What should I look/buy when I'm looking for a new cpu cooler?

[Ahaha]

I have an I5 7th Gen and I've had it running with the stock cooler for a few years now. I figured it's time to upgrade it so I was thinking of buying a 120mm aio for it. I'm really confused On what I should look for to make sure it's compatable with my  cpu / motherboard. Also I would love some aio recommendations and some advice.

 

Thank you

[ki8aras]

1st of all, does your current setup thermal throttle?

if not then there isnt really any need to spend the money on a needless upgrade

[narrdarr]

is the current cooler to loud?

are you looking to overclock?( if it's a k)

its it thermal throttling?

are you looking to make you build look nicer?

[0591ryan]

To echo all the above and add a little more

 

lets say it is thermally throttling or you think the temps are too high

 

which is more your kind of thing-an air cooler that requires little maintenance and essentially zero chance of failure ever or an AIO that will eventually fail (although it will take years)

 

pretty much all AIOs are the same since they all license the pump design from astek I believe

 

Air coolers are a little more varied in design and looks and in large part are equivalent to AIOs in long workloads

 

For burst workloads like gaming, AIOs have the advantage as the water can soak up the heat immediately and dissipate it later whereas Air Coolers must dissipate the heat immediately

 

But if you aren’t thermally constrained or considering overclocking, the whole question is moot

[Ahaha]

On 8/4/2021 at 4:48 PM, 0591ryan said:

To echo all the above and add a little more

 

lets say it is thermally throttling or you think the temps are too high

 

which is more your kind of thing-an air cooler that requires little maintenance and essentially zero chance of failure ever or an AIO that will eventually fail (although it will take years)

 

pretty much all AIOs are the same since they all license the pump design from astek I believe

 

Air coolers are a little more varied in design and looks and in large part are equivalent to AIOs in long workloads

 

For burst workloads like gaming, AIOs have the advantage as the water can soak up the heat immediately and dissipate it later whereas Air Coolers must dissipate the heat immediately

 

But if you aren’t thermally constrained or considering overclocking, the whole question is moot

Thank you, my system is thermally throttling and I'll probably get a noctua fan cooler instead of an aio. I heard they were really good.

[WoodenMarker]

5 hours ago, Ahaha said:

Thank you, my system is thermally throttling and I'll probably get a noctua fan cooler instead of an aio. I heard they were really good.

What cpu, ram, and case are you using? 

Are you oc'ing? The cpu shouldn't be throttling if it's at stock. 

[Gohardgrandpa]

If you have room in your case the scythe fuma 2 is really nice. It's really quiet and works great

[Ahaha]

On 8/6/2021 at 3:26 PM, WoodenMarker said:

What cpu, ram, and case are you using? 

Are you oc'ing? The cpu shouldn't be throttling if it's at stock. 

I have a i5 7400 with a stock cooler, whenever I play games for a few hours it spikes to 100 and everything becomes slow and yes im sure its not using my integrated graphics. I got 16 gb of ram and im not overclocking anything. For the case I dont really remember the name of it specifically but its a cooler master one. Also i've already bought this and it's on the way:
https://www.amazon.ca/Noctua-NH-U12S-redux-Performance-redux-1700/dp/B08WPDD6GD/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=noctua+grey+cooler&qid=1628451958&sr=8-3

[Chiyawa]

Sounds like it could be your fan not performing well, because 7400 should not thermal throttle at all. Either your cooler is dusty (especially those in the fins which is very hard to clean with a brush) or your fan is spinning slower than before.

 

Anyway, sure, why not? Upgrade your cooler actually gives you some benefits:

- Boost clock can sustain longer (if your heat sink is big)

- Keeps your CPU cooler (big heat sink offer large thermal mass capability)

- Can be good looking (well, especially with RGB, but non RGB also looks awesome. This comes to your preferences)

 

However, there are a few things you need to take note of:

+ If you are going for air-cooling:

  - Check the CPU cooler height and make sure your PC case can fit it. Many decent PC case can fit a 165mm CPU cooler height, but there are also many case that can only fit 160mm CPU cooler height. Check your case manual for more info on CPU cooler height clearance.

  - Obstruction. Some CPU cooler is so huge and bulky that it might interfere with RAM and/or GPU. Make sure to check for RAM clearance and PCIe clearance. Some bigger one may interfere your GPU if your motherboard PCIe slot is very close to the CPU socket. (I know SilverStone HE01 will interfere with top PCIe slot of the MSI MEG X570 Godlike because the it is so close to the CPU, well, at least from PC Building Simulator anyway)

  - Mounting support. Make sure the CPU cooler support the mounting of your CPU socket.

+ If you are going for AIO:

  - Make sure the AIO radiator can fit your case. Just because a case can fit 3x 120mm fans doesn't mean it can fit 360mm radiator. Radiator are a little bit longer because they need to accommodate inlet and outlet. Check your case manual for more info on radiator thickness and length clearance.

  - Radiator thickness. Thick radiator may interfere with other components such as RAM especially when you place it at the top of your case.

  - CPU block mounting. Make sure the CPU block mounting fits your CPU socket.

  - CPU block inlet and outlet. Some CPU block has their inlet and outlet a bit too big that it interfere with one of the RAM slot.

 

Hope this helps you a little.

 

Regards,

Chiyawa