Cooling system for i5 3570k

Jenkinio

Jenkinio

Jenkinio

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Joined
21 Feb 2011
Posts
128
Hi guys,

I've got shiny shiny syndrome and need to buy some new stuff, so I'm in the process of upgrading my rig. Just bought a 7950 GPU from OC, next step is new PSU and CPU. For the latter, I plan to get the i5 3570k and give overclocking a go for the first time, the extent of which will depend on how brave I feel. I have the patience of a child, so realistically I probably won't go too far with the OCing, but I'd like a cooler that could cope in case I go wild.

Any suggestions on a good cooling system to support this?

Mobo: Gigabyte Ultra Durable GA Z77 D3H
Ram: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A 1600C9B 8GB
Case: (cack; high on my upgrade list) CiT Vantage Midi Gaming Case

Money....? I don't want (or need?) to go crazy, perhaps £30, but if more will give massive gains then I could go higher.

Thx
Jenks

PS. I'd also welcome any tips for convincing my wife that I need another 7950!
 
£30 was an arbitrary number really, so if I need to spend more I will, but I want to understand what spending the extra cash will deliver.

Based on what you say, £30 is cheap. What will £60 get me that £30 won't? Better quality or higher capacity to support higher OC levels? Perhaps both?

Ta
 
Will get you both.

Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme £53.99
One of the best cooling available. Has 2500rpm 130cfm fans and will cool better than H100 at same noise level. But if you keep the fans below 1200rpm it's not loud at all.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-099-TR

Alpenfohn K2 £59.99
Another on of the top coolers.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-020-AL

Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 £59.99
Will need mounting kit NM-13 £5.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-015-NC&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2346
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-022-NC&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2346

There are many more. Phanteks TC14PE is arguable the best cooler but not fans are only good. £69.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-009-PT&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2348

At the moment SA SB-E Extreme is best value.. than K2.

SA SB-E is wide so make sure it will not interfere with you PCI slots. Also make sure whatever RAM you have/get will not interfere with coolers. Below is a list of cooler sizes, RAM clearance, etc.

If you can find any of the top cooler used it will save you about £20-30

Cooler size comparison (Width x Depth x Height looking from front of case with motherboard laying flat)
K2 . . . . . .= . . . . 8x 6mm pipes 140x128x158mm 146x154x160mm w/ 120mm & 140mm PWM fans 43.2mm*
D14 . . . . .= . . . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x130x160mm 140x158x160mm w/ only 2011 has PWM fans 44mm*
TC14PE . . . = . . . 5x 8mm pipes 140x134x160mm 140x159x171mm w/fans, PWM adaptor included 40-45mm*
Silver Arrow . = . . 4x 8mm pipes 147x123x163mm 151x149x168mm w/Fans 40.87mm*
SA SB-E . . . .= . . 8x 6mm pipes 155x105x164mm 170x130x170mm w/ 140mm & 150mm PWM fans 31.9/39/46mm**
SA SB-E Extreme . 8x 6mm pipes 155x105x164mm 155x130x165mm w/fans Reason it's smaller is 140mm fan vs 150mm fan.
HE01 . . . . .= . . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x119c160mm w/ 140x38mm PWM fan
Dark Rock Pro .= . 7x 6mm pipes 133x124x166mm 133x149x166mm w/ 120mm & 135mm PWM fans
*cooler base to bottom fin. (add 8mm for motherboard to bottom fin.)
**fins are at 3 different levels

K2, D14 & TC14 are about same except for TC14 140mm fans & 31mm RAM clearance stack up to 171mm (my R2 is 165mm clearance and TC14 fits)

SB-E is widest by 15mm. Even wider with TY-150 fan = 170.

Extreme with TY-143 fans is still 151.5mm wide.
Click to expand...
 
Awesome. Many thanks.

I've just popped the hood and it looks like I have a decent amount of spare room between cpu, pci, ram and psu (which is mounted at the top in my case), but I will measure up once I've stuck in my new gpu and psu.
 
I ran my i7 920 under my TC14Pe and it's now on my i7 980 and SA SB-E Extreme on 920 and love them both. As I run PWM case fans and control them with CPU PWM signal I like having PWM fans on cooler too. FYI I think your 7950 uses PWM control so you could control PWM case fans with it too. Have setup a couple of cases doing that now. Airflow to CPU controlled by CPU PWM and airflow to GPU controlled by GPU PWM. Just thought I would confuse you with even more possibilities. :D
 
So with PWM case fans the CPU or GPU can control the case fan speed according to core temp?
Replacing my case fans sounds rather appealing as they sound like a helicoptor doing an emergency extraction from a warzone (gunfire included).
 
LOL Does you case lift off too? :D
Yes you can. For case fans all that is needed is a PWM splitter with molex power from PSU. You plug your CPU cooler fans into it as well case fans with CPU fan as master for rpm sensor to motherboard. CPU fan socket.

It's a little more complicated to do with GPU as the GPU PWM plug/socket is much smaller and is often not accessible without removing fan shroud and often cooler as well. I have not seen any mini PWM signal splitters available which means you have to make your own (not easy to find the mini PWM connectors) or splice a lead into mini PWM lead to get the PWM signal.

I have done this sort of thing a few times now on cases and so far everyone love them. Silent or near silent under normal use and not too loud when gaming or working CPU hard.

On two we changed the GPU cooling because it became the loudest thing in system... and on those we used stock cooler; just removed the fans/fan shroud and put some 120mm PWM fans on.. lowered GPU & VRM temps 6-12c and much quieter.
Unclue Petey (Unclue because he's gone to the dark wet side) did this:
Part 1: The Spectre bodge
You might find Part 3: K2 interesting too.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18452595&highlight=GPU+username_Uncle+Petey

If you are planning to upgrade your case it might be advisable to wait until you do.. or at least know what case you will be getting so you can move your new fans over to it when you do upgrade cases.
 
Just when I thought I needed to spend £xxx, You introduced me to another way to spend my money and I need to spend 2£xxx. That case and setup in Uncle Petey's pics is lovely.

Cheers for your help, Doyll.
 
got my 3570k clocked at 4.4ghz, was playing bf3/wow all day yesterday and doing a bit of dvd ripping, highest it hit was 38c after a 3 hour session using an aio liquid cooling unit.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-005-AN&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2359

Not sure what the other aio units are like around the same price point but they are worth looking at if you don't like the large air coolers. I got mine for roughly £40 so it was a bit of a bargain considering the performance.
 
My 3570k running at 4.4ghz using a H60. Running prime the CPU sits at 60c after 2 hours or 28c at tick over, running a push pull fan set up (which is quiet).
 
I got to around 4.5GHz with a 3570K with a Coolermaster 212 evo CPU cooler with like 68C Prime95. It's a very good cooler for the money and many people recommend it because of it's high performance and quiet operation.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-CM&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2341

Sadly I don't know if it will fit in that specific case, but most midi sized cases should not have a problem and the sizes are listed in the product description in the cooler :)
 
212 for £26.99 (64.5c) is mid-range performance cooler.. Alpenfohn Matterhorn for £29.99 (61.25c).
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/cooler_master_hyper_212_evo_cpu_cooler_review,13.html

True Spirit 120 for £24.99 (78c),212 (84c) but of of stock :(
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/coolermaster-hyper-212-evo_5.html#sect1

Macho 120 for £29.99 are also very good for the money.. and 3-5c better than 212
http://www.hardwaremx.com/reviews/review-thermalright-macho-120/6/

Keep in mind temps in reviews very radically from one reviewer to another. Hyper 212 Evo is not bad but not high performance either.
 
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