noctua showed a prototype of new NH-D15 in Computex 2023.

Noctua Reveals 2nd Gen NH-D15 CPU Cooler For Q2 2024

The heir to the previous king of CPU air coolers

www.tomshardware.com

 

[HTC]

you're use Noctua NH-C14 and its still working well till today ?

how to get free mounting ?

No problems, thus far.

I've detailed the steps i took here:

AMD Ryzen Discussion Thread.

Had i been awake @ the time the mail man showed up (working night shift, this week), i would have received the Noctua AM4 mounting kit already: will have to go pick it up tomorrow. Ordered it this past Saturday: surprised it's already here, tbh! It's the second time i post this: had posted it...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Noci]

You might have a look at the Alphacool Eisbaer AIO's, some of those are extendable and have a refill port.

https://shop.alphacool.com/shop/cpu-gpu-aios/cpu-aio/11390-alphacool-eisbaer-420-cpu-black

I think the biggest advantage of an AIO over an air cooler is that the AIO blows the warmed air straight out of the case, where as with an air cooler you still need addtional fans.

On cooling capacity and efficiency they can perform pretty much on the same level.

The choice is yours

 

[NeoThuNder]

You might have a look at the Alphacool Eisbaer AIO's, some of those are extendable and have a refill port.

https://shop.alphacool.com/shop/cpu-gpu-aios/cpu-aio/11390-alphacool-eisbaer-420-cpu-black

I think the biggest advantage of an AIO over an air cooler is that the AIO blows the warmed air straight out of the case, where as with an air cooler you still need addtional fans.

On cooling capacity and efficiency they can perform pretty much on the same level.

The choice is yours

sadly, in my country, no one is selling alphacool eisbaer 420

 

[Vya Domus]

Why not upgrade to a 280/360/420 instead of an air cooler.

They can be serviced after warranty by you if you know what you're doing.

It's a pain to do so but if it's 5+ years old just buy another one.

 

[Dragam1337]

Not sure what's the question here.
It's a new version of NH-D15, so, 2 big fat towers with 2x 140mm fans.
If you are dead set on wanting the best from Noctua, IMO you should wait for the new NH-D15.
Below is a news article about it, back when Noctua showed a prototype of new NH-D15 in Computex 2023.

Noctua Reveals 2nd Gen NH-D15 CPU Cooler For Q2 2024

The heir to the previous king of CPU air coolers

www.tomshardware.com

It's mostly just improved fans though, init...

 

[dgianstefani]

You don't really need the D16, D15 successor, the U12A is perfectly fine for a 5700X and any future AMD chip you'll use on AM5. It uses the current generation NF-A12x25 Sterrox LCP fans. Newer fans from other manufacturers copy this innovation of liquid crystal polymer and close tolerances, but the A12x25 still holds it's own either at the top, or close to the top of the charts performance wise. In fact of the few fans that outperform the Noctua, they're typically 28 or 30mm thick, so make that performance benefit by using a larger fan.

The Thermalrights are nice price/performance but the build quality and customer service isn't as perfect as Noctua. What you pay is what you get materials wise, there's no magical shortcuts happening with the cheaper coolers, they just have a worse finish and fans with cheaper bearings/materials etc.

Quite well regarded by the community too. Has excellent clearance for memory etc, which is one of the reasons.

Noctua NH-U12A Review

Noctua delivers top-tier air cooling performance in a compact design with the release of the NH-U12A. Sporting two of their latest NF-A12x25 PWM fans, what this cooler lacks in regards to RGB LEDs, it makes up for with brown and tan Noctua styling and a premium build quality that is second to none.

www.techpowerup.com

Something I've done with the U12A since it comes with two retail grade $25 fans is keep on on the cooler and use the other to replace the case exhaust fan, which is usually a crap stock fan.

 

[#22]

In general AiOs start to get some worth considering edge over the best air coolers above 240mm size and on power draws above 150W. Then good AiOs would give you lower temperature quieter what can be considered as noticeable win. It would be hard to see on 5700X from your Specs without some heavy multithreaded workload.

If you just play games and don't see yourself getting R9 (any highend or simply powerhungry CPU) in the future, go air cooler and one preferably from Noctua due to mounting kits and quality to last. Only one sensible alternative is (cheap) Thermalright, but I doubt in it's quality and I'm not sure how procedure of getting their mounting kits works (I just have seen them on Amazon and damn pricey). U12A is great, state of the art in it's size class, but I would prefer bigger D15 to give you the same temperature quieter. And I would personally wait for successor if you have time.

 

[NeoThuNder]

Why not upgrade to a 280/360/420 instead of an air cooler.


It's a pain to do so but if it's 5+ years old just buy another one.

i use Lian Li Lancool 205 and its only support 280mm Radiator on Top or Front. I cannot use more than 280. so sad.
i want to upgrade the Case to Lian Li 011 but the price is so high.

You don't really need the D16, D15 successor, the U12A is perfectly fine for a 5700X and any future AMD chip you'll use on AM5. It uses the current generation NF-A12x25 Sterrox LCP fans. Newer fans from other manufacturers copy this innovation of liquid crystal polymer and close tolerances, but the A12x25 still holds it's own either at the top, or close to the top of the charts performance wise. In fact of the few fans that outperform the Noctua, they're typically 28 or 30mm thick, so make that performance benefit by using a larger fan.

The Thermalrights are nice price/performance but the build quality and customer service isn't as perfect as Noctua. What you pay is what you get materials wise, there's no magical shortcuts happening with the cheaper coolers, they just have a worse finish and fans with cheaper bearings/materials etc.

Quite well regarded by the community too. Has excellent clearance for memory etc, which is one of the reasons.

View attachment 347185

Noctua NH-U12A Review

Noctua delivers top-tier air cooling performance in a compact design with the release of the NH-U12A. Sporting two of their latest NF-A12x25 PWM fans, what this cooler lacks in regards to RGB LEDs, it makes up for with brown and tan Noctua styling and a premium build quality that is second to none.

www.techpowerup.com

View attachment 347186

Something I've done with the U12A since it comes with two retail grade $25 fans is keep on on the cooler and use the other to replace the case exhaust fan, which is usually a crap stock fan.

Thank you for the recommendation

In general AiOs start to get some worth considering edge over the best air coolers above 240mm size and on power draws above 150W. Then good AiOs would give you lower temperature quieter what can be considered as noticeable win. It would be hard to see on 5700X from your Specs without some heavy multithreaded workload.

If you just play games and don't see yourself getting R9 (any highend or simply powerhungry CPU) in the future, go air cooler and one preferably from Noctua due to mounting kits and quality to last. Only one sensible alternative is (cheap) Thermalright, but I doubt in it's quality and I'm not sure how procedure of getting their mounting kits works (I just have seen them on Amazon and damn pricey). U12A is great, state of the art in it's size class, but I would prefer bigger D15 to give you the same temperature quieter. And I would personally wait for successor if you have time.

Yes, some one in here just share there is next gen of D15 and it will launch next month or so.
I still wait for this tho.

 

[#22]

i use Lian Li Lancool 205 and its only support 280mm Radiator on Top or Front. I cannot use more than 280. so sad.
i want to upgrade the Case to Lian Li 011 but the price is so high.

Yes, some one in here just share there is next gen of D15 and it will launch next month or so.
I still wait for this tho.

Summing all said here up, in your case highend air cooler seems the way to go. Just know that waiting for Noctua to release announced product (instead of postponing again) is similar to waiting for Jesus Christ to come back, but as long as you have time...

 

[NeoThuNder]

Summing all said here up, in your case highend air cooler seems the way to go. Just know that waiting for Noctua to release announced product (instead of postponing again) is similar to waiting for Jesus Christ to come back, but as long as you have time...

i read an article at HWcooling.net, they said, Noctua new gen D15 will coming soon and it will not delay again. i dont know, have to trust what they said or not. but i will wait till next month maybe.

 

[freeagent]

They have only been working on it for 10 years lol.. any day now..

And then Thermalright will smack them on the pee pee with another new cooler at half the price lol.

 

[GerKNG]

As always.
Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 > Everything on the Market.
beats every existing Air cooler for ~40 bucks.

 

[Chrispy_]

Unless there's "100% incompatibility", like AM4 VS Threadripper for example, yes.

I speak "from experience" since i still use a cooler from around 2011, which was obviously NOT made with AM4 socket in mind and yet, upon proving ownership of the cooler + AM4 board (CPU instead of board would do as well), they sent me an AM4 mounting kit FREE of charge.

Expensive? YES, ... BUT ... a "pro" like this outweighs the price "con", IMO.

I used to think like this - bought Noctua coolers because they gave you free socket upgrades and were decent performance that you could expect to use on multiple platforms.

That thinking changed when Noctua prices doubled and other coolers started dramatically outperforming Noctua ones at significantly lower price points.

Noctua coolers are now very expensive and their performance is very average. Other companies offer mounting kit upgrades - often for free, but sometimes for a modest $10 fee; The upgrade path is no longer unique to Noctua.

Realistically, you can afford to buy three Thermalright coolers for the cost of one Noctua cooler, and all reviews seem to agree that the Thermalright cooler is likely to outperform or at least match the much more expensive Noctua.

So if you want to buy a Noctua, it won't be bad, but it also won't be good value. You can do better for much less money so realistically the only reason to keep buying Noctua is often brand-loyalty. It has been a long time since a Noctua product was a class-leading performer, or cost-effective - and that's ignoring the fact that they charge extra for black coolers, otherwise you have to put up with the brown+beige colourscheme that goes with literally nothing else in your system.

 

[#22]

i read an article at HWcooling.net, they said, Noctua new gen D15 will coming soon and it will not delay again. i dont know, have to trust what they said or not. but i will wait till next month maybe.

Let's hope so. Last year or year before they had next gen D15 listed on their roadmap to Q4 - they postponed it again during few last days of December

They have only been working on it for 10 years lol.. any day now..

And then Thermalright will smack them on the pee pee with another new cooler at half the price lol.

But how does Thermalright's build quality compare to Noctua? Have you ever had Noctua's product in hands?

And how does procedure of getting mounting kits for older coolers work? You just buy it on Amazon for quite steep price or there's some other, better way?

I simply don't know and for obvious reasons you seem being the first person here to ask about any TR-related stuff

 

[HTC]

I used to think like this - bought Noctua coolers because they gave you free socket upgrades and were decent performance that you could expect to use on multiple platforms.

The last cooler i bought was my current one and that was more than TWELVE years ago: still working strong.

I know that the prices have increased and, looking @ the current prices in the store i bought it from, significantly so:



@ the time, my cooler cost me 69.90€, if i remember right.

So if you want to buy a Noctua, it won't be bad, but it also won't be good value. You can do better for much less money so realistically the only reason to keep buying Noctua is often brand-loyalty. It has been a long time since a Noctua product was a class-leading performer, or cost-effective - and that's ignoring the fact that they charge extra for black coolers, otherwise you have to put up with the brown+beige colourscheme that goes with literally nothing else in your system.

I look for performance / noise first, with price after: don't care about aesthetics @ all.

Ofc OP might think differently: just because i don't care about aesthetics doesn't mean others don't.


Right now, Noctua's pricing IS BAD, but the thing is: is this bad ... bad enough to outweigh the good points?

Some might say yes, while others might say no ...

Realistically, you can afford to buy three Thermalright coolers for the cost of one Noctua cooler, and all reviews seem to agree that the Thermalright cooler is likely to outperform or at least match the much more expensive Noctua.

Really?

What about noise?

 

[#22]

Noctua coolers are now very expensive and their performance is very average. Other companies offer mounting kit upgrades - often for free, but sometimes for a modest $10 fee; The upgrade path is no longer unique to Noctua.

What are those companies? Other than Noctua and TR. And I mean kits for discontinued coolers, because the thing is, many offer kits, but only for coolers they still sell. They don't design and offer kits for you, but to be able to still sell their stuff, avoid problems and charge owners extra as a bonus.

 

[Chrispy_]

But how does Thermalright's build quality compare to Noctua? Have you ever had Noctua's product in hands?
And how does procedure of getting mounting kits for older coolers work? You just buy it on Amazon for quite steep price or there's some other, better way?
I simply don't know and for obvious reasons you seem being the first person here to ask about any TR-related stuff

I've bought several Noctua coolers and several Thermalright coolers, among many other brands. When I say "several" I mean hundreds, possibly a thousand, it's not something I've ever really tallied.

I've once, ever, had a bad Noctua that was missing a single secufirm standoff in the sealed box. Noctua were good and sent me a whole replacement accessories box within 2 days free of charge.

I've had two total parts missing from a Thermalright sealed box. One, I can recall a batch of 6 or 8 CPU coolers arriving where one cooler was missing the spring-clips for the fans, and the other was missing its LGA-1700 socket kit. Neither affected me since there we two extra unused clips in every other box so I still had plenty, and I was building AM4 at the time and didn't need the Intel 1700 kit.

I could have contacted Thermalright support and asked for the missing bits, but I didn't need them and we weren't talking about an £80 Noctua cooler, we were talking about a £17 Thermalright cooler. Since Thermalright Europe sell directly from Amazon, I could have just returned the whole box as "parts missing" for a full refund and immediately ordered another one with next-day shipping. Amazon as a corporation are horrible but their returns process is flawless and super-fast.

As for quality? No issues with either brand, ever. I've seen reports of the ultra-cheap entry-level Thermalright "SE" variant towers having loose-fitting plastic top plates but it's literally just a cosmetic plastic sheet with a logo on it. You saved $5 by not getting the fancy version with moulded plastic top covers attached with screws. Slide the plastic sheet back on and call it a day, or throw it in the bin, it's only a cosmetic detail. I've been buying Thermalright coolers for ~20 years, before the company changed ownership and at one point Thermalright were both more expensive, better quality, and better-reviewed than Noctua.

Noctua are fine, but expensive.
Thermalright are good, but cheap.
Both companies occasionally have QC failures, but neither of them significant.
Noctua's free socket upgrades are slow to ship and require some effort to upload proof of purchase and a photo of your cooler, Thermalright's aren't free but you can afford to buy 4 or 5 upgrade kits for the difference in price between Noctua and TR, and since they're small parts from Amazon, you can even get them delivered same day. I've paid for Noctua upgrade kits from Amazon next-day before because I didn't have the 5-ish working days of time to kill waiting for the free postage from Noctua.