Best Cooling for my PC

RPh ChemE · May 16, 2014

Good day.

I just bought my first midrange pc. The only thing that i'm still lacking is the Cooling part. I'm not sure to go air or water. But first, here are the specs.

Processor: Intel Core i5-4440 Haswell 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1150 84W
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1 Sniper B5 ATX
RAM: (8x1)Crucial 8GB 1600mhz
GPU: Zotac GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit 1150 MHz (base) 1202 MHz (boost)
HDD: Seagate 500gb HDD
Case: Raidmax Cobra
PSU: Corsair VS650W
Monitor: pre-owned LG 19 inches (1366x768 max resolution) 60hz (yeah i should upgrade)
Extras: Asus Xonar DGX 5.1 Sound Card, 2 Deepcool XFan 120mm fans (one intake at the front of the case, and 1 as rear exhaust.).

Current CPU temps (in deg C): Using CoreTemp (Idle: 35-43, Load: 45-57)
Current GPU temps (in deg C): Using GPU-Z (Idle: 36-40) (Load: 45-70) (Load+Mild OC: 50-75 tested with MSI Combustor) [Mild OC: Board Power Limit 105%, Core Clock up by 60Mhz, Temp Target 81 deg C, didn't touched Memory Clocks]

My casing has 2 more cooling "slots" unused. 1. [120mm fan at the Bottom], 2. [2 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm or 1 x 180mm fan] at the Top. i believe this casing can support even an H100i but i could be wrong. The unit has good cable management so no need to worry for that.

I do not intend to overclock my CPU. But i do OC my GPU using Zotac FireStorm, but only lightly, because the card is already too much for 720p gaming, 60 FPS Constant on all of my games (including BF4 and AC3), max out with max AA. Maybe in 3-4 months, i'm going to replace my i5 4440 with an i7 4770 non K. My main purposes are Gaming (Lots of it) and CAD Work (for ChemE).

PS: I would like to have CPU temps no greater than 40 deg C even under load. My budget for cooling is around 120 dollars. Maybe you could provide suggestions for an entire cooling solution for my case, extra fans perhaps. My room's ambient temps are [20-25 average 33 deg Celsius at midday HOT!]

Available Store Choices:

These are the notable ones:

COolermaster Hyper 212x, Deepcool IceBlade Pro
Corsair h80i, h90, h100i
COOLERMASTER Seidon 120V

Thank You for Reading. Hoping for good suggestions.

Gam3r01 · May 16, 2014

Theres no point in getting a cooler beyond stock here, since you dont have a "K" processor that means no overclocking, and the stock cooler is good enough for stock speeds.

As for graphics the heatsink and fans connected on them are good enough for OCing.

RPh ChemE · May 16, 2014

Thanks for the reply Gam3r01. I just want to have temps lower than 40 deg on my cpu while under load.

Gam3r01 · May 16, 2014

The 212 EVO should drop temps 15+ C easily, so if under 40 is a must, the EVO would be a good place to start.

AMD Radeon · May 16, 2014

if you live in very hot country, there is a point to buy custom cooler

go for 212X
in the options you listed above, only 212x that make sense

ice blade pro is too heavy but perform worse than 212 evo
aio water cooler performs worse in hot room

RPh ChemE · May 16, 2014

The store doesn't have Evo. Will the Hyper212x suffice? I'm also reluctant on putting large air coolers on my PC because it might touch the back of the video card, that's why i put watercooling as an option because of the lesser space it consumes.

I also want to use the 2 unused cooling spots in my casing.

RPh ChemE · May 16, 2014

Yes i live in a tropical country.

It gets hot sometimes. around 34 deg C max

Gam3r01 · May 16, 2014

The 212X is a marginally better 212 EVO. So it will work well. As for the unused slots just add more case fans, or leave them unused, more fans means more noise. It should clear the card no problem.

toddybody · May 16, 2014

RPh ChemE :

Absolutely use a closed loop liquid cooler. They provide fantastic cooling (equaling some huge air coolers), but most importantly they dump heat outside your case.

I'd recommend a Corsair H60/H90

Gam3r01 · May 16, 2014

Except the 212EVO and 212X respectively both outperform the 120mm water coolers.

RPh ChemE · May 17, 2014

how far is the estimated performance of the 212X (~$40), the h80i(~$110), and the h100i (~$125). i really want a neat looking system. But if the price difference between the 212X and the watercooling solutions are too much for the difference in temps, i might just as well consider the 212X, i'm just paranoid about my motherboard cracking due to the weight of aircoolers. Lol

Gam3r01 · May 17, 2014

For 10-20% better performance, for over twice the price, the performance to price ratio is so far off its simply not viable.
(The cooler weighs surprisingly little, and the backplate holds the weight easily.

RPh ChemE · May 17, 2014

Say my CPU right now is 59 degrees under load, can you predict the temps when those three are installed?

I need to finalize it. Priority is 1. Cooling 2. Stability 3. Noise 4. Price

Gam3r01 · May 17, 2014

30-40 for the EVO, same range for the others, depends on thermalpaste used and airflow.

RPh ChemE · May 17, 2014

Alright, i'll buy the 212X. Any more suggestions? Push-pull config on the 212X? How should i setup the fans in my case? 120mm fan front intake, 120mm bottom intake, 120mm rear exhaust, 2x140mm top exhaust? or should i just use the rear fan as intake and let the 2x140mm top fans do the exhaust? how would this compliment the 212X?

Gam3r01 · May 17, 2014

The first setup should be the best bet, as for the cooler a second fan wouldnt lower temps much if at all. A single fan is more than enough.

RPh ChemE · May 17, 2014

My case doesn't support side panel fans.

RPh ChemE · May 17, 2014

If the Noctua NH-D14 becomes available, should i get it over the 212X? I mean, is it worth it? or should i just replace the stock fans of the 212X with noctua fans.

Gam3r01 · May 17, 2014

Its not the fans themselves that make it a better cooler. The stock coolermaster fans are good enough to run.

I would recommend the NH-d14 only if you had a "K" processor, both coolers can only lower the temps so far, one copes with larger amounts of heat better.

RPh ChemE · May 17, 2014

Ok. Thank you for the help Gam3r01. Ill get the 212X next week.

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