Cooling a 4790k for $70 or less.

[Toothless]

VERY URGENT and I'm sorry if I made a thread about this already. I'm out of town, lacking coffee and had a very horrid awakening.

The 4790k is $290 on NewEgg and I want to get a cooler for some OCing while prices are down. I was looking at the Noctua NH-D14 but I'm worried about case space as my case is an Antec Sonata III 500.

Any suggestions?

 

[GhostRyder]

VERY URGENT and I'm sorry if I made a thread about this already. I'm out of town, lacking coffee and had a very horrid awakening.

The 4790k is $290 on NewEgg and I want to get a cooler for some OCing while prices are down. I was looking at the Noctua NH-D14 but I'm worried about case space as my case is an Antec Sonata III 500.

Any suggestions?

Well the NH-D14 should fit if I am reading the dimensions right but its going to be a close fit. You should not have any problems other than covering up some of the extra ram flots on your motherboard. Alternatively the Hyper212 evo is much cheaper and normally can achieve max overclocking on any Devils Canyon chip without much sweating.

Alternatively you could try liquid AIO's if you want as you have a enough room for at least a 120mm cooler like the H80i (This is a refurb model) though some of the thin radiator models have a bit of trouble on the high end without kicking fan speeds up (Not the H80i of course since its a thick one, I am reference some like the H60).

 

[Toothless]

Well the NH-D14 should fit if I am reading the dimensions right but its going to be a close fit. You should not have any problems other than covering up some of the extra ram flots on your motherboard. Alternatively the Hyper212 evo is much cheaper and normally can achieve max overclocking on any Devils Canyon chip without much sweating.

Alternatively you could try liquid AIO's if you want as you have a enough room for at least a 120mm cooler like the H80i (This is a refurb model) though some of the thin radiator models have a bit of trouble on the high end without kicking fan speeds up (Not the H80i of course since its a thick one, I am reference some like the H60).

The back 120mm fan slot can be replaced with an H80 as my memory have huge heatsinks on it. Think an AIO will work better than an air cooler?

 

[GhostRyder]

The back 120mm fan slot can be replaced with an H80 as my memory have huge heatsinks on it. Think an AIO will work better than an air cooler?

Well I am a water guy personally which is why I normally stick with it now and AIO's generally can be a bit better if your looking for silence and not having a ton of space used. I like air coolers as well and you can do very similar things on an air cooler versus an AIO (In some cases AIO's get beat by the higher end air coolers) however you end up using a lot more space over ram slots and over the motherboard in general. With your case its a bit limited on options because its only got 2 fan spots in general so having a huge fan cooler might not end up as well as the heat might get a little more trapped in the case based on the ventilation (Only my opinion based on past experience with other cases and based on the design of your case).

Honestly with your case you are more than fine doing either but my opinion is this:

Get the AIO if you want to have extra space and you want to make sure all excess heat is pumped directly out.

Get the Fan cooler (DH14 or similar) if your wanting to not delve into liquid/AIO's

Either way I believe you will be able to max your chip no problem. Its really going to come down what sounds more appealing to you as personally for me AIO's are more fun and can keep heat out of the case better than fan coolers (There are always good ways to set up a fan cooler to vent properly don't get me wrong) but with your case I would definitely consider an 120mm AIO with the few options presented.

But I would not get a very thin 120mm radiator because if you do they have to work pretty hard to keep things cool especially when overclocking. Look at the nice thicker ones if you go that route.

 

[Toothless]

Well I've never had to deal with anything liquid related before and I'd rather not fry my brand new chip when trying something new, if that's understandable.

 

[Schmuckley]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...TC-Froogle-_-CPU+Cooling-_-Enermax-_-35214023

works good
better than hyper 212

 

[GhostRyder]

Well I've never had to deal with anything liquid related before and I'd rather not fry my brand new chip when trying something new, if that's understandable.

Generally AIO's are perfectly safe especially now as far as leaks go. I have actually only ever seen one in the past leak as normally the worst things I hear happening are the pumps failing which on good brands happens very infrequently now a days.

Like I said up to you as you can fit either in their just fine and I am sure you can achieve 4.5-4.8ghz on the chip with either type of setup.

 

[Toothless]

Generally AIO's are perfectly safe especially now as far as leaks go. I have actually only ever seen one in the past leak as normally the worst things I hear happening are the pumps failing which on good brands happens very infrequently now a days.

Like I said up to you as you can fit either in their just fine and I am sure you can achieve 4.5-4.8ghz on the chip with either type of setup.

What about an H50? Looks like it'll fit in my case and my needs.

EDIT: refurbished H100 for $70. Good deal?

 

[Schmuckley]

What about an H50? Looks like it'll fit in my case and my needs.

EDIT: refurbished H100 for $70. Good deal?

Not bad..

 

[Kursah]

I've seen plenty AIO's leak though more likely seems to be a pump failure in my experience with them, and generally a quality air cooling solution is just as effective with less risk. Noctua, Cooler Master, Thermalright. I've replaced too many AIOs because of various reasons, and really feel if you want water, a higher-end kit should be used... H220+ that can be customized and serviced in parts, a custom kit would be better yet or stick with air cooling. Just my 2 cents on the matter though.

Love my Nocuta, it's a beast of a tower cooler (single tower) and keeps up with the old D14 and many AIO's, it is right around your price range too. Excellent warranty, support, build quality and the best and easiest attacment/heatsink securing process I've worked with to date. Keeps my 4790 very cool, I am running stock because 4.4Ghz is fast enough and anything faster isn't noticeable in anything I do...also running a touch undervolted which dropped temps a couple degrees more!

Overclocking isn't a problem though, I was able to take my 4770k to 4.5Ghz at 1.25v with room for to spare, but haven't seen how far my 4790k goes...it defaults to 1.24v for stock 4.4 turbo...so it might not be a good clocker...I don't care it's fast, multithreaded and runs super cool at stock!

H100 for that price is a good deal if you want to go AIO it might be worth looking into. I'd have a spare air cooler ready for when it fails though... something like an CM 212 Evo or similar.

 

[Toothless]

So I think with this build I'm going to stick to air cooling. A buddy of mine has an H110i on his 4790k and it's cool and all, but I'm not a fan of big risks and air cooling has never failed on me.

So anything else besides the D14 I should be looking at?

 

[Norton]

Noctua NH-U14S as @Kursah stated it trades blows with the D-14 and some of the AIO's... easily one of my favorite's of all of the coolers I've used.

 

[GhostRyder]

So I think with this build I'm going to stick to air cooling. A buddy of mine has an H110i on his 4790k and it's cool and all, but I'm not a fan of big risks and air cooling has never failed on me.

So anything else besides the D14 I should be looking at?

If that's your choice then go for it as you should be just fine!

Basically its going to depend on what you want overall. Based on what you have said you intend for a high overclock with reasonable temps so that puts plenty of options out there for you and honestly you just need to find one that will fit nicely in your system.

My go to favorite that is inexpensive and great on performance is always the Hyper212 EVO for 34 bucks which is a great value and should allow for your limits to be only on the chips max stable overclock.

The NH-D14 is always peoples high end favorite but your paying a lot for what your get in my book.

I have heard great things about this deepcool GAMMAXX 400 and its one sale for 24 bucks but its very similar to a hyper212 evo in performance.

A lot of the air coolers are all very similar performance and it comes down to how much room you want take up with the cooler/clearance (I mean in similar design/size coolers, not in all air coolers). Personally this is why I stick normally with Hyper212 because I can generally get it to fit in more situations than messing with a massive cooler.

 

[Jetster]

The H100i is on sale isn't it?

The refurbished H100 are hit and miss. Ive bought three. Two I sent back didn't cool very well

 

[Toothless]

If that's your choice then go for it as you should be just fine!

Basically its going to depend on what you want overall. Based on what you have said you intend for a high overclock with reasonable temps so that puts plenty of options out there for you and honestly you just need to find one that will fit nicely in your system.

My go to favorite that is inexpensive and great on performance is always the Hyper212 EVO for 34 bucks which is a great value and should allow for your limits to be only on the chips max stable overclock.

The NH-D14 is always peoples high end favorite but your paying a lot for what your get in my book.

I have heard great things about this deepcool GAMMAXX 400 and its one sale for 24 bucks but its very similar to a hyper212 evo in performance.

A lot of the air coolers are all very similar performance and it comes down to how much room you want take up with the cooler/clearance (I mean in similar design/size coolers, not in all air coolers). Personally this is why I stick normally with Hyper212 because I can generally get it to fit in more situations than messing with a massive cooler.

I've always heard very good things about the Hyper212 with it being a small little worker. That deepcool looks very promising and has a blue LED! (Trying to match my fans to blue) Though looking at the reviews, it seems to be a better-than-stock-but-no-overclocking thing. I think that when I get a few extra bucks I'll get myself a Noctua and run with that. (Or a new case will help a lot)

 

[GhostRyder]

I've always heard very good things about the Hyper212 with it being a small little worker. That deepcool looks very promising and has a blue LED! (Trying to match my fans to blue) Though looking at the reviews, it seems to be a better-than-stock-but-no-overclocking thing. I think that when I get a few extra bucks I'll get myself a Noctua and run with that. (Or a new case will help a lot)

Eh I think its more fan dependent on those when between the deepcool and the Hyper212. The hyper212 just has one of the best designed in the price range CPU coolers out there that just seems to work very well for most situations. I personally like them just because they are cheap and always seem to deliver more performance than I am expecting and even with the fan kicking up to speed they are not extremely loud (To my ears mind you). The DH-14 is obviously better but there is a point at which in my book you are paying a little to much for something like that especially for the i7 4790K because I have personally been able to overclock one to 4.6ghz ( I cannot remember voltage off the top of my head) on a hyper212 and keep the temps well below the 80's without the fan needing to hit extreme speed.

 

[Toothless]

Eh I think its more fan dependent on those when between the deepcool and the Hyper212. The hyper212 just has one of the best designed in the price range CPU coolers out there that just seems to work very well for most situations. I personally like them just because they are cheap and always seem to deliver more performance than I am expecting and even with the fan kicking up to speed they are not extremely loud (To my ears mind you). The DH-14 is obviously better but there is a point at which in my book you are paying a little to much for something like that especially for the i7 4790K because I have personally been able to overclock one to 4.6ghz ( I cannot remember voltage off the top of my head) on a hyper212 and keep the temps well below the 80's without the fan needing to near and extreme speed.

As long as the i7 doesn't throttle while having an OC of at most 4.5ghz, then that's all I need. I didn't know the 212 was such a good little cooler!

 

[Jetster]

As long as the i7 doesn't throttle while having an OC of at most 4.5ghz, then that's all I need. I didn't know the 212 was such a good little cooler!

Its the luck of the draw. At 4.5 with prime you will be between 74c and 90c with the 212. If its a good chip you can drop the voltage

 

[Kursah]

As long as the i7 doesn't throttle while having an OC of at most 4.5ghz, then that's all I need. I didn't know the 212 was such a good little cooler!

Do realize with a 4790k, 4.5Ghz is only 100MHz past it's stock turbo value. 4.0GHz stock clock and 4.4GHz stock turbo.

Maybe you know this, so you shouldn't have any issues there...depending on your chip. I think I mentioned prior that I haven't tried with mine, but seeing that it uses 1.24v at stock settings for the 4.4GHz turbo clocks I believe it won't hit 4.8 any day soon, not that I'm worried at the speeds this chip has stock it's more than fast enough for everything you can throw at it.

Keep us posted on what you end up going with! The 212 will get the job done, but once it's saturated it's not as efficient as a more expensive solution...will it still get the job done? Hell yes it will! Especially with games, as most won't load your CPU like a stress test will.

 

[Toothless]

Thanks guys for all the info! This is my first ever Intel-based desktop that I built and.. 4th Intel computer. All pre-built so I'm really looking forward to this. We ordered the 4790k today and it'll get here Wednesday, and I go home on Thursday. I'll make a build log and see where it goes.

 

[Toothless]

Okay, last question. Which 212 should I be getting?

 

[Schmuckley]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214023&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-CPU Cooling-_-Enermax-_-35214023

and why..

http://www.overclock.net/t/1227935/...about-it-outperforms-hyper-212-for-less/0_100

 

[Toothless]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214023&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-CPU Cooling-_-Enermax-_-35214023

and why..

http://www.overclock.net/t/1227935/...about-it-outperforms-hyper-212-for-less/0_100

Already said I'm going with the 212 as stated in my last post.

Okay, last question. Which 212 should I be getting?

 

[Vario]

I am using a PHTC12DX (similar to 212) with a San Ace 120x38 on my 3770k and it works fine. If you are going with a 212, consider running a big fan too. Plenty of cooling performance.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

NH-U14s?

Otherwise a H80i would probably be fine. Pump failure is rarely dangerous as the computer will first heavily throttle then just shut itself down.

I would say the Hyper 212 EVO, I have one for a i5-4440, and its very quiet and pretty low temps, but I don't know how it would cope at 4.5+ GHz, a H80i would perform FAR better.

H100i is going for $75 at NCIX