Question Anyone can give advice about 12th Gen or 13 air cooling

[r_scooter]

I recently chose to upgrade to the Ryzen platform mainly because of the processors that still have a 65 W TDP like the 5700x for the air cooling properties of lower wattage. However, I am sure for just a little more I could have upgraded to an Intel Processor like the i5 12600kf.

My question to posit is does anyone have any real world examples of using Air Cooling on an Intel 12th or 13th generation processor. With Wattage as high as 190 and the low 200s I am guessing they run hot, and would benefit from liquid cooling systems. I am adamant against liquid cooling, although next upgrade I am considering it for an Intel processor with high wattage.

 

[BoomerD]

I recently chose to upgrade to the Ryzen platform mainly because of the processors that still have a 65 W TDP like the 5700x for the air cooling properties of lower wattage. However, I am sure for just a little more I could have upgraded to an Intel Processor like the i5 12600kf.

My question to posit is does anyone have any real world examples of using Air Cooling on an Intel 12th or 13th generation processor. With Wattage as high as 190 and the low 200s I am guessing they run hot, and would benefit from liquid cooling systems. I am adamant against liquid cooling, although next upgrade I am considering it for an Intel processor with high wattage.

FWIW, I recently built with an i5-13600K. I have it cooled with an Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 280mm radiator. I am NOT impressed with the cooling ability of this unit. MOST of the time, CPU temps are in the low-to-mid-30s to even the mid-40s...but it bumps up into the upper-70s and low 80's pretty regularly. Doesn't stay at those high temps long...then back down to normal. I've tried the Arctic MX5 paste that came with the cooler, IC graphite pad, (actually seems to run warmer) and even a hybrid of a bit of paste on the CPU and graphite pad. No real difference.

 

[OlyAR15]

I have a Noctua NH-D12L on my 12700Kf. Used to have a custom WC loop, but changed it up recently and went air cooling. No longer OC'd though, because the difference in performance is negligible while the power draw increase wasn't.

Seems to work fine, but I don't push it that hard with the games I'm currently playing.

 

[r_scooter]

I

I have a Noctua NH-D12L on my 12700Kf. Used to have a custom WC loop, but changed it up recently and went air cooling. No longer OC'd though, because the difference in performance is negligible while the power draw increase wasn't.

Seems to work fine, but I don't push it that hard with the games I'm currently playing.

That's great to hear. I am actually in the middle of upgrading from a Ryzen 3700x to a Ryzen 5700x but am considering returning the 5700x and saving the money to upgrade to a 13700kf next year. I was trying to find the TDP of the Noctua NH-D12L, but couldn't. Likewise, I am wondering if the TDP rating of the cooler has to match the highest wattage numbers at turbo of the paired processor.

 

[OlyAR15]

upgrade to a 13700kf next year.

Keep in mind that the 13700k is a much higher wattage cpu than the 12700k, unless you limit the power usage in the BIOS. The only reason I'm using the D12L is that it is one of the few decent-sized air coolers that will fit my motherboard. Noctua and others make better HSF than that.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I am NOT impressed with the cooling ability of this unit.

It's not the cooler's fault. It's the dang CPU. My 12700K has the largest cooler I've ever used (https://www.iceberg-thermal.com/product/consumer/cooler/icesleet-g6-stealth/) and yet I can "smell" the heat in 100% all core workloads. These CPUs need a copper heatsink and tons of airflow to dissipate heat.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I am actually in the middle of upgrading from a Ryzen 3700x to a Ryzen 5700x but am considering returning the 5700x and saving the money to upgrade to a 13700kf next year.

Upgrade to the 5800X3D instead or 5600X3D if you live near a Microcenter and enjoy the massively smooth gaming performance. If it's better all core perf you are after, consider picking up a used 5950X. If you still want to wait till next year, I think you would be better served with Zen 5.

 

[mikeymikec]

Noctua doesn't do TDP ratings for their products. Get the website page up for the product you're interested in, click on 'service' then 'cpu compatibility' and it'll give you their ratings for how well that product will cool a given CPU.

NH-D12L | Cooler Compatibility | Noctua Compatibility Centre

ncc.noctua.at

Side note - my impression with recent gen CPUs was that they'll turbo for as long as they can and >65W TDP parts will invariably still run very hot no matter the size of the cooler (ignoring LN2 type solutions)?

My experience with a 5800X and the Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2 (rated at 150W TDP) cooler was that within a matter of seconds at full tilt, the processor was already at ~80C. The 5700X is a 65W TDP CPU so I wouldn't expect the same sort of outcome.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Both the 13600K and 5800X are notorious for being hard to cool. I think a 13700KF would be worse.

 

[TheELF]

I recently chose to upgrade to the Ryzen platform mainly because of the processors that still have a 65 W TDP like the 5700x for the air cooling properties of lower wattage. However, I am sure for just a little more I could have upgraded to an Intel Processor like the i5 12600kf.

My question to posit is does anyone have any real world examples of using Air Cooling on an Intel 12th or 13th generation processor. With Wattage as high as 190 and the low 200s I am guessing they run hot, and would benefit from liquid cooling systems. I am adamant against liquid cooling, although next upgrade I am considering it for an Intel processor with high wattage.

65w for ryzen means 88W

Explaining AMD Ryzen Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO), AutoOC, & Benchmarks | GamersNexus

stub With the launch of the Ryzen 3000 series processors, we’ve noticed a distinct confusion among readers and viewers when it comes to the phrases “Precision Boost 2,” “XFR,” “Precision Boost Overdrive,” which is different from Precision Boost, and “AutoOC.” There is also a lot of confusion...

www.gamersnexus.net

Also it's a common misconception that you have to cool for the maximum power a CPU could draw under heavy OC.
You only have to cool to the level YOU want the power to go up to.

Here you can see how a mobo that overclocks by default handles low class cooling, the CPU goes up to 100° of course ,because that's how they are designed to work, but you don't lose much performance even against liquid cooling, it's like 6% for a $20 cooler (x120 r se) against a $200 AIO cooler, and that's for the 13900k which is the highest one.
And as somebody already said you can also reduce the power overclock from the bios, they have numbers for that in the article as well.

Core i9-13900K Cooling Guide: Testing Intel's Flagship With Budget Air and Big AIOs

The Core i9-13900K can push even the most capable liquid coolers to their limits, but you don’t lose that much performance if you go with budget-priced air cooling.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Bearmann]

I recently chose to upgrade to the Ryzen platform mainly because of the processors that still have a 65 W TDP like the 5700x for the air cooling properties of lower wattage. However, I am sure for just a little more I could have upgraded to an Intel Processor like the i5 12600kf.

My question to posit is does anyone have any real world examples of using Air Cooling on an Intel 12th or 13th generation processor. With Wattage as high as 190 and the low 200s I am guessing they run hot, and would benefit from liquid cooling systems. I am adamant against liquid cooling, although next upgrade I am considering it for an Intel processor with high wattage.

I have an Intel i9-13900K (Asus multicore enhancement off) cooled by a Noctua NH-D15 with two heatsink fans in a Fractal Define R5 case. While rendering simple 4K videos up to several minutes in length, my temps vary from the 50's to the low 90's, but are typically around 80°C. At idle (web surfing, etc.) temp is typically around 40°C.

 

[alfa147x]

Also it's a common misconception that you have to cool for the maximum power a CPU could draw under heavy OC.
You only have to cool to the level YOU want the power to go up to.

Then why buy a faster CPU? I'd argue that if you can't cool a faster chip, your money is better spent buying a CPU that you can cool.

 

[aigomorla]

Also it's a common misconception that you have to cool for the maximum power a CPU could draw under heavy OC.
You only have to cool to the level YOU want the power to go up to.

This used to be true until we started seeing cpu's with a dynamic boost profile.
So they will max out most parameters, and then control the boosting of chip under load.

This is why overclocking is somewhat pointless now, unless you intend to do a marathon like Distributing computing, as having a dynamic boosting profile could give you better gains, but is very reliant on cooling hardware.