CPU air cooler advise that won't interfere with RAM

radabz · 23 Nov 2019 at 11:34

RAM type is patriot viper
PVS416G373C7K

Motherboard is
ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi)

Case is
Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow

Which is 160mm clearence.

I'm looking at the Noctua NH-U12A just now as it seems the best fit and it's also pretty quiet.

Any others I should check out?

EsaT · 23 Nov 2019 at 17:35

Scythe Mugen 5 is same level cooler, just without brand hype in price.
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/9057/noctua-nh-u12a-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html
Changing fan to very affordable Arctic P12s could likely squeeze out some more performance.

Even RGB version doesn't cost that much more if you like RGB:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=mugen+5

doyll · 23 Nov 2019 at 18:24

I agree Scythe Mugen 5 is quite good, but not with 800rpm fans. My fans idle at 500-600rpm and at full load CPU & GPU are about 1050-1150rpm in 21c room. In summer heat they can be 1200-1300rpm. At 1050-1150rpm they are just loud enough to know system is working hard. I hear them speed upunder load, they are just loud enough to hear.

drakulton · 23 Nov 2019 at 22:51

Why did you buy such tall memory when you're wanting to stick a high end air cooler on top of it???

radabz · 23 Nov 2019 at 22:52

Thanks, I'll have a look at that one.

radabz · 23 Nov 2019 at 22:54

drakulton said:
Why did you buy such tall memory when you're wanting to stick a high end air cooler on top of it???

I didn't think it was that tall, I just didn't want to order and find out something didn't fit.

There's no rgb or any of that nonsense.

drakulton · 23 Nov 2019 at 22:56

Didn't you spec the memory height before ordering it?

radabz · 24 Nov 2019 at 00:15

drakulton said:
Didn't you spec the memory height before ordering it?

Yes but I read somewhere that you have an extra 5mm as the cooler measurement doesn't allow for the difference in cpu mount height and ram mount height.

I've done a fair bit of research but just wanted some other advise in case I had missed some company I'd never heard of or something like that.

The memory was picked as it was the best price to speed and what I want ratio and was the shortest one in that bracket.

I'm not a complete muppet.

I think I'm going to stick with the noctua as I don't mind paying a bit more for this component.

TrM · 24 Nov 2019 at 01:44

I say go with the Noctua nh-u12a if ur willing to spend that sort of cash u might as well buy the best

I curently use a d15 the black edition Best Buy I’ve had in a long time and that u12a is just as good really if they ever do a full black version I would change to it in a heartbeat hehe

EsaT · 24 Nov 2019 at 14:45

radabz said:
I think I'm going to stick with the noctua as I don't mind paying a bit more for this component.

Not really sense to pay nearly doubled price for same level performance.
At least with two Arctic P12s in push-pull doubt there would be any real difference.
Both have such similar surface area.

"Poor" Noctua doesn't even give you proper screwdriver, but only bend iron wire:
https://images.anandtech.com/doci/14621/NOCTUA_NH-U12A_03.jpg
While Scythe gives you actual screwdriver you can use for building PC:
https://www.nikktech.com/main/images/pics/reviews/scythe/mugen_5/scythe_mugen_5_6.jpg

doyll · 24 Nov 2019 at 15:33

drakulton said:
Why did you buy such tall memory when you're wanting to stick a high end air cooler on top of it???

Probably becuase industry sells tall RAM as 'normal' even though DDR4 RAM PCB is only 31.35mm tall, same basic heigth as DDR, DDR2, DDR3 RAM PCB were years ago before 'heat spreader / heatsink' junk was added to them that does little to nothing to improve cooling (as has been shown by many tests/reviews over the years). It's so bad that now it's hard to even find normal height 31.35mm RAM. :mad: