Current best air cooler for CPU (2011-3)

[Bluntwrapped]

Hey guys, as the title suggests I'm wondering what the best option would be for a 5820k or 6800k.

I have been watercooling for years now so I'm completely behind the times when it comes to decent air cooling.

I'm building a productivity workstation for my dad. For simplicity I have decided to stick with air cooling this time round. I am planning on doing a bit of overclocking (would be a shame not to) so I need something which will leave headroom for this.

Is the Noctua NH-D15 still considered the top dog?

I like the look of the much smaller NH-U12 and U14S but wonder how these compare to the massive D15.

The case im using is MATX - Silverstone FT03, so space is a little bit limited.

Another thought is im not sure how comfortable I am mounting 1.3kg of cooler to the motherboard

Anyone able to offer any thoughts or
advice?

I have a few GT1850 fans left over from a previous project so I'm thinking bare cooler may be an option too (if there are any DIY fan bare coolers out there)

Thanks

 

[Bluntwrapped]

That's great thanks a lot for getting back to me. I hadn't heard of the Scythe Fuma until now. Seems like a great deal for the price. You said you had one yourself, did you give up using it to make the move to custom watercooling?

I'll check out some reviews. Do tall RAM heat sinks still interfere with most air coolers? I haven't bought any RAM yet so if this is something I need to consider it may limit my choice a fair bit.

Cheers

 

[Bluntwrapped]

I'll check that out too then cheers

Yeah, I still do. It's in my main rig at the moment. 5Ghz 1.28v but I've been running it 5.1 for a while now. Brilliant chip

 

[Bluntwrapped]

I ended up going for the Cryorig H5 Universal haven't tested it yet but it looks great.

 

[Bluntwrapped]

I have H5 on i7 920 @ 3.8GHz and it works great. Please let us know what you think of it once you've decided. Always good to hear other's opinions.

So far my impressions of the C5 Universal have been really positive Fantastic build quality and the mounting system is superb. I was originally a bit unsure of the long screwdriver through the cooler to tighten down the screws, but now having tried it I'm seriously impressed. Even the supplied screwdriver feels really well made and oozes quality.

Stock temps on the 5820k were good but the moment I started fiddling with voltages the temperature skyrocketed. I believe the CPU is at fault so I have a 6800k on the way now I'll let you know how that goes once it arrives.