Question Good reviews for cooling AMD 7000? (interested largely in 7700X)

[mikeymikec]

I've been slowly part-time planning my AMD 7000 platform upgrade for some time now. I'm familiar that with recent gen CPUs (which are binned at =>105W TDP) that it seems to be these days that pretty much no matter how big a cooler you through at it, the temps are still going to get very (IMO absurdly) high, and I was thinking that with a Ryzen 7700X I ought to be up'ing my game somewhat with cooling in the home of nicely offsetting the new status quo, particularly because one of the things I intend to do with it is Bluray ripping and encoding with Handbrake.

I've been trying to find good reviews of known coolers but regarding their performance for say the 7700X. I don't know if this reviewer is any good, but I found this:

I had been thinking of going with say a Noctua NH-D15S but if the difference between say the U12A and the D15 is as minimal as 6C then maybe I'm wasting my money?

I don't plan to overclock.

If anyone knows of other good reviews for AMD 7000 coolers please post some links.

 

[In2Photos]

I like Hardware Canucks. They do great reviews and Mike is an air cooler guy so he stays on top of all the air coolers. Did you also watch the other video he mentioned early in the video? It is pretty eye opening about the effects on performance of different coolers on AM5, from cheap air coolers to 360mm AIOs. Here's the link in case you missed it

I have 2 AM5 systems in my house, my daughter's 7600X and my 7700. My daughter uses a $40 air cooler while mine uses a 360mm AIO. At stock settings you will see temps near that 95C mark with air coolers. I recommend trying to undervolt the CPU. Here is a post from when I did my daughter's build. Only takes a few minutes to apply the undervolt, but it does take some testing to make sure things are stable.

Did some really quick tuning on my daughter's PC today with pretty good results. I used Cinebech R23 to have some measurable performance values. I need to see how these compare with some of the review numbers to make sure everything is in line. 7600X with an ID Cooling SE-226-XT, single 120mm fan with a custom fan curve to try to keep noise down, same with the case fans.

Stock
Single core, 1944
Multi-core, 14,834, 5.167GHz, 93.5C @1.285V, fans hit 1640 RPM

PBO+CO (-30 all core)
Single core, 1957
Multi-core, 15,389, 5.360GHz, 80C @1.190V, fans hit 1200 RPM

Testing with some games now and seems to be running fine. In Fortnite she was at 60% CPU usage, 53C with high settings, 1080p, 144fps

On my 7700 non-X I have both an undervolt and increased power settings (105W TDP/128W PPT) over stock (so it runs more like a 7700X). It will run over 5GHZ all core with these settings and max temps are in the low 70s on benchmarks with the 360mm AIO. I'm very happy with the performance of the DeepCool AIO on my system.

 

[Tech Junky]

I built a 7900x and use a peerless assassin 120 with dual fans and idle about 40. AMD is built though to run at max performance up to the temp and scale back as needed.

I don't know about ripping but, for converting I added an A380 which significantly dropped the HB processing time to 1/8th of the time CPU only conversions took. The CPU still ramps up to about 75% but the time is significantly less using qsv.

 

[Rigg]

Cooler testing is difficult. Especially the noise level part of it. I don't think the Hardware Canucks testing methodology is really up to snuff but I also don't think it really matters that much. It's probably good enough for your purposes. Gamers Nexus seems to have better testing methodology under development (including a huge investment in lab equipment) but seem to be taking their time on doing more cooler reviews.

The Thermalright coolers work very well and they are super affordable. I've bought several of them for builds and had good results. The fans are meh and of questionable quality though. It might be cool to grab a silver peerless assassin and pop some Noctua NF-P12 redux fans on it. Probably want some Anti-Vibration Pads as well. That should perform really well but starts to get a bit expensive. My Fuma 2 with Noctua's does really well. I found a crazy deal on a bunch of unused Noctua Chromax fans and an NR-200 on my local craigslist so the fan cost wasn't really a factor for me.

The vanilla Zen 4 X CPU's are operating well out of their efficiency range. X3D and non X are much better in this regard. Personally I wouldn't stress over the cooler too much. A mild undervolt and an 80C limit will still get you great performance (while using less power) with almost any dual 120 tower. The X CPU's really don't perform much better than non X and X3D even in heavily multi threaded loads. Especially considering how much more power they use. IMO it's better to tune the CPU to a reasonable cooling solution than overspend on a cooler for a CPU that's stock power and thermal limits are too high. YMMV.

 

[aigomorla]

I like Gamers Nexus.
Steve has a good methodology for testing, and also has great equiptment in testing.

 

[mikeymikec]

I like Gamers Nexus.
Steve has a good methodology for testing, and also has great equiptment in testing.

I haven't seen any AMD 7000 cooling reviews from them, have you?

 

[Brainonska511]

I haven't seen any specific cooling reviews, but with the TDP of the 7000 series being so low overall, there isn't a need to stick with an AIO and there are plenty of air coolers to choose from. You probably couldn't go wrong using existing cooler benchmarks on other platforms as a starting point.

For example, people are doing just fine with the 7800x3D on air cooling using a $35 dual tower cooler (Peerless Assassin).

 

[igor_kavinski]

WTFtech did a review: https://wccftech.com/review/bequiets-shadow-rock-3-reviewed-quiet-cooling-excellence/

 

[nOOky]

I almost went with the Peerless Assassin SE RGB but decided on an AIO however that was purely for aesthetic reasons. I have a Noctua on my older rig and I don't see paying the extra money over the Thermalright. AMD doesn't really need anything over a decent air cooler imho so I think you'd be good with that.

 

[Tech Junky]

The CPU still ramps up to about 75% but the time is significantly less using qsv.

After fighting with it some more I have qsv working properly and dropped the CPU when converting down to ~10%. With Linux instructions being outdated already it complicates the packages and which versions to install to make it work but, dropping the CPU use by 65% drops the heat and electric use.

 

[AMDJunkie]

I have the best sort of advice: anecdotal. Got a 7800X3D last week and paired it with a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE, and frankly my only regrets are:

1. I get why people get AIOs now, after trying to install the Peerless Assassin first on the motherboard and THEN put the motherboard in the case. Reaching the CPU power plugs in the top corner is made harder by having a big metal block in the way; a small pump and hoses would make it much easier to reach those spots. But I did not need that additional cost, or risk of leaking, and I would have to go to 240 size or larger to match the performance of my $35 heatsink so I'll pinch my fingers.

2. To this day people recommend the Peerless Assassin when there is technically the sequel to it in the form of the Phantom Spirit 120, also from Thermalright. But I got it in white to match my case and I am not returning and reinstalling a new heatsink for $10 extra bucks for a few degrees less, so c'est la vie.

While I get that undervolting satisfies the need to tinker and maximize performance, I find that other than issues getting the system to boot with my approved kit's advertised RAM timings (resolved by simply increasing DRAM voltage from 1.40 to 1.41), it was actually plug-and-play painless to get it running benchmarks happily and stably. Perhaps as Rigg above pointed out, the temperature and voltage curves on the "X3D" model, due to the stacked cache, are less aggressive than that of the "X" models, but outside of getting too small a cooler or a real dud of a model, it seems to run happily on cheap and cheerful air cooling at the 120mm fan level.

 

[Brainonska511]

I have the best sort of advice: anecdotal. Got a 7800X3D last week and paired it with a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE, and frankly my only regrets are:

1. I get why people get AIOs now, after trying to install the Peerless Assassin first on the motherboard and THEN put the motherboard in the case. Reaching the CPU power plugs in the top corner is made harder by having a big metal block in the way; a small pump and hoses would make it much easier to reach those spots. But I did not need that additional cost, or risk of leaking, and I would have to go to 240 size or larger to match the performance of my $35 heatsink so I'll pinch my fingers.

2. To this day people recommend the Peerless Assassin when there is technically the sequel to it in the form of the Phantom Spirit 120, also from Thermalright. But I got it in white to match my case and I am not returning and reinstalling a new heatsink for $10 extra bucks for a few degrees less, so c'est la vie.

While I get that undervolting satisfies the need to tinker and maximize performance, I find that other than issues getting the system to boot with my approved kit's advertised RAM timings (resolved by simply increasing DRAM voltage from 1.40 to 1.41), it was actually plug-and-play painless to get it running benchmarks happily and stably. Perhaps as Rigg above pointed out, the temperature and voltage curves on the "X3D" model, due to the stacked cache, are less aggressive than that of the "X" models, but outside of getting too small a cooler or a real dud of a model, it seems to run happily on cheap and cheerful air cooling at the 120mm fan level.

For #1, I feel like this may be extremely case and PSU dependent.

If you have a modular PSU, you can always plug those in, then put the board with mounted HSF in. (Or just mount the HSF once it's in the case). I don't think an AIO makes things that much simpler - it just has different issues and considerations.

 

[nOOky]

I always install the motherboard first, then the system memory, then the CPU and cooler, GPU is last. If there are nvme SSD's you may have to pop them in before those components of course. I find working around a big air cooler sucks. A couple months ago I had to reseat my huge Noctua, and I was reminded that the cooling fins can be sharp as I sliced a finger open,

 

[Brainonska511]

I always install the motherboard first, then the system memory, then the CPU and cooler, GPU is last. If there are nvme SSD's you may have to pop them in before those components of course. I find working around a big air cooler sucks. A couple months ago I had to reseat my huge Noctua, and I was reminded that the cooling fins can be sharp as I sliced a finger open,

The last two times I put together (or upgrade a system), I did as much as I could outside the case.

So for me, NVME and RAM were installed, then HSF mounted, then installed into case. Maybe I was helped a little by using a single tower HSF.

I do know in my wife's FD Core 500 mITX case, when I upgraded her 2600 to a 5600X, it was impossible to get a Pure Rock 2 HSF installed while the motherboard was installed. I had to take it out in order to put the HSF on, then put it all back in the case... Fun times in mITX land...

 

[Tech Junky]

regrets

Observations.

It's sufficient for everyday use. If you put a heater of a GPU next to it you might reconsider an aio. I know when I was running dual GPUs for mining the heat soak was horrible and fans had to be set at 75% to flush the hot air and keep things moderately cool.