Aftermarket Cooler for i5 CPU (need suggestions)

[OnlyforDCS]

Like the title says, Im going to be buying an aftermarket cooler for my i5 so I need a few suggestions on what would be a really good solution.

 

The CPU is an i5-3570K and its been holding up pretty great so far, but since it's an unlocked K version I would like to push it a little bit in the overclocking department. (Runs stable @ 4 Ghz currently with the stock cooler, I hope I can get at least another 500 Mhz out of it).

 

Im going to take my time with this and not rush this, will be buying in about a month or so. So please Im open to all suggestions including water cooling solutions (although Ive never done anything with water cooling before, so will need to be convinced :)).

 

Thanks!

[MTFDarkEagle]

I've been using a Noctua NH-D14 for yeaaars and it's an absolutely fantastic aircooler.

[whitehot]

if u are overclocking, get a nzxt Kraken X61 closed cycle liquid. I installed mine last week (very easy install), temps under load went from 90C (with my old noctua aircooler) to 60. It costs abt 150 bucks, but basically u can push ur cpu to new limits. I'll oc my old trusty i7 960, now at 4.0, to 4.4, maybe 4.6.

[OnlyforDCS]

if u are overclocking, get a nzxt Kraken X61 closed cycle liquid. I installed mine last week (very easy install), temps under load went from 90C (with my old noctua aircooler) to 60. It costs abt 150 bucks, but basically u can push ur cpu to new limits. I'll oc my old trusty i7 960, now at 4.0, to 4.4, maybe 4.6.

 

This looks interesting, however I don't think it will fit in my case. The double fan solution is definitely not an option, so if it has to be watercooled, I think a single fan solution is what I can go for.

[SkateZilla]

The Hyper 212 Evo is one of the top rated and cheaper coolers :P

[OnlyforDCS]

The Hyper 212 Evo is one of the top rated and cheaper coolers :P

 

Looks pretty good, also love the fan design, looks super quiet and easy to clean. (Something those of us with pets have to do more often than not).

 

Thanks for the tip Skate, this is definitely a top contender at the moment. Very low price is also a huge + :thumbup:

 

Would it be 'good enough' for some overclocking fun, considering my i5 is stable at 4Ghz with the flimsy stock cooler??

[Hadwell]

 

 

bigger coolers are mostly for peace of mind, they probly won't give you much higher clocks, but they will keep your cpu cooler and/or are quieter.

 

I use a corsair H80, very nice cooler, fits in my antec 900 no problem.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Hadwell

[Mowgli]

Useful Info here by Hadwell - If you overclock your CPU than it seems that the Corsair H80 is the one for you. :thumbup:

 

http://www.corsair.com/en/hydro-series-h80i-high-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler

[agrasyuk]

The Hyper 212 Evo is one of the top rated and cheaper coolers :P

 

Another vote for the 212 - solid.

I guess I was itching an upgrade, replaced the 212 with a bigger push-pull setup for pretty much double the cost. And didn't see much difference (I'm not ino counting degret fractions). Wasn't a total waste as the 212 got moved to the older 2500K CPU and now doing good job there.

But if money is not an issue the noctua units do look very impressive

[OnlyforDCS]

 

 

bigger coolers are mostly for peace of mind, they probly won't give you much higher clocks, but they will keep your cpu cooler and/or are quieter.

 

I use a corsair H80, very nice cooler, fits in my antec 900 no problem.

 

So you wouldn't recommend an aircooled solution for an (even modest) overclock?

Edited July 28, 2015 by OnlyforDCS

[skouras]

The Hyper 212 Evo is one of the top rated and cheaper coolers :P

second to that!!!

[BitMaster]

Heatkiller-IV by watercool.de

 

with the right radiator you can go real silent, most ClosedLoop Watercoolers are anything but low noise and even louder than many pure air driven coolers.

 

I use external radiator that basically needs no fan at all if u dont overclock, when i overclock 1 out of 4 fans is enough but the hottest days with 100°F+ then I kick in all 4 fans, 180mm 890rpm...real low noise even at full rpm.

 

You can run the same cpu heat sink on a dual-120mm radiator with 38dB, thats a personal

choice..

[Cibit]

I use http://www.xs-pc.com/watercooling-kits/raystorm-d5-rx360-watercooling-kit except it wasn't a kit when I built my current machine. Run the fans through a controller and make the right choice of fan in the first instance and you can o/c to your hearts content.

Just be aware you need additional cooling for your MOFSET

You can also add a loop for GPU if you wanted:)

[whitehot]

This looks interesting, however I don't think it will fit in my case. The double fan solution is definitely not an option, so if it has to be watercooled, I think a single fan solution is what I can go for.

 

u could look for the x41

 

https://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/145-kraken-x41-liquid-cooler.html

 

It ain't that I'm a nzxt fanboy, but all the tests I looked into (tomshardware, overclock.net and so on) show that they beat both corsair and cm in heat dissipation

[Demon_]

Watercoolers are very good (dual fans) , very expensive and very noisy.

The best air: Prolimatech, Thermalright, Noctua.

The best for the price: Hyper 212.

The Thermalright ultra 120 extreme was a flagship.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Heatsinks

 

 

A 120-140mm fan at 1800-2000rpm is noisy.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Demon_

[whitehot]

 

A 120-140mm fan at 1800-2000rpm is noisy.

 

the diatribe about noise vs dissipation is as old as the first aftermarket coolers.

Being an overclocker, I'll pick dissipation over noise all the time - I also consider the definition of "noisy" not very proper, at least the definition that is being used normally by specialized sites.

 

My point is that, if you are somebody who is willing to spend money on a good aftermarket cooler, you intend to perform overclocking, at least to some degree.

If you intend to overclock, then you are prepared to accept that compromises are to be accepted - and the factor an overclocker would renounce first is the noise one.

 

I understand that some folks would not accept the noise produced by some high performance coolers - keep in mind that they become "noisy" when pushed to high power modes. The x-61 I have, in silent mode is much less audible that my previous noctua aircooler (which had two 120mm fans).

 

For what concerns me, I would consider "noisy" a cooler that ruins the gaming experience by overwhelming the sound coming out the speakers. Which is something that has never occurred to me.

 

Ofc, if you're building a rig to keep it sitting in the lounge while you watch movies on the tv, you'd want one that 's completely silent. But a gaming rig? I would add that most ppl I know with such puters, normally wear headphones playing - me being an exception unless using teamspeak.

[Demon_]

Good point.

Whatever the cooler, a 120mm fan who take off at 2000rpm is annoying, whatever the program used (not only the games). She tell you "help"

With every additional fans (video card, case fans), you increase the noise.

 

My point is, i want him to know about.

And yes, im old

[Hadwell]

So you wouldn't recommend an aircooled solution for an (even modest) overclock?

 

nah im just saying the difference in temperatures you get from a 60$ cooler compared to a 200$ cooler isn't that much, except with a 200$ cooler, you can use lower fan speeds, and still achieve the same performance as the 60$ cooler

 

to phrase it differently, you can pick and choose fans and coolers with a 200$ budget, to get the noise and cooling levels you want, whereas you're pretty limited with a 60$ budget.

 

there are reviews all over google on fans, and coolers, and fans attached to coolers, just need to look.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Hadwell

[tovivan]

I've been using Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo for 3 or 4 years now and couldn't be happier with it. :)

 

Bought a second fan, so now I'm using the push-pull method.

 

Thank god my midi tower is pretty roomy (wide), so I can even have the side closed. :D

 

Er, or is it push-push? Hm. :huh: :music_whistling: :joystick:

Edited July 29, 2015 by tovivan

[OnlyforDCS]

Thanks for all the replies people.

[Bucic]

nah im just saying the difference in temperatures you get from a 60$ cooler compared to a 200$ cooler isn't that much, except with a 200$ cooler, you can use lower fan speeds, and still achieve the same performance as the 60$ cooler

 

to phrase it differently, you can pick and choose fans and coolers with a 200$ budget, to get the noise and cooling levels you want, whereas you're pretty limited with a 60$ budget.

 

there are reviews all over google on fans, and coolers, and fans attached to coolers, just need to look.

This. Plus one note. The higher the overclock, the more the results for the $60 and $100 coolers diverge. So for instance, if you hit the temperature limit with the cheap one while still passing stability tests, the more expensive one will let you go further.

 

But remember. Performance-wise:

Twice as expensive cooler provides less than 20 percent better cooler performance which translates to 10 percent increase in performance. In an optimistic scenario. A similar proportion applies to water cooling. Which on its own is extremely uneconomic. Look at the Kraken's price :huh: When you use a sub-$400 CPU it's no longer a matter of economy but sanity ;)

[BitMaster]

I have 2 sets of WC setups running, my personal wc a DIY for roughly 800€ all in all and the other one is my sons AIO Corsair H110.

 

Both are capable but the more expensive one pulls away with many things, it runs cooler, it runs with 0-18dB instead of 38dB with the stock Corsair coolers.

 

I invetsed 50€ in a pair of decent, low noise fans for my sons H110 and now that is a cool setup too.

 

It doesnt need to cost 500+ to work, cool, not drip water and be low noise too, you just cant buy it off the shelf this way, none is low noise unless you exchange fans on those, which adds a other 50.

 

My personal WC is out of scale, sure, but I wanted it. It cools my mobo, cpu and gpu, very very quiet, external, no funny stuff inside the case etc... and it looks awesome...but hey for that money you can almost buy a basic gaming machine, I know that one.

 

 

In the end, even WC cools by air. So whatever your room temp is, 2°+ is your CPU, the lowest, never forget that !

[whitehot]

In the end, even WC cools by air. So whatever your room temp is, 2°+ is your CPU, the lowest, never forget that !

 

You are right: summertime exacts a bad toll on components cooling. Whatever cooler u got, the "baseline" temperature is always the room one. Time ago, I was observing the temperatures of my CPU at idling, and was under the impression that a dominant factor to them is the vcore voltage. Yet after some tests, in which i observed the temps with different currents, I had to acknowledge that there is basically no difference in temps, even with 0.3-0.4v change in current - The explosion of summer instead bringing idle temps up by at least 5 deg celsius..

 

In regards to liquid vs air cooling, I can just report abt my experience, which as already stated, is very positive with a closed cycle cooling setup, that replaced one of the best air coolers available (some years ago). Don't forget that liquid coolers also make owner's life much easier, in the sense that there is not anymore a great need to construct a precise airflow inside the case that takes into account the design of the air-cooler on the cpu - You have the front fans pushing in, the rear ones pulling out, and the pump on the cpu working on its own, with its radiator out of the way.

[tovivan]

While we are talking about idle temps.

System: AMD FX-8120, stock 3.1 GHz, OC to 4.3 GHz.

Mobo Gigabyte GA 970A-UD3 rev 1.2

Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo with two fans

Indicator software: Open Hardware Monitor

 

Idle Temps - the computer case is closed - when it was open, they are obviously lower:

 

--- Spring time

Room temp: cca 22'C

CPU idle: lowest 9.1'C

normal use (surfing, reading) cca 11'C

highest temp (under full load in any game) 47'C

 

--- Summer

Room temp: varies, up to 30'C

CPU normal idle: 15-16'C

under load in game: 53-55'C

 

 

-----

 

Temps when I got the CPU and original mobo (was some shitty Gigabyte thing) with stock cooler from a Germany ebay vendor (is no longer on ebay) - the cooler didnt even have those hoses for ventilation it was just some cheap ribs.

 

In game the CPU got up to 82'C, sometimes almost 100'C, then the mobo shut the system down. You could fry an egg on the case.

 

Was new to the "new" system of mobos back then (persisted on a long time on abbacus) so didn't know about the "turbo" option in bios - it was turned on by default.

 

System overheating and instability persisted until I got the Hyper. After 6 months I threw out the shitty mobo and got the 970a. Which has been giving me BSODs almost weekly with different "reasons" and is now trashed due to bad bios flash.

 

EDIT: official max recommended temp for my CPU is 60-62'C IIRC.

Edited July 30, 2015 by tovivan

[Demon_]

Hello

There is one little thing i am not sure to understand. The room temperature is 30°C, and the cpu temps is 15°C.

The cpu temp should be ~39°C.

I think your cpu run at ~79°C under load. Try "CPUID HWMonitor" AND "CoreTemp".

Edited July 30, 2015 by Demon_