Best cooler for i7 7700k

John2090073 · Mar 6, 2017

I am looking for the best cooler I can get for the I7 7700k. I currently have the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 but it is not doing the job. When I overclock the i7 to 4.8ghz my temps are all over the place. reaching up to 80-85c on stress tests. Which is no good. Is there anything out there that is better? Maybe a water cooler? Or a different air cooler? I was looking at the Noctua D-15 but it seems that there is only about 1-3c difference between the two. Looking for ideas and suggestions please.

MrN1ce9uy · Mar 6, 2017

Your temps are normal under stress at that speed with that cooler. But if you want more..

What case do you have? Can it support a 280mm radiator? NZXT Kraken X62 is one of the best AIO liquid coolers.

John2090073 · Mar 6, 2017

MrN1ce9uy :

This is my case https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139054
I want it to run at lower temps when overclocked. Your telling me that the Kraken X62 can do that? If so I don't know anything about AIO Liquid Coolers. What makes them so much better then air cooled?

MrN1ce9uy · Mar 6, 2017

Water is able to absorb more heat than air. Water is able to transfer the heat away from the CPU too the radiator and out the case more efficiently than air coolers.

Your case can fit any size radiator up to 360mm, so the Kraken X62 would be nice and cool better than your Dark Rock Pro 3.

120mm AIOs aren't much better than air coolers, so get at least 240m.

Ecky · Mar 6, 2017

Heatpipes uses water as their transfer medium. Better still, they take advantage of phase changes to move even more heat.

AiO watercoolers have noisy, expensive and failure-prone pumps that add heat to the water you're using to cool your CPU. Due to the added complexity though, air coolers almost always win at the same price, often by a significant amount, making most AiO coolers poor values. Honestly, the only advantage an AiO cooler has is that you can (with enough money) get a larger one than you could hang off of a CPU directly as a heatsink, and surface area is really the single most important factor in cooling.

MrN1ce9uy · Mar 6, 2017

Which is why I said get at least a 240mm radiator and recommended the 280mm radiator. Kraken X62 beats any air cooler that will fit in a case. There is the possibility of pump failure. It comes with a 6 year warranty. The X62 is large enough the fans don't have to run at high rpm, so not as noisy as you'd think.

If you don't want to go with liquid the Cryorig R1 Ultimate is a good choice.

chemmajorp53 · Mar 6, 2017

The fact that water absorbs more heat than air only means that your temps will creep up over time under full load until they cap out. People think AIO's give great temps because the initial temps are much better than an air cooler due to the high specific heat of water compared to copper. However, as you game/render for longer and the water heats up, the temp difference between the AIO and a good air cooler will close pretty substantially. Nothing can replace surface area. I personally like air coolers just because the slim chance of a leak or pump failure makes me uncomfortable, but I can see why they appeal to people since they look better, fit in tight spaces, and just have that "exotic feel." If you have the space for it, I'd suggest buying a Noctua NH-D15 and calling it a day. It's a massive cooler, but easy to install, SUPER quiet, and has cooling performance between the Corsair H100 and H110 AIOs.

EDIT: I read your question better. If you already have a Dark Rock Pro 3 then there's no reason to upgrade to another cooler unless it's a custom loop, it won't be worth the money. You also have to consider that there's thermal paste between the CPU die and IHS which usually isn't that good. Just because you have high temps doesn't mean the cooler isn't doing a good job, it could just be that TIM limiting the heat transfer. Also, what voltage are you running at?

MrN1ce9uy · Mar 7, 2017

I was recently looking at reviews of the Kraken X52 and X62 and found this benchmark at Gamers Nexus comparing liquid AIOs to the Dark Rock Pro 3.

I believe the Corsair H110i performs similar to the X62 for a cheaper price.

John2090073 · Mar 7, 2017

MrN1ce9uy :

I am not really worried about the price. It does seem to me that the Kraken is the smarter choice here. Although I am not 100% certain on that.

Ecky · Mar 7, 2017

One important number is missing there - noise. A vastly better heataink may perform worse than an inferior one if its fan is spinning more slowly, but it will also be making a lot less noise.

John2090073 · Mar 7, 2017

So is the Kraken a loud cooler?

MrN1ce9uy · Mar 7, 2017

You could say that. Here's the link to that review. http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2662-nzxt-kraken-x52-x62-x42-review-and-benchmarks-noise-temp?showall=1

John2090073 · Mar 9, 2017

MrN1ce9uy :

Again I don't know anything about these coolers. So if I was to buy the Kraken X62 which is what I am thinking of doing I have a couple of questions.

1. Do I need to buy coolant for this? If so which kind and how do I install it?

2. How should I mount this in my case? I was thinking of a top mount with a push/pull method? I have 2 Corsair ML140 PRO LED fans that I would put at the bottom to show inside the case with the stock fans at the top of the case pushing the air out of the top of the case. What do you guys think?

3. Am I going to see a big difference is cooling switching to this cooler from my Dark Pro 3?

dewjustin · Mar 9, 2017

My kraken x62 is always in silent mode and I can't even hear it, and it sits right next to me on my desk. Cools my oc'd 4790k great. Cools down way faster than air coolers after reaching high temps as well, goes from 75c to 30-35c almost instantly after shutting a game down.

I was worried about getting an aio after hearing everyone bitch and moan about the noise buts it's heavily exaggerated, yes they're loud at full speed but you shouldn't have to run it at full speed unless you're running a crazy oc that you probably shouldn't be running daily anyway

John2090073 · Mar 15, 2017

If I get the Krakenx62 would I be able to use these fans to stick with the "theme" of my build? https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181109

Ecky · Mar 15, 2017

1) You don't need any coolant. The Kraken is a sealed system. If the coolant ever leaks out (and they do sometimes), adding more cooling will be the last of your worries.

2) Push/pull doesn't show too much benefit over just having 2 fans, but it's more than zero. You could use those fans. They may not be very good, and spending $60 on two fans seems extremely steep to me considering there are perfectly good fans available in the $2-5 range, but ultimately it's your call. I assume this cooler is more about looking cool than keeping cool.

3) Probably not, no. Your Dark Rock Pro 3 is basically on-par with high-end AiO coolers.

MrN1ce9uy · Mar 15, 2017

I just realized there is a difference in the Dark Rock Pro 3 and the Dark Rock 3. The difference in it and the Kraken X62 will be somewhat small.

John2090073 · Mar 15, 2017

Ecky :

I just got done running Prime and my temps are getting in the 100c range. Not a good cooler to me. Everything is installed right and the thermal paste is applied correctly

Ecky · Mar 15, 2017

Chances are good it's an issue with how the heatspreader is attached. A better cooler may not lower temps at all, especially if the cooler you have isn't getting very warm to the touch. If you delid your processor, you're likely to get a 15-20c, maybe even 30c reduction in temps.

John2090073 · Mar 15, 2017

Ecky :

I don't see how that would be necessary. I seem to be the only one having issues with cooling my cpu. So I am going to buy the kraken see if there is a difference and go from there. Be quite is being really good about working with me. They think something may be wrong with the cooler itself

tuvok · Apr 27, 2017

One way to massively drop the temp is to de-lid the 7700k and apply a high quality thermal paste.
It's not easy to do and not without risk but the drops are substantial 10-20oC at load.
You can buy de-lidding kits from ebay or get one 3d printed. Watch the many youtube videos on it
and decide if that is something you think you can do.

The bequiet is a fantastic cooler and is more than capable of shifting the cpus heat should you do this.

Best cooler for i7 7700k

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