CPU cooler Noctua / 120 mm vs 92 mm

[sioux]

I want to overclock my cpu soon ( Intel I7 920 ) and im not decided which cpu cooler i should buy.
Between those 2, which one would you recommend ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608016

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608014
Is the 120 mm one, better for the airflow / silence ?
Would the 120 mm help ( cooling ) other pc components, too ?
My case is Cooler Master HAF 922, i have 4 case vents : 1 x 200 mm front / 1 x 200 mm above / 1 x 120 mm rear / 1 x 120 mm on the bottom.
Thank you

 

[Blain]

CPU cooler Noctua / 120 mm vs 92 mm

Is the 120 mm one, better for the airflow / silence ?
Would the 120 mm help ( cooling ) other pc components, too ?

* yes
* no
* a little better than the 92mm

 

[R0H1T]

I want to overclock my cpu soon ( Intel I7 920 ) and im not decided which cpu cooler i should buy.
Between those 2, which one would you recommend ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608016

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608014
Is the 120 mm one, better for the airflow / silence ?
Would the 120 mm help ( cooling ) other pc components, too ?
My case is Cooler Master HAF 922, i have 4 case vents : 1 x 200 mm front / 1 x 200 mm above / 1 x 120 mm rear / 1 x 120 mm on the bottom.
Thank you

Neither actually cause they're kinda low end from Noctua, so if you can fit either one of these in your case then I'd recommend go for'em instead ~

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608041
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608040

Now as for the second part of your question, the thing is 120mm fans will usually be more quiet & still cool more than 92mm fans especially since they're from the same company i.e. Noctua however their latest NF-A15 PWM fan(the one bundled with NH-U14S) seems to be the best they make & you might wanna consider where your priorities lie as in cooler/quieter operation or low profile heatsink because for the former your best bet is going along with their latest products while in the latter case 92mm fan based stuff would suit you best.

 

[sioux]

Thanks, R0H1T
If i choice this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

could i add one more fan ? As i said, the case is Cooler Master HAF 922
Thank you

 

[lehtv]

Why Noctua? They're quite expensive in terms of performance per dollar.

Besides, I don't think it's a particularly good strategy to spend $70 in order to overclock a four generations old processor.

What is your motherboard?

 

[R0H1T]

Thanks, R0H1T
If i choice this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

could i add one more fan ? As i said, the case is Cooler Master HAF 922
Thank you

Sure you can but I'll advice you to check for clearance in & around the socket & whether you have enough space to install the heatsink in the first place. Tell you what go to the manufacturer site & see for yourself ~

www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=63&lng=en&set=1

The key thing to note is the height(158 mm) to see if it fits into the case & for mobo go here ~

www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=63&lng=en

 

[R0H1T]

Why Noctua? They're quite expensive in terms of performance per dollar.

Besides, I don't think it's a particularly good strategy to spend $70 in order to overclock a four generations old processor.

What is your motherboard?

For 6yrs worth of warranty I'd say they're probably the best in class not to mention they'll provide new mounting kits free of cost in case of a socket change. Seems more than reasonable to me unless I've stated something wrong :/

 

[sioux]

Why Noctua? They're quite expensive in terms of performance per dollar.

Besides, I don't think it's a particularly good strategy to spend $70 in order to overclock a four generations old processor.

What is your motherboard?

I think, Noctua is the best, in terms of cooling / silence /
My motherboard is Gigabyte GA EX58 UD5.
But, if i go for this, even is an older one, do i have to control manually the rpm ? I thought, the rpm is automatically, controlled by the cpu / mobo sensor, etc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608014
PS : sorry about my poor english

 

[lehtv]

For 6yrs worth of warranty I'd say they're probably the best in class not to mention they'll provide new mounting kits free of cost in case of a socket change. Seems more than reasonable to me unless I've stated something wrong :/

My point was more to do with the fact that $70 is a large enough investment that you should maybe be thinking of upgrading your whole socket already. For $70 you can almost get a decent LGA1150 motherboard, and for the second hand sell price of your current CPU and motherboard, you could get a Xeon E3-1230 V3 which handily outperforms whatever overclock you may achieve on your old CPU - at half the power consumption or less. So all in all the aftermarket cooling only makes sense if you don't pay that much for it.

I'd probably grab the ever-so-boring Hyper 212 Evo

 

[R0H1T]

I think, Noctua is the best, in terms of cooling / silence /
My motherboard is Gigabyte GA EX58 UD5.
But, if i go for this, even is an older one, do i have to control manually the rpm ? I thought, the rpm is automatically, controlled by the cpu / mobo sensor, etc
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608014
PS : sorry about my poor english

The particular motherboard maybe compatible with the NH-U12S according to this chart ~

www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_cooler_socket&lng=en

In terms of dimensions both the U12P & U12S are identical & priced close to each other as well, the difference is in the bundled fans where the U12S wins marginally thanks to its NF-F12 PWM fans ~

www.noctua.at/main.php?show=which_fan_is_right_for_me&lng=en

 

[R0H1T]

My point was more to do with the fact that $70 is a large enough investment that you should maybe be thinking of upgrading your whole socket already. For $70 you can almost get a decent LGA1150 motherboard, and for the second hand sell price of your current CPU and motherboard, you could get a Xeon E3-1230 V3 which handily outperforms whatever overclock you may achieve on your old CPU - at half the power consumption or less. So all in all the aftermarket cooling only makes sense if you don't pay that much for it.

I'd probably grab the ever-so-boring Hyper 212 Evo

Yeah well that's up to the OP & unless he needs the additional horsepower I'd say that i7 920 is still golden for now. Like for instance I've decided to skip a platform upgrade atm & invest in a heavy duty cooler myself & overclock the current CPU a further ~10% cause I'm waiting to hop onto the DDR4 bandwagon & see what gains that brings us.

 

[lehtv]

unless he needs the additional horsepower

Why is he overclocking if he doesn't need additional horsepower? It seems to me that's precisely the reason he's overclocking, and also precisely the reason why upgrading is better than buying an expensive cooler.

 

[Nec_V20]

I want to overclock my cpu soon ( Intel I7 920 ) and im not decided which cpu cooler i should buy.
Between those 2, which one would you recommend ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608016

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608014
Is the 120 mm one, better for the airflow / silence ?
Would the 120 mm help ( cooling ) other pc components, too ?
My case is Cooler Master HAF 922, i have 4 case vents : 1 x 200 mm front / 1 x 200 mm above / 1 x 120 mm rear / 1 x 120 mm on the bottom.
Thank you

The one thing that you have to realise is that when the 92 mm fans spin up they will not only be louder than the 120 mm fans but they will also have an annoying pitch.

I have long term experience of the 80 mm, 92 mm, 120 mm and 140 mm Noctua fans (a Noctua Fan-Boy even ).

 

[R0H1T]

Why is he overclocking if he doesn't need additional horsepower? It seems to me that's precisely the reason he's overclocking, and also precisely the reason why upgrading is better than buying an expensive cooler.

Maybe he's just waiting for Haswell-E or he can't afford a full system upgrade right now, I can't answer that for you but 70<270 seems like a choice I would make if the necessary upgrades were out of my reach & I would always go for the latest gen of products which are expensive at launch.

 

[Nec_V20]

Why is he overclocking if he doesn't need additional horsepower? It seems to me that's precisely the reason he's overclocking, and also precisely the reason why upgrading is better than buying an expensive cooler.

One thing which Noctua is really good about is if a new socket type is released then they will upgrade the mounts for their existing coolers and make them available free of charge for existing customers. Case in point would be the socket 2011 motherboards.

So investing in a Noctua cooler is not a dead end as opposed to many "cheaper" coolers out there.

 

[sioux]

Now i feel more confused.
Should i upgrade my motherboard / cpu ? I think, I7 920 is still a good cpu.
Should i buy a cheaper cooler for overclock ? It would be much louder. For sure.
The reason for OC is : my graphic card is GTX 660 Gigabyte Windforce OC. I want to upgrade it, and the next one it should be AMD R9 280X
And i think, if i leave the stock, my CPU, with AMD R9 280X it won't be a good idea.
At least, i've been adviced to do so.
So, the main reason for OC is the next graphic card - gaming

 

[R0H1T]

Now i feel more confused.
Should i upgrade my motherboard / cpu ? I think, I7 920 is still a good cpu.
Should i buy a cheaper cooler for overclock ? It would be much louder. For sure.
The reason for OC is : my graphic card is GTX 660 Gigabyte Windforce OC. I want to upgrade it, and the next one it should be AMD R9 280X
And i think, if i leave the stock, my CPU, with AMD R9 280X it won't be a good idea.
At least, i've been adviced to do so.
So, the main reason for OC is the next graphic card - gaming

Just get a noctua NH u12s(or u14s) overclock your CPU & get the R9 290 on black friday/christmas & you're good to go. I don't see how spending half a grand on CPU+mobo upgrade is gonna give you more FPS than a decent GPU upgrade will cause the 920 is still a damn good CPU especially when overclocked.

 

[sioux]

I don't think i go for R9 290. That's too much for me
You do not recommend R9 280X ? And btw, i wonder why you didn't recommend a cpu cooler with 2 vents. If i go with NHu12s, could i add a sceond vent ?
Thank you.

 

[R0H1T]

I don't think i go for R9 290. That's too much for me
You do not recommend R9 280X ?

The reason for suggesting a 290 is that its a forward looking investment(as in terms of performance & potential gains from mantle) because it should come within striking distance of a 290x, when overclocked, if not beating a stock 290x as & when its launched & I expect black friday/christmas deals to be lucrative especially with the 780Ti to be launched soon & an imminent drop in price of the regular 780 from Nvidia.

And btw, i wonder why you didn't recommend a cpu cooler with 2 vents. If i go with NHu12s, could i add a sceond vent ?
Thank you.

As for going with a second fan is concerned I'd like to know what your room temps are & especially in summer cause during the winter season, like starting now, you wouldn't really need a secondary fan unless your 920 is majorly overheating.

 

[lehtv]

One thing which Noctua is really good about is if a new socket type is released then they will upgrade the mounts for their existing coolers and make them available free of charge for existing customers. Case in point would be the socket 2011 motherboards.

So investing in a Noctua cooler is not a dead end as opposed to many "cheaper" coolers out there.

Some other manufacturers also offer installation brackets for a new socket. You will have to pay but it still ends up being cheaper.

My point wasn't though that the Noctua would only benefit this particular system... it was that there would be more benefit in upgrading the socket instead of upgrading the cooling.

Now i feel more confused.
Should i upgrade my motherboard / cpu ? I think, I7 920 is still a good cpu.

My experience was the opposite. When I upgraded my graphics from 560 Ti to 7950, I also had to upgrade my i7-920 to an Ivy Bridge because it just couldn't hold its own in CPU intensive games nor in CPU limited games. In both Battlefield 3 multiplayer (a heavily threaded CPU intensive game) and Alan Wake (a dual thread game), minimum framerates went from 40fps to 60fps as I upgraded to a 3770K.

Should i buy a cheaper cooler for overclock ? It would be much louder. For sure.

Not really, I think Noctua's quietness is overrated a bit. And you can always upgrade the fan on a cheaper heatsink.

The reason for OC is : my graphic card is GTX 660 Gigabyte Windforce OC. I want to upgrade it, and the next one it should be AMD R9 280X
And i think, if i leave the stock, my CPU, with AMD R9 280X it won't be a good idea.
At least, i've been adviced to do so.
So, the main reason for OC is the next graphic card - gaming

Unfortunately, no amount of overclocking of the i7-920 will guarantee that the 280X won't be limited by it. There will be situations where it's handling it fine, but there will be equally many situations where it won't. Think about it... you're trying to combine a mid-high end current generation card with a five year old mid-high end CPU.

Another angle to why you should upgrade: the longer you hold on to the i7-920, the more it loses its value. Sell it away while it's still a good CPU.

 

[sioux]

Ok guys.Thanks for helping me.
But if i'd decide to upgrade the cpu / motherboard, what would you recommend ?
I5 or I7 ? I mean, 90 % for gaming. I do not use professional video / music / photo / editing.
Let's say, i use the R9 280X, with my cpu - I7 920. Same graphic card, with a better cpu, like I7 3770k / i5 3570k / etc
Would the fps's increase with those better cpu's, and same graphic card ??

 

[R0H1T]

Ok guys.Thanks for helping me.
But if i'd decide to upgrade the cpu / motherboard, what would you recommend ?
I5 or I7 ? I mean, 90 % for gaming. I do not use professional video / music / photo / editing.
Let's say, i use the R9 280X, with my cpu - I7 920. Same graphic card, with a better cpu, like I7 3770k / i5 3570k / etc
Would the fps's increase with those better cpu's, and same graphic card ??

The main reason why I did suggest holding back on CPU+mobo upgrade was because next year we'd have DDR4 based Haswell-E & perhaps a die shrunk Broadwell for desktop both of which I assume would be much better than the current IVB/Haswell chips. Anyways if you're going for a full upgrade then getting a Haswell i5 4670K would be a better choice than opting for any IVB chip & one of these boards would be good enough for your daily use ~

www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600438202%20600315497%20600438203&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-135-352^13-135-352-TS%2C13-131-983^13-131-983-TS%2C13-128-599^13-128-599-TS%2C13-130-694^13-130-694-TS%2C13-157-373^13-157-373-TS&percm=13-135-352%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B13-131-983%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B13-128-599%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B13-130-694%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B13-157-373%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

But if you're also interested in upgrading the GPU the wait a bit longer cause the 290 will be out soon & we'll see perhaps a couple of rounds of price cuts by Christmas ~

http://www.techpowerup.com/193360/radeon-r9-290-probable-pricing-surfaces.html

If you upgrade to Haswell you'll see 5~10 fps increase in terms of min frame rates & your avg frame rate could possibly go up by 15~20 fps depending on the game & level of CPU overclocking.

 

[lehtv]

I don't really see how Haswell-E will benefit gaming. Per core per clock it should perform the same as Haswell, just like we saw with IB-E and SB-E. Memory speed has also not been relevant for gaming performance.

I'm not sure what sort of improvements Broadwell will bring, but I doubt, given recent trends, that it will be any more than 10% faster than Haswell.

@sioux

I would recommend a 4670K, a decent Z87 board that can OC it, 2x4GB of DDR3-1600, and a midrange aftermarket cooler. Of course, you can just use stock cooling and leave the OC for later as well.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

i7 920 will go to around 3.4 with the stock cooler. 3.5-3.8 should be fairly easy to obtain with a Hyper 212 cooler. They go for around $30.- and could be used on a future build. An OC'd i7 should still be able to game well plus they are fun and rewarding to overclock.

If it was my money I wouldn't buy a new system yet. I think you are on the right path by overclocking and putting your money into a new graphics card. A 7970 with some free games for the same price is more tempting to me than the 280x.