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Advise for 3900x CPU Cooler

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Kawzman

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2003
Location
San Diego, CA
I’ve done lots of Googling and forum thread reading and I’ve hit a roadblock with my new rig build; CPU cooling. My rig build can be viewed here...https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NwFfb8.

I’m going air cooling and I’m not going to OC. The safe option would be the NH-D15 or NH-U12S Chromax Black. I like that Noctua finally provides a non-tan/brown option but I was hoping to get a bling cooler with some addressable RGB, but, you know, Noctua doesn’t do RGB. Yeah, I hear the eye rolls, but I want to pimp my ride.

I looked at the specs for some RGB coolers (below) but I have doubts they’ll keep the 3900x in check temp-wise.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition
Cooler Master MA610P
Cooler Master MasterAir MA410M

Thoughts? Thanks for the support as always!
 
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Let's say that I don't really like Coolermaster, mostly because of quite low quality of their fans. I had a repeatable bad experience with some of their products.

From higher performance, ARGB coolers there is Scythe Mugen 5 ARGB Plus - http://www.scythe-eu.com/en/products/cpu-cooler/mugen-5-argb-plus.html
It's quiet and in real looks better than on the photos.

Everything else that I can recommend has no RGB/ARGB. Personally, I like Noctua NH-U12A but it's silver/brown. There will be black/black version later this year but I'm not sure when. I only got info that Q4. As far as NH-D15 performs well, then I don't really like the fact how big it is.
 
Are you planning on overclocking? I think there are any number of air cooling options that will handle the 3900x pretty well at stock. And for bling, you can always replace the stock fans with blingy aftermarket ones.
 
Are you planning on overclocking? I think there are any number of air cooling options that will handle the 3900x pretty well at stock. And for bling, you can always replace the stock fans with blingy aftermarket ones.

trents, no I'm not going to OC. I haven't been able to find much stat-wise for non-Noctua air coolers on the 3900x. I'm willing to get the NH-D15 if I must and it'll fit in my case, but in addition to not having RGB, it's massive and will hide my RAM from view. Part of what makes Noctua great is their fans+heatsink, so it could be tricky finding the right RGB fan.

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Let's say that I don't really like Coolermaster, mostly because of quite low quality of their fans. I had a repeatable bad experience with some of their products.

From higher performance, ARGB coolers there is Scythe Mugen 5 ARGB Plus - http://www.scythe-eu.com/en/products/cpu-cooler/mugen-5-argb-plus.html
It's quiet and in real looks better than on the photos.

Everything else that I can recommend has no RGB/ARGB. Personally, I like Noctua NH-U12A but it's silver/brown. There will be black/black version later this year but I'm not sure when. I only got info that Q4. As far as NH-D15 performs well, then I don't really like the fact how big it is.

Woomack, I've never used Coolermaster, but looking at their fan specs, you can tell the quality is inferior to higher-end models from others. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll take a look.

Bad news for you; Noctua's roadmap of upcoming products has the U12A black version slated for Q1 2021.
 
Any particular reason you're not going 360 AIO?
You would be better off and at least get decent RGB.
 
Any particular reason you're not going 360 AIO?
You would be better off and at least get decent RGB.

So,you've became and RGB guy, mate? ;):escape:

I am with you on this one.

Swiftech makes really decent stuff as well, and their AIO are expandable, which means you could add the GPU plus extra rad in the future.
 
After thinking about it, AOI made more sense. I'm going with the CORSAIR H100i RGB PLATINUM and I get my RGB.
 
Any particular reason you're not going 360 AIO?
You would be better off and at least get decent RGB.

This. The Corsair 240 AIO you have decided on will not cool much better than the best air coolers.
 
You say that you are not going t overcvlock your CPU.
Then this model will be suitable for you.
Cooler Master MasterAir MA410M

In fact, the fact that you are not going to overclock, more than suffices the need to buy any entry level cooler for your system.
 
You say that you are not going t overcvlock your CPU.
Then this model will be suitable for you.
Cooler Master MasterAir MA410M

In fact, the fact that you are not going to overclock, more than suffices the need to buy any entry level cooler for your system.

That's only partially correct: the better the cooking, the higher the boost clock. Not by a huge margin, but you can expect a 2 % frequency increase on all cores with top cooling. Which would bring little performance improvement on production, and... nothing in gaming!

So it has an impact, but at marginal one.

Source: https://www.techspot.com/review/1875-ryzen-3900x-wraith-prism-rgb-vs-liquid-cooler/
 
But another issue with lesser coolers could be higher fan noise, apart from any performance considerations.
 
Personally, I have gravitated toward AIO coolers over air and the main reason is it reduces clutter in the case interior. Large air coolers typically make working inside the case more difficult.
 
In my opinion the CPU situation (especially with Intel, but maybe with AMD too) is that the "dangerous" part of the heat is no longer determined by the cooler in question. It's the heat spikes that are dangerous and not the sustained heat, and no cooler can truly counter that.

Regarding which to pick, well, I guess the difference is, if you have a good case that supports the radiator size that you want, then an AIO is very easy to work with. On the other hand, no case in the world is gonna make a gigantic heatsink easy to work with. Some heatsinks obscure things like PCI-E handle/lever on the motherboard, make RAM difficult to swap, block things like motherboard headers... etc. But AIOs can have hidden compatibility issues if not installed on high-end cases. For example Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 might not fit into all cases that support 280mm rad, because it's too thick, so it could collide with connectors or RAM. There's a video about it on YouTube.

In summary, if you're going to build a PC and you don't intend to do a lot of hardware tweaking, then just get a decent air cooler. You can't go wrong with Noctua and you can always change the fans. Arctic 34 isn't bad either. If you know you're gonna open the PC and change some components or cables even once a month, then pick an AIO that suits your case. If you want RGB swag, I would dig even deeper and go with an Asus AIO or Aorus AIO. They look really good, better than Corsair's.
 
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In my opinion the CPU situation (especially with Intel, but maybe with AMD too) is that the "dangerous" part of the heat is no longer determined by the cooler in question. It's the heat spikes that are dangerous and not the sustained heat, and no cooler can truly counter that.

Heat spikes? Did you mean to say voltage spikes? I don't get heat spikes on my AMD Ryzen system but max turbo gives very brief voltage spikes. Because these chips, AMD and Intel, throttle themselves to stay within manufacturer set temp and power draw parameters I think, apart from space, aesthetics and budget limitations, there are really only two significant issues in choosing a cooler: 1. a minor amount of core boost performance differential and 2. Fan noise.
 
Regarding which to pick, well, I guess the difference is, if you have a good case that supports the radiator size that you want, then an AIO is very easy to work with. On the other hand, no case in the world is gonna make a gigantic heatsink easy to work with. Some heatsinks obscure things like PCI-E handle/lever on the motherboard, make RAM difficult to swap, block things like motherboard headers... etc.

Yep never liked those big bulky air coolers. Besides making it difficult to work in the case once they are installed, you also end up with a system that just looks like a big chunk of cheap aluminum. Plus those brown Noctua fans are the ugliest turds made. But if you have a non-windowed case, the ugly part is hidden and you're just left with the difficulties working around that big lump of metal.
 
Those big Noctuas perform ok, but there are a few concessions to be made when running one. Luckily there are other manufacturers that make coolers that are as good, or better than the big Noctuas that dont block ram, or pcie slots. And they look good too, at least to me. I jumped on the CLC bandwagon early and rode if for a few years. When it came time replace it I just went with big air. I havent really looked back. Tell me how much you enjoy blowing the dust out of your rad 😂
 
I enjoy it about as much as I enjoy blowing the dust out of the big air coolers I have used, maybe more.
 
Haha, if we're fine-picking the pros and cons...

Radiators EASIER to clean than heatsink, because you can clean them without re-applying thermal paste (most tubes long enough).
Heatsinks more durable, because unlike a pump, they can't fail.
99% heatsinks have the most awful fan retention metal clips-thingies that I cut myself on billions of times.
Attaching a radiator with a PULL fan to the case requires some skill. Or 3 hands...
 
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