Aftermarket cooler for i7- 2600k

[Cyanian]

I plan on OC'ing my 2600k to 5GHz. Now I understand that's an insanely high OC and I want to know if it's even safe.

And if it is safe what cooler should I get? I hear a lot of 212 recommendations but would that be adequate enough for such a substantial increase?

Thanks.

 

[Jen]

alot will depend on your cpu as well if it can reach 5GHz , then if it can how much voltage will it require.

for cooling i would suggest higher end air cooling or watercooling would be better option. but again its up to the cpu whether it can do it or not

Jen

 

[Cyanian]

Yea, in terms of watercooling I've actually never had any accosiation with it. I have no experience at all with watercooling.

But I do expect to spend about 70+ in a cooler for the CPU but I want to know if it's actually completely necessary. If I don't have to I don't want to.

Voltage wise I'm also at a block. Hoping that you folks here could assist in that as well.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The 212 is highly recommended because of its price vs performance. There are marginally better heat-sinks out there but at a higher cost.

A year or two ago the Prolimatech Heat-sinks were "In" and before that IME the TRUE was another favored.

The last review I even read on Heat-sinks rated the Tuniq Tower as the best.. sadly I can't find the review.

 

[Cyanian]

Ok, great. Also could you direct me to an ideal i7-2600k overclocking guide? The stickied one didn't seem fitting as it only mentioned non-sandy bridge cards.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I don't have a SandyBridge chip. AFAIK they (the 'K' chips) are overclocked by changing the multiplier. As far as voltage adjusting and things like that (fine tuning) I am out of the loop on that stuff for Sandy.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

For the best, look at the Noctua NH-D14. The 212 gives great value though just like many other coolers.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Don't get your hopes up on 5GHz. My 2600K can hit 5GHz but it just requires way too many extra volts to get it stable than I'm comfortable with for running 24/7 (have it at 4.8GHz for 24/7 use), the extra juice required for 5GHz is just not what I find to be worthwhile when considering the meager real world performance gains and the unnecessary extra power consumption and heat production.

of course there's always a chance you end up with a golden chip

For the best, look at the Noctua NH-D14. The 212 gives great value though just like many other coolers.

The NH-D14 is such a huge cooler, and even the more modest tower coolers can be a pain in the ass to install, at least IMO. And for that price I'd rather go with an H60 or H70 (and some Gentle Typhoons in push/pull if maximum performance and noise are a concern) if only for ease of installation.

Its also much easier to cool a SandyB chip than a 45nm Nehalem

 

[Cyanian]

Alright great, thanks a lot. I think I might just overclock it to s stable 4.4 to like 4.8 GHz. I don't want to have to reduce my RAM's voltage and reduce other areas just to hit 5.

 

[Habeed]

I plan on OC'ing my 2600k to 5GHz. Now I understand that's an insanely high OC and I want to know if it's even safe.

And if it is safe what cooler should I get? I hear a lot of 212 recommendations but would that be adequate enough for such a substantial increase?

Thanks.

Most likely you will not succeed without being forced to give the CPU enough voltage that it will fail prematurely in a few months.

If you want the CPU to last for it's 3-5 year service life, you need to limit how high you set the voltage. I've heard 1.35 V is the limit for Sandy Bridge.

And at 1.35 volts and ~4.5 ghz, you don't need the best coolers. A cheaper Hyper 212 will do fine. If you DO want 5 ghz at a sane voltage, you have to go phase change generally. Phase change coolers are hundreds of dollars each.

 

[Diogenes2]

Alright great, thanks a lot. I think I might just overclock it to s stable 4.4 to like 4.8 GHz. I don't want to have to reduce my RAM's voltage and reduce other areas just to hit 5.

I'm using a 212+ at 5g - 1.47 v - Temps stay in mid 70's .. No need to spend $60 - $80 more for an air cooler ...

RAM voltage/settings don't really have anything to do with CPU overclocking on Sandy Bridge..

Best SB OC guide I have found is here ..

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1578110

You might want browse through the later pages to see what others have done for success ..

 

[Athadeus]

Most likely you will not succeed without being forced to give the CPU enough voltage that it will fail prematurely in a few months.

If you want the CPU to last for it's 3-5 year service life, you need to limit how high you set the voltage. I've heard 1.35 V is the limit for Sandy Bridge.

And at 1.35 volts and ~4.5 ghz, you don't need the best coolers. A cheaper Hyper 212 will do fine. If you DO want 5 ghz at a sane voltage, you have to go phase change generally. Phase change coolers are hundreds of dollars each.

Lowering the temperature does not lower the voltage required to maintain stability. Everything else is good advice :thumbsup:

 

[Habeed]

Lowering the temperature does not lower the voltage required to maintain stability. Everything else is good advice :thumbsup:

Supposedly it does, and that guy here (Idon'tCare) with the PhD showed a chart one time proving it. It takes a significant temperature drop before this happens...achievable with phase change, but not with water/air obviously.

 

[Ghiedo27]

If memory serves, IDC's chart did demonstrate that temperature can have an effect. It was just nowhere near strong enough to make something that needs 1.47v at 45C to be stable only require 1.35v at say -20C.

 

[RussianSensation]

The best air cooler on the market is the Thermalright Archon. But it's pretty expensive: http://www.svc.com/archon.html

Considering the Silver Arrow is easily in the top 2 aircoolers, the fact that the Archon beats it with just 1 fan clearly shows its the best right now.

If you are aiming for a 5 ghz overclock, I suppose you want the lowest possible temperatures. So it might be worth it. Otherwise, for $15 the Cooler Master 212 is very hard to beat for overclocks to 4.8ghz. Also, those 5.0ghz overclocks on the 2600k require very high voltage, making them fairly "unsafe" from what I understand.

 

[nyker96]

I think the best bang/buck on the market right now is:
cm 212+ for $15 or so
Mugen 2 for $40 shipped at newegg

If you want the best, TR Archon is the best right now if money is no problem.