Cooling Upgrade Recommendation Request

[kingfurykiller]

Looking for some advice/recommendations on how to take my PC cooling to the next level (mods, please feel free to move this to the 'new builds' section if that's better).

 

I currently have an i7-7700k in a gigabyte motherboard and an RTX 2070 SUPER, all enclosed in a Rosewill Stealth ATX Mid Tower (https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811147232). I am happy with the performance I am getting with the parts I have (plus, getting new gear will be a challenge) and my peripherals and office furniture have already gotten their upgrades. Unfortunately, my cooling is fairly dated (which is bad considering how important it is), so I'm looking to take that to the next level.

 

I currently have 6 cheap Rosewill fans (2 front, 1 bottom, 2 top, and 1 rear), pulling air from the bottom and front, and exhausting top and rear. The case is on a high table, with adequate clearance (I have a pet, floor mount is a bad idea). CPU is cooled by a CoolerMaster Hyper Evo 212 (no surprise i know). My goals for this project are as follows:

 

1. Fans: Upgrade the 6 cheaper case fans with actually nice ones. I do want red LEDs to match the build, but otherwise they do not need to be ARGB (and in fact, messing around with something like i-cue is something I would prefer to avoid)
2. CPU Cooler: Upgrade the CPU cooler to something that I could do some light overclocking with. While the i7-7700k is doing fine for now, I still have no plans to upgrade CPU anytime soon, so I want to be ready to stretch it out. AIO or a better air cooler are both options. Custom loops are out for me at this time
3. Software: Get better software monitoring of my temps for before and after. I had something janky and free with speedfan/rainmeter when I first did this build 5 years ago but it never worked properly. Embarrassingly, I don't have good data on my average CPU and GPU temps besides randomly checking the Gigabyte software or task manager
4. Case: Unless persuaded otherwise, I don't plan to swap this case yet since it's fulfilling the purpose and honestly I don't feel like moving all the existing gear 
5. Budget: I'm looking to stay in the $100-$150 range for this upgrade, unless i get talked into upgrading the case, for which I would spent ~$100 more

 

Thank you all in advance for the advice! Please let me know if there are any questions 

Edited September 16, 2021 by kingfurykiller
spelling correction

[archiso]

1 minute ago, kingfurykiller said:

Looking for some advise/recommendations on how to take my PC cooling to the next level (mods, please feel free to move this to the 'new builds' section if that's better).

 

I currently have an i7-7700k in a gigabyte motherboard and an RTX 2070 SUPER, all enclosed in a a Rosewill Stealth ATX Mid Tower (https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811147232). I am happy with the performance I am getting with the parts I have (plus, getting new gear will be a challenge) and my peripherals and office furniture have already gotten their upgrades. Unfortunately, my cooling is fairly dated (which is bad considering how important it is), so I'm looking to take that to the next level.

 

I currently have 6 cheap Rosewill fans (2 front, 1 bottom, 2 top, and 1 rear), pulling air from the bottom and front, and exhausting top and rear. The case is on a high table, with adequate clearance (I have a pet, floor mount is a bad idea). CPU is cooled by a CoolerMaster Hyper Evo 212 (no surprise i know). My goals for this project are as follows:

 

1. Fans: Upgrade the 6 cheaper case fans with actually nice ones. I do want red LEDs to match the build, but otherwise they do not need to be ARGB (and in fact, messing around with something like i-cue is something I would prefer to avoid)
2. CPU Cooler: Upgrade the CPU cooler to something that I could do some light overclocking with. While the i7-7700k is doing fine for now, I still have no plans to upgrade CPU anytime soon, so I want to be ready to stretch it out. AIO or a better air cooler are both options. Custom loops are out for me at this time
3. Software: Get better software monitoring of my temps for before and after. I had something janky and free with speedfan/rainmeter when I first did this build 5 years ago but it never worked properly. Embarrassingly, I don't have good data on my average CPU and GPU temps besides randomly checking the Gigabyte software or task manager
4. Case: Unless persuaded otherwise, I don't plan to swap this case yet since it's fulfilling the purpose and honestly I don't feel like moving all the existing gear 
5. Budget: I'm looking to stay in the $100-$150 range for this upgrade, unless i get talked into upgrading the case, for which I would spent ~$100 more

 

Thank you all in advance for the advice! Please let me know if there are any questions 

I think the cpu cooler is fine for light overclocking.

[Dedayog]

Your fans and cooler are perfectly fine.  It's not like cooling gets old and worn out, or some magic tech has been evolved over the years.  Your fans don't need to be 2021 models or some shit.

 

You're overthinking and need to focus your energy and money on something else worthwhile.

 

 

[kingfurykiller]

1 minute ago, Dedayog said:

Your fans and cooler are perfectly fine.  It's not like cooling gets old and worn out, or some magic tech has been evolved over the years.  Your fans don't need to be 2021 models or some shit.

 

You're overthinking and need to focus your energy and money on something else worthwhile.

 

 

Fair enough. I do need to replace once of the fans as it's getting noisy, and I do need to get software to better track thermals. 

 

I don't actually have anything that needs an upgrade at this time, unless I want to swap cases, so I'll just save for now.

[WoodenMarker]

5 hours ago, kingfurykiller said:

Fair enough. I do need to replace once of the fans as it's getting noisy, and I do need to get software to better track thermals. 

HWinfo is good. I personally use FanControl.

What are load temps? With so many fans, removing the one noisy one should be fine. 

[kingfurykiller]

On 9/16/2021 at 8:25 PM, WoodenMarker said:

HWinfo is good. I personally use FanControl.

What are load temps? With so many fans, removing the one noisy one should be fine. 

Thanks! I ended up using HW info. i'm idling around 35C for the CPU and 50C for the GPU. Playing CS for about 4 hours put CPU at 64C and GPU 74C. I haven't tested with a more demanding game yet.

 

I did end up ordering replacement fans (just some basic corsair ones). Leaving CPU cooler the same. I'm gonna clean the machine out; it's been a year since it's been properly cleaned

[Demonic Donut]

Arctic P12 and P14 fans are excellent and inexpensive. You can get some basic RGB strips for your case. $30 for a five pack of p12 on Amazon is a steal.

 

If you really want a new cpu cooler, you can't go wrong with a Noctua D15 or any of the well known dual tower coolers. Bequiet etc.

 

Your temps aren't bad, you can always try OCing now and see if they become a problem. Some chips don't OC well enough to need a better cooler anyway.

[kingfurykiller]

12 hours ago, Demonic Donut said:

Arctic P12 and P14 fans are excellent and inexpensive. You can get some basic RGB strips for your case. $30 for a five pack of p12 on Amazon is a steal.

 

If you really want a new cpu cooler, you can't go wrong with a Noctua D15 or any of the well known dual tower coolers. Bequiet etc.

 

Your temps aren't bad, you can always try OCing now and see if they become a problem. Some chips don't OC well enough to need a better cooler anyway.

Thanks! i ended up grabbing some corsair fans with red LEDs. I forgot that on this old case, most of the fans were controlled by this 2-state external switch. So i'm gonna fix that once my splitters get here, to get an actual fan curve. Leaving the CPU cooler alone for now. I installed all but 1 of the fans (1 is late). the visual is good, and the average temps are slightly lower under load.

I did also extensively clean the PC (been 18 months since last cleaned), moved all the drives out of the way of the of the main airflow, swapped for a newer PSU (wanted gold instead of bronze, and fully modular for better cable management), so that could have had as much impact as the fans.

i'll try overclocking next; gonna be interesting to see what I get from this 7700k; but I'm now confident that the rest of the built supports it. Thanks for the input; I'll keep the dual tower cooler in mind if my OC doesn't hold