(!) Aircooling badboys (!)

Predicament · 30 Jan 2011 at 11:42

Aircooling an Intel i5-2500k that I plan to buy in the next 2 months.

Planning to do some pretty solid overclocks on it.

Choices:

Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler £35.74

Titan Fenrir Evo CPU Cooler £36.76

Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler £45.95 inc VAT

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler £56.16
A little over my budget, but if you guys really recommend then I'd save up a bit more.

by the way:

I have seen fan controllers available to purchase on OC.uk

If I bought an Antec 900, would the fan controller be compatible with the stock fans installed?

LiamJ · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:02

The Akasa or Fenrir probably offer best bang for buck. The other two cool better, but not worth the extra £10/20.

The Halk · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:02

Be careful you don't lose sight of price/performance. The high end air coolers are all expensive, and you don't get a great deal extra overclocking for your money.

The Noctua for example would not make a 2500K overclock to the levels a 2600K would clock to with the stock/cheap cooler.

But if you want to overclock for the fun of it, and you're not really concerned about getting the exact best price/performance point then that's the way to do it.

The "king" at the moment is the D14 and by all accounts it'll be a while before it's beaten. To be honest I don't see how more could be done, the technology has incoroporated heatpipes, but basically it's all about maximum surface area.

SeraphX · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:02

Titan fenrir will do more then an adequate job at cooling that chip, even at 5Ghz.
Noctua would be silent overkill

Guitarman0 · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:24

If you already have some fans I would say the thermalright venomous-x. It is roughly £40 and I had it for a while and got some amazing temps with it! Only reason I got rid of it was because I went for a custom watercooling loop

MrElve · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:31

the V8 is a monster, im running one.

Helios1234 · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:44

The Halk said:
The "king" at the moment is the D14 and by all accounts it'll be a while before it's beaten. To be honest I don't see how more could be done, the technology has incoroporated heatpipes, but basically it's all about maximum surface area.

The Noctua NH-D14 is a tremendous cooler but I wouldn't call it the "King" since the Thermalright Silver Arrow can easily match its performance while remaining quieter.

Guitarman0 said:
If you already have some fans I would say the thermalright venomous-x. It is roughly £40 and I had it for a while and got some amazing temps with it! Only reason I got rid of it was because I went for a custom watercooling loop

I agree with that. The Venomous X is an excellent performer for its price.

If you want to stick to your budget, then the Thermaltake Frio is also worth considering and already comes with two fans.

Predicament · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:34

thanks for the responses

Guitarman0 said:
If you already have some fans I would say the thermalright venomous-x. It is roughly £40 and I had it for a while and got some amazing temps with it! Only reason I got rid of it was because I went for a custom watercooling loop

I'll look into that

Seraph said:
Titan fenrir will do more then an adequate job at cooling that chip, even at 5Ghz.
Noctua would be silent overkill

Is the fenrir quiet?

The Halk said:
Be careful you don't lose sight of price/performance. The high end air coolers are all expensive, and you don't get a great deal extra overclocking for your money.

The Noctua for example would not make a 2500K overclock to the levels a 2600K would clock to with the stock/cheap cooler.

But if you want to overclock for the fun of it, and you're not really concerned about getting the exact best price/performance point then that's the way to do it.

The "king" at the moment is the D14 and by all accounts it'll be a while before it's beaten. To be honest I don't see how more could be done, the technology has incoroporated heatpipes, but basically it's all about maximum surface area.

Well, since the i5-2500k performs nearly as well as the i7, I went for the i5. However, do you think it is worth it to spend £80 quid more? Is the i7 more future proof?

Helios1234 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:37

The Fenrir isn't quiet at all.

Predicament · 30 Jan 2011 at 18:52

Helios1234 said:
The Fenrir isn't quiet at all.

compared to?

AceTK · 30 Jan 2011 at 18:55

The Halk said:
Be careful you don't lose sight of price/performance. The high end air coolers are all expensive, and you don't get a great deal extra overclocking for your money.

The Noctua for example would not make a 2500K overclock to the levels a 2600K would clock to with the stock/cheap cooler.

But if you want to overclock for the fun of it, and you're not really concerned about getting the exact best price/performance point then that's the way to do it.

The "king" at the moment is the D14 and by all accounts it'll be a while before it's beaten. To be honest I don't see how more could be done, the technology has incoroporated heatpipes, but basically it's all about maximum surface area.

+1 for the NH-D14 if not just for cooling but the acoustic performance. As I found even 18dB drove me nuts after a few hours and my NH-D14 is hardly even audable at a humble 12dB.

twist3d0n3 · 30 Jan 2011 at 19:49

Helios1234 said:
The Fenrir isn't quiet at all.

how come i can't hear mine then?

LiamJ · 30 Jan 2011 at 19:51

Loudness depends entirely on the fans you're using.

chippy08 · 30 Jan 2011 at 19:56

NH-D14 Just built my new sandy bridge with this cooler Great temps and no noise from what i can hear.

KiiYzOo · 30 Jan 2011 at 21:45

the prolimatech megahalems is a good cooler but if you don't have extra fans it can be quite expensive.

Drunkenmassacre · 30 Jan 2011 at 21:51

I've recently installed teh Fenrir Evo into my rig and I've gotta say, I'm impressed. I can't hear it over my case fans and its keeping my q6600 at 22deg idle. Although it's still at stock, the fenrir doesn't allow the cpu to reach 40 degrees when prime'd.

Helios1234 · 30 Jan 2011 at 23:30

twist3d0n3 said:
how come i can't hear mine then?

Because you are using it at much lower speeds that it's rated at where it isn't performing as well as it should be. Crank it up to 2200RPM and tell me it's quiet.

Predicament said:
compared to?

A Noctua or Thermalright cooler.

Skellig · 31 Jan 2011 at 07:36

I have to say that I love my D14. So quiet!

simbady · 31 Jan 2011 at 07:42

I'm using a Akasa Venom and its awesome! With a 3.6GHz OC on a 1055T my idle temps are around 22C causing the fan on the headsink turns off, full load 48C and the fan is still inaudible over my 6970

Predicament · 31 Jan 2011 at 13:22

Skellig said:
I have to say that I love my D14. So quiet!

chippy08 said:
NH-D14 Just built my new sandy bridge with this cooler Great temps and no noise from what i can hear.

AceTK said:
+1 for the NH-D14 if not just for cooling but the acoustic performance. As I found even 18dB drove me nuts after a few hours and my NH-D14 is hardly even audable at a humble 12dB.

simbady said:
I'm using a Akasa Venom and its awesome! With a 3.6GHz OC on a 1055T my idle temps are around 22C causing the fan on the headsink turns off, full load 48C and the fan is still inaudible over my 6970

Thanks for responses.

I am debating between the Noctua and the Akasa Venom