Is it true that you should get a CPU cooler that has at least double the TDP of your CPU?

[agentpenguin]

For example, if you're CPU has 125w should you get a CPU cooler that has 250w? I've heard both yes and no and I'm confused.

[Electronics Wizardy]

CPU coolers don't really have a tdp, and cooling ability varies on many things. Just look at reviews to see about what temps you will expect.

[Skiiwee29]

TDP is such a shit metric. There is no standard for measuring it. Everyone uses there own method and nearly never the same from one to the next. Like Intel for example, there TDP is in p state 1, or after 56 seconds of boosting consuming significantly more than the 95w or 65w tdp it's rated at. 

[agentpenguin]

1 minute ago, Skiiwee29 said:

TDP is such a shit metric. There is no standard for measuring it. Everyone uses there own method and nearly never the same from one to the next. Like Intel for example, there TDP is in p state 1, or after 56 seconds of boosting consuming significantly more than the 95w or 65w tdp it's rated at. 

Lol so what should I do if I plan on getting the i7-10700K which has a TDP of 125w according pcpartpicker?

[agentpenguin]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

CPU coolers don't really have a tdp, and cooling ability varies on many things. Just look at reviews to see about what temps you will expect.

Ok thanks, I should look for what temps the cpu cooler produces?

[DailyProcrastinator]

23 minutes ago, agentpenguin said:

Lol so what should I do if I plan on getting the i7-10700K which has a TDP of 125w according pcpartpicker?

If you want good thermals get a large air cooler or a 240/280mm AIO. The TDP rating is honestly not worth bothering with, there's no consistency with the metric. 

[agentpenguin]

3 minutes ago, DailyProcrastinator said:

If you want good thermals get a large air cooler or a 240/280mm AIO. The TDP rating is honestly not worth bothering with, there's no consistency with the metric. 

Ok thank you I appreciate it but what do you mean by "large air cooler" is there anything I should be looking for in specific?  

[Mling]

Na. What is true is the single tower coolers are good for quad core CPUs, the scythe fuma 2 is all you need for 6 core performance. Any more cores than this and you need to get into either noctua performance or water cooling. And of course a size limited m-ITX build often requires an AIO that would otherwise be a waste of money in a bigger case.

 

 

EDIT: shit did I just write a rule of thumb for all CPU cooling in 2021?

[DailyProcrastinator]

1 minute ago, agentpenguin said:

Ok thank you I appreciate it but what do you mean by "large air cooler" is there anything I should be looking for in specific?  

Large air coolers I can recommend:

- Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4

- Noctua NH-D15 / NH-D15S

- Cryorig R1

- Scythe Ninja 5

- Deepcool Assassin III

- Scythe Fuma 2

- Deepcool Neptwin

 

Most of these will perform as well as a 240mm AIO. Maybe not the Neptwin but it would be close and it's less than $60USD. Just use PCPartPicker to verify compatibly with your motherboard and case. 

 

 

[DailyProcrastinator]

7 minutes ago, Mling said:

Na. What is true is the single tower coolers are good for quad core CPUs, the scythe fuma 2 is all you need for 6 core performance. Any more cores than this and you need to get into either noctua performance or water cooling. And of course a size limited m-ITX build often requires an AIO that would otherwise be a waste of money in a bigger case.

The correlation of # of cores makes no sense. I mostly get what you are trying to get to. But a 6 core 8700k nearly runs as hot as a 12 core 3900x, so using # of cores is not a useful metric.

 

You can still easily use a single fan air cooler and get great thermal performance performance. Ambient temps, case airflow optimization, these can make a huge difference. 

 

But yes an AIO is often poor value compared to a large air cooler. My Cryorig R1 performs as well if not better than my previous 240mm AIO and it was slightly cheaper. 

[agentpenguin]

7 minutes ago, DailyProcrastinator said:

Large air coolers I can recommend:

- Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4

- Noctua NH-D15 / NH-D15S

- Cryorig R1

- Scythe Ninja 5

- Deepcool Assassin III

- Scythe Fuma 2

- Deepcool Neptwin

 

Most of these will perform as well as a 240mm AIO. Maybe not the Neptwin but it would be close and it's less than $60USD. Just use PCPartPicker to verify compatibly with your motherboard and case. 

 

 

Thank you I really appreciate your help

[DailyProcrastinator]

1 minute ago, agentpenguin said:

Thank you I really appreciate your help

No problem!

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, Mling said:

Na. What is true is the single tower coolers are good for quad core CPUs, the scythe fuma 2 is all you need for 6 core performance. Any more cores than this and you need to get into either noctua performance or water cooling. And of course a size limited m-ITX build often requires an AIO that would otherwise be a waste of money in a bigger case.

 

 

EDIT: shit did I just write a rule of thumb for all CPU cooling in 2021?

Everyone’s got a threshold for this one, and the threshold is noise level.   If you look at enterprise cpu coolers they’re often ridiculously tiny and don’t have any fans at all.  Why? Because the case they put them in will have 6 blowymatroms in it.  The thing sounds like a jet engine and no one cares because there’s a room full of them and it’s soundproofed.  The more air you put across a cooling fin the more heat it can move per sq.  You can take a $30 cooler and get 65c out of it with an oveclocked monster cpu.  To do it though you’re going to need some serious and seriously loud fans.  Conversely more surface area but less air movement nets you the same cooling but less noise. There are “truely silent” coolers that have no fans at all. They rely on ambient air movement.  Their fins are usually farther apart to take better advantage of the very slowly moving air and they can be monstrously large for the amount of cooling they do.   There was a thing called a NoFan95 that looked like a hamster wheel on its side.  All copper, all heatpipe.  No, really.  The thing was so big it commonly ate the #1 pcie slot.  You put the memory in first because the thing fit OVER it. It claimed 95w. My experience is it would run a 65w chip pretty well.  More and there could be issues.  No fan at all though. If you put it in a NoFan case and Didn’t have HDDs the only way to tell the machine was on was the power light.
 

So what matters is how much noise you want to put up with. 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Bombastinator

[Entropy.]

53 minutes ago, DailyProcrastinator said:

If you want good thermals get a large air cooler or a 240/280mm AIO. The TDP rating is honestly not worth bothering with, there's no consistency with the metric. 

Ehh, well "good" is subjective. I have a 10700k in a p360a at 5ghz, and even with just a 120mm aio I manage to pull off temps around ~90c- after 30 minutes in p95. I'm probably using 100w more on this chip than on a stock 10700k, and my temps are arguably "good." Obviously, that depends on your definition. 

41 minutes ago, Mling said:

Na. What is true is the single tower coolers are good for quad core CPUs, the scythe fuma 2 is all you need for 6 core performance. Any more cores than this and you need to get into either noctua performance or water cooling. And of course a size limited m-ITX build often requires an AIO that would otherwise be a waste of money in a bigger case.

 

 

EDIT: shit did I just write a rule of thumb for all CPU cooling in 2021?

Well, being honest I don't really think what you said applies. The Fuma 2 in a well-ventilated case would be fine with a stock 5900x or 5950x. performance isn't far off from even a d15. A stock cooler's perfectly fine for something like a 5600x or 10400. Also, say you have a 3960x, you wouldn't need an IceGiant ProSiphon Elite, or a custom loop, or a 420mm aio to cool it. It has a large IHS- which helps dissipate heat- and really isn't all that hot. A "budget" trx4 cooler, such as a NH-U9, or a freezer 50 TR would be perfectly fine with it. Also also, 5950x overclocked 4.7ghz on a 92mm aio... :kek:

[freeagent]

Some food for thought.. my current cooler has a stock TDP rating of 320w. I added a stronger, faster fan.. the stock one is 74cfm, the one I use is 130cfm. With no fan its 90w TDP. I tried with an overclocked 3770K, and I believe it lol.

 

So.. my current CPU has a TDP of 65w just sitting there, the cpu will use 120w with PBO. I see temps in the low 80s and about 220w at the wall when the CPU and ram are loaded.

 

That same cooler, and same fan with my X5690 which is 130w stock, and under load at 4400 will pull around 350w at the wall, its been awhile so it could be more, or less.. not sure what that translates to at the EPS, but its a lot. Yet I see about the same temps. That is running Linpack Extreme.

 

You can line up the biggest baddest air coolers you can find and will probably see maybe 5c between them, the biggest difference being the fan, and case flow of course.. These little CPU's just sip power, but they run hot. My last 3 CPU's didn't even get my coolers warm. My X5690 makes my big coolers warm.

[DailyProcrastinator]

1 hour ago, Brok3n But who cares? said:

Ehh, well "good" is subjective. I have a 10700k in a p360a at 5ghz, and even with just a 120mm aio I manage to pull off temps around ~90c- after 30 minutes in p95. I'm probably using 100w more on this chip than on a stock 10700k, and my temps are arguably "good." Obviously, that depends on your definition. 

True but I was generalizing, I did elaborate further:

2 hours ago, DailyProcrastinator said:

You can still easily use a single fan air cooler and get great thermal performance performance. Ambient temps, case airflow optimization, these can make a huge difference.

 

[LogicalDrm]

17 hours ago, agentpenguin said:

Lol so what should I do if I plan on getting the i7-10700K which has a TDP of 125w according pcpartpicker?

All depends on how you plan to use it. You could be fine with simple $30 budget cooler. Or if you run heavy tasks, spend some more to beefier heatsink like Fuma 2 or U12A. Or even higher end for overclocking.

[Algebruh]

It real depends on what you want to do with your cpu. 

My stock 10700K consumes 170w when running folding@home or rendering. Most 140mm single tower coolers will have no issue handling such heatload. (Although the one I have almost thermal throttled)

When throwing some ultra unrealistic heatload like OCCT AVX small data set at the Cpu, even Noctua D15 can't handle such heatload (close to 230w).