i5 3570k Air + AIO recommendations.

epicninja21

Honorable
Oct 29, 2012
76
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10,630
Hello, so it is coming to the time that I wish to OC my CPU as it's starting to show some of its age in newer games or ones that are particularly CPU intensive gaming etc...

So I was wondering what kind of cooling I should be looking towards in order to optimise moderate overclocking and if so what amount. Just to note that I still have the stock cooler installed.

Case: Coolermaster HAF 922
CPU: i5 3570k (@ stock clock)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-LX
GPU: EVGA 660SC
~Cheers
 
Solution
I5 3570k on p8z77-v LE mobo with h-55 aio easily gets me to 4.3GHz with p95 v26.6 small fft test right at 70° after 1/2 hr test (need long tests on AIO's to accommodate liquid temp stability). This is equitable to a hyper212 at 1/2 the cost, I just prefer the space and the hyper212 doesn't physically fit in some smaller cases. My cpu ran out of luck in the cpu lottery, I cannot get the cpu to 4.4GHz stable even at 1.45v, so 4.3GHz is good at 1.208v. Luck of the draw. Physically the 2 coolers could do 4.4GHz, even 4.5GHz if you don't push them beyond gaming limits as they'll top 80° beyond 1.32v generally.

With your case, either air or aio will be just fine, you have room for either, its a matter of personal preference, taste...

Supahos

Expert
Ambassador
Ha, we have a pretty similar setup but I don't have an oc processor... Anyway typically for ivy the issue was getting the heat to the sync so massive coolers didnt tend to do a lot... The best cheap option is a hyper evo 212, nocturna dh14/15 too end of air coolers... I wouldn't go above that honestly you might get 100 mhz out of a $150 water cooler above them
 

epicninja21

Honorable
Oct 29, 2012
76
0
10,630
Hm, suppose it wouldn't be worth going the extra couple hundred Mhz from the base clock then? My budget is pretty flexible just don't want to unload cash onto something that won't actually improve much and to be somewhat future compatible.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
I5 3570k on p8z77-v LE mobo with h-55 aio easily gets me to 4.3GHz with p95 v26.6 small fft test right at 70° after 1/2 hr test (need long tests on AIO's to accommodate liquid temp stability). This is equitable to a hyper212 at 1/2 the cost, I just prefer the space and the hyper212 doesn't physically fit in some smaller cases. My cpu ran out of luck in the cpu lottery, I cannot get the cpu to 4.4GHz stable even at 1.45v, so 4.3GHz is good at 1.208v. Luck of the draw. Physically the 2 coolers could do 4.4GHz, even 4.5GHz if you don't push them beyond gaming limits as they'll top 80° beyond 1.32v generally.

With your case, either air or aio will be just fine, you have room for either, its a matter of personal preference, taste, aesthetics and budget. I5-3570K should be able to get 4.3GHz without an issue as that's about the limit of Intel supplied stock voltage, so nothing other than multiplier needs changing, but beyond that is luck of the cpu lottery, so having a huge capability air or aio is a consideration.

Personally I much prefer the Cryorig H7 to the hyper212, it has better performance, 0 case issues, 0 ram issues and is much easier to install correctly. For aio, anything below a h-90 will be sufficient with a h-55/60 giving good performance.

Having an oversized cooler such as a h-80i on up or Noctua nh-d14 / 15 just means no matter what you do, you'll be over cooled, with ability well beyond the levels required to push the cooler into higher fan speeds.
 
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