The i5-8600k - Required Cooling?

Furi · 11 Jan 2019 at 00:32

Doing my first PC build soon and settling on a i5-8600k. Now i'm not looking at overclocking for some time in all honesty, but buying the i5-8600k based on the speed advantage it has over 3.1ghz i5-8600 for a small price.

Is an additional fan a requirement for it even though I am not overclocking? If it is, recommendations as to which one?

Case I am using is by GameMax, the Knight, and has 3 fans already. PSU, if relevant - is a Corsair HX850i.

ChrisHuddie · 11 Jan 2019 at 00:36

I'm assuming you mean case fans? - If so then No; That will be more than adequate, just make sure they are setup properly to pull air through and out of your system - Even with a tickle of overclocking in all honesty you'll be okay, from what i can see in pictures airflow looks okay for the case anyway.
What would be more important is what is going to be cooling your cpu as opposed to case fans in this instance.
I would however definitely consider overclocking that CPU, you have a K Variant for a reason

pastymuncher · 11 Jan 2019 at 09:56

Hi and welcome to the forums.

If you mean a cpu cooler then yes you will need one as K series cpu's no longer come with a cooler. The Gamemax Knight can take a cooler up to 160mm in height. Even though you say you won't be overclocking right now I would buy a decent cooler now so that you don't have to replace it later on when you do overclock. I would be overclocking now though. You are paying a premium for a K series cpu and Z series motherboard (Z390 would be best so you could drop a 9900k in for your next upgrade) so you may as well get the most out of your components. Get DDR4 that is 3000mhz or faster as well.

doyll · 11 Jan 2019 at 14:35

Welcome to OcUK!.

Good CPU coolers are like good cases and good PSUs .. they can be used for more than one build. This allows use to pay more up front and have a better cooler /case / PSU to use long term.

Gamemax Knight looks to be okay but not a great case. If you do not already have it there are many that are better and some similar in price. If you do have it could you tell us what the fan specs are? Many cases come with fans that are almost worthless because they can't move enough air to keep up with demands of CPU and GPU cooler needs. This poor case airflow results in case airflow into cooler being 10-20c warmer than room when working hard .. and every degree warmer the air is translates into almost exactly the same number of degrees hotter component is. So if we lower air temp into cooler on an 80c CPU by 10c we have CPU at a much nicer 70c.

What it all boils down to is we want to choose a cooler that matches CPU needs with a case and case fans that match the airflow needs of CPU and GPU coolers. I can suggest some basic guides to how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow to our needs if you would like.