Air Cooling for i5-2500k?

ChrisGTL · 31 May 2011 at 17:20

I have a Titan Fenrir cooler at present which i'm selling due to two reasons...

1) An absolute pain to fit.

2) No dual fan configuration.

However, I dont want to make the same mistake twice so need to think hard about which cooler to go for......

HD-14
Corsair H50/60
Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro Dual

Any advice on which ones are designed in a way that means easy to install/destall??

I have the MSI P67-GD65 motherboard, and with the Titan Fenrir the cooler bracket needed to be cut down so it would fit next the the 'military class heatsinks' - please help....

Cheers..

Speed · 31 May 2011 at 17:47

I'd personally go for a Thermalright Silver Arrow, performance that equals or beats the Noctua NH-D14, cheaper and comes with two excellent fans. It is very easy to fit, the mounting system is brilliant. I've fitted mine to a P67-GD65 with no compatiablity problems.

The other option is obviously the Corsair, CoolIT, Antec Kúhler all in one liquid systems and if it was my money I'd go for the Antec Kúhler 620. But I do prefer the Silver Arrow over my H50.

whipgeez · 31 May 2011 at 18:12

Speed said:
I'd personally go for a Thermalright Silver Arrow, performance that equals or beats the Noctua NH-D14, cheaper and comes with two excellent fans. It is very easy to fit, the mounting system is brilliant. I've fitted mine to a P67-GD65 with no compatiablity problems.

The other option is obviously the Corsair, CoolIT, Antec Kúhler all in one liquid systems and if it was my money I'd go for the Antec Kúhler 620. But I do prefer the Silver Arrow over my H50.

for them liquid coolers how much air flow and fans are need for out the top exhaust? because your be pulling warm air in as it goes over the rad

you may also be interested in this for the silver arrow vs nh-d14, very good video of tests between them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XTN0Qll2o

Speed · 31 May 2011 at 18:46

whipgeez said:
for them liquid coolers how much air flow and fans are need for out the top exhaust? because your be pulling warm air in as it goes over the rad

you may also be interested in this for the silver arrow vs nh-d14, very good video of tests between them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XTN0Qll2o

From what I understand it, he had a faulty Silver Arrow. Many other reviews have put the Silver Arrow neck and neck with the D14.

Big Kev · 31 May 2011 at 18:48

I've got my i2500k and MSI P67A GD65, running at 4.5g, with idle temps in the late 20's and the top core reaching 62c under 5 hours Prime 95, using the H50 with Apache fan. I've now added another Apache in a push/pull config, which seems to have knocked another couple of degrees off as well, with temps now mid-late 20's.

I also had a Fenrir, which I picked up for £15, but as you've found out, it just didn't fit, so will have to sell it on.

Steves1982 · 31 May 2011 at 20:43

Most coolers will handle the 2500k very well so it doesn't matter too much.

I went for the Megahalems Mega Shadow as I liked the look and it matches the colour scheme of my case.

Added one Viper fan in push and getting 30C idle and 65 after an hour prime @4.5MHz.

mhowarth · 31 May 2011 at 20:47

I'm actually running an i7 2600k which i've overclocked to 4.1ghz at the minute. Just got a Corsair A70 though and it's awesome, temps are 50 degrees whilst under a torture test on Prime95 (which so far has been going about 25 minutes) Really impressed with it.

whipgeez · 31 May 2011 at 21:04

corsair coolers blowing in or out?

i'd personally get it blowing in and have a 200mm or 2 120mm fans in the roof to extract any warm air coming form the rad

Helios1234 · 31 May 2011 at 21:05

whipgeez said:
for them liquid coolers how much air flow and fans are need for out the top exhaust? because your be pulling warm air in as it goes over the rad

you may also be interested in this for the silver arrow vs nh-d14, very good video of tests between them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XTN0Qll2o

Please don't listen to that review. He had issues installing his (despite the Silver Arrow being one of the easiest coolers to install) and if you actually check his written review, the Silver Arrow beat the Noctua in 2 out of three scenarios...

Anyway, go for the Silver Arrow. As already mentioned, it's cheap, has two brilliant fans and it's more efficient that the NH-D14.

logi-cat · 31 May 2011 at 21:10

the silver arrow is an absolute beast of a cooler

a giant fox · 1 Jun 2011 at 12:45

1+ for the berock, got the advanced and that is amazing. Running 4.5 currently and under primer 95 for 4 hours didn't go above 63c. Main bonus over silver arrow and Noctua NH-D14 is the noise. Even with fans going at 1500rpm is very quiet, a lot of reviews were showing that it gave similar performance to Frio and Silver arrow but was half the noise

Helios1234 · 1 Jun 2011 at 13:16

a giant fox said:
1+ for the berock, got the advanced and that is amazing. Running 4.5 currently and under primer 95 for 4 hours didn't go above 63c. Main bonus over silver arrow and Noctua NH-D14 is the noise. Even with fans going at 1500rpm is very quiet, a lot of reviews were showing that it gave similar performance to Frio and Silver arrow but was half the noise

Really? The Silver Arrow is unmatched noise wise so I'm intrigued to see how a 1500RPM fan is half as quiet.

cmndr_andi · 1 Jun 2011 at 13:36

+1 for the silver arrow - it is incredibly quiet (due to large, low speed fans) and performs very well indeed. Have a look at this review.

Muzy · 1 Jun 2011 at 13:54

cmndr_andi said:
+1 for the silver arrow - it is incredibly quiet (due to large, low speed fans) and performs very well indeed. Have a look at this review.

its a good cooler, but AK-CCX-4002HP still perform better and cheaper.

cmndr_andi · 1 Jun 2011 at 14:04

Muzy said:
its a good cooler, but AK-CCX-4002HP still perform better and cheaper.

Sorry, but that's not the case. If you look here, here and here the silver arrow is a class-leading HSF which is very quiet. In comparison the venom is a decent mid-high end HSF which is a bit loud.

You are quite right that the Silver arrow is more expensive than the venom, but that extra money does buy you quite a bit.

a giant fox · 1 Jun 2011 at 15:15

Sorry about late post had to find the review I read that made me buy my cooler:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/04/02/be-quiet-dark-rock-pro-review/3

Matches Frio and that noted was very quiet in their test lab

Its got mixed opinions through looking at a lot of site. They really like its design and quietness but the temps aren't quite as low as the silver arrow and nh-d14 and the mounting can be a bitch.

If its anything like the advanced to mount it was a right pain, the back plate on it is really annoying but my logic was how often do u really remove your cpu cooler.

I love my advanced, as I said running 4.5 at moment with it and under primer 95 blended for 4 hours highest core was 63C and average temp was 60C and is a very quiet cooler.

a giant fox · 1 Jun 2011 at 15:46

A few more reviews this one is, its in German but the graphs show everything, again provides very good cooling, is a very good looking cooler and very quiet

http://translate.google.de/translat...-thermalright-silver-arrow-noctua-nh-d14.html

Another review for it confirms this:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/be_quiet_dark_rock_pro_review/1

They praise the quietness and style and the temps are good but again mounting is awkward

logi-cat · 1 Jun 2011 at 22:24

how much do you want to spend?

ChrisGTL · 1 Jun 2011 at 22:44

I will spend upto £70 on air or £140 on water.

I've never had a water system before so would like to give it a try but for the money I have I think a top end air would out perform budget water system?

Helios1234 · 1 Jun 2011 at 22:46

ChrisGTL said:
I will spend upto £70 on air or £140 on water.

I've never had a water system before so would like to give it a try but for the money I have I think a top end air would out perform budget water system?

Yup, go for the Silver Arrow. Check the link in my sig to see just how well it does.