what is a good watercooler for a 12700k @5.4ghz

[The_Nephilim]

hey all,

 

I am looking to get a aio water cooler for my 12700k. now I was looking at th arctic freezer 3 but been hearing it does not cool well when the cpu heats up.

 

now I was wondering if anyone here has 1st hand experience with any aio coolers and what would you reccomend.. reviews are welcome.. I will read or watch the video/article..

 

thnx

 

 

 

Edit: I found this article is tomswardware a trusted source?'

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-aio-coolers

Edited September 18, 2024 by The_Nephilim

[LucShep]

I'd recommend any of these 360AIOs, and all are relatively affordable.  In no particular order of preference:
 

• Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360:
    https://www.arctic.de/us/Liquid-Freezer-II-360/ACFRE00068B
  Yes, I prefer the Arctic Freezer II over the new Freezer III as well, because it does not have a proprietary contact frame.
  The one they force you to use in the new Freezer III really sucks (awful contact with the cold plate). The Freezer II is older but performance is still good.
   
• Thermalright Frozen Edge 360 (Black):
    https://www.thermalright.com/product/frozen-edge-360-black/
  This is one of the most affordable 360AIOs in the market (check Amazon) but be not mistaken - it performs really good.
  It's like the 360AIO version of the Peerless Assassin air-cooler - the best bang for the buck around, in my relative experience with AIOs.
   
• Thermalright Frozen Note 360 (Black ARGB): 
   https://www.thermalright.com/product/frozen-notte-360-black-argb-v2/
  This is slightly better than the Frozen Edge, also affordable (check Amazon). But one advantage it has is also a downside... the pump runs at 5300rpm if at max (3300rpm on Frozen Edge). Meaning, more performance but it tends to make more noise, and may be prone to shorter lifespan if intended to run always at (or near) 100% speed. 
   
• DeepCool LT720: 
   https://www.deepcool.com/products/Cooling/cpuliquidcoolers/LT720-360mm-Liquid-CPU-Cooler-1700-AM5/2022/16286.shtml
  This is the best performing cooler (and with best fans) on this short list, though not by far. But is also the most expensive - still reasonably priced. 
  There have been some "scandals" involving DeepCool (search the web) so you may find it hard to get (the brand is banned on some markets).

Regardless of choice of AIO for your i7 12700K, you'll also need an aftermarket LGA1700 corrected "contact frame" (aka ILM), because the stock one is utter garbage.
This little thing alone will pick another 7ºC or so of cooling temperature, and it also eliminates any bending problems (like the stock one has!).
I find it to be absolutely recommended for 12th/13th/14th gen "K" CPUs, be it with air or liquid coolers:

https://www.thermalright.com/product/lga1700-bcf-black-v2/

It's also available on Amazon.
There are alternative ILM solutions to this on Amazon as well (pretty much copies), which can also work fairly well and are cheaper (9.00 Euros +/-).
If you decide to go that route, be careful to chose ones with good feedback from users, and make sure that it's a propper one made of aluminium - some out there are plastic!!

As side note, I won't recommend anything other than the AIOs I already listed because I find 360 AIOs of other "reknowned" brands (and much higher price tag) don't perform all that different (actually, most perform slightly worse while costing 2x). It becomes a search for useless vanity reasons. Absolutely not worth paying more, IMHO.

If you want to extract a little more performance from those 360AIOs, you may later add better static pressure fans if not satisfied (I like the Arctic P12 MAX).
And if you really require more cooling performance than that of a 360AIO, then go for full blown custom water cooling (yep.... far more expensive and complicated!).

Edited September 19, 2024 by LucShep

[The_Nephilim]

Hey LucShep,

 

Thank you for the links but are those really good for an OC as high as I would like to goto with a 12700K?? I checked a vid out and the theramright did not perform to well full out I think my Air Cooler performed better??

 

And yes I have the Thermalright Plate I bought from Amazon:

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQF13FK1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

I am not looking for the most expensive just a really good AIO that will perform well pushed hard.. I am really thinking a custom loop is only what is going to work but they are real expensive and alot ofwork to setup..

[LucShep]

On 9/19/2024 at 12:29 AM, The_Nephilim said:

Thank you for the links but are those really good for an OC as high as I would like to goto with a 12700K?? I checked a vid out and the theramright did not perform to well full out I think my Air Cooler performed better??

I am not looking for the most expensive just a really good AIO that will perform well pushed hard.. I am really thinking a custom loop is only what is going to work but they are real expensive and alot ofwork to setup..

All those four 360AIOs I've listed will do fine as any other good 360AIO out there should.
FWIW, I've used all of those on 12900K, 13700K, 13900K and 14700K systems without any issues, far hotter than a (OC'ed) 12700K. 
If those become short for what you require, even with later added nice static pressure quality fans, then it means you're going extreme and require custom watercooling.

The thing is - and I went already through it with mine -  I sense that you may be searching unicorns where there aren't any... 

Perhaps refrain expectations and avoid aiming straight at the moon (12700K 5.4Ghz OC??  wooa?!?), because a wall is hit at around 5.2 and overvoltage becomes a reality. 
I'm pretty sure you'll need to at least sacrifice Hyper-Threading and/or E-Cores.
Meaning, you may get extra performance from the P-Cores, but at high cost of temperature and voltages (can't really see it happening unless at 1.45v+?).
Which could also mean risk of mid/long term CPU degradation. Not to mention some possible (very) annoying instability occuring at random times.

Get that 360AIO if you intend to overclock, yes for sure.  But try an overclock that is usefull and not suicidal/unrealistic. 


For the 12700K, if this is for gaming, personally I'd aim no higher than this (saw no practical benefit over it): 

5.3 for 2 P-Cores  (decrease to 5.2 if unstable) 
5.2 for 4 P-Cores  (decrease to 5.1 if unstable) 
5.1 for 8 P-Cores  (decrease to 5.0 or even 4.9, if unstable) <--- this one is usually the most problematic
4.0 for all the 4 E-Cores  (decrease to 3.9 or even 3.8, if unstable) 

Ring Ratio to 4.0 (easy and safer with 1.25~ SA voltage*) ....or 4.1 and up to 4.2 (harder/harsher on CPU, requires more SA voltage - do not go over 1.35v on it!)
* supposing that I read right and that RAM (in your signature) is DDR4 3400

V-Core (Cpu Core Voltage), if it's manually fixed, ideally below 1.39v (with 1.44v being the absolute max limit IMO), and with LLC ideally set at 4 (up to 5, avoid more).

Anything more than this, I think it gets too much into that hot zone of more extreme overclocking and benchmarking score contests, not gaming and daily usage.

Edited September 27, 2024 by LucShep

[The_Nephilim]

OK thnx for the post I may go with this one it is even a good price:

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDDZGLXL/?coliid=I1GMSCLFUO9YME&colid=2VPLP4B3SQY4X&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

 

but I already am chasing Unicorns isn't it fun

[LucShep]

7 minutes ago, The_Nephilim said:

OK thnx for the post I may go with this one it is even a good price:

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDDZGLXL/?coliid=I1GMSCLFUO9YME&colid=2VPLP4B3SQY4X&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

 

but I already am chasing Unicorns isn't it fun

That's right, that's really the point of OC'ing (to me anyway).  
It's a "K" CPU (and a 12th gen free of degradation issues) and you got a motherboard able to do it.
If stuff was meant to be pushed (so long as it doesn't break), it's low hanging fruit right there. 

Edited September 19, 2024 by LucShep

[The_Nephilim]

yes that is what I figure too. I just wanted to get the CPU a bit more cooler and I was thinking AIO should help..

I did get it too 5.2ghz but about 1.5v. It worked fine but I was more worried about what voltage I should run 24/7 that is when I thought about water since it was a tad hot but not too bad.. I ran DCS for 2hours at 1.5v no issues..

 

I just think water will keep it cooler for me.. I wantto get it but I need tires for the car and I guess I need to do the adlut thing and get the tires  lol!!

[LucShep]

1 minute ago, The_Nephilim said:

yes that is what I figure too. I just wanted to get the CPU a bit more cooler and I was thinking AIO should help..

I did get it too 5.2ghz but about 1.5v. It worked fine but I was more worried about what voltage I should run 24/7 that is when I thought about water since it was a tad hot but not too bad.. I ran DCS for 2hours at 1.5v no issues..

 

I just think water will keep it cooler for me.. I wantto get it but I need tires for the car and I guess I need to do the adlut thing and get the tires  lol!!

1.5v...  "mother of god meme".  You need LN2.  Not a 360AIO!! 

Thats what I meant before with the previous wall of text... you hit a wall with 12th gen (and why Intel went full retard with 13th/14th gen Raptor Lake, for higher clocks).

At some point you need outrageous voltages for a mere 100Mhz bump on clocks!  
LLC 4 to 5 helps a lot with vdroop for a more stable overclock (but temps/wattage go up too).

[The_Nephilim]

well believe it or not doing an avx  stress test it did not go over a steady 88-90c. it could maybe went a wee bit higher.. that was on 8 cores ht off

 

I had just bought a JPein desk mount for my TEDAC Hopefully it works well with the tedac and I can get a single on ebay for my HOTAS.. thnx

Edited September 19, 2024 by The_Nephilim

[LucShep]

8 minutes ago, The_Nephilim said:

well believe it or not doing an avx  stress test it did not go over a steady 88-90c. it could maybe went a wee bit higher.. that was on 8 cores ht off
 

Ah yes.... AVX2 and AVX512 ratio offset is a must. Try to set those to per-core "user specify" and ratio offset at "3".
Go for it again and see it how it goes. For AVX, those are pretty decent temps for air-cooling anyway. 

Edited September 19, 2024 by LucShep

[The_Nephilim]

well I am not sure but I think DCS only uses AVX a bit but no where near as demanding as the OCCT Stress test

 

I am pretty sure I could get it too 53 on air.. would probally be the wall with water but maybe 5.4

[skywalker22]

I had Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360, but I bought the III edition recently - cools batter then II. Its amazing piece of hardware, quiet, and cool.

Btw, I advice you to use the fantastic app called Fan Control; to manually control all the fans in your system. 

Since I use water cooling on CPU, I have my i7 10700K running on 5.1GHz without any issues what so ever.

[LucShep]

On 9/27/2024 at 7:16 AM, skywalker22 said:

I had Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360, but I bought the III edition recently - cools batter then II. Its amazing piece of hardware, quiet, and cool.

It may be the case that the Artic Freezer III works better than the Freezer II with Intel LGA1200 (10th/11th gen) and also AMD AM4/AM5, as these sockets are "square-ish". 
These sockets do not have the problems that affect LGA1700 (12th/13th/14th gen) stock ILM, such as bending and etc (which affects temperatures), as it has a much more "rectangular" shape, also more sensitive to the contact patch with the cold plate.  See image attached below, maybe it'll make sense.

For LGA1700, it's when you use an improved contact frame specifically for it, made by 3rd parties, such as the one from Thermalright (or equivalent), that it works as desired.

The new Freezer III uses (unfortunately) a proprietary contact frame, so you're forced to use that. And it doesn't provide an optimal contact patch with LGA1700.
It's not like it's "bad" (it's still good!) but you can do better for same budget (as I posted above).

The previous Freezer II with a specific and improved LGA1700 contact frame, gives slightly better results than the newer Freezer III (tested myself recently with 14700K system). 
Of course, such contact frame from third parties also benefits other coolers (air or liquid) that do not use proprietary contact frames.
 

Edited September 28, 2024 by LucShep
added image

[The_Nephilim]

Hey Guys,

Merry Christmas and happy new year. I had gotten the Thermalright Frozen Notte cooler 360 and I had asked the oracle if I could use the Thermalright aftermarket CPU BRacket and rediscovered this old post by me and I see that LucShep had answered my question about if I could use the TR Bracket with this AIO and it was a yes..

 

So now I will wait until tomorrow Christmas to see if Santa will send me the case I wanted to fit this new AIO in with.. I am pretty sure I will be getting it and will have to wait until tomorrow to see if I did. So Once I get the new case I can swap out the Air Cooler for the AIO and see what I can do with the OC of the CPU.. I am going to run a bank of tests and note them here to see what the difference is when I put in the AIO vs my Air Cooler now.. so I will get some Idle temps and 100% Usage temps then do the same after I install the AIO and see what difference there will be..

 

I am really getting excited and looking forward too Christmas.. Hopefully Santa was nice to all the kiddies out there

[The_Nephilim]

Well, Santa brought me the new PC case now I just need to muster up the energy to switch it all out and install the AIO.. I want to do it know but dreading it lol!!

Edited December 26, 2024 by The_Nephilim

[The_Nephilim]

I have just got done with the reinstall of the new case and AIO it turned out pretty good. I am still unsure ifI have the cooler seated properly the temps still seemed a bit high when I ran a OCCT CPU Test.. but so far it seems to be working. I will need to experiment some more but it turned out pretty decent I like the new case and AIO..

EDIT: Well when I ran OCCT CPU Test 5 of the cores were over 95c but the rest were under 90c, one core went too 100c and a couple at 99c.. so either the AIO is seated wrong or the cpu is defective.. not sure but maybe someone can verify what is wrong here? temps are no lower while running the OCCT Test then with the air cooler??

Will run some more testing to make sure the AIO Heatsink is properly seated.. here are some build Pics:

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by The_Nephilim

[The_Nephilim]

well I found out the thermal paste Which I did was not an optimal spread. I had tried something different and plus the paste I used was rather thick and did not spread real easy. I repasted it using the credit card method and that seemed to have lowered the temps quite a bit..

 

So I had ordered some new thermal paste and will repaste it and reseat the cooler.. this paste I have now was just too thick.. I guess when putting the dot method it did not spread too well and had some hot spots I would imagine..

 

I bought some corsair paste, which is less viscous so should spread better.. plus it comes with a spreader so I will do that method again and see if the new past works better..

Edited December 31, 2024 by The_Nephilim