Maybe time for a better cooler...

Praetorian

Praetorian

Praetorian

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Heya guys,

Would appreciate a little bit of advice on this as I'm stumped.

I've managed to get a 24/7 OC on my i3770k (system in sig) @ 1.25v; however I'm concerned by the temps as after 30 minutes of gaming reaches a peak of 76c which has gotten me slightly alarmed as I'm used to about 60-65c.

Its currently cooled by a refurb H100i with 2 Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1400 RPM fans and then a further 200mm fans at the top of my NZXT Phantom case in a jury rigged config using the provided mounts.

Just wondering on what the opinions are as I believe I'm pretty much looking at a cooler upgrade but to what I have no idea. I was tempted by the OCUK Tech Labs 240mm AIO but am unsure about whether that's a good idea or just move back to air cooling with something like a Thermalright Silver Arrow SB E Extreme CPU Cooler TY-143 Fans.

Case is fully complimented with Noiseblocker 140mm fans @ max as well as 2x NZXT 200mm fans @ max configured to provide positive pressure using the H100i to push the hot air out.

I could however just live with the higher temps but I like to play cautious :D

TL;DR - High temps (74c) using H100i. Want to get them down either by upgrading cooling or live with it.
 
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You cant go wrong with something like the silver arrow, other good alternatives are the noctua dh 14 or the alpenfohn k2. Providing of course that they fit your board and dont block ram slots.
 
I use the silver arrow myself,you do need low profile memory tho

Max I could do before I delidded was 4.6ghz with 1.26v temps were 80-85c max stress in Intel burn test

3770k
 
Probably a good idea to upgrade then :D

Just done a VERY quick run with IBT and managed to peak the cores at 91 after seconds so shut that down straight away! :(

Weird and I thought the h100 was supposed to be good on OC'd system
 
I have Prolimatech Megahalems with 2 Akasa Apache on my slightly clocked 4770k, at 4.3 ghz.
So far max temps were at 62, after 4 hours of gaming.
Heatsink is big but there is no problem with it blocking ram, if you use 120mm fans you should be fine ( I have Avexir Gold ).
 
You should be ok with a h100. at that oc. my h80 dosent go above high 50 s after hours of gaming @ 4.4ghz
Try reseating maybe.
 
If a h100i isnt cutting it, would you see much improvement with even a huge air cooler?

I am skeptical of more than a few degrees improvement in this case if you did upgrade, though out of the things you mentioned i would say the fathoms AIO by OCuk would have the best results. Have you tried re-applying paste and clearing the dust off the h100i fins?

Could be new paste and clean up is all you need!
 
I'm unsure whether I'd see an improvement if I switched to an air cooler :( Was confused as I've never seen temps like this before when OC'ing so wanted to see if I was being a tad dense :D

I changed the voltage back to auto and managed to get my temps down to a maximum of 61 degrees so the AIO can handle it. Rad looks clean, but still gave it several large bursts from a compressed air can as well as my USB vacuum.

I'm still using the stock paste that came applied with the H100 so will clean it off tonight and replace it with some Noctua paste that I have, which is pretty good, and then reseat. Hopefully that should solve the problem.

Thanks for all the replies fellas .. much appreciated :D
 
How old is your refurb H100i?

I'm wondering if pump is moving coolant like it should... as it's one of the recurring problems with these coolers. ;)

CLC/AIO coolers have very similar cooling ability to top air... usually cost more, have more problems, are usually noisier and if they fail you have no cooling. Top air have very few problems.. only thing to go wrong is fan.. worst case we rubber-band a case fan on until replacement arrives.

Reviews showing AIO/CLC more than a couple degrees cooler than top air are using proper cooler intake air temps in test/review. They use cases and monitor room temp, but not the air temp going into coolers.. AIO/CLC use case to keep heated exhaust air away from cooler intake air while air cooler are dumping their heated air inside of case heating up air going into cooler. If air going into air cooler is 5-8c hotter than air going into AIO/CLC the resulting CPU temps are also 5-8c hotter.

Think of it like a house being the ambient temp, the lounge being the computer case and fireplace being the CPU. Light fireplace and room gets hotter then rest of house.. Stress CPU and case gets hotter than room.

That's why I advocate using a temperature probe in front of cooler intake when testing, not room ambient.
 
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Was ordered from OCUK on 3th July as part of the first batch of refurb H100i's. Everything else on it has seemed to work, especially since I read the whole H100 thread with people experiencing failures of fan control etc.

Its outside the 90 day warranty now so only way to properly test is to move back to air cooling .. not a big issue as the cost isn't prohibitive for the arrow and as you say if the fans bork up, then its a simple case of strapping another fan on until the replacement arrives :)
 
Make sure your GPU will clear the Silver Arrow SB-E and RAM is low enough.

Here's a list of some of the best coolers and their sizes. Silverstone HE01 is very close to SA SB-E Extreme. ;)
Cooler size comparison (Width x Depth x Height looking from front of case with motherboard laying flat)

Akasa Medusa .= . 8x 6mm pipes 144x129.5x163mm w/ 140mm & 120mm PWM fans 49.6mm*
K2 / Assassin . = . 8x 6mm pipes 140x128x158mm 146x154x160mm w/ 120mm & 140mm PWM fans43.2mm*
Dark Rock Pro 2 =. 7x 6mm pipes 133x124x166mm 133x149x166mm w/ 120mm & 135mm PWM fans
NH-D14 . . . . = . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x130x160mm 140x158x160mm w/ 120mm & 140mm fans44mm*
NH-U14S . . . = . . 6x 6mm pipes 150x52x165mm plus fans base offset 2mm 41mm*
PH-TC14PE. . = . . 5x 8mm pipes 140x159x171mm w/ 2x 140mm fans, PWM adaptor40-45mm*
Megahalem. . = . . 6x 6mm pipes 130x74x158.7mm plus fans 40mm*
HE01 . . . . .= . . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x119x160mm w/ 140x38mm PWM fan 42mm*
Archon SB-E. . = . 8x 6mm pipes 155x53.6x170.2mm plus fans 34.45mm*
Silver Arrow . = . . 4x 8mm pipes 147x123x163mm 151x149x168mm w/ 2x 140mm 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 Smaller because of 140mm fan vs 150mm fan.

*cooler base to bottom fin. (add 8mm for motherboard to bottom fin.)
**fins are at 3 different levels

I monitor the temps with a cheap indoor/outdoor or terrarium digital thermometer with wired remote. Twist a piece of stiff insulated wire into the last 8" of sensor lead so you can bend it to position sensor where you want it... like 40mm in front of your CPU / GPU cooler intake.. to see what the air temp going into CPU / GPU cooler is compared to room temp. The closer it is to room temp the better.. Shouldn't be more 5c maximum, 2-3c is what I usually end up with after 30 minutes full load on both CPU and GPU.
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