Last call for advice before mounting a 4770k

[Caveman]

Building a new rig and I'm just looking for some final thoughts before committing to mounting the CPU on the MoBo.

My goal is best bang for the least amount of labor and risk of trashing my CPU.

HS/Fan is Noctua NH-D14

1) I've ruled out delidding for now - I'm assuming all are in agreement with that.

2) I am not planning on lapping the HS unless someone thinks that is a mistake. I'm assuming the NH-D14 already gets me 98% there and that further playing around only increases the risk of damage and is a "waste of time"...

3) I'm using Prolimatech PK-3. I've only used arctic silver previously. Any word of advice using this thermal paste?

Please comment if you think this is headed in the right direction or if I need to alter the game plan based on ignorance. Thanks for your help.

 

[Burpo]

All looks/sounds good.. Headed in the right direction

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I can give all sorts of advice on this, but with air-cooling it is "extra grains of rice."

I also have a D14 cooler, and was stunned last month to find out that there was a better cooler released months after I bought it. The D14 is "up there" with the good ones; I just found a cooler that beats it by 6C in temperature reduction.

On the TIM, I always choose diamond paste because it's worth a couple C degrees. Some folks are now saying that diamond paste could invalidate your warranty, since it could have an abrasive effect on the nickel-plate and the legibility of the processor ID info. I tend to lap my processors if I'm also going to overclock them -- because it's worth a couple more C degrees. If you're going to lap, no need to worry about using IC Diamond, since you're going to obliterate the nickel-plate anyway.

YOu can do better than diamond, though, if you're willing to accept any of the drawbacks for the liquid-metal formulations.

If you don't intend to overclock the Haswell, you could just slap it all together with Noctua NH1 TIM, no lapping, etc. and it will be just fine with that cooler. And neither the cooler, the TIM or avoidance of lapping is going to make it impossible to get higher clocks on the 4770K. It's just going to be a toastier status-quo of temperatures. A little toastier, anyway.

 

[Caveman]

What is the new cooler better than the D14 and what is the data to support?