AM4 CPU Cooler Poll

[Mike Soda]

The last option I can't afford yet but if y'all think it's worth the price increase over the previous 2 then I'll go for it. According to Guru3d's tests of the Core Frozr L found here, the only the time NH-D15 (non AM4 version), noticeably out performed it was at stock idle, stock load & OC idle. The moment they OC'd & put a load on it the i7-4790k only showed a 1 degree difference between the 2, I just don't know if that limit of air cooling would apply to my chip.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Mike Soda
forgot the link lol

[Moress]

Where are you shopping (In America according to your profile) where those coolers are $170+? Those are like $50-80 coolers

 

As for cooling, Ryzen can be cooled just fine (Especially a 4c model like the 1500x) with a mid-range aftermarket cooler like the Frozr L and U14S (Although those prices...)

[Mike Soda]

13 minutes ago, Moress said:

Where are you shopping (In America according to your profile) where those coolers are $170+? Those are like $50-80 coolers

 

As for cooling, Ryzen can be cooled just fine (Especially a 4c model like the 1500x) with a mid-range aftermarket cooler like the Frozr L and U14S (Although those prices...)

I'd be buying them from a combination of Newegg & Amazon, depending on prices at the time I actually purchase. The ones I listed above are based off no sale at all & include new black chromax fans to swap on the coolers & other accessories. The prices at the end are the totals, maybe I should've wrote that in there but figured people would see the list of multiple products & know, my bad.

[shadowbyte]

I'd just pick up one of these personally. For 70 dollars it's a pretty fantastic value

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13C-000U-00002

I own the R1 Ultimate personally, and it does a fantastic job cooling my 5820k overclocked to 4.5ghz at 1.31 volts (under 70 at load, around 40 idle)

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

Do you really need that many 140mm fans?

 

I'd go with the 3rd option but with only 2 case fans.

[Mike Soda]

8 minutes ago, shadowbyte said:

I'd just pick up one of these personally. For 70 dollars it's a pretty fantastic value

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13C-000U-00002

I own the R1 Ultimate personally, and it does a fantastic job cooling my 5820k overclocked to 4.5ghz at 1.31 volts (under 70 at load, around 40 idle)

Thanks, I did previously consider that one & the R7 Quad Lumi but got turned off to the idea of that brand when I saw some examples of cheap build quality in a review or 2. Additionally this also my concern with MSI, although there's nothing wrong with my 3GB 1060 by them, other cheaper MSI products I've owned makes me question why their proclaimed 150,000 MTBF Torx fan & heatsink only has a 1 year warranty.

[Mike Soda]

3 minutes ago, bob51zhang said:

Do you really need that many 140mm fans?

 

I'd go with the 3rd option but with only 2 case fans.

From what I've watched & read, 4 is always regarded as the most optimal, anything less I'd be suffering in my hot climate & any more is negligible performance increase.

[Mike Soda]

5 minutes ago, bob51zhang said:

Do you really need that many 140mm fans?

 

I'd go with the 3rd option but with only 2 case fans.

My bad to clarify, the 1-2 NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap fans are to replace the brown ones that come with the cooler.

[shadowbyte]

6 minutes ago, Mike Soda said:

got turned off to the idea of that brand when I saw some examples of cheap build quality in a review or 2.

I've owned 3 of their coolers; the H7, m9i, and R1 Ultimate, and all were very well made and lasted until I sold the H7, and the M9i and R1 Ultimate are still going strong over 1.5 years later

[Mike Soda]

Just now, shadowbyte said:

I've owned 3 of their coolers; the H7, m9i, and R1 Ultimate, and all were very well made and lasted until I sold the H7, and the M9i and R1 Ultimate are still going strong over 1.5 years later

Hmmm well here is where I saw the minor build quality flaw. Do you know how the R1 Ultimate compares to the NH-D15? I've tried researching it but it seems like no one compares Cryorig to anything.

[mariushm]

With that lousy cpu (in regards to voltage), it would be a good idea to have a cooler that also pushes some air over the heatsinks of the VRM ... the heatsink is a bit undersized (too plain and chunky, not quite enough fins and surface).

It would probably help quite a bit if you install a 92-120mm on the side panel above the vrm area / cpu area pushing air down onto the motherboard .. big cpu coolers will blow air through the fins over the vrm not helping it stay cool, unlike the reference coolers which blow air down and all around helping with the cooling.

[Mike Soda]

1 minute ago, mariushm said:

With that lousy cpu (in regards to voltage), it would be a good idea to have a cooler that also pushes some air over the heatsinks of the VRM ... the heatsink is a bit undersized (too plain and chunky, not quite enough fins and surface).

It would probably help quite a bit if you install a 92-120mm on the side panel above the vrm area / cpu area pushing air down onto the motherboard .. big cpu coolers will blow air through the fins over the vrm not helping it stay cool, unlike the reference coolers which blow air down and all around helping with the cooling.

I had heard prior & thought about that but when I asked if it mattered many said no so now I'm confused. I really don't want to do even more research for several days again to find a bigger version of the stock cooler that'll fit & be a significant enough performance increase . Might have to now though...ugh.

[SpecialEllio]

well if you have the money you might aswell splurge since aircoolers don't really brake from use

[Mike Soda]

5 minutes ago, SpecialEllio said:

well if you have the money you might aswell splurge since aircoolers don't really brake from use

I've found the NH-C14S which will accept a chromax.black.swap fan just like the NH-U14S. Now I just need to find out if either provides the same cooling performance & if the U14S falls behind. If it'd still be worth it for the VRM cooling, IMO if it's blowing through the fins (which is how I'd have it on top), onto the VRMS that'd be warming them with warm air & not cooling. What're your thoughts?

[SpecialEllio]

2 minutes ago, Mike Soda said:

I've found the NH-C14S which will accept a chromax.black.swap fan just like the NH-U14S. Now I just need to find out if either provides the same cooling performance & if the U14S falls behind. If it'd still be worth it for the VRM cooling, IMO if it's blowing through the fins (which is how I'd have it on top), onto the VRMS that'd be warming them with warm air & not cooling. What're your thoughts?

sounds like a plan to me, the NH-C14S will probably perform slightly worse but my hunch is that it isn't by much.

[Mike Soda]

9 hours ago, SpecialEllio said:

sounds like a plan to me, the NH-C14S will probably perform slightly worse but my hunch is that it isn't by much.

I actually contacted Noctua about it, they recommend I use the NH-U14S & claim that it still will blow some air over the VRM's. However they did acknowledge the NH-C14S would cool them better, it does sound like unless my VRM's are ridiculously hot I shouldn't worry about them & just go with the U14S. Unfortunately I don't have a way to test with a digital thermometer or infrared camera. So I guess I just have to keep searching for a comparison between the two. I did find one but it was regarding the NH-C14 VS NH-U14S. So the C14 was handicapped by a generation but only performed 1C warmer. IMO that means both current versions could be identicle, the only clear advantage I see at this immediate time is that the NH-U14S is slightly cheaper. Then again that could be an indication of "you get what you pay for", if I could find out that it is slightly better cooling for the Chip & VRM's as a whole I'd buy it.

[handymanshandle]

12 hours ago, shadowbyte said:

I'd just pick up one of these personally. For 70 dollars it's a pretty fantastic value

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13C-000U-00002

I own the R1 Ultimate personally, and it does a fantastic job cooling my 5820k overclocked to 4.5ghz at 1.31 volts (under 70 at load, around 40 idle)

I second this.

I want to like Cryorig. I don't have one of their products yet, but I will likely be buying something from them sometime soon. I would like an H5 but for what I'm going for it's probably too big so I'll end up with a H7 likely.

[Mike Soda]

12 hours ago, shadowbyte said:

I'd just pick up one of these personally. For 70 dollars it's a pretty fantastic value

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13C-000U-00002

I own the R1 Ultimate personally, and it does a fantastic job cooling my 5820k overclocked to 4.5ghz at 1.31 volts (under 70 at load, around 40 idle)

12 minutes ago, wcreek said:

I second this.

I want to like Cryorig. I don't have one of their products yet, but I will likely be buying something from them sometime soon. I would like an H5 but for what I'm going for it's probably too big so I'll end up with a H7 likely.

I actually can't get the H1 Ultimate even if I wanted to, as it doesn't have enough RAM clearence. Now the H1 Universal does but that white cover would be hideous in my system. Right now it's a new 3 way tie between the MSI Core Frozr L, NH-U14S & NH-C14S. Of course both the Noctua choices would be getting their fans swapped for the black chromax ones. Due to new budget limitations I'm gonna have to no longer consider the NH-D15, because there's just too many other more important things I need to buy.

[minervx]

ryzen 1600 + okay cooler > ryzen 1500 + beast cooler

[Mike Soda]

4 hours ago, minervx said:

ryzen 1600 + okay cooler > ryzen 1500 + beast cooler

I needed higher clock speeds over more cores, although I lost the lottery this time. Hopefully whatever comes after Zen2 will be better because it'll be at least 5 years before I upgrade. By then I might go with a 6 core if I can make use of it but more than likely just another 4/8 that's clocked higher.