Are there any advantages with watercooling vs. tower coolers?

Hardware Cooling
1

I currently have a Coolmaster 212 Evo tower cooler in my rig, but recently I have been contemplating getting a water cooler. I am wondering what are the advantages of getting one? Right now the tower cooler is keeping my i7 4770K quite cool, but it worries me when I have to take it back to home with me from university because I live in the middle of nowhere with really bumpy roads.

Also, if anyone can suggest a good water cooler, mainly one that will fit an Ostrog GT, I am all ears! Thanks!

2

I am by no means an expert on this subject although i am sure it won't hurt to convey my opinion..(don't sue me :P) :$ 

tower coolers and water coolers aren't too dissimilar in terms of their way of cooling. Tower coolers dissipate the heat over a large area (thermal mass) where fans are used to cool it down where as water coolers have a more direct approach in that they cool water in the radiator before sending it to the designated component.

Without getting too nerdy and talking about thermodynamics, liquid coolers prove to be more effective at cooling components than air coolers.

A primary advantage of getting a water cooler is space as you can mount the radiator on to the case rather than directly on to the processor in some cases I have seen the tower cooler over hang the memory modules which is never nice..

As for transport you should be relatively safe they do rigorous tests on them to ensure they don't leak during distribution.

I don't really have any suggestions for that case as I am quite new to water cooling myself although I am sure someone else will :)

3

Thanks for the input!

4

Watercooling is a Necessity, Noctua as of Late has been very competitive in terms of producing Tower-Coolers that Rival or BEAT some Full AIO Water-Coolers from the Likes of Coolermaster and Corsair.

The reason why someone may choose Watercooling over Aircooling is one the obvious

  1. Low Temperatures
  2. If you have a Small Case and Don't have Space for a Massive CPU Air Cooler AIO, are a nice option because your CPU is going to be cooled and you can also mount it in an intake or out-take part of your case and you'll still be able to remove or insert airflow into your case. efficiently.

The BAD that comes with Watercooling is

  1. Some All-In-Ones (AIOs) are very Fragile, you could potentially break the built in pump if you screw in the radiator too deep in to the case.
  2. Continuing on Fragile - Some AIOs or to reiterate myself, companies like Corsair or Cooler-Master vouch that their AIOs last for 5 years, but they really don't last that long, they at most will last about 2 to 3 years. but it depends on how you use it.

Aircoolers on the other hand can be used infinite amounts of times as long it fits the socket you are mounting the Tower Cooler to, which Noctua is very friendly they give you the mounting options for both AMD and Intel and give you the mounting options for New Sockets as well. Cooler-master does this as i believe as well.

but overall though Water-Cooling is NOT a Neccessity. you can get the same performance from some AirCoolers, I Mention noctua alot in this post cause it's the only Air-Cooler i've had experience with, Water-Cooling on the other hand, i've used Cooler-Master and Corsair.