5900X air cooler recommendations please

HangTime

HangTime

HangTime

Man of Honour
Joined
25 Oct 2002
Posts
31,850
Location
Hampshire
Not bothered about RGB or noise, just good cooling performance. Full tower case, so size shouldn't be an issue within reason. Not looking to spend a lot, perhaps up to ~£30.

Considering this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-quiet-shadow-rock-3-high-performance-cpu-cooler-hs-01h-bq.html

Yes that's right, I want to spend up to £30 but I just spent the past half an hour sifting through options and ended up with an item costing 50% more than that, the never ending cycle of wanting something just a little bit better...
 
I used a Noctua NH-U12S Redux I had lying about for my 5800X which is priced similar to the Shadow Rock 3 and it does an adequate job at cooling it but it's very audible when ramping up, so I've just bought a Dark Rock 4 Pro to replace it, hopefully it's quieter.

I think a 5900x deserves more than a £30 cooler though.
 
Cheap air cooling is going to be alright if you're not stretching it, gaming shouldn't be awful, but if you're going to be ramping it up for long periods the noise will be nasty.
 
As mentioned, I'm not too bothered about noise, I've run a GTX470 in the past, my current cooler has an aggressive curve that means it is constantly ramping up to 100% and then back down a couple of seconds later (I should probably smooth this a bit), I've had desk fans blowing into the case in years gone by etc.
 
Glanza said:
Push the boat out and get the dark rock pro 4, it keeps the 5900x cool and will last you various builds / setups. CPU cooler isn't something I'd be skimping on myself.
Click to expand...
I guess the idea of it lasting multiple builds is something new to me, historically coolers were a bit more tied to specific sockets, generally I've gone with stock coolers or something on the cheaper end (up to about £15, lets say £20 with inflation). I've always been driven by bang for buck but then again, this CPU costs more than double anything I've ever owned before, maybe a change of mindset is needed.
 
Elfmeister. said:
I used a Noctua NH-U12S Redux I had lying about for my 5800X which is priced similar to the Shadow Rock 3 and it does an adequate job at cooling it but it's very audible when ramping up, so I've just bought a Dark Rock 4 Pro to replace it, hopefully it's quieter.

I think a 5900x deserves more than a £30 cooler though.
Click to expand...
Have you had your new cooler?

Im running a u12s on my 5800x which is adequate like you say but Id be interested in some more headroom.
 
I got a second hand Alpenfohn Olymp in the end. Hits 82C under Prime95 which I understand is acceptable for this chip. IIRC that's cooler than my 2700X was hitting under peak load.

The cooler is pretty huge and whilst the heatsink clears the RAM sticks I had to fit the fans the 'wrong way' round i.e. feeding air from the rear of the case rather than exhausting that way. The RAM headsinks feel really hot to the touch as they basically have a hairdryer pointed just in front of them. Also makes it very fiddlly to access things on the motherboard like cable connectors / fan headers / m2 slots with GPU in place etc as you have to kind of wedge your hand in small gaps. I put it in an old case as I didn't really want to tear down my old system and the 'prongs' on top of the cooler stick out a little too far to fit the side of the case on I think... not too bothered at present but
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom