Is aftermarket CPU cooling worth it?

[Celmor]

​I'm fine with my big air-cooler for my oc'ed i5-3570K: Phanteks PH-TC14PE
However I need better cooling for a GPU, so I'm going for the EVGA GTX 980 Hybrid which has an AIO water cooler on it, gonna buy it as soon as it's available in Germany, also happy that nVidia finally updated their game-bundle, now you would get The Witcher 3 with a GTX 900-series card (most of them) instead of the old awful bundle "choose between one of 3 [shitty] Ubisoft Games"

[henrizzle]

Yes for overclocks and AMD desktop CPU's, no for locked Intel CPU's.

Well... Yes. Unless you want lower temps and fan speed/noise

[Darkwolf]

I have a 3770k @ 4.5GHz at 1.25V paired with a Noctua NH-D14, under Prime95 it hits around 70*c. Totally worth it imo (built it in 2012).

[Wirerat]

Recently took the plunge into custom water. its a lot of fun.

 

My gpu overclocks much better on water. on the air cooler I couldnt get it above 1450mhz without it throttling even though temps were in low 70s.

 

Fractul R5

4790k 4.6ghz 1.26v 65c max (x264 stress)

evga gtx 970 FTW  1560 mhz 8000mem 45c max (game stable clocks)

asus hero vi

gskill 2400 cl10

seasonic G750

 

cooling:

swiftech DDC with ek res top

EK Supremacy MX cpu block

Bitspower full cover ACX gpu block

EK cool stream PE 360mm RAD

EK cool stream XTC 140mm RAD

Gentle typhoons x3

Corsair 140mm x 2

[MrPerforations]

hello,

   I have a cosmos pure, the best set up I thought was a simple block cooler two fans push pull and a lot of slow case fans was best.

the noise level was best then for the temp.

I run an fx8. :lol:

I now have xspc 750 x 2 360 rads on it with 11x 120mm on it?! :wacko:

[Senorcat7]

If you aren't going to or can't overclock:                          Stock Cooler

If you computer runs hot or is too loud for your taste:     Aftermarket
If you are going to overclock:                                           Aftermarket- unless the temperatures are decent.

 

I think it's that simple!

[ace101.]

Stock Cooler will work with those high demanding applications and games but temperature will sure be maxed out.

Investing on a Aftermarket CPU Cooler is definitely worth it even if you don't overclock unless you just use your PC for Web Browsing and Word Processing.

[Bapplemonster]

How about Vapor Chamber coolers?

http://www.idcooling.com/Product/productList/category_parent/25/category/62/name/FI%20Series

 

Please review one vs normal solid pipe heatsinks!

[GoodN1ght]

Nah, Nintendo doesn't own those words.

You think that matters to them? Fool! 

[GoodN1ght]

Custom liquid cooled all the way!

 

But seriously, custom loops are really for enthusiasts, they can make future 'work' on your system a pain.

 

All in ones & silent air coolers a niche too, but I feel comfortable building a system for a buddy/customer with an all in one or high end air cooler with no worries about future issues. 

 

Mom/dad/computer tarded family, stock coolers only!

 

 

 

But for bragging rights, and us enthusiasts, everyone should have a custom loop at least once in their computer building history!

 

My build:

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/96981-my-new-toy-fractal-r2-i7-4770k-2x-780s-huge-rads-liquid-cooled/

You know that custom loop`s just like bling bling, and we loveeee it. 

[asquirrel]

is it possible for you guys to test how much ambient temperature affects your hardware temps? or has this been done before? I live in a pretty hot country and sometimes i think I need an aftermarket cooler like the evo just because my room temperature is so high

A physics textbook has your answer. Or this: http://amrita.vlab.co.in/?sub=1&brch=194∼=354&cnt=1Notice how that cooling curve is exponential rather than linear? Basically, a hotter room *will* require more heatsink surface area to cool down. How much? ~math~

 

I know that for water cooling (custom loops, not AIOs) if you want a 10C delta you'll end up needing around 4347mm³ per watt of heat you are trying to dissipate. AIO radiators are, in general, less efficient than custom loop radiators (for various reasons, some the rad's fault, most the pump's fault). Air coolers are less efficient than AIO coolers. Reminder: 4347mm³ is a cubed number. When looking at a 280mm radiator you'd need to think of the radiator in cubic dimensions, ie: 280*140*30 = 1176000mm³. Mercifully, the hardest part is done for you and it's watts per mm³, so if you need to get rid of 300W of heat, you just do 300*4247 and you get 1,304,100mm³. You'd then take 1.304 million and divide it by the Width and Thickness of the radiator you chose (IE: 1,304,100 / (140x30) = 310mm. So a 280mm rad, with 140mm fans, that is 30mm thick, would not get you 10C, probably more like 12C.

 

I realize you asked about air, but truth be told, if you can find the 'watts per mm³' for an air cooler somewhere, the exact same math works for them. Even better is the °C/W rating. Those numbers are hard to find, but they get rid of the problem with the numbers above, where we only know they are good for a 10C delta, and have no idea how they will scale to other temperature deltas. Again, it's more math, but...math is something we need to be good at to save money and buy efficiently.

 

edit: Oh, and one other note, those numbers I gave for water cooling only apply to 2000 RPM fans. http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/332558-how-much-rads-for-cpu-gpu/?p=4534331That is where I got them from.

[soulreaper]

Only if you over clock and if you do. Air to air coolers for mild OC, AIO water coolers for higher OC, and custom water cooling loop for extreme OC cpu and gpu.