Which is the best AIO or Air Cooling for an AMD 3950x

Che200

Che200

Che200

Associate
Joined
19 Oct 2011
Posts
30
Location
Outside Uk
Hi I am currently purchasing my new rig which will be mostly using for rendering and compression/decompression tasks which means it will be running the 3950x at 100% for long periods of time.

I am thinking of using a noctuq D-15 inside a feactal meshify case. Is it a good idea or should I go for water cooling with a higher risk of maintenance issues ?

Recommendations are welcome
 
Both are fine. I'm using a Arctic Freezer II 240mm on my 5900X and very happy with it. I'd also be happy with high end air but the Arctic was cheap and performs around the D-15 level without the bulk.
 
Love my Kraken Z63 as it allows me to set a custom pump curve with a 900-3000 rpm range. Allows it to be silent but also have stonking cooling when it needs to.

But TBH the Arctic Freezer II 240 and 280 that @Minstadave suggested are probably the best value AIOs out there right now. Good cooling relative silent for a reasonable price, albeit I don't like the styling.
 
AIO/CLC have more moving parts to go wrong than air cooler do.
A good air cooler is more than adequate. D-15 is kinda overkill unless you already have it.
Meshify is good case but stock fans are garbage, so you will need a couple good 140mm fans as front intakes. I like PH-F140MP for about £13 each. Many owners of new Arctic P14 like them and they are £6-7 each. I remove all PCIe back slot covers to increase rear vent area around GPU. This gives much better front to back airflow so lower air temp into both CPU and GPU coolers .. so lower temps .. so lower fan speeds .. so less noise.
Coolers like Scythe Mugen 5 Rev.B do similar job and cost much less (£43.99)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-scmg-5100-mugen-5-rev.b-cpu-cooler-hs-046-sy.html
 
doyll said:
AIO/CLC have more moving parts to go wrong than air cooler do.
A good air cooler is more than adequate. D-15 is kinda overkill unless you already have it.
Meshify is good case but stock fans are garbage, so you will need a couple good 140mm fans as front intakes. I like PH-F140MP for about £13 each. Many owners of new Arctic P14 like them and they are £6-7 each. I remove all PCIe back slot covers to increase rear vent area around GPU. This gives much better front to back airflow so lower air temp into both CPU and GPU coolers .. so lower temps .. so lower fan speeds .. so less noise.
Coolers like Scythe Mugen 5 Rev.B do similar job and cost much less (£43.99)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-scmg-5100-mugen-5-rev.b-cpu-cooler-hs-046-sy.html
Click to expand...


I mean sure, a car has more parts that can go wrong than a bicycle too
 
I used a Zalman Zero Infinity (very similar style, the zero infinity has 1 extra 140mm fan) on 4790k (OC from 4.0GHz to 4.6GHz) for years. Often running at 100% workload for days on end. It never got above 60C.
At that time, AIO coolers were still fairly new, I was still reading about a lot reliability problems when I looked into them.
My latest build has an AIO cooler now they've matured.

The Zalman cooler was a beast. It fully occupied the upper part of the case. No room even for fingers to fit connections, and if I moved the case, I had to reseat the RAM, which meant I had to remove part of the heatsink to get access to it.
Another time, the PSU died, and I had to remove the motherboard from the case to remove/connect the CPU power pins.
There are no words to describe the levels of frustration I had working on it.
Not to mention every time I moved the thing, I was worried about the weight of the cooler, and if it would rip the CPU socket off of the motherboard.

There are many AIO coolers now that offer even better cooling, and don't cripple your ability to do repair/upgrade work, won't lead to serious frustrations when repairing/troubleshooting the computer, and are just as reliable.
They would be my recommendation.
 
arctic coolers now have a 6 year warranty on their AIOs - I'd be fitting a 360 version with your 3950x and tuning the voltage/current levels to give best performance. Got a 360 FII on at 3900x
 
If you end up going with air and want a Noctua (there are other options) get the D15S instead of the D15. It has better compatibility and is only 1-2 degrees warmer.
 
I have a Arctic Freezer II on my 5950X and it does a fantastic job, at idle the CPU stays around low-mid 30's and under light loads goes up to around low-mid 40's, and then when gaming it averages around the mid-60's with spike into the mid 70's. So good cooling performance and with the fans running between 60-80% it's near silent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom