Intel I7 8700k Cooling

extreme_noob · Jul 30, 2018

I am extremely new to pc building and decided to get an I7 8700k processor, but I am confused as to whether I will need to liquid cool it or if air cooling will be enough. Also, if I need to air cool or water cool it, what would be the best cooler?

terry4536 · Jul 30, 2018

You can do it either way. The I7-8700K does tend to run hot. So, I would recommend good air cooler if you go that route. Noctua NH-D14 or NH-D15 would be good choices.

terry4536 · Jul 30, 2018

An all in one CPU water cooler in essence just moves the heat sink to another location. More advanced custom water coolers are different. With those you can use large radiators that do increase the cooling effectiveness (360mm & 480mm with many fans). But they are more complicated and more expensive.

nyhcbri · Jul 30, 2018

from what im reading certain air coolers like the Noctua NH-D15 will cool just as well as a basic all in one water cooler like the corsair hydro series H110i.. pros and cons to each style but cooling is efficient either way you go even if you plan a basic overclock. certainly have to check what will work with your case and ram set up as some air coolers are so massive it simply dont fit and the water AIO radiator needs to be mounted to the case so a case with a dual 140mm fan exhaust is ideal.

extreme_noob · Jul 30, 2018

Thanks guys I'm trying to find one that will fit an lga 1151 slot and will fit in a corsair carbide 275r

extreme_noob · Jul 30, 2018

would the nh-u14s do? I can see it is compatible with the motherboard I am getting but I don't know about the case

jankerson · Jul 30, 2018

extreme_noob :

Any of the high end air coolers will work fine.

NH D15, Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro etc.

extreme_noob · Jul 30, 2018

Alright thanks. I already found out the nh u14s will fit so that will be all.

jankerson · Jul 30, 2018

extreme_noob :

That will work fine.

terry4536 · Jul 30, 2018

That case will support CPU coolers 170mm tall. That means just about all air coolers are going to fit including the Noctua NH-14 AND NH-D15 (which are large).

terry4536 · Jul 30, 2018

The NH-U14 will fit but it has less heat sink surface area than the NH-D14 &NHD-15 (less cooling ability).

jankerson · Jul 30, 2018

terry4536 :

The NH U14 should be fine as long as he doesn't push the OC too much.

Here is my 8700K at 4.7 GHZ MCE with a NH U12S with the new NF-A12x25 fan on it running Prime 95.

But yes the NH D15 is better, here is my other system running the 8086K at 5 GHz running Prime 95.

Karadjgne · Jul 30, 2018

Air coolers and liquid coolers are pretty equitable in performance, in their respective areas. The thin 120mm coolers are @140w, and do the same job as the 140w budget coolers. And this goes all the way up to the largest aircoolers such as the 250w+ Noctua NH-D15S and 240mm/280mm liquid coolers. But thats where it stops. It's limited by the sheer size of the big twin towers vrs space around the socket and above a gpu. The 280mm liquid coolers have a capacity approaching 300w+ as do the 360mm, 420mm and massive 480mm coolers. But for anything 250w ish and below, air = aio.

Before jumping into buying anything, there's one question that absolutely must be answered. Just how hard do you plan on punishing the cpu. For some, that means high-extreme OC. For some it means massive thread usage during extended periods of production software such as rendering or compiling.

You can't over-cool a cpu with a standard mechanical cooler. No matter what limited usage there may be, bigger is better. If for no other reason than with greater capacity comes lower rpm fans and less noise. A NH-D15S on a stock i7-8700k under nominal usage is for all intents silent. A CM hyper212 evo on a i7-8700k under nominal usage is pretty loud.

That Carbide 275r will fit most aircoolers with 170mm of clearance, and any aio upto 360mm. So, your cooler choice is limited realistically by 2 things. Budget and usage. Just how hard do you think you'll ever push it?

terry4536 · Jul 31, 2018

Karadjgne :

Air coolers and liquid coolers are pretty equitable in performance, in their respective areas. The thin 120mm coolers are @140w, and do the same job as the 140w budget coolers. And this goes all the way up to the largest aircoolers such as the 250w+ Noctua NH-D15S and 240mm/280mm liquid coolers. But thats where it stops. It's limited by the sheer size of the big twin towers vrs space around the socket and above a gpu. The 280mm liquid coolers have a capacity approaching 300w+ as do the 360mm, 420mm and massive 480mm coolers. But for anything 250w ish and below, air = aio.

Before jumping into buying anything, there's one question that absolutely must be answered. Just how hard do you plan on punishing the cpu. For some, that means high-extreme OC. For some it means massive thread usage during extended periods of production software such as rendering or compiling.

You can't over-cool a cpu with a standard mechanical cooler. No matter what limited usage there may be, bigger is better. If for no other reason than with greater capacity comes lower rpm fans and less noise. A NH-D15S on a stock i7-8700k under nominal usage is for all intents silent. A CM hyper212 evo on a i7-8700k under nominal usage is pretty loud.

That Carbide 275r will fit most aircoolers with 170mm of clearance, and any aio upto 360mm. So, your cooler choice is limited realistically by 2 things. Budget and usage. Just how hard do you think you'll ever push it?

I am a big fan of the Noctua coolers and fans. If you have she space in your case, they are my top recommendation for air CPU coolers. I've used the NH-D14 for years. I did install a PWM Noctua fan though.

extreme_noob · Jul 31, 2018

The NH-U14S was the only fan that I found that was compatible with the lga 1151 socket. Is there a better option that is still compatible?

terry4536 · Jul 31, 2018

extreme_noob :

Go to the Noctua website and check for compatibility with the motherboard. I would say that most if not all of the CPU coolers are going to be compatible with LGA 1151.

Here is there website. There are 52 coolers compatible with LGA 1151.

https://noctua.at/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=lga+1151#productsresult

extreme_noob · Jul 31, 2018

Thanks

terry4536 · Jul 31, 2018

https://noctua.at/en/products/cpu-cooler-retail/nh-d15

This is there best CPU cooler. It is also there largest (I believe anyway). It is 160mm tall, so it will fit in your case with 10mm to spare. The fan over the RAM can be moved up to accommodate taller RAM. And it is compatible with LGA 1151.

I say this because if this one fits the rest will also fit.

terry4536 · Jul 31, 2018

If you are interested, I found it at $83.65 at newegg.com. That was the cheapest price I found on google.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608045&cm_re=nh-d15-_-35-608-045-_-Product

Karadjgne · Jul 31, 2018

When it comes to Intel sockets, they have not changed pins in years. So lga1151 is the same as lga1155 same as lga1150. If it's compatible with any lga115x, it's compatible with all lga115x.

Which means basically almost all coolers except those designated specifically for amd or lga2011 and varients are lga115x compatible.

Intel I7 8700k Cooling

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