Cooling Solution: Effective vs Quiet

[Barryng]

For years I have used Corsairs AIO water coolers. I have been partial to them because they appear reasonably effective, very quiet, easy to install, and seem to be decent quality. My last build three years ago used the dual fan Hydro series H115i on a i9-10900K in a very large Corsair 540 Cube case. Prior to that I used their H60 Single fan AIO.

Now I am planning a new build. Two reasons are driving this build. First, after three years I want the latest and fastest hardware which means an i9-13900K, DDR5 RAM, and a mini-atx mobo fully supporting a Samsung 990Pro PCIe Gen 4.0. Second, the Corsair 540 case is probably one of the best cases I ever used but it is just much too big so I want to go back to my much more reasonably sized Lian Li mid tower.

The Lian Li case only has space for a single 120mm fan so, if I stay with an AIO, I will go back to the H60 AIO. Just in case, I already ordered an adapter kit for an LGA-1700 socket from Corsair.

So, I would appreciate opinions on the adequacy of the Corsair H60 on a i9-13900K (not overclocked but allowed to run when needed at its 5.8 GHz rating). Also, any suggestions for a different CPU cooling approach will also be appreciated but I want to avoid all fan noise unless the CPU is doing consequential work.

I achieved an almost totally silenced but well cooled machine with the huge Corsair 540 case. I am hoping to accomplish very good cooling with my old Lian Li mid-tower but I also want about zero fan noise when the CPU is not doing much of anything. Maybe these two goals (smaller case and silent) are incompatible but I do not yet know that to be the case.

 

[EarthDog]

So, I would appreciate opinions on the adequacy of the Corsair H60 on a i9-13900K (not overclocked but allowed to run when needed at its 5.8 GHz rating).

H60 will put a glass ceiling on the cpu if it's running heavily multithreaded things for extended periods.

Also, any suggestions for a different CPU cooling approach will also be appreciated but I want to avoid all fan noise unless the CPU is doing consequential work.

Really, you can do this with anything... just set the fan curves to your liking. Mine are always set to low regardless of temperature. Peaks in the 90s with my solution (3x120 aio) on heavily multithreaded work/stress test.

 

[Zerileous]

Yeah I would regard 240mm as the minimum for an AIO on the 13900k, some have had issues even with that. If you want small maybe consider your workloads and what you actually need for the tasks at hand. Many mid tier CPUs will provide just as good performance in all but the most demanding of production workloads, and in those cases as ED said, having a 13900k on an H60 really won't be doing yourself any favors.

I think if you look around you'll be able to find an ITX case that can fit a 240mm AIO. Or you can post more details about the case you like and the kind of tasks you intend the computer to handle, and we can give some more specific advise on a good hardware selection to meet those needs without overwhelming the cooling capabilities of that enclosure.

 

[Woomack]

13700k/13900k are hitting 95°C+ on pretty much every 360 AIO (under full load). They still boost up to 6GHz+ on single cores (that one option in BIOS of some motherboards). It doesn't mean it's faster at a higher max boost, as it more often drops to lower clocks (more often heats up, so more often reduces the voltage and the boost clock).

If you want smaller mATX or ITX build then much better is new AMD = much lower average wattage and generated heat. It still boosts up to 5.4-5.9GHz (depends on the chip), but without throttling or significant frequency reduction works on smaller coolers and in general is easier to make a quiet PC. 13700-13900K requires a minimum of 360 AIO, and the best if it's a custom water cooling. If not then better is to set lower power limits.

Corsair 540 is a quite large case and is not optimal for better cooling. You can build something interesting but I would look for something different (like a different design). If you stick with AIO coolers then something from Fractal can be ok. I'm not a fan of Lian-Li or Corsair cases, as with some few exceptions, they're not cheap but are not the best designed (no matter what some people say around the web).

Pretty much every mid-level and higher motherboard supports 2x M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD or 1x M.2 PCIe 5.0+1 or more M.2 PCIe 4.0. I guess that the bigger problem will be a graphics card - size and wattage. This is limiting the PC case choice the most (next to large CPU coolers).