Need help choosing a cooler. Corsair?

[Steo]

Hi. So I have a 7700k running at 4.7ghz using a cooler master hyper 212. the voltage is just under 1.3v and the temperatures hit mid 70s (Celsius) under heavy load which seems OK, but I'm thinking of whether to get a Corsair h100i v2 or a h110i or whether to just get a cheaper one that still has a 240mm radiator. The other one I was looking at is an arctic freezer 240. That or just get a better air cooler. I'd be able to get to about 4.9ghz on my overclock only the temps will be way too high with this cooler (around 90C). So basically my question is should I buy a water cooler or would a better air cooler do the same job? If so which water cooler would you guys recommend for value and performance/noise level etc.

 

Thanks.

 

Also I don't mind hearing a bit of airflow (since that's the whole point of having fans) but fans that make constant loud whirring or clicking drive me insane  

[3rrant]

Only high tier air coolers will do a good job, like Noctua top of the line. But I suggest to go for a closed liquid cooling solution, it is generally more effective and silent. I owned a Corsair H110i V2 for years now, from a FX8350/9590 to a Ryzen and I can assure you it can sustain any kind of load (An OC 9590 is like a burning hell by itself). 

[Jurrunio]

I prefer a Huge Air cooler, like the Noctua - NH-D15 (inspired by a sandwich :D) and be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 because they give great cooling and does NOT have a chance to leak. That's just me though.

[Steo]

7 minutes ago, ErrantNyles said:

Only high tier air coolers will do a good job, like Noctua top of the line. But I suggest to go for a closed liquid cooling solution, it is generally more effective and silent. I owned a Corsair H110i V2 for years now, from a FX8350/9590 to a Ryzen and I can assure you it can sustain any kind of load (An OC 9590 is like a burning hell by itself). 

Cool thanks for the quick reply. I just have no experience with water cooling as I've never had a powerful enough PC before to benefit from it. The h110i was my first choice but I just wanted to be absolutely sure. You have some people saying they're really loud pumps etc. but then others saying they're silent. Just wanted to hear from others that have had some experience water cooling their systems.

 

I prefer a Huge Air cooler, like the Noctua - NH-D15 (inspired by a sandwich :D) and be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 because they give great cooling and does NOT have a chance to leak. That's just me though.

Yeah I've heard good news with Noctua also. I suppose the only way a liquid one would leak is through user error but again I have no experience using one yet.

[For Science!]

I'm quite impressed with your thermals (what did you use to put load on your system?). I actually doubt that a AIO will live up to your expectations unless if you delid the 7700K is a thermal nightmare otheewise.

 

having said that I was quite happy with the h100jv2 when configured properly.

[3rrant]

9 minutes ago, steocullen91 said:

Cool thanks for the quick reply. I just have no experience with water cooling as I've never had a powerful enough PC before to benefit from it. The h110i was my first choice but I just wanted to be absolutely sure. You have some people saying they're really loud pumps etc. but then others saying they're silent. Just wanted to hear from others that have had some experience water cooling their systems.

 

Yeah I've heard good news with Noctua also. I suppose the only way a liquid one would leak is through user error but again I have no experience using one yet.

The pump is loud if it is USUALLY much higher if you connect it to AIO_PUMP/AIO_FAN connectors of your motherboard instead of the normal CPU_FAN slots. I totally suggest to go with the CPU FAN slot and set them to "silent" mode or a custom curve for the best performance and silence.

 

Under full load, it is extremely unlikely that you will be hearing it any way because the other fans or the GPU itself will spin faster and make a louder noise.

 

I did change the original fans with HD120 RGB fans and they got a little bit louder but still nothing compared to the GPU and this only happens under load. In idle or very easy tasks I usually set the entire PC to the most silent state (and GPU fans to 0) and it gets extremely quiet.

[rasmuskrj]

To elaborate on what @For Science! said, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high regarding the cooling performance of an AIO solution. It seems that its kind of a lottery, how well the TIM is applied to the 7700Ks.

 

For instance, I have a custom loop solution with a Supremacy EVO block, and I still get around 85C in games when I OC to 5Ghz at 1.3V. The GPU increasing the water temperature probably doesn't help though.

My point is that you might not see a big improvement in temps when overclocking if you switch to a beefier cooler. The 212 is a pretty modest cooler though, so you probably will see some improvement.

Just be prepared  

[Steo]

47 minutes ago, For Science! said:

I'm quite impressed with your thermals (what did you use to put load on your system?). I actually doubt that a AIO will live up to your expectations unless if you delid the 7700K is a thermal nightmare otheewise.

 

having said that I was quite happy with the h100jv2 when configured properly.

That's the kind of temps I get if I use CPU-Z or play the likes of GTA5 for a bit. Prime95 26.6 is the same mid 70s. Small ffts is ridiculous and hits high 80s though but nothing will ever stress the CPU even nearly that hard. The latest version of Prime95 actually puts it to 100C on small ffts (Same with my brothers 4770k). I also won't use that again since I seen Linus saying it's supposed to stress your hardware so hard that it can cause damage.

 

I can test with different settings and post the results here if you wish but I'm just using the cooler master with the supplies thermal paste with a silentium 120mm fan. It's a 3 pin fan so it's not PWM but the board allows DC control. I found the stock cooler master fan very annoying tbh.

6 minutes ago, rasmuskrj said:

To elaborate on what @For Science! said, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high regarding the cooling performance of an AIO solution. It seems that its kind of a lottery, how well the TIM is applied to the 7700Ks.

 

For instance, I have a custom loop solution with a Supremacy EVO block, and I still get around 85C in games when I OC to 5Ghz at 1.3V. The GPU increasing the water temperature probably doesn't help though.

My point is that you might not see a big improvement in temps when overclocking if you switch to a beefier cooler. The 212 is a pretty modest cooler though, so you probably will see some improvement.

Just be prepared  

Yeah the fact that I have 2 GTX 970's in SLI there will be a lot of heat in my case actually. I plan on saving for a single GPU like the 1080 or 1080 ti but it's a big expense. I know i'd have a closed water cooler but still the heat in there is going to make the radiator warmer.

[Steo]

The temps are actually fairly good at 4.8ghz better than expected, but I think it might need a bit more voltage to stabilize in case it just locks up. I'll do tests why not.

[For Science!]

3 minutes ago, steocullen91 said:

T

Just tried CPU-Z myself. quite shocked to see how short it was. I would recommend giving Realbench a try if you want a bit more robust testing, to see if your entire system (CPU + RAM + GPU) is stable. But I guess that is off track. In a short summary:

 

-Top end air coolers like the NHD15 will perform close to a 240 mm AIO and not have the problem with pump failure or the ultimate death due to corrosion inside

 

- However your case may not fit a massive aircooler, then an AIO may be an option for you

 

- Noise wise, probably comparable? (I've never used a big aircooler unfortunately), since ultimately you have 2 fans pusing (or pulling) against a radiator/fin stack to cool the CPU/water. Generally you may run the AIO fans a bit slower since you have the large surface area to leverage but you have pump noise that doesn't happen in the aircooler.

 

- If you frequently move your rig, neither is optimal but AIOs are probably safer than a big aircooler.

[Steo]

17 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Just tried CPU-Z myself. quite shocked to see how short it was. I would recommend giving Realbench a try if you want a bit more robust testing, to see if your entire system (CPU + RAM + GPU) is stable. But I guess that is off track. In a short summary:

 

-Top end air coolers like the NHD15 will perform close to a 240 mm AIO and not have the problem with pump failure or the ultimate death due to corrosion inside

 

- However your case may not fit a massive aircooler, then an AIO may be an option for you

 

- Noise wise, probably comparable? (I've never used a big aircooler unfortunately), since ultimately you have 2 fans pusing (or pulling) against a radiator/fin stack to cool the CPU/water. Generally you may run the AIO fans a bit slower since you have the large surface area to leverage but you have pump noise that doesn't happen in the aircooler.

 

- If you frequently move your rig, neither is optimal but AIOs are probably safer than a big aircooler.

I will try that and see what happens thanks. I can open a new thread in the right section if it comes to it but would these temps drop with aio do you think? this is 20 minutes with prime95 26.6. I'll try realbench but 87c is hot in my opinion but then again it's a stress test.

 

EDIT: also this is at 4.8ghz instead of 4.7

[Steo]

So I'll definitely need a new cooler anyway. I went back down to 4.7ghz and ran realbench and I really don't like these results. Think I should just go with the corsair one to be on the safe side?

[For Science!]

3 minutes ago, steocullen91 said:

-snip-

 

Yes, I think the corsair will drop the temperatures compared to the 212, but again be aware that you will be thermal limited by the TIM. Some people swear by the Kraken series which I believe looks a bit nicer but is pricier, also I've noticed a lot of them having issues this summer. I've used the H100i v2 and have been quite happy with it (so happy with it that it made me do custom water cooling, but thats another story).

 

Just be aware that if you want to set up profile you will need  to use corsair link and so need a free usb 2 header on your motherboard.

[Steo]

21 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Yes, I think the corsair will drop the temperatures compared to the 212, but again be aware that you will be thermal limited by the TIM. Some people swear by the Kraken series which I believe looks a bit nicer but is pricier, also I've noticed a lot of them having issues this summer. I've used the H100i v2 and have been quite happy with it (so happy with it that it made me do custom water cooling, but thats another story).

 

Just be aware that if you want to set up profile you will need  to use corsair link and so need a free usb 2 header on your motherboard.

Yeah that's no problem. I don't want to try delid it in case I break it but if the water cooler can get it to at least stay in the 80s during an extreme test like that I'll be happy enough considering nothing else will ever push it that hard.