KitGuru Annual Awards 2013

Asked about CPU cooling technology, a champion-level overclocker once told us that you need to think “On a hot day, would I be cooler laying on the floor with my arms and legs spread, hoping to radiate heat, or sit in a dark cupboard with one fan at your feet bringing cool air in and another behind your head, expelling it”.

Nice imagery, but we smiled when he then said, “Me, personally, I would just dive into a swimming pool”.

Liquid cooling has moved from the world of dark arts and into the (relatively) main stream market. Thanks, in no small part, is due to the Cool-It systems original Domino product.

Sure, we saw some pipe splitting that could cause a mist inside your chassis that made components pop – but that was way back in 2009  and things have moved on a lot since then.

Modern ‘sealed' units are available everywhere, at sensible pricing – and if you experience a serious failure, then you are unlucky.

Companies like PC Specialist and YOYOTech regularly ship customers liquid cooled systems with very few, if any, issues.

Liquid cooling means pipes and it means radiators. Once you have committed to those concepts, then you also know that there will be fans and they will produce noise.

While the noise output from something like a Corsair H110 will be in the 3-5 dBA range louder than a top end Phanteks or Noctua air cooler, the improvement in cooling ability is very good.

KitGuru's testing shows that the Corsair H110 can beat a Noctua NH-D14 by around 8 degrees when attached to an Intel Core i7 3930K running at 4.7GHz. That's 12.5% cooler.

Read our review, over here and here.

It will cost you around £95, but KitGuru's choice for the Best CPU Cooler Overall 2013 is the Corsair H110. A perfect partner for our overall CPU choice.

Buy from Overclockers UK, from this link.

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