High CPU temps are concerning. Which cooler?

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Hershel1

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Nov 20, 2014
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Hey, I recently built a rig from scratch. All is good generally but I'm reaching really concerning CPU temps. While I'm gaming with quite a demanding game...Far cry 4 for example, I will linger around 70+ degrees and it's gone as high as 83 for a period of time. This also happens when rendering a video etc...So anything that's putting decent load on the cpu will make it heat up to 75 degrees at least most of the time.

I have an i5 4690k 3.5ghz with the stock cooler, and the thermal paste it came with (hence high temps) I have not overclocked this in the slightest. Wouldn't dream of it with a stock cooler.

I also have a R9 290x which generates a lot of heat but that's safe for the card...but might add to the high cpu temps by blowing hot air around.

My room isn't too hot, quite cold around this season...and I haven't really invested in additional cooling for the PC apart from stock fans and a few case fans.

Although spiking to 70 degrees + for a short period of time is not dangerous, while gaming for hours with farcry 4 I'm more than likely running my cpu at 75+ degrees for hours. Which I feel is going to really do a number on the cpu eventually.

So, I've decided I want to buy a new cpu cooler this weekend and perhaps some additional cooling. I was looking at the Hydro Series H100 CPU cooler. Do you guys have any suggestions? also I wanted to know if you'd personally wait until buying a new cooler, or would you happily play a game for a few hours at those temps? Until you got yourself a new cooler?

Thanks for your time :) I appreciate it.
 
Solution
tambeshakunt
Ok here it is, going from worst(not bad but worse compared to others XD ) to best :

A budget starting point that is good for light overclocking:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£16.25 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £16.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 22:39 GMT+0000



A cheap liquid cooler:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer 81.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£29.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £29.99
Prices include...
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Hershel1

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Nov 20, 2014
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Thanks for your time to respond :)

I have a corsair 300r case

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRyj8X5UfjbHolPQ9Dbo5GdDWQy2EnuBSJi4BUs3GMb5tDIvwO8

Max height 170mm.

I plan to overclock given a year or so...I'd like to keep the budget in the £30-50 range if possible. I'm willing to sacrifice overclocking for the time being if it means saving quite a bit. Money isn't great at the moment. I guess I could up the budget if it came down to it but let's see what options are suggested:p

Right, I'll try to avoid games that push my cpu past 70c for the time being.

 
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tambeshakunt

tambeshakunt

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Jun 5, 2013
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Ok here it is, going from worst(not bad but worse compared to others XD ) to best :

A budget starting point that is good for light overclocking:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£16.25 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £16.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 22:39 GMT+0000



A cheap liquid cooler:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer 81.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£29.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £29.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 22:40 GMT+0000



One of the most popular and best air coolers out there:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£23.54 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £23.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 22:40 GMT+0000



A very high performance air cooler ( a bit overpriced imo):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_RD 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£40.94 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £40.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 22:41 GMT+0000



Lastly, a good liquid cooling system that will allow for good overclocks and staying within reasonable price:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£54.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £54.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 22:41 GMT+0000
 
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H

Hershel1

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Nov 20, 2014
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Just what I was looking for, thank you very much. Perfect list of options :)
 
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Eggz

Eggz

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Sep 3, 2013
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To simply for you, all in one water coolers are only better performing than high end air coolers once they get large enough for the radiator to have two 120mm fans. I say high end because something like an H80i from Corsiar will certainly do better than a stock Intel cooler, but it won't cool better than a very good air cooler like the Noctua NH D-14, which is the kind of air cooler I refer to when I mention "high end" air cooler.

The main point of all in one water coolers that perform less well than a high end air cooler is that they are much less bulky. That's it - looks and fit. Once you get up to larger radiators (e.g. Corsair H100i, H110, etc.), you'll have better cooling than a high end air cooler. From there, the larger the radiator the better cooling you'll get. It's as simple as that. For instance the H110 by Corsair will cool better than the H100i, and so it will be better than any air cooler - even the best. That's because it uses two 140mm fans, rather than two 120mm fans, which gives more radiator surface area.

Cooling isn't everything, though. Your i7-4960k doesn't need the biggest and best cooler in the world. It's a pretty small chip. Unless you're going for an extreme overclock, the H100i will cool plenty. It also has cool little lighting features if that matters to you because of a case window. If not, though, just slap in a Noctua NH D-14 or NH D-15, and it'll work great. Not pretty, but if you don't have a case window, it doesn't matter.

The coolers I'm talking about are around $75 to $100, but they'll ensure your expensive CPU and connected parts won't over heat, and they'll be quiet. Well, the H100i won't be very quiet unless you replace the fans with quieter fans (e.g. Noctua NF-12), so you might have to factor in that additional cost as well. But the point is that high end air coolers and all in one water coolers with at least 140mm of radiator area will ensure safe operation unless you go overboard with the overclocking.
 
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H

Hershel1

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Nov 20, 2014
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Bit of a late reply apologies. Just wanted to thank you for these pointers, definitely influenced my purchase from the list at the top.

I avoided water cooling and stuck to the Cool Master 212, the high end water coolers are out of my budget (someones birthday came up) and I have plenty of room for the 212 so there's no need to really go for a smaller cheap compact water cooler, for perhaps worse temps.

Thanks again for your time everyone. Stuff should of been here today but is delayed until tomorrow, looking forward to hooking it up :)
 
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