Recommend a heatsink for Haswell

benjii

benjii

benjii

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As the title says, I would be grateful for suggestions on the best heatsinks around at the moment. I've been using my Prolimatech Megashadow on my 920 for ages and, unfortunately, can't manage to get a 1155/1156 mounting kit as both the Megashadow and the kit have long since been discontinued.

I'll be getting a 4670k and will be overclocking it. I'm after either a standalone heatsink or something that won't break when I replace the fans with quieter ones. So, as I'm a bit out of touch with the latest and greatest in heatsink tech, what's good?

Thanks!
 
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No love for the NHD14?

One thing that is a bit weird I've noticed. I use a TRUE 120. Push/pull didn't make any difference with i5 750 compared to just push. Now it does make loads. 20c or so. I don't think this is anything do with the chip or how it makes heat, but everything to do with how the mobo is controlling the CPU fans.
 
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The problem with Haswell isn't so much the cooling as the size of the internal gap between the heatspreader and the silicon is. Any good cooler such as the ones mentioned above (I'm using a Noctua NH-D14 myself) will do, and in the end it's more up to the chip whether it'll let you overclock it very far or not. And btw the 4670K shouldn't get as hot as the 4770K, so you might be able to squeeze more out of it.

Check your cooler for the clearance too ... you might run into problems fitting the ram. Noctua at least has a list of memory which will fit on their website.
 
The problem is that Haswell is small and generates a lot of heat when you start upping the voltage in order to overclock. The thermal interface material between the chip and the heatspreader isn't great and often isn't well applied.

This means that no matter how good your heatsink is, the problem is getting the heat out of the chip and through the heat spreader before you even get to your heatsink.

Having said all that, I'm using a Noctua NH-14S and I'm getting a terrific overclock for no effort.

I chose this cooler because it works with RAM modules that have big heatsinks, but you need to check compatibility with your motherboard (some need special mounting kits you get free from Noctua), and you have to check that you can get something that big into your case.

I've always had great experiences with Noctua. You can put the heatsinks iin, enable an overclock, and then for years, all you have to do is blow the dust out of it a couple of times a year. They are not cheap, but they just keep on working forever as far as I can tell.
 
K2 or D14 would be my suggestions..

Just make sure to check RAM height (both of those) overhang the RAM slots.

Also check the case clearence as they are 164mm and 159mm tall respectively.
 
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