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Which cooler for an i7 9700K

Stevers108

Hi all!

 

I'm currently building a PC for a friend and he's on a bit of a higher budget (budget nonetheless), so I'm trying to see which cooler would be best for an i7 7700K. I settled on the Be Quiet CPU cooler, but trying to pick which one.

 

I'm between the: be quiet! Dark Rock 4 Air Cooler and the be quiet! Dark Rock 4 Air Cooler Pro. I'm mostly worried about case clearance which is why I'm hesitant to buy the pro version

 

To be safe, i thought I would use a Be Quiet case (cases seem hard to come by now? I guess since everybody is working from home): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087D7KNL9/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&th=1. 

Would the pro version make that much of a difference? Also I'm open to any other air cooler suggestions! I already looked at the Noctua D15, but they seem super similar in performance.

 

 

Thanks!!

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4 minutes ago, Stevers108 said:

Hi all!

 

I'm currently building a PC for a friend and he's on a bit of a higher budget (budget nonetheless), so I'm trying to see which cooler would be best for an i9 9700K. I settled on the Be Quiet CPU cooler, but trying to pick which one.

 

I'm between the: be quiet! Dark Rock 4 Air Cooler and the be quiet! Dark Rock 4 Air Cooler Pro. I'm mostly worried about case clearance which is why I'm hesitant to buy the pro version

 

To be safe, i thought I would use a Be Quiet case (cases seem hard to come by now? I guess since everybody is working from home): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087D7KNL9/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&th=1. 

Would the pro version make that much of a difference? Also I'm open to any other air cooler suggestions! I already looked at the Noctua D15, but they seem super similar in performance.

 

 

Thanks!!

The pro version is bigger so you could have slightly better temps. 

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The deal is will it fit ina case.  Another issue is will there be ram clearance.  Cases,ram, and coolers all have their various heights listed somewhere.  If a device doesn’t have the appropriate height listed (it’s usually in millimeters) then find the same make and model on another site and see if it’s listed there.    Pcpartpicker and Newegg both tend to have fairly complete product descriptions.  Newegg does tend to hide theirs behind a button but they generally have them.  If the listed width of the case is more than the listed height of the cooler it will fit.  If the listed height of the ram is less than the max ram height for the cooler it will fit.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Sorry just wanted to say that we swapped over to a i7 7700K for budget reasons. Still kind of stuck between the Noctua and Dark Pro coolers

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40 minutes ago, Stevers108 said:

Sorry just wanted to say that we swapped over to a i7 7700K for budget reasons. Still kind of stuck between the Noctua and Dark Pro coolers

Isn’t the 7700k the same speed as a 3300x?  A big cooler won’t be needed for a cpu that small.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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12 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Isn’t the 7700k the same speed as a 3300x?  A big cooler won’t be needed for a cpu that small.

That's very true, would the Noctua NH-D15S or Noctua NH-U12S do the job? Sorry, I don't usually use air coolers, but I should definitely brush up on them

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On 5/31/2020 at 7:28 AM, Stevers108 said:

That's very true, would the Noctua NH-D15S or Noctua NH-U12S do the job? Sorry, I don't usually use air coolers, but I should definitely brush up on them

Any of the coolers mentioned so far would be plenty. 

What ram are you using?

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Le Grand Macho  RT. All of the performance of a D15, no ram blockages.. same goes for True Spirit 140 Power. All of the performance of a D15, for fifty bucks.

AMD R9 5900X @ Booost | Thermalright Aqua Elite 360, 3x TL- C12 Pro, 2x TL-K12, SYY-157
Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero | 4 x 8GB G.Skill Trident Z Mix @ 3800 14-15-15-35 1.575v
Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC @ 3045/1495 | WD SN850, SN850X, 2x SN770, Asus Hyper M.2
EVGA SuperNova 750w | Fractal Torrent Compact RGB |1x Phanteks T30, 1x TL-B12, 1x TY-143

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On 6/1/2020 at 3:41 PM, WoodenMarker said:

Any of the coolers mentioned so far would be plenty. 

What ram are you using?

 

On 6/1/2020 at 3:46 PM, freeagent said:

Le Grand Macho  RT. All of the performance of a D15, no ram blockages.. same goes for True Spirit 140 Power. All of the performance of a D15, for fifty bucks.

Sorry for the late reply! This is all super helpful information! And just regular crucial ballistic ram! I double checked the height clearance and it checked out

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On 5/31/2020 at 9:28 AM, Stevers108 said:

That's very true, would the Noctua NH-D15S or Noctua NH-U12S do the job? Sorry, I don't usually use air coolers, but I should definitely brush up on them

Even 12s may be overkill.  I’ve got a viperX on a 4770k@4ghz and it is overkill (6 pipe cooler)  One really rough and fairly inaccurate way to gauge air coolers is count the heat pipes.  It’s not accurate because all heat pipes are not created equal. Copper>aluminum, sintistered interior>woven interior, woven>grooves, and large diameter>small diameter.  So a few big sinistered copper heat pipes whale all over a bunch of small grooved aluminum ones

 

12s is five medium large sinistered copper pipes.  A good 4 pipe would likely be enough.  There are advantages to overkill in air as there are in water but they can be even more severe. With enough overkill you can run a 120mm fan under 800rpm and still get torture test temps under 70c.  That’s what I get.  Load temps for me are high 50s low 60s.  Too much cooling basically.  It’s so quiet tough the loudest thing is the hard drive.  Or was till I got a new GPU :/

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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A co worker of mine built a 9700K hackintosh system for his photo and video work. He used a dark rock pro 4 and is not overclocked and sees temps in the 70s-80s when the machine is working. So to me that would be a good starting point. I wouldn’t consider a 212 or a 212 clone. 
 

I know what I’m about to say is very taboo, but look for a cooler that can deal with 250w and up.

AMD R9 5900X @ Booost | Thermalright Aqua Elite 360, 3x TL- C12 Pro, 2x TL-K12, SYY-157
Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero | 4 x 8GB G.Skill Trident Z Mix @ 3800 14-15-15-35 1.575v
Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC @ 3045/1495 | WD SN850, SN850X, 2x SN770, Asus Hyper M.2
EVGA SuperNova 750w | Fractal Torrent Compact RGB |1x Phanteks T30, 1x TL-B12, 1x TY-143

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1 minute ago, freeagent said:

A co worker of mine built a 9700K hackintosh system for his photo and video work. He used a dark rock pro 4 and is not overclocked and sees temps in the 70s-80s when the machine is working. So to me that would be a good starting point. I wouldn’t consider a 212 or a 212 clone. 
 

I know what I’m about to say is very taboo, but look for a cooler that can deal with 250w and up.

Wow.  That’s some heat. The dark rock pro is not a small cooler.  250w is sort of the top end of big air.  If that is required then water is the only way.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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No it’s not. I just told you he’s running it.. DRP 4 is a 250w cooler. I don’t think he would overclock it until the winter, but he really didn’t sound too interested in it. My cpu in my sig can pull that with ease. My True Spirit 140 Power has 6x 8mm pipes, my Le Grand Macho RT has 7x 6mm pipes. I used to have a D14 and H100 so I have something to compare with performance wise. Don’t mind me, I’ve been running Thermalright stuff since the beginning so I’m a bit of a fan boy.

AMD R9 5900X @ Booost | Thermalright Aqua Elite 360, 3x TL- C12 Pro, 2x TL-K12, SYY-157
Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero | 4 x 8GB G.Skill Trident Z Mix @ 3800 14-15-15-35 1.575v
Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC @ 3045/1495 | WD SN850, SN850X, 2x SN770, Asus Hyper M.2
EVGA SuperNova 750w | Fractal Torrent Compact RGB |1x Phanteks T30, 1x TL-B12, 1x TY-143

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4 minutes ago, freeagent said:

No it’s not. I just told you he’s running it.. DRP 4 is a 250w cooler. I don’t think he would overclock it until the winter, but he really didn’t sound too interested in it. My cpu in my sig can pull that with ease. My True Spirit 140 Power has 6x 8mm pipes, my Le Grand Macho RT has 7x 6mm pipes. I used to have a D14 and H100 so I have something to compare with performance wise. Don’t mind me, I’ve been running Thermalright stuff since the beginning so I’m a bit of a fan boy.

You did, but you also said no overclock and 250w.  TDP for that cpu is supposed to be less than half that.  Something is up.  No idea what.  There are air coolers that claim 300+w TDP.  I’m not sure I believe them.  All the big air coolers are moderately comparable imho. D15, dark rock pro4, macho, assassin3.  All fairly similar.  Some might be slightly larger than others.  There’s a Corsair that would be in that group too if it didn’t have manufacturing problems.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Yes, I said the drp4 is a 250w cooler. D15 is a 260w cooler. I don’t know if I believe half the specs manufacturers toss around. Everyone is full of shit.

AMD R9 5900X @ Booost | Thermalright Aqua Elite 360, 3x TL- C12 Pro, 2x TL-K12, SYY-157
Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero | 4 x 8GB G.Skill Trident Z Mix @ 3800 14-15-15-35 1.575v
Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC @ 3045/1495 | WD SN850, SN850X, 2x SN770, Asus Hyper M.2
EVGA SuperNova 750w | Fractal Torrent Compact RGB |1x Phanteks T30, 1x TL-B12, 1x TY-143

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