Need a new cooler for i5-4670k

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640
Hello, I'll try to keep this short and sweet.
I bought an h60 CLC a few months ago and it worked great, but the pump broke. The stock cooler that came with my cpu is working fine for now, but its a taboo to use stock heatsinks on serious gaming rigs for obvious reasons. My budget is $80 max, hopefully won't be $80.
Also, sent Corsair a RMA request, I'll update the forum when they get back to me, but after experiencing how unreliable CLC's (atleast the h60) are I'm likely going with big air unless it's a really good quality and reliable CLC (don't want to do custom loop because I'm not planning to OC very high if at all). My case is a Thermaltake Armor Reve so just about anything will fit in it rad wise just as long it's not crazy big (almost everything I've seen would fit, but there are some that won't).
I've been looking for heatsinks both CLC and air for the last week and can't make my mind up. If Corsair sends me a new h60 I'll likely sell it, so that might up my budget, so feel free to suggest thing's a bit over $80, but nothing too serious because it's an h60, not going to go for much on ebay or wherever I sell it.
P.S. would you mind listing why your suggestion is good and it's flaws and all?


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks -wildi
 
Solution
volcanoscout
That's actually the same thing, they just mangled the product description - instead of calling it the "Noctua 6 Dual Heat Pipe...D14", they should have put "Noctua D14, dual 6 heatpipe radiator design".
Sort by date Sort by votes
toddybody

toddybody

Distinguished
Dec 13, 2010
1,201
1
19,960


Hey friend... Ive owned/used 3 CLCs in the past 5 years and havent had an issue with any of them. IMO, the best tower air coolers can never compete with CLC because of where the heat is dumped (inside the case). Add that to the space/dust concerns of large air coolers...I would look to replace your faulty H60 with another CLC.

If youre going air, nearly everyone insists on Noctua coolers.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Karsten75

Karsten75

Judicious
Oct 15, 2009
6,909
0
36,960
I have built several rigs with CLCs - two with "stock" Intel CLCs, the PC I'm typing from with a Kraken (40?) and a Corsair (something or other) - the one I liked least was the Corsair. However, all of them are still working, and the oldest of them was done in 2011. No issues yet, and all are very quiet.

I don't see myself going back to blowing air over my CPUs.

I'm equally favorable o the Kraken and the Intel CLCs.

the case also looks a lot cleaner without the towering Heath Robinson-esque heatsink contraptions
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


Fair point, thank you. Mind if I ask which Corsair you have installed?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640
So upon some further searching I've narrowed it down to four options, two air and two CLC.

Cheaper:

Cooler Master Seidon 240mm ($99.99). I've read that with some good fans it out performs the h100i and get's pretty close to the Kraken x60 but the pump is better than Corsairs pumps.
Panteks U-Type ($59.99) OR Thermaltake NiC C5 Untouchable ($49.99)

More Expensive:

Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme or Pro ($109.99/$94.99)
Noctua NH-D14 SE OR Noctua 6 Dual Heatpipe ($90.55/$95.12)

I'm still unsure which is better, as it's been said above not all CLC's are bad, but they're more expensive and if I'm not going to OC more than 4.0GHz then would I really see the extra money be put to use with a CLC? 3.4GHz on my i5 works for what I need it for, I'm comfortable playing all of my games at ultra with a good 60-100+ fps. However I may need to do some light OC'ing later on down the road when my chip starts to lag behind the newer generation games/chips. And as it's also been said (maybe not here, but in other places :3) that air coolers even high end air coolers lag behind CLC's when the cpu starts putting off some good heat. That may be so, but I don't usually play for more than a few hours and the most cpu intensive games I play right now are BF3 and Space Engineers, so really as I said above, would I actually see the extra money be put to use or would it just keep my idle temps down 5 or 6c?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
volcanoscout

volcanoscout

Dignified
Jan 5, 2014
2,861
3
14,960
Here's a good article for reference - it's a year and a half old, but still relevant:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/h100i-elc240-seidon-240m-lq320,3380-14.html

It's hard to beat the NH-D14 for performance or value, and Noctua's 6-year warranty and customer support are outstanding. Very, very few people have to RMA Noctua products, but when they do Noctua express ships replacements from Austria with no hassle, with delivery in about half the time it takes the Stateside manufacturers to cough up an RMA number.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


Thanks for the link, Noctua seems to be the way to go if you're looking to spend more than $60 on a air cooler hands down. Just how big is the actual NH-D14? I've seen pictures of it but they're all in monster cases and totally insane mobo's and it's just hard to tell how it would realistically look/fit in my case (Thermaltake Armor Reve). I have Gskill.Ripjaws RAM with the heatsinks on them, so they're tall but I read that someone had to take off the heatsinks because it wouldn't fit, and someone with the exact same RAM didn't have to because the heatsink cleared the RAM easily.

If I go air in the more expensive bracket I'll definitely go with the Noctua, but I don't know how it will fit, mind sharing your specs if you have the NH-D14? There's got to be someone using it with a practically sized case out there.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
volcanoscout

volcanoscout

Dignified
Jan 5, 2014
2,861
3
14,960
The D14 needs 160mm clearance. I've got one in a Fractal Define R4, which is specced for 170mm of cooler clearance without a side fan. Mine fit even with a side fan installed (140x140x25).

Yours is supposed to clear 175mm - I'm assuming that's without side fan, but looking at pictures, I'm guessing that the side fan sits low enough on the side panel that it wouldn't interfere with a 140mm. If you have a 200mm installed, it might not fit. Hopefully someone with the same setup will chime in.

As far as RAM clearance goes, I currently have Snipers which are taller than the Ripjaws. I had to unclip the 120mm push fan and slide it up the tower about a millimeter, but that's it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640

Alright thanks man :) I don't use a side fan because I've been taking off the side panel allot lately due to the h60 pump breaking and trouble shooting, so I figured it would be easiest not to use one, but I'll look into a good one if I go air to keep air movement in the case.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
volcanoscout

volcanoscout

Dignified
Jan 5, 2014
2,861
3
14,960
I doubt you'll need it - with decent intake in the front and exhaust in the back and/or top, the D14 helps the airflow nicely. I've got non-reference SLI 770s and haven't needed a side fan - even when benchmarking, the hotter card tops out at 68C. I took out the side fan and used it on another build.

Without a side fan, you should have plenty of clearance for a tower.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


Alright thanks :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


So I've been thinking hard about this, I've decided on the Thermaltake NiC c5 due to the fact that it's $40 cheaper than the Noctua and it keeps the CPU generally about the same temp. The heatsink isn't anywhere near the size of the Noctua so it's less likely to break my board if I bump the case (which I've seen people report this happening) and I have already some amazing 120's, I won't need to worry about space with RAM or side fan because it's considerably smaller.
Silence doesn't matter to me as long as it's not extremely loud. I live in Florida so I'm used to hearing fans all day.
Any opinion? Since you have the Noctua are there any points you can add or make as to why I should or should not go with the c5?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


Thanks, definitely changed my mind there, I'll keep thinking.

I'm thinking Noctua again. Kind of decided against CLC because all of the ones that I would feel comfortable with buying are no less than $120 where as NH-D14 is $90 when not on sale. More than I was looking at first to spend, but it looks like Noctua is going to be my new cooler. Maybe not the $90 one, but possibly if I get some more money to spend on coolers and such.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
volcanoscout

volcanoscout

Dignified
Jan 5, 2014
2,861
3
14,960
This might be a good source for considering alternatives: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/6482/noctua-nh-d14-cpu-cooler-revisited-in-2014/index4.html

At the risk of sounding like a fan boy (pun intended), the only thing I would trade my D14 in for is a D15. Having read through umpteen million reviews, benchmarks, round-ups and head-to-head comparisons, my conclusion is that any high-end air cooler that can actually cool better than the D14 has some kind of glaring drawback that negates the 3C or 4C (if that) difference, and even those aren't much cheaper. The single exception, again in my opinion, is the D15. It's big, but so are most of it's credible competitors. It's expensive, but same deal. The worst thing you can say about it is that it's fans are beige and brown. (I happen to like the colors.)

To beat it decisively in cooling, you have to go liquid (not the cheap kits, either) and then you're still dealing with fan and pump noise, plus additional wiring, control and power issues. In another thread, another guy was asking about my Prime95 numbers - I'll paste them below and you can look them over if you're interested. I just ran them a couple of hours ago at my current 4.2GHz.

"I did a couple of fresh runs of small FFT because I can't find my notes from previous tests. The first run I let the software run the fans which kept the CPU fans at 40% and case fans at 60%, ambient is @ 21C, voltage is 1.20V, mobo starting temp 28C, CPU package 30C:
Max temps at 10 minutes: Core 0: 65 / Core 1: 67 / Core 2: 64 / Core 3: 64 / Package: 67
Max temps at 20 minutes: Core 0: 68 / Core 1: 70 / Core 2: 66 / Core 3: 64 / Package: 70

After that, I gave a minute to cool and started a fresh run with CPU start temp 32C and all fans maxed:
Max temps at 10 minutes: Core 0: 59 / Core 1: 62 / Core 2: 59 / Core 3: 57 / Package: 62

If you want, I can do additional runs at higher clocks."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


Thanks for the links and advice, it's all helped. Corsair has approved the RMA request so I'll send out my H60 any day now. I was looking again at some of my old choices, and the Noctua 6 Dual Heatpipe Heatsink came up again (http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-Heatpipe-Bearing-Cooler-NH-D14/dp/B002VKVZ1A/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1405888235&sr=1-2&keywords=noctua+nh-d15) I've looked on various different websites at the reviews, and people are comparing it to the D14 and saying that they're the same in performance but this is cheaper. I'm not really a heatsink guy, so I don't know much about how they work besides the obvious, would you mind telling me what you think of it and how it compares spec wise to the D14? (The reason I say D14 is because the D15 is $100, more than I would want to spend on an air cooler -but thank you still for telling me about it)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


So it's the same thing but it's $10-$20 cheaper on sale? Nice :) Ima get that one. Thanks man.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640


Been about a week, and I've been thinking hard about this (mainly because I haven't gotten around to buying the D14 yet) and I've come to the conclusion to look again. I've found that on various credible websites that the Phanteks PH-TC14PE performs aswell if not a tiny, tiny (3-4C) bit hotter than the NH. It is cheaper, it is smaller, and nothing has suggested that my RAM won't fit. The Phanteks should -by the looks of it- perform better, same two 140mm fans vs. one 140 + one 120. Same radiator (it looks like it atleast) and same materials i.e. copper pipes/silver plated aluminum fins. The phanteks looks better spec wise, but you know more about it than I, do if you don't mind can you help me out some more? :ange:

Sorry to continue to drag this thread on, but I need a more qualified opinion than mine. Phanteks or Noctua?

Phanteks: http://www.amazon.com/Phanteks-Heat-pipes-Premium-Patented-PH-TC14PE_BK/dp/B007ZZE63A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Noctua: http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-Heatpipe-Bearing-Cooler-NH-D14/dp/B002VKVZ1A/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1405888235&sr=1-2&keywords=noctua+nh-d15

Keep in mind price/performance, and I don't by any means mind the extra 3-4C if it will save me some money AND the biggest part is the stress on the mobo.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
volcanoscout

volcanoscout

Dignified
Jan 5, 2014
2,861
3
14,960
Try googling "phanteks ph-tc14pe_bk vs noctua nh-d14". Of the first five entries that came up when I did it, four of them are reviews by KitGuru, XBitlabs, Techpowerup, and Hardcoreware. The general conclusions, with some variations are that:
1. The Phanteks is actually larger than the D14. (Height for the Ph is either 165mm or 168mm, depending on whose numbers you go by. I didn't check the other dimensions, but I think those are larger also. It may be slightly lighter, but again it depends on whose numbers you use.)
2. The D14 at full speed is about as loud as the Ph at low speed.
3. The Ph requires more assembly, is finicky to mount, and the mount is not as good as D14.
4. The Ph comes pretty much barebones, with only one ULN adapter, a splitter, and a PWM adapter, for a grand savings of $4 over the D14.
5. The quality and finish aren't quite as good as the Noctua.

The performance graphs have quite a bit of variation because of the differences in testing setups, but it looks to me like the stock Ph has the advantage at lower speeds due to the dual 140mm fan, but not so much at the higher speeds. I didn't spend any time looking at RAM clearance, but one review clearly stated that you shouldn't plan to use RAM with tall heat spreaders. Since it's a very close copy of the D14 and has the additional hurdle of having a 140mm push fan, as opposed to the smaller 120mm, I wouldn't guess that it has much, if any, advantage with RAM clearance over the D14. I could be wrong.

The one clear advantage that I could see is that you can choose multiple color themes to match a themed build.

Edit: I should add that the Phanteks' ULN was not recommended for use because of the large temperature penalty.

If the additional height isn't an issue, I would go for the D15. It's slightly better than the D14 in performance, comes with the NF-A15 140mm PWM, has much better RAM clearance. More expensive though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

wildernesshobo

Distinguished
Sep 30, 2013
97
0
18,640
Wow I was off, my bad, need to stop writing at 3 am. Looks like I mixed the numbers up. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for not going off on my ass. And the price savings would be around $20, but it's also a pound heavier, don't know what I was seeing. Sorry again.


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
volcanoscout

volcanoscout

Dignified
Jan 5, 2014
2,861
3
14,960


LOL - actually, going by the two Amazon links you posted, it's only a dollar - the Phanteks for $75, the Noctua for $76.

No sweat - if it wasn't for people like us obsessing over every little detail, the whole gaming PC market would collapse. I'm not allowed to spend any more money on my rig for a while, so I compensate by obsessing over your rig.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom