Which Cooler?

[Kevlav]

Hi,

I am looking to try overclocking but really cant decide what CPU cooler to buy. I was looking at the Thermaltake Frio with 101.6CFM but I am pretty sure it will hang over 2 of my RAM slots which is no good due to the heat spreaders on my memory. I am looking to spend about £60 max so what would you guys recommend even water possibly?

Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield
Asus P7P55D LE Socket 1156
Kingston HyperX 3GB 1800MHz DDR3

 

[BigTerminator]

Get one of Corsair's all in one liquid coolers. Don't know the prices back their on them but look for the Corsair H80 or H60 as the coolers to get in your situation.

 

[muddocktor]

Looking at Scan.con.uk, I see they have a TRUE in stock for £41.50. And get yourself a Gentle Typhoon AP-15 (1850 rpm) for £11.98, you will have a very good , quiet cooler and you still should come in right at your price point after shipping I would guess. The TRUE should clear your ram slots with a 25 mm thick fan such as the AP-15. The only problem with that AP-15 fan is that you might have to trim some plastic out on the corners to use it with the fan clips on the TRUE, but that's not hard to do.

 

[Kevlav]

Thanks for the replies

I have just been looking at the H60 but I am wondering weather it would be as cool as say a Noctua D14 or Silver Arrow maybe if I fitted an extra fan on the rad for push/pull? Also how safe are the H60s in terms of leaking?

I think getting a H60 would save me a lot of bother just so long as its as good as air and safe.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-006-CS&tool=3

 

[Convicted1]

I haven't heard any complaints about the Hydro series from Corsair leaking... and I did plenty of research before I bought my H100.

The H60 is a good unit for sure, H80 and H100 are obviously better though.

If my budget only allowed me to choose between the H60 or a high end air unit though... I'd go for the High end air such as the TRUE.

Now... If your budget will let you buy the H80 or the H100... I think those would be your best bet.

 

[Kevlav]

Ah well I could get the True and maybe 2 Gentle Typhoon AP-15 (1850 rpm) fans for around £60. Would you say that is my best option taking into account the high heat spreaders on my RAM although having just the first slot empty wouldn't be a problem?

I am hoping to get around 4Ghz do you think this would be possible?

 

[Convicted1]

It's my understanding that with the TRUE you can raise the fans up to clear any interference with your RAM heatspreaders.

But yes.. I think if that's the best your budget will allow you... The TRUE with the Gentle Typhoons is a VERY solid choice.

It's actually what I was going to go with before I bought my H100... Except I was going to go with a fan that had even more airflow than the 1850 GT's.

As for reaching 4K... I'll let one of the more experienced guys handle that question. I'm not familiar enough with each chip yet to know how far they will safely OC.

 

[NotNero]

hey kevlav!
I have a very similar system, as you can see in my sig. I'm using a cooler master hyper 212+. I don't know how much they'd run in the UK, but suffice to say they're relatively cheap in the US. If you want to hit 4ghz for just benches, you should be able to hit it with one of these and save yourself a bit of money. If you want to hit 4ghz for 24/7, you'll need something considerably heftier and the TRUE will do ya just fine..

Keep in mind though, that to get that number, there's a better than average chance you'll have to operate at or above 1.4v. I've been made to understand that is Intel's volt limit in its specs for that chip. Since you're here, I realize that may not be an issue for you, but it was a sticking point for me for a while, so I thought it should be mentioned...

Overall, as long as you play it safe and increase your bclock and vcore incrementally and do your due diligence in stability testing, you *should* be able to hit 4ghz relatively easily!

 

[Kevlav]

The main reason for me wanting to overclock is BF3 which is due for release on the 28th. Hitting 4Ghz is not massively important I am just looking for a decent performance increase for BF3. I am also looking to replace my GTX275 with the GTX570 Twin Froz III.

 

[Convicted1]

Somewhere around here is a thread regarding the fact that GPU is WAY more important to BF3 than CPU...

Looks like you're on the right path with going to the 570.

I guess what I'm saying is... I wouldn't stress to much about OCing the Lynnfield if all you're worried about is playing BF3.

 

[Convicted1]

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=687944

Theres the link I was talking about...

 

[Kevlav]

OOOooo thats interesting man although them tests are from beta there is hardly any difference between the 750 and the 2500k or the i7 for that matter and I can see it still being the case for retail. I may just get something like a 212+ and look for around 3Ghz.

Thanks for all the help