3950x cooler options

apostolis_kt · 6 Dec 2019 at 01:11

Hello,

I have all my parts ready to go on my new build finally. Only part missing is the cooler.

I never used an AIO and i am a bit worried to use one due to noise, potential leaks, or degradation after a few years.

I have my current pc since 2008 with a Scythe Ninja 2 and even the fan is working fine, although i added one half way through to make a push pull.

I need as much silence as possible but obviously to get out as much as possible from the processor.

I was leaning towards the D15 for air cooler but i have 2x16 trident z neos and i think the cooler will cover them which is a bit of a shame. Also I cannot find anywhere how well the 3950x goes with clocks and this cooler.

On the AIO end i am clueless.
Is it still the norm to avoid asetek made pumps? I saw the arctic freezer II 280 which i believe would fit in my c700p which supposedly has a good pump but is there anything else recommended?

Any ideas on the matter feel free to recommend

apostolis_kt · 6 Dec 2019 at 10:32

Thats what i thought. So far D15 seems to be better than a 240 AIO. But also AMD recommends 280 or above AIOs. I was looking at the Arctic Freezer II 280 because it actually is getting very good reviews but of course no one has reviewed both to compare results. Warranty for the Arctic is also 2 years but not sure if they cover leak damage etc.

In fact so far i haven't found anyone reviewing the D15 with the 3950x, I only saw a youtube video with a D15 setup and how good the processor is but no proper thermal tests etc.

Any aio recommendations?

apostolis_kt · 6 Dec 2019 at 10:59

Relentless81 said:
If I were you and I wanted an AIO I would probably go with the Arctic but I would some kind of reassurance on their warranty first. I still cant find anything and their standard warranty for air coolers is ten years so why is it only two years for the AIO?

Failing that I would go with Corsair as their warranty is clearly stated and is five years on Hydro products but in my experience the fans are awful

I was set for corsair but all the reviews don't praise them. I was looking at the 115i platinum I think and there were reviews that the D15 actually does better and you don't have to worry about AIO issues. Also the prices on AIOs are getting stupid, going the nvidia and apple way

apostolis_kt · 6 Dec 2019 at 15:32

doyll said:
First off, CLCs are a sub-group of AIOs. CLCs are factory sealed with no way to perform repairs or maintenence. AIOs that are not CLCs have fill port, threaded fittings and copper radiators so they can be maintained and repaired as needed. CLCs are the absolute cheapest water cooling made, and while AIOs are better they are still much, much cheaper than custom loop cooling (what many of us call real water cooling).

AIOs and CLCs are no better than top tier air. Top tier air coolers don't come with high-performance fans, but if hi-performance fans are added to top tier (and to case) they are easily as good and often better than any AIO/CLC is. At similar noise levels (high performance fans) top tier air will cool as well or better than AIO or CLC. Shortly after Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Power came out we tested NH-D14 and it with same hi-performance fans Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme uses .. TY-143 2500rpm 130cfm (quiet up to 1300-1400rpm, very loud at 2500rpm). Keep in mind case needs same kind of hi-performance as used on cooler or cooler is forced to re-used it's own heated air and resulting CPU temps to up at same rate as air temp into cool (10c warmer air into cooler give 10c higher CPU temp at same fan speed). D14 and TRUE Spirit 140 Power (Silver Arrow SB-E & IBE Extreme too) give about 8-9c lower temps at 2500rpm than at 1200rpm on i7-920 @ 4.3Ghz. TRUE Spirit 140 Power is still if not the very best one of very best and definitely the lowest priced at about £50.

What it all boils down to is a good air cooler with case setup to supply components with air less than 5c above room temp will cool as well or better than any AIO or CLC an lasts way longer with lower maintenance. Cases with good airflow and good intake filters need no exhaust fans at all and if filters are hoovered every time room is components stay clean for years .. only maintenance is regularly cleaning filters.

CLCs most common failure are pumps .. typically 2-5 years and they die.
Most CLCs cost more than top tier air coolers, even if a couple good case fans are added to cooler cost.
CLCs typically make more noise than air cooler (pumps are usually audidble even at idle).

Some (maybe many) hardcore custom loop owners have or are changing to air for ease of maintenance and cost.

If you want long term dependablity with low maintenance, air cooling it the only way forward.

I can give you links to how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow. It's not hard to do.

Thank you for the info its highly detailed and roughly what is on the back of my head. Ram is arriving tonight and will need tonight to order the cooler, i might give the arctic cooler a try and maybe in the future once it goes bang ill get an air cooler of that time. I just want to be able to see the fancy Tridents as well.

apostolis_kt · 6 Dec 2019 at 18:11

doyll said:
TRUE Spirit 140 Power is wide and tall but does not block RAM. Center CPU to front of fan is 53mm, fins reach 77.5mm toward PCIe and is 171mm tall. if you tell me what motherboard you have I can tell you how close PCIe sockets are to CPU center. I can't give more info on open forum as OcUK does not allow us to post competions' name or links. Drop me a trust message if interested.

Its the X570 Aorus Master.

I have clicked on trust

apostolis_kt · 6 Dec 2019 at 20:26

doyll said:
TRUE Spirit 140 Power will fit with about 5mm of clearance to near side of PCIe but there is only 51.7mm center CPU to near side of RAM sockets and front of fan is about 52.5mm from center CpU, so fan may not fit on front of cooler. but it can be mounted on back of cooler pulling air through and cool just as well.

Thanks for the help. I will look into it, although i am leaning toward the arctic cooler 280mm for price and apparently has really good performance.

apostolis_kt · 6 Dec 2019 at 22:34

doyll said:
It's your decision to make. Just remember an air cooler will still be cooling like it did when new 10, even 20 years from now with fan and mount upgrades. The Arctic will last a few years, maybe a few more, maybe less and it will die. Keep some sort of air cooler handy so when it does die you have something to replace it with because when pump goes there is no circulation so no cooling until cooler is replaced.

The main concern I have is leaks. Dont want pc to get destroyed because of water hence why I don't go for a custom water cooler. If pump dies ill go get a different one and most likely will also never touch the aios again.. the cooler you posted woyld be nice not sure how much it would handle 3950x with oc

apostolis_kt · 7 Dec 2019 at 09:22

The case is the cooler master c700p, I think there is plenty of space for a beastly cooler, but yes the ram part is the concern. Also the x570 master has the only rgb on the vrm part so that would be blocked I believe if I put the second fan on the other side.

apostolis_kt · 7 Dec 2019 at 23:03

I remember thermalright from the core 2 duo days when I bought me a scythe ninja 2 as the big beast from thermalright wouldnt fit the case. The ninja fit with one mm to spare.

In the end I ordered the arctic and will have in mind for air cooling once it dies.

I built a 3700x system today and boy that wraith cooler was so easy to put in. The ninja 2 was a pain in the back side everytime I was trying to do stuff on my case. Probably why I went for the cosmos to have room to work in hehe.

Thank you all for the feedback looking forward to build my system and jump from p775 c2q 9550 at 4ghz to the 3950x, got my moneys worth out of the c2q

apostolis_kt · 10 Dec 2019 at 13:59

Relentless81 said:
Did you get a response from them in the end?

Nope, my post has 3 views only. I coudn't wait so took the leap of faith and bought the cooler. It was easier to install than i thought it would be, possibly because all the fans are preinstalled and you have to worry for only one 4 pin cable, and most importantly i have loads of space on the top on the c700p. If it was a midi tower it would really difficult to fit.

But the whole system is loud. Not sure yet but i think i have a few different loud noises from my case but i built it all evening yesterday finished 2am and didnt have time to check bios or anything if i need to change any settings.

Even the case fans are stupid loud on the high setting. Plus 2 vegas in xfire doesnt help although those were off in windows as they weren't hot.

apostolis_kt · 10 Dec 2019 at 14:44

Relentless81 said:
Yeah they didnt reply to me on Instagram either. Puts me off, send Noctua an email and you will receive a reply with a day or so in my experience.

Not sure about your setup but on mine I had to update the BIOS otherwise the fans ran at 100% and even after that I had to set custom curves for the case fans

My post was at ocUK to be fair and i take it the people here are really busy or posted it at the wrong section - was the presales area as makes sense in my head. I didn't try the actual arctic cooling website because i needed to setup my pc asap.

I had all the parts ready even the 3950x sitting on my desk for a week and just couldn't wait any more.

apostolis_kt · 10 Dec 2019 at 15:22

Just to share my experience with the AIO, it was dead easy to install. Some videos praise the intel backplate and mechanisms and complain that for amd Arctic cooling kept the am4 backplate and let you screw 4 screws over it.

I found that easier though, possibly because the mobo was out on top of the box so i could screw it and the backplate didn't move. I still needed my gf to hold it though while i was putting the mobo in first. Also do the cpu first and then install the radiator on your case, as the other way would be more difficult i guess to hold the backplate etc.

Make sure you have the space though its thick

apostolis_kt · 10 Dec 2019 at 17:58

scubes said:
ive had 2 aio coolers and no issue s wot so ever mate enjoy your build.

This weekend i build a 3700x for a friend who had a 8120 with a 120mm water cooler. The guy changed his pc because it was too loud and was overheating and crashing even on simple things. If he had changed just an air cooler possibly wouldn't need a new pc as he just plays games and had a 580. I think his pump was dead. But i guess you will get an indication of when things are dead.

So far so good is going great just trying to figure out some cables etc that i have excess

and plug back the case in, i already started benches because couldn't wait

apostolis_kt · 17 Dec 2019 at 14:50

Alan1969 said:
You may find that the D15 may be adequate for a 3950x depending on it you overclock or just leave it to do its own thing at stock which is now quiet good. I tend to prefer air coolers for their longevity over AIO. What software are you going to use it for? Even if you use software that can use say 8 threads you should find that the 3950x performs better than lesser CPUs due to the extra cache and having two chipsets. When I upgrade my 3600 I want the 4th gen 16 core even though it’s going to be used primarily for gaming, but should last yrs into the future.

I will be mostly gaming, and programming in visual studio, possibly some unity and maybe 3ds Max if i ever find the time to go back to animation.

Managed to get a 4.325ghz all core at 1.4v CB20 10132 if i recall score, and temps were acceptable. Not sure i like the 1.4v so i should tweak a bit more and wont keep it that way, standard settings are fine for me coming from a c2q 9550 was a huge step anyway.

apostolis_kt · 17 Dec 2019 at 14:51

Alan1969 said:
This YouTube https://youtu.be/lPr_soPXto0 uses a noctua D15 for a 3950X

Yes I saw that and quoted it in the cpu 3950x forum, in the end i didn't get the Noctua because it would block my shiny rgb trident z neos. And they look really cool.

apostolis_kt · 8 Jan 2020 at 13:24

Alan1969 said:
what cooler did you get in the end?

I got the Arctic Freezer II 280mm. Really easy to install for my first ever AIO. One plug to worry about instead of a bazilion and its quite ok.

I am not sure what the pump should sound like as i never had an AIO. Only thing I still need to figure out is the fan settings, the processor does go up and down quite frequently and so the fans ramp up and down similarly. Is that what other people have?

The Aorus Master x570 default fan curve is really weird possibly because it sees this setup as one instead of a pump and 3 fans (including the little vrm one).

apostolis_kt · 8 Jan 2020 at 13:40

Alan1969 said:
a few years ago I bought my first AIO for my daughter - a 280mm corsair. that ramps up and down and the fan controller on the case that I plugged it into also ramps the case fans similarly. To me it makes too much noise when they ramp up but my daughter does want the cpu for work any slower and so wont let me alter the fan curve in the bios. For my pc (with a air cooler for a ryzen 5 3600 that boosts up to 65ºC) I have altered the fans profile to being about 50% up to say 55 to 60ºC anf then 100% at 65ºC so that the cpu is always boosting and automatically overclocking.

The majority of the time the fans are at 50% and are very quiet. So I recommend that you alter the fan profile.

I will definitelly look into changing the fan profile. I did put it on silent and did help but what helped most was when i set it constant low haha. Its not stupid loud on 100% my KFA 680gtx sounded like an airplane when I used to play games with it, I just am not fun of the going up and down as you can hear the change.

apostolis_kt · 9 Jan 2020 at 12:09

I managed to hit 4.325GHz with a sloppy ryzen master OC but i think i put a lot of voltage in it. 1.4 I don't remember what temps i had. What would be the top safe voltage to test oc