Air Flow or H20?

Budget:
~$2000, but lower is better

Usage:
Mainly gaming, occasional digital art (not professional or 3D rendering). MMOs, FPS sometimes, and RTS. StarCraft II, Diablo III, World of WarCraft, World of Tanks, etc.

Question: Is there a significant difference between the Air Stage 2 Noctua, Air Stage 1, or H20 standard? I may change the OC to Stage 1, but definitely don't plan to go extreme OC, and I don't want a small airplane in my room (noisy). It says the case comes with noise dampening, I'm not choosing to Noise reduction option they offer. Should I?

Saved Ticket #: 820299

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Corsair Obsidian 550D
Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 (Intel Z77 Chipset) (Features Thermal Armor and Thermal Radar)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible)
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (120GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: Neutron GTX Series) (SATA 6Gbps
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 4GB (Includes PhysX)
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 120mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (High-Performance Edition)
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red)
Noise Reduction: - Noise Suppression Package Stage 2 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds with Noise Dampening Material)
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

Edited by Kaotik - 28 Apr 2013 at 3:35pm

I was looking over your build and while you may not want to extreme oc picking the stage 1 will at least give you an overclock without voiding the warranty. I saw this because in case you ever decided after you bought it to DIY overclock it would void the warranty i believe. also I am curious as to why you chose windows 7 ultimate instead of just basic windows 7 home premium. unless you need the features that come with it you could shave off about 100 bucks off your price by switching to the basic home premium.

As for the cooling the liquid cooler would probably be more then enough if you're not going to overclock it/pick the stage one oc though I believe the case says it may be louder then what is originally advertised with that particular cooler.



Edited by storm0545 - 27 Apr 2013 at 1:22pm

Arkansas is right..... the Noctua won't fit.    The Noise Reduction stage 1 is optimizing the fan speeds, specifically the Vortex 120 to lower the fans a bit for noise reduction.      If you go 550d then the Vortex 120 is what they recommend for quiet.   If you went with Vortex 240 or Corsair H 100 the top panel has to stay off because the radiator mounts under the top and the noise increases.

Just FYI, the 550d is a real nice case, but when you go quiet it usually means a closed case with less airflow.   For a single card system like you have it'll work just fine.   

I like your original 500r for better cooling but not everyone likes what I like.

The 500r is still on the site.

Click on the dreadnought, click customize, then next to chassis model click edit its on that list

Edited by ArkansasWoman777 - 27 Apr 2013 at 2:41pm

Originally posted by bprat22 Arkansas beat me to it.

Wow, going through the Dreadnought I was able to get the price down to $1801, and that's with the Stage 2 Noise Reduction.

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Corsair Carbide 500R (Black Finish)
Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 (Intel Z77 Chipset) (Features Thermal Armor and Thermal Radar)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible)
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (120GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: Neutron GTX Series) (SATA 6Gbps)
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB (Includes PhysX)
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 120mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (High-Performance Edition)
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red)
Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 2 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds with Noise Dampening Material)
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

Edited by Kaotik - 27 Apr 2013 at 3:12pm

The dreadnaught doesn't need the stage 2 noise reductions as those large slow moving fans on the hafx case don't make much noise at all and still push through a lot of cold air for your components.  if you picked that option you're just wasting money. 

Updated the build and saved ticket # to reflect what I settled on. Actually have it listed in a different post:

Finalizing My Mind... Dreadnought???

NOCTUA...... "drops mic"