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Intel i5 2400 First Build...CPU Cooler??

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CPUs
Cooling

Last response: January 30, 2012 5:53 PM in CPUs

elidril

January 22, 2012 4:03:17 PM

Aftermarket cooler important? Going to be running WoW and possibly SWTOR. Other than that just web surfing emails, occasionally torrenting huge amounts of educational text.

It's my first build so I want to know if an aftermarket cooler is important based on my uses.

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

SAMSUNG Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model TS-H353C - OEM

Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 ...

Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F90GBGT-BK 2.5" 90GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9B

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

More about : intel 2400 build cpu cooler

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CDdude55

CPUs Expert

January 22, 2012 4:15:37 PM

You'll be fine going with stock if that's all you do and you aren't planning on doing any overclocking. Now you could always go with a cheap aftermarket cooler like the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ just for some extra cooling to throw on if you have the spare cash.

But otherwise if you want to save as much as possible then yes the stock heatsink is fine for what you want to do.

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elidril

January 22, 2012 4:19:10 PM

Awesome thanks

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Best solution

kajabla

CPUs Authority

January 22, 2012 5:01:37 PM

For future upgrading I'd strongly advise you to go 2500K. You don't have to overclock now, but you'll see what I mean in three years or so. When the 2400 would have started feeling balky, you'll just push the 2500K a few hundred mhz and have a whole new CPU for no extra cash. If you live near a Microcenter, it's the same price as the 2400!

A stock sink'll be fine for now, with a non-OCed CPU, but you may want to get one for future OCing of the variety mentioned above (life-prolonging instead of performance-pushing). It can be quite annoying to install a heatsink on an already-assembled build: you have to take out the mobo, with all the fiddling and unplugging that implies, remove the old thermal compound, apply the new compound and sink, and then wrangle the whole thing back together.

Get a sink now, and get a 2500K to go with it, preferably at Microcenter - you'll save $40. The 212+ is good. This will save you money in the long run by obviating an upgrade or two.