Quiet cooler for a 4790K vs stock?

[Stern]

Hi,

I just bought a new rig (it's on the way - partially here) and am seeking opinions on whether it would be worth it to buy a cooler for my 4790K separately.

I currently have an Antec 900 case, but may replace that down the line (with a similar size, not smaller).

Ideally I would be looking for as quiet a cooler as possible, not planning on overclocking but hoping to still keep the thing very cool.

Questions: Is the stock cooler particularly loud (ie worth replacing?)
Would a quieter cooler generally leave the CPU warmer than the stock (ie a trade of noise for heat?).

Thanks all!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Hi,

I just bought a new rig (it's on the way - partially here) and am seeking opinions on whether it would be worth it to buy a cooler for my 4790K separately.

I currently have an Antec 900 case, but may replace that down the line (with a similar size, not smaller).

Ideally I would be looking for as quiet a cooler as possible, not planning on overclocking but hoping to still keep the thing very cool.

Questions: Is the stock cooler particularly loud (ie worth replacing?)
Would a quieter cooler generally leave the CPU warmer than the stock (ie a trade of noise for heat?).

Thanks all!

Easiest answers:

1) The stock cooler can be noisier, and it will depend on how you set any thermal fan control features in the BIOS while attempting to keep temperatures at the lowest while the processor is "fully loaded."

2) For the most part, per coolers that are popular or well-discussed in these forums, an aftermarket cooler can be -- well -- "cooler," and generate less noise.

If you plan to run the i7-4790K at its stock settings, your base clock will be 4.0 Ghz and "turbo" will get you 4.4 Ghz -- all using the stock cooler. So if you want to spend a few extra ducats on another cooler, you might invest ~ $30 in something like a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO.

There is "noise reduction," "fan reduction," and "less noise using less fans." So it is possible to remove the fan from the 212 cooler, build a foam-board duct to the case rear-exhaust fan, get the same performance from the cooler and (probably) reduce overall noise over what you get with the 212's stock fan -- which should also reduce noise considerably over the fan of the stock cooler.

If you plan to overclock the processor, you might have some limited luck with the 212 EVO, but folks who are keen on OC'ing as a serious pursuit would probably pick a bigger, more effective air-cooler, an AiO water-cooler, or even a custom parts selection for water-cooling.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Ideally I would be looking for as quiet a cooler as possible, not planning on overclocking but hoping to still keep the thing very cool.

The stock cooler will not win any awards for that.

Questions: Is the stock cooler particularly loud (ie worth replacing?)

Assuming you've set your motherboard to PWM control, at idle, it's fine. Under light to moderate load it's still mostly OK. Under moderate to heavy load, it can get quite loud. Gaming in modern titles is a heavy load.

Would a quieter cooler generally leave the CPU warmer than the stock (ie a trade of noise for heat?).

No. The stock CPU cooler is bundled with the CPU for free largely because it is cheap for intel to produce. It will prevent the CPU from overheating at stock clocks, but it makes no promises about noise, or about what temperatures it will maintain.

If you let us know your budget, and where you'd like to purchase your components from, we could make some recommendations for an aftermarket heatsink and fan. In the US, a good heatsink+fans will run you about $30 and on up, with pretty sharply diminishing returns for your $ over about $40-50.

 

[Stern]

I haven't really got a budget restraint on this build, so anything goes as long as it's uncomplicated and not loud.

I'm based in Ireland, and while Newegg does ship here, I've had no success with it so far. 3 orders in the past months were all rejected by their shipping company so I'm unlikely to go with them.

However, I can generally get anything I need, I just need to look further (like UK or Germany) for the order.

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[mistersprinkles]

You bought a 4790K with no intention to overclock? That's the whole point of any CPU ending in the letter K.

 

[Essence_of_War]

You bought a 4790K with no intention to overclock? That's the whole point of any CPU ending in the letter K.

There is actually a case to be made for the 4790k if you have the budget, even if you don't want to OC it.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75048,75123,80811,80807

Out of the box it clocks much higher (4GHz vs. 3.5 GHz) and it maintains that lead in its max turbos as well.

I'm based in Ireland, and while Newegg does ship here, I've had no success with it so far. 3 orders in the past months were all rejected by their shipping company so I'm unlikely to go with them.

Do you know what the clearances are on the CPU heatsink for your case? I had trouble finding them, and we could give you some recommendations for a good heatsink+fan at a couple of different price points if you knew that.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OP should be able to determine "clearance" easily: just use a metal ruler (with the computer UNPLUGGED) to measure from motherboard to edge of case-frame and subtract 1/4". Then find the manufacturer web-page for any particular cooler and locate the spec for "height." Nor should converting metric to inches or vice-versa be a puzzle for him.

But I made a quick examination of Antec 900 cases and computer project snaps people posted on the web. I see a couple with the Hyper 212 EVO and a few more with the massive Noctua NH-D14.

If OP wants to replace the stock HSF for his Haswell Refresh, there are plenty of options that exceed his requirements.

But mostly -- he shouldn't need to spend more than $30 or $40 USD.

 

[Essence_of_War]

OP, I took a look at the case dimensions, it looks like the Antec 900 is 8.1'' wide, given that it has no room for cable routing behind the MoBo tray, my guess is that you've got >170mm or so of clearance to work with.

That should basically let you get the heatisnk of your choice.

BonzaiDuck has already mentioned the CM Evo and NH-D14, I'd take a look at the Scythe Mugen 4, the Phanteks TC14, and maybe the Arctic Cooling ACZi30 as well. The ACZi30 for 32 quid or the Mugen 4 for 36, are both excellent HSFs, that offer great value as well.

The Phanteks TC14PE and Noctua NH-D15/NH-U14S are excellent also, but will run you about 20-30 more.

 

[Jumpem]

You bought a 4790K with no intention to overclock? That's the whole point of any CPU ending in the letter K.

Show me a non-K model that is clocked at 4.0 - 4.4 GHz.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Show me a non-K model that is clocked at 4.0 - 4.4 GHz.

INN-er-estin'!! I checked for the non-K 4790 processor: they're only clocked at 3.6 with a Turbo of 4.0. I coulda made a bet and lost on that one . . .

 

[Essence_of_War]

Yeah the i7-4790K is scary fast.

And it has the nice TIM, so it can be OC'd nicely from there...:awe:

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yeah the i7-4790K is scary fast.

And it has the nice TIM, so it can be OC'd nicely from there...:awe:

You can look at other threads -- that seems to be part of a dilemma for obsessive hot-dawgs like me. [And the OP is not likely to be interested in the tedious choices leading to tedious risk-taking.] The temperatures are reasonable enough to leave the processor alone. But delidding will still yield a considerable temperature decrease -- especially with the option of a direct-die application of the sink -- or waterblock.

Since the OP is rocking a 4790K yet not likely to overclock, those of us who can't help ourselves should meditate on our obsession and what it offers for the newer CPUs.

Personally, I'd think if you can run the 4790K at stock (and turbo) speeds, you won't get much extra in performance if you can push it to 4.7 Ghz -- or -- the costs of time and trouble are huge compared to the gain.

But we measure these things in "Ghz and Mhz." If an i7-4770K clocked to 4.4 Ghz slightly exceeds the performance of my SB-K @ 4.7, then absolute speed by that measuring stick doesn't give the whole picture.

As someone else said -- and as the OP seems inclined -- it's also useful to simply reduce operating temperatures (if not temperature-inducing voltage) for longevity.

 

[Stern]

Thanks for all the help so far everyone. And Bonzaiduck is right, it's the highest clocked stock CPU you can get right now. And if I really have issues with it, I can still OC if I need (although I can't imagine what for at the moment).

Somebody above mentioned that the Antec 900 doesn't have cable management room. Is there a case that does? It's one of my gripes with the case right now that it's such a huge mess in there.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Thanks for all the help so far everyone. And Bonzaiduck is right, it's the highest clocked stock CPU you can get right now. And if I really have issues with it, I can still OC if I need (although I can't imagine what for at the moment).

Somebody above mentioned that the Antec 900 doesn't have cable management room. Is there a case that does? It's one of my gripes with the case right now that it's such a huge mess in there.

I'm glad you asked, there are a ton of great case options that include motherboard tray cable management. Corsair's Obsidian 450D, and Fractal Design's Define R4 are both great options for roomy mid-tower cases that include good cable management options. If I were buying a case today, I'd probably get the Phanteks Enthoo Pro. Phanteks really knocked it out of the park with this one. Build quality is high, price is competitive, great cable managment options, solid stock cooling options, very roomy.

 

[Cerb]

Questions: Is the stock cooler particularly loud (ie worth replacing?)

Yes. As they've gotten better with power use, they've made the coolers wimpier (cheaper, less aluminum).

Would a quieter cooler generally leave the CPU warmer than the stock (ie a trade of noise for heat?).

That's your call. Get a board with good fan control, and choose for yourself. Generally, ASRock and Asus have the best (in part just that they have good control features on almost all of their boards, while GB and MSI are kind of spotty).

Thermalright's HR-02 "Macho" and Noctua's NH-D14 are among the best options for the CPU cooling side of things. Both run well with slow fans, the Thermalright runs well with none (just using case air flow), and the Noctua can run with none. The wide fin spacing is what makes them particularly good coolers for low noise. Silverstone has a similar cooler (I forget the model), but it's even bigger than those two, and looks like a PITA to install. While I would not get it over the Thermalright or Noctua, if readily available, Scythe's Ninja 3 rev. B is a solid cooler, as well (installation is kind of annoying, in comparison).

The Macho 120 is good, too, as is the NH-D12.

As to cases, the Define R4 is going to be the easiest to make quiet. If you don't game, it will be laughably easy, since you'll have a 100W PC. OTOH, if you don't game, many cases could just have their intake fans replaced, and be fine. Then choose a PSU known for not being loud (or go semi-passive), and you'll have to watch the lights to make sure it's on . If no power-hungry video card is involved, here, your choice of cases is quite large.

 

[Z15CAM]

Corsair H110

 

[Cerb]

Corsair H110

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/H110/6.html
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5245/corsair-hydro-series-h110-aio-cpu-cooler-review/index8.html

Or, not. It may cool better for OCing, but quiet air coolers are going to be quieter, and will be even quieter than measured there tucked inside a nice case. The tight fin spacing and general fan blockage of the radiator, increase noise on their own, on top of needing more powerful fans to do similar work.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/H110/6.html
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5245/corsair-hydro-series-h110-aio-cpu-cooler-review/index8.html

Or, not. It may cool better for OCing, but quiet air coolers are going to be quieter, and will be even quieter than measured there tucked inside a nice case. The tight fin spacing and general fan blockage of the radiator, increase noise on their own, on top of needing more powerful fans to do similar work.

This is no different than the remaining muffled noise I experience with my "Acoustic mod" using a Gentle Typhoon AP-30 exhaust, ducted to the rear of my NH-D14. My duct is not only acoustically padded inside and out: it features an acoustic "cone" that sits in front of the intake fan hub.

But no matter -- some very low-level motor noise is escaping front and rear -- the rear also having a "bozo's nose" acoustic muffle on the case exterior covering the exhaust side fan hub. In the front would have this noise bouncing around between the NH-D14 fins. I believe there is some Doppler effect of noise transmission through air traveling in one direction.

With the mod, I'm finished with it, although I can see how some improvements could be added: in even a "wide" midtower, the more space you occupy with acoustic pads, the more intake fans would pressurize the air, which can only escape through the heatpipe-cooler fins and rear exhaust.

It's not so easy to muffle the sound from a radiator of wider area, and you can't easily block off any part of the radiator fins if you have a chance to prevent it. So one might limit the performance choices of fans, seeking to keep the RPMs down; muffle the fans at their mount-points, or whatever chance one has to keep vibration from being transmitted to the case panel and frame.

 

[Cerb]

Running lower-power stock parts, and accepting some audible noise at my chair under heavy load, I won't go that far, but I am going to try filling in some unneeded gaps, and figure I may as well put MLV and foam in them, if I'm going to do it (what makes it a chore is that to make that worthwhile, I'll need to take the case apart to get to both sides of the front bezel). My PC is acceptable, ATM, but I think I could do better, since the fans are having to spin up to 7-800 RPMs, sometimes.

I did baffling in the past, and found that soft-mounted fans inside the baffled space worked fairly well, but still needed higher RPMs, making for trading more lower-freq noise for less higher-freq noise (that didn't exist when they just ran slower). Basically, what you get from a Define R4, out of the box, trying to cool a nice gaming rig, but that the R4 has enough dampening material (and plain old mass) in it to handle most of it well, to a point. Radial fans could hold a lot of promise, there, but most are industrial types running at high RPMs and costing a mint (they can make Noctua and Noiseblocker look cheap).

Ducting, so the fins weren't right against a heatsink, though, helped and still does help, quite a bit, if the RPMs have to go up (threshold varying by fan), since any noise specifically from the blades passing by the fins whilst 'chopping' air won't get made.

A shame we can't cheat physics. Any pics of your modding, anywhere, by some chance?

 

[exar333]

NH-D14 would fit the bill. Run on silent mode, especially if you don't plan to OC.

 

[artvscommerce]

Noctua is great but pretty expensive. I think the most cost effective options are:

Silverstone AR01
Xigmatek GAIA
Coolermaster Hyper 212

With decent airflow in the chassis, any one of these coolers should provide pretty good overclocking results and be fairly silent with the CPU @ stock clocks.

 

[Cerb]

Noctua is great but pretty expensive.

That's one of the reasons I like the Thermalrights (that my case's manual uses one to show clearances helped in my personal decision ). Noctua has gotten cheaper than they used to be, but are still north of $60 for their good coolers.

The Gaia is definitely a solid cooler on the cheap, too. The fan has a much nicer character than anything from Cooler Master, IMO, even though it doesn't go down to really low speeds by default. But, it also won't cool quite as well, and is a decidedly poor value for OCing (not needed by the OP, but that's why you don't see it talked about much).