Best CPU Cooler for 1155 (i5-2500k)

[Capt Caveman]

Question to you 212+ owners. Can you still twist your 212+ around even with it screwed down all the way? I have this problem with my Asus Z68 Pro mobo. Doesn't make me feel comfortable that I'm getting the best contact and results from the hsf.

 

[MadScientist]

Question to you 212+ owners. Can you still twist your 212+ around even with it screwed down all the way? I have this problem with my Asus Z68 Pro mobo. Doesn't make me feel comfortable that I'm getting the best contact and results from the hsf.

CoolerMaster's scissor design for the hold down bracket on the 212+ is unique but flawed. The holes on the bracket are too large for the pins. Even with the bracket's middle screw fully tightened you can still easily move the bracket.

My 212+ also came with a pin on the heat sink mounting base that lines up with slots on the mounting bracket. I don't see this on reviews of this cooler. CoolerMaster may have added this later to try to help stabilize the mount. It doesn't work. Another design flaw, the slots are bigger then the pin. It still moves.
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2419

Top of mounting bracket in 1155 postion

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Bottom of mounting bracket with slots for pin.

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Heat sink base with pin

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It's almost impossible to install the fans without the heat sink moving. My main concern was that the movement would cause air pockets in the TIM.

Even with all it's faults, uneven bottom, large spaces between the heat pipes and base partitions and a flawed mount, I always got decent results from it.

 

[blackened23]

If you want the best, that would be the noctua NH-D14 or Archon.

If you go for the noctua, make sure that it will fit in your case , its a monster. I'll have to disagree with anyone suggesting the 212, its truly a pain to seat properly, I used one
recently for a friends pc and I had to sand the bottom to make it flush with the CPU. Its just way too annoying to deal with, i'd suggest not getting it unless
you're REALLY strapped for cash. The fact that people in this thread are stating that their CPU is getting up to 80C with it? Really?

 

[RobertR1]

What about the Thermaltake Silver Arrow?

 

[Rvenger]

If you want the best, that would be the noctua NH-D14 or Archon.

If you go for the noctua, make sure that it will fit in your case , its a monster. I'll have to disagree with anyone suggesting the 212, its truly a pain to seat properly, I used one
recently for a friends pc and I had to sand the bottom to make it flush with the CPU. Its just way too annoying to deal with, i'd suggest not getting it unless
you're REALLY strapped for cash. The fact that people in this thread are stating that their CPU is getting up to 80C with it? Really?

Mine doesn't wiggle at all. I just tried.

 

[lehtv]

What about the Thermaltake Silver Arrow?

Pretty identical in performance to Archon and NH-D14. But it's still a huge brick that 2500K doesn't need.

If there's want to overclock high though, 212+ may not be enough to keep temps nice. I'd try Xigmatek Dark Knight (newegg has it $33 AR), Venomous X (twice that price...) or other big but not massive cooler

 

[aigomorla]

however u need about 200 dollars in EQ to finish the rest of it... :X

Self contained liquid kits.... i personally wouldnt go for them unless u needed the height.... it means more things which can go wrong vs a tower sink.

And a some towers will beat self contained...


BTW Sandy isnt heat limited.... trust me.. you guys think its the hottest thing u've ever seen, but in a hobby standpoint, its relatively cool, both figurative and pun wise.

 

[RussianSensation]

It looks like the Phanteks recently took over the top spot from Archon/NH-D14/Silver Arrow trio as the top air cooler. I haven't seen it being sold in US yet though.

I don't think the size of A50/A70 or even NH-D14 is concerning. It's more of a perception than a real issue of safety for the motherboard. Sure some heatsinks block the 1st dimm, but generally you can raise the fan on a lot of these (esp. NH-D14 and SA). So it's not an issue really unless you have a need to swap ram all the time.

In posts #19/20 in this thread, I linked some really large air coolers that make NH-D14 look tiny . Outside of H100, closed loop water cooling still cannot match any of the top 5 air coolers in noise-to-performance ratio, which ironically is the main reason to go with watercooling.

However, there are plenty of awesome ~$35 air coolers without breaking the bank:

- Corsair A70
- Zalman Performa
- Gelid Tranquillo
- Titan Fenrir (i.e., TITAN EC-TTC-NK85TZ/C)
- Thermalright HR-02 Macho
- Scythe Yasya

Directron has most of these.

 

[StrangerGuy]

It looks like the Phanteks recently took over the top spot from Archon/NH-D14/Silver Arrow trio as the top air cooler. I haven't seen it being sold in US yet though.

I don't think the size of A50/A70 or even NH-D14 is concerning. It's more of a perception than a real issue of safety for the motherboard. Sure some heatsinks block the 1st dimm, but generally you can raise the fan on a lot of these (esp. NH-D14 and SA). So it's not an issue really unless you have a need to swap ram all the time.

In posts #19/20 in this thread, I linked some really large air coolers that make NH-D14 look tiny . Outside of H100, closed loop water cooling still cannot match any of the top 5 air coolers in noise-to-performance ratio, which ironically is the main reason to go with watercooling.

However, there are plenty of awesome ~$35 air coolers without breaking the bank:

- Corsair A70
- Zalman Performa
- Gelid Tranquillo
- Titan Fenrir (i.e., TITAN EC-TTC-NK85TZ/C)
- Thermalright HR-02 Macho
- Scythe Yasya

Directron has most of these.

"The difference between Corsair H100 and Thermalright Archon in the produced noise is tremendous and obviously not in favor of the liquid-cooling system.

Therefore, going back to the results chart we can conclude that at about the same level of noise the best air cooler is 14°C more efficient than the new Corsair H100."

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/corsair-h100_6.html
Cheaper air cooling > Corsair H2O kits. So, is water cooling dead now?

 

[magomago]

the mugen 2 is a better heatsink with a much better fan (quieter) for only a few dollars more. on sale at directron for $34 right now.

this man speaks truth; i have a mugen 2 in a push-pull setup and its ridiculously quiet; i'm surprised only one person mentioned this heatsink

 

[blotto]

I'm using a Corsair A70 I picked up for $30. Runs 4.5ghz @ 1.20v without breaking a sweat.

 

[BathroomFeeling]

So jelly of these powerful coolers. We really need stats on what cooler fits into what cases to know whether a cooler we want (like the 212+ or A70) are viable for purchase.

 

[RussianSensation]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/corsair-h100_6.html[/I]
Cheaper air cooling > Corsair H2O kits. So, is water cooling dead now?

Some buy the H100 and upgrade all of its fans to noiseblockers or gentle typhoons AP-15s. Under such a scenario, it will beat any of the top air coolers, but the price skyrockets to $180-200 as you can imagine. Corsair has done a great job selling their H50/60/70/80/100 kits. We've had the Noctua NH-D14 and Megahalems and Venomous X for a long time now too. Before that the Thermalright IFX-14 was also amazing. But none of these stopped people from buying Corsair's closed loop systems. I think a lot of people don't want a large metal heatsink because they falsely assume it's unsafe, or some simply want the cleaner look that watercooling offers. Also, with the trend to downsize, it may be pretty difficult to put a large air cooler into a small trendy case such as the LIAN LI PC-V354B.

 

[MadScientist]

I think the lesson (repeated here) "pick a speed you want to hit, and build towards that" is one that makes the most sense.

And what your i5-2500K will overclock to. I'm stuck at 4.6 Ghz.

Here's some old info, don't know if the stats are still valid, but if they are then most of us only need an ~$30 - $35. air cooler.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1578110

"Quick Note regarding the K series multiplier wall – Previous generations of Intel CPUs due to architectural differences had two aspects that could readily change OC scaling potential. These two factors were TDP (heat output under load) as well as core (CPU/VTT ) voltage being supplied. With previous generation cpus, improvements such as high end air cooling, water cooling or more extreme forms like LN2 in addition to extreme voltage increases could potentially provide increases in clock speeds on a continual ramp until the limits of the CPU were reached. This is not the case with K series on the P67 chipset.", and the Z68.

So jelly of these powerful coolers. We really need stats on what cooler fits into what cases to know whether a cooler we want (like the 212+ or A70) are viable for purchase.

My case (no side fan) is 8.27" wide and the 212+ and A70 fit with a bit of room to spare. Most Lian Li cases are ~8.27" wide.

The A70 is 159.5mm x 124.6mm x 129mm (H x L x W without fans); 212+: 158.5mm x 120mm x 79.7mm.

 

[Svartalfar]

Hey guys, I got a video card, Asus 550TI Superclocked 975MHZ, even has a cool program to overclock the card. I have a 950W PSU, the a50 I was talking about earlier is actually really good for overall flow for my case, idling my temps for my 4 cores are at 29C, I added another fan hanging and sitting on one of my PSU cables aimed perfectly at the z68 plate as well as perfect height towards my video card helping push air towards the back. I do this with every computer i've ever owned as well as suggesting it to every person ive come across. I have always felt there is not enough air flow in that general area, as well as enough pressure pushing towards the back of the case.

As for my ram slot issue I had earlier, I can just take the casing off of the ram itself or just buy smaller ram than my g.skill ripjaws. but it looks lame :-/, i only need 8GB anyways so its okay.

My issue about the GTX 590 is nothing. it will fit. my question is, how hot can my video card run, and how hot can my cores/overall CPU run? or what is deemed "unsafe" in terms of heat? also very lost in terms of voltage. not sure if im asking in the right place. but as a side note I strongly reccomend to add a fan slightly above the hard drive area facing towards and in perfect line with ur video card and chipset plate. it used to be too hot to touch, now its so cold i could almost keep my chicken frozen on it.

 

[Svartalfar]

core voltage 1.152, core speed 3712.5MHZ and about 45C on a full load.

 

[Kaekae]

my 2500k is being cooled by a 212+ inside of a HAF 922 case also by CM.

It's a very nice CPU cooler, so much better than the stock HS.

For $30 you can't go wrong!

 

[houe]

I'll put another vote for the Corsair A70. Reasonable price and nice performance. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181011

 

[foxrocks]

I'm also in the same boat as the OP really. Looking to cool an i5 750 initially but will probably switch to Ivy Bridge at some point.

I'm UK-based FWIW. Not shooting for the moon with my overclocks at the expense of a leafblower, just after a good balance between price, noise, and cooling.

Looking at:

Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus - £22
Gelid Tranquillo - £24
Corsair A70 - £29
Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced - £40
Thermalright Venomous X-RT - £41

I gather the more expensive two there are meant to be nigh on silent. How are the cheaper ones on noise?