Best Cooling Option For Overclocking Core i5 3570k?

Alcad

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Nov 12, 2011
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So I'm looking to get the most out of my new CPU. I opted for Ivy Bridge because I'm not a fan of the fact that Haswell seems to run much too hot for my tastes, and I wanted something that overclocked pretty well.

Aside from a custom liquid cooling system, what would be the best cooler to get a very generous overclock out of my cpu? I'm looking at at least a 4.5-4.6GHz overclock, possibly higher. Assuming that money is not a problem, what's my best bet for getting the highest and most stable overclock? I've heard some great things about getting an NH-D14 with non-stock fans, but other then that I'm not sure. Preferably I would like something that doesn't sound like a jet turbine in my room, I would atleast like it to be moderately quiet. Liquid or Air cooling, doesn't matter to me.

For reference about case size, my case is the Cooler Master HAF XM. I'm also using the MSI Z77 MPOWER Mobo

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
QUOTE - The Phanteks PH-TC14PE is the best-performing air cooler I have ever tested. Its look and size give it a great appearance, and the overall build quality is superb. Phanteks offers this unit in many different colors, which allows enthusiasts to pick a color that matches their color scheme perfectly. The cooler's performance is exceptional; I cannot stress enough that its performance is very good. It rivals the likes of Corsair's H110 and H100 in my tests and that is no easy feat. The option to add a third fan...

Alcad

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I've heard only a little bit about the Phanteks. Do you have any cooling graphs? Also, is this one of the coolers better left with stock fans?
 

Lord_Kitty

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May 31, 2013
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The NH-D14 or any dual tower CPU cooler will be good enough.

With a closed water cooling system, you might get 100-200MHz more but you will be trading a lot in terms of silence. For the H100 to achieve the performance its reputed for, its fans have to spin to up to 2600 RPM, making more than 40dB of noise.

Personally, I don't think its worth it over a NH-D14. The Noctua fans are the best for performance and silence (no need to replace the fans, since there isn't any better than the stock ones).

Another thing to consider, if money isn't a problem, is buying a CLC and putting some Noctua NF-F12s on it. You'll still have the pump noise, but it will be much quieter.
 
QUOTE - The Phanteks PH-TC14PE is the best-performing air cooler I have ever tested. Its look and size give it a great appearance, and the overall build quality is superb. Phanteks offers this unit in many different colors, which allows enthusiasts to pick a color that matches their color scheme perfectly. The cooler's performance is exceptional; I cannot stress enough that its performance is very good. It rivals the likes of Corsair's H110 and H100 in my tests and that is no easy feat. The option to add a third fan can further improve performance by another few degrees Celsius. The noise levels are also fantastic, with the PH-TC14PE coming in third at 45 dBA when its fans are set to 100%, but the Noctua NH-L12 is still a touch quieter overall. The fact that this Phanteks cooler does so well in both categories makes it an excellent option for those wanting class-leading performance without a lot of noise. Being backed by a solid five-year warranty is also great because it shows that Phanteks stands behind their product.

The mounting hardware could, while not terrible, use some further improvement. It may not be feasible with the current design, but attaching the crossbar to the cooler would be a nice change. The crossbar with its thumbscrew to holds it in place can be a pain to install for those of us with larger hands. If you have a long, magnetic screwdriver, you can avoid this problem completely. The large size of the Phanteks PH-TC14PE makes the use of system memory with tall heatsinks impossible. Continuing on with the size of its heatsink, it weighs in at a fairly hefty 1250 g with two fans and adding a third fan will increase its weight even more. Still, its weight is not nearly as bad as some coolers of the past. The few issues I encountered with the Phanteks PH-TC14PE are fairly minor at best.

The Phanteks PH-TC14PE has, honestly, surprised me. This is a cooler I will place into one of my own personal PCs. Its low noise output, excellent performance, and the option to pick a color that matches my system's theme have definitely made me a fan of the Phanteks PH-TC14PE.

If you are looking for quiet, top-tier performance, the Phanteks PH-TC14PE offers both while being the best air cooler I have tested to date. With the ability to further improve performance by adding a third fan, you cannot go wrong by selecting this CPU cooler. Source - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Phanteks/PH-TC14PE/7.html You can read some charts there as well.

 
Solution
The Phanteks Ph-TC14PE is a nice cooler, but I prefer the Noctua one more, it is more quiet and offers similar performance.

Though if you need the colour options, then the Phanteks is the way to go, but for the noise performance, the Noctua is slightly better.

That being said, you really cannot go wrong with either of them.
 


The only thing that I could fault with the Noctura NH D14 is the fan speed control. The fans are voltage controlled 3 wire fans. If your MB does not have voltage based fan speed control, your fans will run at 100% all the time. The NH D14 comes with "Low Noise Adapters" which are resistors that you can install in-line with the fan lead wires to reduce the fan speeds by a fixed amount, I forget how much.

A better alternative (which I selected) is to buy the Noctura "NH D14 SE 2011" cooler. The SE 2011 version comes with the same NH D14 cooler but with 4 wire PWM fans which, as I said above, are near silent.

The SE 2011 is designed for Intel LGA 2011 socket MBs and if you have LGA 1156 or LGA 1150 MB you will need a $10 adapter kit (Noctura NM 13) which works quite well and is very easy to install.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Noctura NH D14 SE 2011 cooler.

Yogi

 
+1 i personally agree with this

 

Dark Lord of Tech

Retired Moderator
I own the Noctua and Phanteks , the Phanteks is the winner in the cooling dept. , but is just slightly louder than the Noctua.

Here's my Phanteks on my Asrock Extreme 9 , with the fans changed up.


FX8350 \ 5.1GHZ. \ 1.384 VOLTS

2013-04-01_18-13-33_963_zps3c011337.jpg


Phanteks PH-TC14PE with Scythe Slipstream 110 CFM fans attached.
 
Seriously.. 5.1Ghz is impressive, even for a 8350. Now, this is where the extra cooling of the Phanteks comes in handy when you really got a golden chip like this.

That is basically a 9590 there.

Anyways will you share the rest of the specs of your build?
 

Dark Lord of Tech

Retired Moderator
Asrock 990 FX Extreme 9 \ FX8350 @ 5.1 GHZ. \ 1.384 VOLTS \ XFX 750W BLACK EDITION PSU \ Samsung 840 pro 128 boot drive \ 2 - 2 tb. Seagate Barracudas \ 2 - MSI GTX 760 4GB. GPU < Purchased these a couple of weeks ago. \ Plextor Bluray - DVD Burner \ 16 GIGS of Gskill Ares.