From what I learned in a few minutes reading, water cooling is good because it cools more efficiently so your CPU stays at lower temperatures. The bad side is that if it breaks in such a way that water gets out, you're fucked.
What experience do you guys have with water coolers? Are the [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010"]cheap ones[/URL] "safe" or is it better to get a more [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181032"]expensive[/URL] one that won't break.
Are they really that much better than conventional fans?
If you are doing some heavy overclocking, then you want to look into water cooling.
If you aren't planning to overclock or only do some ligher overclocking, then water cooling can be overkill.
Rule of the thumb is usually:
No Overclocks: For most CPUs or GPUs the stock fan cooler is fine.
Light Overclocks: An upgrade from the stock cooler might be required to keep the heat down, but overall fan cooling is usually just fine.
Heavy Overclocks: Depends on the situation, but this is when water cooling should be considered if a fan cooler can't keep it cool.
Both products work great, and more than likely won't break unless you completely mistreat them. They aren't watercooling products in the traditional sense though. When people talk about watercooling they generally are referring to more complex open-systems with reservoirs and pumps, etc.
Unless you're going to be doing some heavy overclocking there's really no reason to choose those products (or a traditional watercooling solution) over the significantly cheaper air cooled systems.
[editline]2nd July 2013[/editline]
Really the fact that one system uses liquid while another does not doesn't really play all that much of a role in how well the system can cool. You're better off looking at benchmarks and seeing which individual system works the best at your pricepoint. In spite of its being an air cooler, the Noctua NH-D14 will outperform lower-end watercooled closed loop systems like the h50.
What counts as a heavy overclock? >+0.5GHz?
Sounds like I don't need a water cooler then, I think I'll just go for a cheaper [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134"]fan + heatsink[/URL] combo.
It's massively dependent on the processor you are using as well. Water cooling is technically the objectively superior choice, but on a lot of processors, especially ivy bridge, the gains are exceedingly miniscule because the processor stops operating before heat becomes a concern once its cooled to a certain degree.
My 2 cents. If you are doing casual over clocks, you really cannot go wrong with the hyper 212 evo. If you want something better, get one of the beefier air coolers, and then skip over the cheaper water coolers and go for the big ones if you want even more. Cheaper water coolers just don't do enough compared to a good air cooler in general. For the price of a lot of water coolers you could just get better components to begin with. (Disclaimer: This all varies depending on case size/layout, ambient temperatures, airflow configurations, other equipment in the system, and anything else. If you are building a mini itx system that is overclocked, you probably want a water system just because it gives you the ability to move the radiator and fit into the form factor.)
IMO, I would not bother with closed loop systems. I would personally build a custom one myself because they always performs better than closed loop coolers if you know what part to pick.
Regarding on your question about the two coolers, as long as they're from reputable manufacturers (in your case Corsair is fine), the difference between cheaper and expensive ones are only on its cooling performance. You don't have to worry about the cheaper one breaking very much.
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