Vanquish 4 - Level 4... Liquid Cooling upgrade?

Hi RajjyPants....   Welcome to the forums.The cooler that comes with the level 4 is adequate unless you plan on overclocking the cpu higher than it is , or, you do want lower temps.   Not sure the temps you'll get with that cooler, but a better cooler might drop temps a bit.   If the temps are within reasonable specs, dropping them more with a better cooler won't necessarily help performance or longevity.   Depends on the temp. If you do want to upgrade, a cooler like the Corsair H100 with its 240mm rad or H80 with 120mm rad would, in my opinion,  be a medium difficulty task depending on your experience.  I believe they come with directions but not 100%.   Pretty straight forward and meant for DIYers'  The sealed , all-in-one units like the H100 are maintenance free.  My suggestion is to get it, stress the heck out of it and see where the temps are using HWmonitor.  Hope this helps. 



Edited by bprat22 - 04 Sep 2015 at 12:02pm

Yeah, it comes with level 1 oc'ing which is safe and stable in most cases.   Mines been overclocked to 4.4 for over 4 years without even a burp.

Check temps and if they're 70's C or less then good to go. 80's is ok but I like lower myself.

if that's the same cpu cooler that comes stock with the V4L4 than it's a cheap ($25) Zalman CNPS5X model air cooler.  a better made low end cooler would be the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 for around the same price.  a high end air cooler like the Noctua D15 will give you the same or better cooling performance with less noise than any of the AIO liquid coolers currently on the market, with the possible exception of the Swiftech H240X, and will last forever compared to a pump-driven water cooler. 

if you really want superior cooling you'd have to go into a custom loop water cooling config (which isn't offered on their "budget builds" pre-configured systems).

some things to consider:  huge tower air coolers like the D15 have been known to have problems with the shipping gods.  they're big and heavy, put a lot of stress on mobos and when handled rough in shipping transit can bang up against the sides of the computer (scratching the plexi on windowed rigs, bending the air cooler fins and supports, cracking mobos, and damaging other components).  it's older brother, the D14, is in my current rig and i've had those exact things happen to me.  if you peruse these boards you'll find similar stories.  i recommend this cooler highly; however, i'd say buy it after and install it yourself. 

all water coolers, even sealed units like AIO's, have the potential for leaks.  it's rare, but it can happen.  they can also have pump failures.  they're also typically more costly then air coolers of the same/comparable performance and are generally louder (unless on a custom loop with a ginormous rad where you can dial down the fans).  despite costing a little less, the D14/D15 beats the H100 both in performance and noise.    

Edited by db188 - 04 Sep 2015 at 1:15pm