CPU cooler for powerful (gaming etc.) quiet PC

Cooling Processors quietly

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Alex11223
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Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:48 pm
Location: Europe

CPU cooler for powerful (gaming etc.) quiet PC

Post by Alex11223 » Mon Nov 18, 2013 12:09 am

I am trying to build a powerful and quiet PC.

Something like this:
Intel i5 4660k or i7 4770k
Asus Z87 Sabertooth
16 GB RAM (Crucial Ballistix 1600MHz CL9 probably)
Gainward GeForce GTX770 Phantom (as I understood, it is the most quiet of 770)
Corsair RM 550-650W
Fractal Define R4 or XL R2

And the only thing left to choose is the CPU cooler.
Which one of those should I take?
  • Noctua NH-U12P SE2
    Noctua NH-D14 (will it fit to my case, MB etc.?)
    Scythe Shuriken Rev.B
    Scythe Ninja 3 Rev.B
    Scythe Mugen 4 (there is also Scythe Mugen 4 PCGH Edition)
    Scythe Ashura
    ZALMAN CNPS9900 MAX
    ZALMAN CNPS12X (as I understood it is very big, will it fit to my case, MB etc.?)
Or here is the full price list http://www.skytech.lt/ausintuvai-proces ... 100&page=1 (sorry the website is not in English but I hope it is not a problem).

CA_Steve
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Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: CPU cooler for powerful (gaming etc.) quiet PC

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:51 am

Welcome to SPCR.

First things first: The Fractal R4 allows CPU coolers up to 170mm. So, there are plenty of options. Of the coolers listed, the new Mugen 4 is reasonably priced and provides decent cooling at low dB. The PCGH version ships with 2 lower rpm fans instead of one. Go for std or low profile RAM if you plan to fit them in the two slots under the cooler.

Second: What are your other applications? If gaming is the hardest task, then this build can be easily pared down in cost and not suffer at all. (i7->i5-4670K, 16GB->8GB, Sabertooth ->Z87-Pro or similar).

Third: What games do you play and at what resolution?

Alex11223
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:48 pm
Location: Europe

Re: CPU cooler for powerful (gaming etc.) quiet PC

Post by Alex11223 » Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:48 am

CA_Steve wrote:Welcome to SPCR.
Second: What are your other applications? If gaming is the hardest task, then this build can be easily pared down in cost and not suffer at all. (i7->i5-4670K, 16GB->8GB, Sabertooth ->Z87-Pro or similar).
Other tasks are programming, sometimes a lot of simultaneously opened windows of heavy software for development (like Visual Studio) and 2-4 virtual machines. So I definitely do not need to reduce RAM, I even planning on upgrading to 32 GB later (I have 16 GB on my current PC).

I am not sure about i5 vs i7, I think I will choose i7 since it is not 100% gaming PC, more like 10-25% (avg. 1-3 hrs per day not every day), so maybe it will give me some performance gain in some tasks (such as compilation). And price difference is not too big, actually I am not very worried about the price.
What games do you play and at what resolution?
1920x1200
For example, bf4.
Go for std or low profile RAM if you plan to fit them in the two slots under the cooler.
std or low profile? Will I be able to put 4x (32 GB) of BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00CEU Crucial Ballistix 8 GB 1600 MHz CL9? Or what memory model should I take?
Last edited by Alex11223 on Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

blankus
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Re: CPU cooler for powerful (gaming etc.) quiet PC

Post by blankus » Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:09 am

You did not mention storage device in your post and a SSD is silent as can be.

This autumn I built both passively and actively cooled computers for home use, and the below is for my gaming, erh, essential work at home. It is the most quiet actively cooled powerful PC I've built.

With all power saving modes enabled in BIOS, as well as disabling some ASUS tasks (from the Task Scheduler), it is idling at about 40W and about 260W when running Furmark and Prime95.

The PSU fan is not running at all, with it located at the bottom of the case along with the SSD.

I use the CPU cooler (Noctua NH-C14) with just one fan, and had I known better I could used the second one as a fan case and saved some money.

The ASUS's Fan Expert2 is nice as it can control non-PWM fans and with it the Noctua CPU fan runs about 300 when idling, and the Noiseblocker fan case is off until about 50 C. When I turn on the case fan on I can not hear it, but as the temperatures are low I want less air inflow to reduce dust issues.

Sadly, the ASUS BIOS options have way too high minimum fan speeds, and using the low voltage adaptors from Noctua can result in too low fan speed, or at least I think so.

If I knew what I knew today I would skip the K version of the CPU.


ASUS Z87-PRO
Intel I7-4770K
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
Kingston HyperX 16GB Kit 1600MHz
Noctua NH-C14 Dual Fan Top-down CPU Cooler
ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II
Noiseblocker M12-S2
Seasonic Platinum 660XP 660W

The case is my old Antec P180 first revision with some small mods like PCI shields having holes for ventilation and cutting away some plastic on the front ventilation filters (got the idea from a SPRC thread).

CA_Steve
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Re: CPU cooler for powerful (gaming etc.) quiet PC

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:31 am

Ok - your choices are clearer now :)

RAM clearance - it should. Here's SPCR's Mugen 4 review.

GPU: Techspot's benchmarked BF4 .

Alex11223
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:48 pm
Location: Europe

Re: CPU cooler for powerful (gaming etc.) quiet PC

Post by Alex11223 » Mon Nov 18, 2013 12:59 pm

blankus wrote:You did not mention storage device in your post and a SSD is silent as can be.
Yes, I know.:) It is SSD + WD Green HDD.
Noctua NH-C14
Unfortunately, availability of Noctua and Thermalright coolers is very limited in my country :( I heard a lot of recommendations about TR HR-02/22 but there is no TR at all. And from Noctua there are only NH-U12P SE2 and NH-D14. New NH-U12S/U14S are not available.

So for now I am choosing between those two and Scythe Mugen 4. Mugen 4 is much cheaper and as I understood there is no much difference, so maybe will go with that.

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