Advice on EK 120mm AIO for a 5600X CPU

andiey · Nov 29, 2020

I accompanyed my friend to buy the 5600X CPU and Asus ROG Strix B550 F mobo. Just want to know if EK 120mm AIO will be sufficient to cool this new CPU. Originally my friend wanted to get Cooler Master Hyper 212. Your thoughts.

nguyen · Nov 29, 2020

Yeah it's enough, the 5600X has a TDP of 90W, which an 120mm AIO is plenty capable of cooling.

Caring1 · Nov 29, 2020

nguyen said:
Yeah it's enough, the 5600X has a TDP of ~~90W~~ 65W, which an 120mm AIO is plenty capable of cooling.

Fixed that for you.

ThrashZone · Nov 29, 2020

andiey said:
I accompanyed my friend to buy the 5600X CPU and Asus ROG Strix B550 F mobo. Just want to know if EK 120mm AIO will be sufficient to cool this new CPU. Originally my friend wanted to get Cooler Master Hyper 212. Your thoughts.

Hi,
I wouldn't waste time on any 120mm aio
360mm oe 280mm will do better.
No room just stick with a good air cooler which 212 evo is ok not good though.
D14 noctua would be a good one.

Valantar · Nov 29, 2020

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
I wouldn't waste time on any 120mm aio
360mm oe 280mm will do better.
No room just stick with a good air cooler which 212 evo is ok not good though.
D14 noctua would be a good one.

What? A 360mm AIO for that CPU is stupid level overkill. No, not fun "let's do it for the heck of it" overkill, just "I like to toss my money down the toilet" overkill. Even a 280 would be. Even if you're overclocking it as far as it'll go, a 240 is likely more than you'll need - you'll run into silicon limitations long before you hit thermal ones.

OP: A 120mm AIO will be perfectly fine, though it's debatable whether it's worth the cost over a good, cheap air cooler. It will cool better than most air coolers, but also cost more, so get whatever you prefer, as they'll both do the job.

ThrashZone · Nov 29, 2020

Hi,
Guess nobody knows what cpu upgrades are lol

On another note everything ek has over priced just for a ek logo have you at least compared to corsair/... I know at least corsair has first rate easy rma going for them.
But main policy is if you buy something at least buy something worth buying.

Valantar · Nov 29, 2020

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
Guess nobody knows what cpu upgrades are lol

On another note everything ek has over priced just for a ek logo have you at least compared to corsair/... I know at least corsair has first rate easy rma going for them.
But main policy is if you buy something at least buy something worth buying.

A decent 120mm AIO can handle a 5800X too, even with a moderate OC, and would likely do perfectly fine for whatever CPUs show up in the future unless the OP's friend suddenly gets into overclocking (or for some reason decides to get a recent Intel CPU). Future 5nm CPUs aren't very likely to be more power hungry than current 7nm ones. And upgrading to a 5900X or something of a similar tier in the future is quite unlikely unless the OP's friend has a very specific need for that many cores - and if they do, then buying a new CPU cooler alongside their CPU shouldn't be that big of a deal.

As for the EK AIOs being overpriced, that is definitely true. You're paying a lot for looks and the brand. But that's to be expected really. You don't buy EK for the value proposition.

agentnathan009 · Nov 29, 2020

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
I wouldn't waste time on any 120mm aio
360mm oe 280mm will do better.
No room just stick with a good air cooler which 212 evo is ok not good though.
D14 noctua would be a good one.

I have an Arctic cooling Liquid Freezer 120 on my 2600X that is rated for 90 watts and it cools it just fine, it is plain overkill for a 65 watt 5600X! I would encourage you to get a decent air cooler as an AIO has more parts to fail. I plan on replacing my AIO with a D15S someday or its successor when I can afford an upgrade in the future.

jesdals · Nov 29, 2020

Well build two systems with 3600 (X/XT) cpu and a Arctic 360, both gave 1900Mhz Infinity and temps below 64c, so AIO and ryzen make sence

FinneousPJ · Nov 29, 2020

Why an AIO? A $50 air cooler is probably better than a 120 mm AIO.

maxfly · Nov 29, 2020

Sounds like the deal is done. Hes actually looking for confirmation that it will cool the 5600 effectively.
Yes, it will. Its always better to have more cooling capacity vs not enough. If your friend upgrades down the line he likely wont need to worry about another heatsink.

System Name	Button
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