I want to purchase a good CPU cooler (air cooling) and I have been looking at the reviews but they mostly seem to be from around 2010/2011 ish resulting in older CPUs being used and therefore an inaccurate estimated performance guide for the latest haswell/devil's canyon CPUs. Is there a comprehensive guide posted about this? I'm currently interested in Noctua nh d12p SE2, Be Quiet Dark Rock 3 and Cryorig H5. The H5 isn't really available due to being recently released but it appears to have slightly better performance than a 212 evo.
Best CPU air coolers 2014?
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geofelt
Titan
- Oct 9, 2006
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What is your budget?
Do you have 160mm height available?
That is the common height of top tower type air coolers.
Look at most tests with skepticism.
The included fans make a difference, and some coolers do not permit the use of standard fans.
Do not get too hung up on small differences.
The Noctua nh d12p SE2 is a fine cooler, but I think you can do better.
For the same price, look at the NH-D14 or possibly D15. Both are very large, but not any taller.
ON the other hand, you can buy a Phanteks that is similar for $50.
Both noctua and Phanteks make very good coolers with good fans.
I might look for a cooler with one or two 140mm fans.
Larger fans push more air and are quieter while doing it.
Then...
I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, the consensus is that voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
I have been unable to find any official Intel recommendation on what is a safe vcore limit.
If you are an enthusiast, you can go higher.
Even if you can handle the heat, how much do you really need that extra multiplier from say 4.4 to 4.6?
My thought is that it is better to use the exotic cooling funds for a quieter and less expensive air cooler.
Do you have 160mm height available?
That is the common height of top tower type air coolers.
Look at most tests with skepticism.
The included fans make a difference, and some coolers do not permit the use of standard fans.
Do not get too hung up on small differences.
The Noctua nh d12p SE2 is a fine cooler, but I think you can do better.
For the same price, look at the NH-D14 or possibly D15. Both are very large, but not any taller.
ON the other hand, you can buy a Phanteks that is similar for $50.
Both noctua and Phanteks make very good coolers with good fans.
I might look for a cooler with one or two 140mm fans.
Larger fans push more air and are quieter while doing it.
Then...
I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, the consensus is that voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
I have been unable to find any official Intel recommendation on what is a safe vcore limit.
If you are an enthusiast, you can go higher.
Even if you can handle the heat, how much do you really need that extra multiplier from say 4.4 to 4.6?
My thought is that it is better to use the exotic cooling funds for a quieter and less expensive air cooler.
I have a Fractal Core 3000 which can accept a CPU cooler with a max height of 160mm. I'm willing to spend up to $70 on the cooler though like anyone else would rather spend as little as possible. I was looking at the d14/15, but I'm not at all going to hardcore overclock, very light, tops 4ghz. I also looked at the Phanteks PH TC14PE though thats to tall, I know they make a smaller cooler PH TC14CS but I haven't looked into it. Thank you very much for the detailed reply. I should also add I have a i5 4670k but I'm seriously considering ditching it for the broadwell update.
jaimelmiel
Honorable
- May 7, 2012
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- 11,360
You may want to consider this Noctua it has one more heatpipe than th Nh-d12p and is 158mm tall.
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=63&lng=en
http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U12-Sockets-Heatpipe-Cooling/dp/B00C9EYVGY
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608040&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-CPU+Fans+%26+Heatsinks-_-N82E16835608040&gclid=CPv2s7yHwcECFVKPfgodxzMAag
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=63&lng=en
http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U12-Sockets-Heatpipe-Cooling/dp/B00C9EYVGY
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608040&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-CPU+Fans+%26+Heatsinks-_-N82E16835608040&gclid=CPv2s7yHwcECFVKPfgodxzMAag
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