Cooler for i7 6900K

[tep1981]

A colleague recently purchased this CPU, paired with an Asus X99-E WS USB3.1, what cooler is recommended?

The machine will purely be used for statistical and mathematical work and will not be overclocked

 

[ttaskmaster]

weather its overclocked or not its still going to need a high end heatsink , so i'd probably go for a Noctua or equivalent , avoid Aio coolers simply for the sakes of having to maintain them and constantly checking for leaks.

 

[andicole0]

weather its overclocked or not its still going to need a high end heatsink , so i'd probably go for a Noctua or equivalent , avoid Aio coolers simply for the sakes of having to maintain them and constantly checking for leaks.

I'm not sure that's necessarily true, they are easy and good coolers in general.
Andi.

 

[FredFlint]

I have an AIO coolers on my 5930K and it dose not require any maintenance as its a sealed unit. It keeps the CPU nice and cool (~55C) even when its at 100% load for hours and the fans only run at 1000rpm so its almost silent.

 

[mickyflinn]

The 6900k has a tdp of 140w so as long as the cooler can handle that load temps will be good.

 

[darket]

I'm not sure that's necessarily true, they are easy and good coolers in general.
Andi.

I have an AIO coolers on my 5930K and it dose not require any maintenance as its a sealed unit. It keeps the CPU nice and cool (~55C) even when its at 100% load for hours and the fans only run at 1000rpm so its almost silent.

I have to say that i agree with Ttaskmaster , the problem with Aio coolers is that they have a hidden best before date in which it WILL either start leaking and destroy whatever it leaks on to or the pump will fail, a good air cooler has no such drawbacks and is much better suited to standard builds.

Don't get me wrong , Aio coolers can be great but not suited for standard applications.

As for maintenance Aio coolers do require cleaning more often as even the slightest dust build up impairs the cooling to a much greater degree that a good tower air cooler

 

[ubersonic]

avoid Aio coolers

You know that Intel's own high end X79/99 cooler is an AIO right? the air one they do is just for low TDP chips (quad core xeons or 2Ghz hex cores).

the problem with Aio coolers is that they have a hidden best before date in which it WILL either start leaking and destroy whatever it leaks on to or the pump will fail, a good air cooler has no such drawbacks and is much better suited to standard builds.

Strange, I have had a NorthQ Siberian Tiger (now called a Corsair H50) for 8 years and it's working fine.

Yes pumps will fail with age, you know what else will? Fans, like the ones on air coolers.

 

[darket]

You know that Intel's own high end X79/99 cooler is an AIO right? the air one they do is just for low TDP chips (quad core xeons or 2Ghz hex cores).



Strange, I have had a NorthQ Siberian Tiger (now called a Corsair H50) for 8 years and it's working fine.

Yes pumps will fail with age, you know what else will? Fans, like the ones on air coolers.

Its just my opinion, I've had many Aoi coolers , i've had 2 Corsairs that have failed due to leaking, i also have two that i've since sold on and are going strong, but for something you just wand to build and forget about you still cant beat a good air cooler.

And fair point on the fans, however in 99% of cases the fan will warn you by rattling or exhibit some symptoms to indicate its slow demise.

But as i said its just an opinion, personally i run custom loops in both my PC's

 

[abui1806]

You know that Intel's own high end X79/99 cooler is an AIO right? the air one they do is just for low TDP chips (quad core xeons or 2Ghz hex cores).



Strange, I have had a NorthQ Siberian Tiger (now called a Corsair H50) for 8 years and it's working fine.

Yes pumps will fail with age, you know what else will? Fans, like the ones on air coolers.

so aio doesn't have fans?

 

[DRSEire]

Using a h110i with a 6800k 4.2Ghz with no problems.

 

[Needles]

Its just my opinion, I've had many Aoi coolers , i've had 2 Corsairs that have failed due to leaking, i also have two that i've since sold on and are going strong, but for something you just wand to build and forget about you still cant beat a good air cooler.

And fair point on the fans, however in 99% of cases the fan will warn you by rattling or exhibit some symptoms to indicate its slow demise.

But as i said its just an opinion, personally i run custom loops in both my PC's

Your initial post didn't present anything as opinion, just a series of statements.

There is nothing factual about AIO coolers having a "secret best before date", yet your post presented it as such, when it is much closer to be utter nonsense.

All mass produced items have a percentage of failures, equating that as a secret best before date for all is stupid.



OP, I have had air coolers for years, moved over to a Kraken AIO, cools my 6700k excellently and even after playing Arma for hours it never hits much more over 70c (on a low pump and fan profile).

Set what you are comfortable to pay for your CPU cooling solution, if a decent AIO falls into that bracket then take it into consideration.

 

[Cenuij]

After speaking to a couple of folk IRL, I went for the NZXT Kraken X61 to cool my i7-6850k. I believe the X62 is now available and looks really sweet.

Since I moved all my spinning disks to my NAS I have plenty of room to mount the rad vertically against the front of my Fractal R5 case so I blow cooler room air over the rad:

`Case Interior` `rad`|`fans`|`dust filters` <----------- airflow

Highest temp I've seen was with Prime95 using AVX/AVX2 instructions, that pushed one core to 81c @4.3, less hot stress tests such as AIDA64 & Realbench barely tickle 70c

Real life idle and workload temps 20/25c - 50/55c

Maybe you could get away with a smaller rad than mine? In any case, delighted with this cooler.