Which air cooler?

Yaayuh!

Yaayuh!

Yaayuh!

Soldato
Joined
5 Nov 2010
Posts
24,415
Location
Hertfordshire
Noctua NH-D15/S
Noctua NH-D14
Noctua NH-U12A
BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4
Corsair A500
Cryorig R1 Ultimate/Universal
Scythe Fuma 2

Which one (or suggest another) to cool a Zen2 (Specifically 3900X in my case).

I'm swapping out a H110i, getting an oscillating vibration noise from the pump.

Edit: Updating list
 
Last edited:
Leaning towards the Dark Pro 4 due to RAM clearance.

As for turning the pump down, it's already down, but i'll turn it up and see what happens.

edit: Looking closer at reviews, whilst I can fit it with the RAM in place, it looks like you have to remove the cooler if you want to remove the RAM...
 
Last edited:
Think I might for for the big-daddy that is the NH-D15.

Has anyone with a NH-D15 tried either:
  • Moving the fan on the RAM side to the rear instead, making it a full "pull" setup
  • Run just the middle fan
  • Swapped fans for 120mm
 
Yaayuh! said:
Noctua NH-D15
BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4
Corsair A500
Cryorig R1 Ultimate

Which one (or suggest another) to cool a 3900X.
Im swapping out a H110i, getting an oscillating vibration noise from the pump.
Click to expand...
As others have said, Corsair A500 is not a cooler I would even consider

How old is your H110i? If still under warranty you could get it replaced and sell it to help cover costs of new air cooler.

Would help to know what case, motherboard and RAM you plan to use cooler with. Then we can suggest coolers we know will fit in your build as well as make sure your case flows air so air cooler can do it's job properly.

NH-D15 is one of the best, as are other 3 coolers on your list. but D15 is £84.99 so usually more expensive than other.

NH-D15S cools as good as NH-D15 at same noise level and fin packs are offset away from PCIe sockets too. At full speed D15 is a couple degreed cooler than D15S. Reason is 2x fans make about 3dB more noise than 1 fan, and 1 fan at same dB on D15S cools the same 2x fans on D15.NH-D15S is £74.99

Cryorig R1 Ultimate is very good and lower price ast £73.99 so not cheap, but less than others listed.

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 is arguably the best looking, cools well and is £79.99 so stull quite expensive.


Other coolers to consider are

NH-D14. Cools similar to all of above and is £70.99.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nh-d14-dual-radiator-cpu-cooler-hs-011-nc.html

Cryorigh R1 Ultimate cools about the same to, maybe a degree warmer but has better RAM clearance. It costs £68.99
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cryo...-heatsink-with-140mm-fan-white-hs-004-cy.html

Lower priced coolers don't cool quit as well but often have more cooling ability than needed.
 
Thanks Doyll

The H110 is over 2 years old, I could RMA it and sell it but given the cost to replace, I’d rather just chuck it or save for a secondary build than deal with the faff. So that said, I don’t care about the cost so long as it’s under £100.

I have a Phanteks Evolve X, currently back using the Asus CH6 X370 and all 4 DIMMs populated.
 
Yaayuh! said:
Think I might for for the big-daddy that is the NH-D15.

Has anyone with a NH-D15 tried either:
  • Moving the fan on the RAM side to the rear instead, making it a full "pull" setup
  • Run just the middle fan
  • Swapped fans for 120mm
Click to expand...

D15 here on a Ryzen 2700 @ 4GHz. I'm only running a single fan in the middle and highest temps I've seen after hours and hours of OCCT was 55ºc. It's absolutely silent too, I can hear my case fans over the Noctua and even they are set up to be on the quiet side.

The mounting system for the heatsink is childs play too. It's a pretty massive cooler but is so easy to fit. I moved away from a BeQuiet 240mm AIO and don't regret it one bit. The D15 is better in every way!
 
Yaayuh! said:
Thanks Doyll

The H110 is over 2 years old, I could RMA it and sell it but given the cost to replace, I’d rather just chuck it or save for a secondary build than deal with the faff. So that said, I don’t care about the cost so long as it’s under £100.

I have a Phanteks Evolve X, currently back using the Asus CH6 X370 and all 4 DIMMs populated.
Click to expand...
Evolv X is good case but front restricts airflow somewhat. It comes with good fans, but they are not placed for best airflow Few easy fixes are fill front with all 3 of stock 140mm fans and block any openings not covered by fans so air they push into case can't leak around them and go in circles. We want air to flow through case and out the back. I also recommend removing all PCIe back slot covers to increase rear vent area, which increase front to back flow, lowering air temp which lower compoent temp so fans can run slower and make less noise. I know the PCIe slot covers are vented, but open slots will flow 3 or 4 times more air than vented slot covers do. Good case airflow with air as close to room ambient means air cooler is using air only a couple degrees warmer than room. Air coolers react to air temp at almost a 1:1 ratios, so if air entering cooler is 10c warmer than room's 22c instead of 2 c warmer, then CPU temp will be 8c higher than it would be with air only 2c warmer than room. Hope that makes sense. Below link to basic guide about airflow and how to optimize case airflow might be of interest.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770
If you like that guide I can link you to a bunch more dealing with everything from cooler sizes and performance to difference between Phillips and PosiDrive screw heads. ;)

Never heard of an Asus CH6 X370, and without knowing exactly what RAM you have I can't tell how tall it is. ;) Evolv X has 190mm CPU clearance so even tallest coolers fit case no problems. Once I know what motherboard and RAM you have I can tell you what will fit behind/under RAM and clear PCIe sockets. ;)

What agw 01 said. D15 has nice mount, but so do Dark Rock Pro 4, R1 and many other coolers.
 
@doyll
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair VI Hero
RAM: 4x G.Skill TridentZ (2x F4-4000C19D-16GTZSW kits)

I figured the case will be deep enough, more a case of performance and RAM clearance.
 
Motherboard has about 85mm center CPU to near side of PCIe x16 socket so plenty of room there but only about 50.3mm center CPU to near side of RAM socket.

Your Trident Z is 44mm. It's top is 39mm above top of CPU IHS or 47mm from surface of motherboard to top of RAM. It definitely limits what coolers will fit. I think it's tallest and heaviest RAM out there. :)

Cryorig R1 Universal will fit and cool well, as will NH-D15S. I think I would get Cryorig R1 Universal. Or if I could find one, Thermalriight TRUE Spirit 140 Power. It usually costs less and cools as well or better than any other cooler, but it's not easy to find.
 
doyll said:
Motherboard has about 85mm center CPU to near side of PCIe x16 socket so plenty of room there but only about 50.3mm center CPU to near side of RAM socket.

Your Trident Z is 44mm. It's top is 39mm above top of CPU IHS or 47mm from surface of motherboard to top of RAM. It definitely limits what coolers will fit. I think it's tallest and heaviest RAM out there. :)

Cryorig R1 Universal will fit and cool well, as will NH-D15S. I think I would get Cryorig R1 Universal. Or if I could find one, Thermalriight TRUE Spirit 140 Power. It usually costs less and cools as well or better than any other cooler, but it's not easy to find.
Click to expand...

What about the NH-U12A as an alternative to the TRUE Spirit 140 Power?
 
Yaayuh! said:
What about the NH-U12A as an alternative to the TRUE Spirit 140 Power?
Click to expand...
Good cooler, front of cooler with fan is about 50mm from center CPU so will be very close to your RAM if it even fits. It's smaller size, less heatpipes and fin area mean it's not as good as bigger coolers and TRUE Spirit 140 Power. Don't you like Cryorig R1 Universal?
 
doyll said:
Good cooler, front of cooler with fan is about 50mm from center CPU so will be very close to your RAM if it even fits. It's smaller size, less heatpipes and fin area mean it's not as good as bigger coolers and TRUE Spirit 140 Power. Don't you like Cryorig R1 Universal?
Click to expand...

It's not that, just the U12A seems to punch well above it's weight for it's size, cramming in 7 heatpipes, despite fin surface area. Considering options is all.
 
Yaayuh! said:
It's not that, just the U12A seems to punch well above it's weight for it's size, cramming in 7 heatpipes, despite fin surface area. Considering options is all.
Click to expand...
It has 5x 6mm heatpipes in a 120x45x114mm fin pack. It will keep your CPU cool enough, but it might not do it as wel or as quietly as bigger coolers will. We need to keep in mind most reviewer testing is are not even close to accurate. To accurately test they need to at the very least monitor and record air temp entering cooler at same time the record CPU temp. Most do not. There are many other things causing most review testing to be inaccurated, but that's one that has to be done to have results even remotely credible.
 
Yaayuh! said:
You sure?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nh-u12a-high-performance-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-03k-nc.html

But yes, all reviews taken with bucket of salt.
Click to expand...
My bad, was talking about NH-U12S, not NH-U12A.
NH-U12A does have 7 heatpipes and uses very good NF-A12x25 fan/s. It is back set so front of fan is about 48mm from center CPU so will clear. But it's £94.99 and R1 Universal cools at least as well for £68.99, more thant 25 quid lower priced. But yeah, NH-U12A will cool cool your CPU just fine as long as case airflow into it is good so it's not more than a couple degrees warmer than room you will be fine with either one, or the others.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom