Best/quietest aircooling option for 120w TDP Haswell-EP Xeon

[KuniD]

So I now have the following parts arriving soon;

Intel Xeon E5 2678 V3 (120w TDP, 12 cores, 2.5GHz)
Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard
8 x 8Gb DDR4 2133 ECC Registered
Asus GTX970 4Gb graphics card
8 x Western Digital Red 6Tb (WD60EFRX)
Samsung 950 Pro 512Gb
Superflower Leadex 750w Platinum
I appreciate with a Xeon and this many drives the machine is not going to be silent! This is more about minimising the level of noise it produces and of course ensuring it is adequately cooled. The chassis/cooling right now is as follows:

Fractal Design Define R5
3 x Phantek PH-F140XP (arrangement TBC, will buy additional fans if needed)


My question is what is my best option for the CPU cooling.

Puget Systems, who build machines very similar to the above (R5/X99/Xeon) are using the Noctua NH-U12DX i4. (apparently designed for Xeon according to Noctua...)

I was thinking the Scythe Ninja 4 with another Phantek fan, although I'm concerned about the weight of the heatsink.

Then there's the Scythe Kotetsu, which looks a similar sice to the Noctua, but is it 'too small' for a 120w chip?

Appreciate your thoughts!

[Abula]

There are diminishing returns into area of dissipation on heatsinks, not always bigger is better, for example from the THermalright HR02 to the HR22 the gains are 1 or 2C at the most, where it wins by bigger margin is fanless, but for that there are much better options like the Nofan95C, its still think the designs are top notch, the problem is that CPU area isnt bigger, more pipes and bigger area to transfer from the CPU would make bigger heatsinks more capable to show what they can really do.

That said, with the R5 you can fit almost any tower in the market, from when i built on an R4 i believe you easily fit close to 180mm tower, so your options are everything, i would worry more about the width of the cooler and first PCIe slot than height.

Coolers to consider,

Sycthe Kotetsu
Among the favorites of SPCR builders atm, its cheap and performs well, that said i seen some comments lately about the fan ticking at low rpms. This CPU cooler started the $40-50 trend of affordable good performing CPUs that others have follow.

Scythe Ninja 4
Reviewed by SPCR recently and seems slightly better than the kotetsu, i believe uses the same fan so keep that in mind. This is what i would chose if i were to go with Scythe. The only issue i have is that if the fan does tick, i dont have any 120 PWM fans that i like atm, maybe the new Fractals HP12 but i really dont have yet a goto 120mm pwm fan.

Thermalright Macho Rev B
The HR02 has been on the market for years, was launched as a replacement of the HR01 and kinda intended for fanless operation, which in most cases is not capable, but the design of the wide spread fins allows to work really well with low rpm fan, and one of my grudges to thermalright was that TY140 dindt drop that low, but the new version comes with the TY143A that can drop close to 300rpms, i havent heard any ticking, to me its a very good combination.

Thermalright True Spirit 140
Although this is a cooler that i never tested, seems a lot like Archon successor, but with the TY143A fan instead of the TY150, this is a less spaced fins so it should work better with a high static pressure fan under high rpms, but at the same time from what i posted on top, i believe this spacing is ideal for the space we can transfer heat from the CPUs, that said, this cooler biggest drawback is its height, but with the R5 im almost sure it will fit, also the width might be an issue, i haven't built on X99 to know the standard cpu placement, from what i can see on the X99 the first pcie slot, like with most lga2011, is not used because of the ram and heatsinks, so this leads me to think there shouldn't be any issues with the GPU, but up to you to check.

Thermalirght Silver Arrow IBE and Noctua NH-D15S
This are asymetrical coolers that sustain the 70mm width between the center of the CPU and PCIe slots, in a standard motherboard they will not touch the first PCIe slot because of this asymetrical design. Im currently using a SilverArrow and couple of HR02, and the difference again is small, but this in theory should handle higher tdps cpus, were they fail is in pricing, while the Macho and Kotetsu are coolers around $50 this goe more toward $100, weather the small upgrade on temps is worth is only up to you to decide. Saldy if i were to go into either, i would change the fans making it more expensive, either Thermalright TY147A or Noctua NF-P14R PWM Redux

[KuniD]

Hi Abula, thank you for the detailed response.

As you touched upon, my main concern with the larger cooler is clearance issues (RAM, PCI-E accessibility) and the weight.

I'm definitely leaning towards a Scythe, so it comes down to the Kotetsu and Ninja 4.

Cost and availability for these two isn't a big problem; the Kotetsu is £31 and Ninja 4 is £38 in the UK.

I'm really torn on which to go for. Besides the great performance the Kotetsu appeals to me because of its smaller footprint. On the other hand, if the Ninja 4 provides slightly better performance I may want to bank that as I'll be using as 120w TDP Xeon, which I may one day upgrade to 145w chip if I can ever get my hands on a cheap 18 core chip.

Fan wise I'll probably need to experiment a bit..

[Abula]

I'm definitely leaning towards a Scythe, so it comes down to the Kotetsu and Ninja 4.

I'm really torn on which to go for. Besides the great performance the Kotetsu appeals to me because of its smaller footprint. On the other hand, if the Ninja 4 provides slightly better performance I may want to bank that as I'll be using as 120w TDP Xeon, which I may one day upgrade to 145w chip if I can ever get my hands on a cheap 18 core chip.

You have valid points for each, and practically thats the main differences, i would chose the Ninja4 in your case, as most of us here are dealing with lower tdp cpus than what you will be using. But crosscheck memory clearance with it, i believe you should be fine if you go with standard height ram.

Fan wise I'll probably need to experiment a bit..

On Asus mobos, you do have options, specially one of the nice features on Asus bios is the Q-FAN setting, where you can switch the CPU_FAN header from AUTO (PWM) to ADVANCED (Voltage controlled), this alone practically open you any 120mm fan you can get your hand on. Not sure how you plan to control the fans? (bios, fanXpert or speedfan), or what OS will you run on your setup.

If i were to go into Ninja4, i would probably end up with Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP15 (1850rpm), it has a very wide range of operation from 325rpms to 1800rpms, and it has been one of the favorites among Overclokers and watercooling, but my preference is more toward 140mm coolers, so i havent tested a lot of fans on 120mm lately. Either way i leave you a FanXpert2 run on that GT AP15 on CHA_FAN (so its voltage controlled),



A last remark, is that Scythe GT are ball bearing fans, so the bearing noise is a little different from the typical sleeve bearing, to me its fine, but some like it, some don't, but SPCR did like the GT, but they tested AP12/14, Fan Roundup #6: Scythe, Noiseblocker, Antec, Nexus, Thermalright, in the same review worth checking is the Noiseblocker M12-S1/2, i woudl consdier more the S2 since you are going with higher tdp cpu.

[KuniD]

I ordered the Scythe Ninja 4 in the end with some Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste.

I have to admit there was a moment where I was tempted to get a NZXT Kraken X61, but as this is a 24/7 long term system I just don't trust AIO water systems.

I'm still concerned about the weight of the Ninja 4 and clearance with the GTX970 PCI-E card.

Should all arrive next week so I'll report back on how I get on.

[doyll]

I ordered the Scythe Ninja 4 in the end with some Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste.

I have to admit there was a moment where I was tempted to get a NZXT Kraken X61, but as this is a 24/7 long term system I just don't trust AIO water systems.

I'm still concerned about the weight of the Ninja 4 and clearance with the GTX970 PCI-E card.

Should all arrive next week so I'll report back on how I get on.

IMHO you did yourself a great favor not gong the X61 route. CLCs are just not the way forward. There are just to many great air coolers with proven track records that cost less, last longer, are quieter, and the only thing that can go wrong is the fan. If after 5 years the fan does fail, no fan or whatever is keeps system working until new fan arrives. With a CLC, if anything fails it will probably be the pump or a leak and either one means no usable system until cooler is replaced.

The Define R5 is a great case. 3x intakes is usually plenty. I usually use 2x front and 1x bottom with case raised on blocks or castor base to give bottom better flow. Back venting is usually plenty, just remove all unused PCIe slot covers. Some of use cut out the back and bottom vents. lower noise level and temps with improved airflow is significant. Stock grills block 30-50% of airlfow airea.

Setting up case airflow so case fan speeds are controlled by CPU and /or GPU fan needs lower temps and noise as well. You might find some of the topics in "Ways to Better Cooling" of interest. 1st post is index, click on topic to see it. Ask questions here.

[lodestar]

I'd be interested to know what CPU temps you get with this approach if you stress the CPU using Prime95 as SPCR did for the Quiet ATX Gamer, R5 Version and what fan speeds you are getting under this kind of load.

[doyll]

I'd be interested to know what CPU temps you get with this approach if you stress the CPU using Prime95 as SPCR did for the Quiet ATX Gamer, R5 Version and what fan speeds you are getting under this kind of load.

Who are you talking to and what are you talking about. If it is me, please explain in more detail.

[lodestar]

Yes, that comment was addressed to you. Just interested in knowing what speeds your intake fans are running at when the CPU and/or GPU is under load. The reason is I am just starting a Define R5 build and have not made any final decisions about fan choices or positioning yet.

[doyll]

Yes, that comment was addressed to you. Just interested in knowing what speeds your intake fans are running at when the CPU and/or GPU is under load. The reason is I am just starting a Define R5 build and have not made any final decisions about fan choices or positioning yet.

It varies depending on what fans, (different fans have different speed ranges and different PWM PCB chips have different % duty cycle to 12v pulse rates.

Sorry I can't be clearer. Generally case fans run at lower speed than CPU cooler fans, and GPU fans run faster than case fans.

But if CPU cooler fans are 500-1500rpm .. and case fans are 500-1200rpm both will idle about the same, and as load increases so will their rpm. On my own systems my CPU cooler fans are 300-1300rpm and case are similar so both run about the same. At full load all cores CPU is at about 65c with case and CPU fans at about 1100rpm.

GPU fans are 800-2500rpm with same case fan range. GPU at 800rpm is 500rpm case and at full load heavy gaming GPU fans are at about 1500rpm with case fans at abut 1000rpm.

I don't worry about fan speed as much as CPU and GPU cooler intake air temp. My goal is to keep cool intake air within 2-5c of room temp.

I think one of the most important parts of cooling is supplying components with air as close as possible t room temp. To do this we need to setup the case so components heated exhaust air flows out of case without mixing with cool intake air going to components. These are all explained the guides in "Ways to Better Cooling" I linked to in earlier post. There are guides to case airflow, setting up case fans to cycle with component heat, cooler performance and sizes, how to monitor component air temp, and much more. The reason for that list of topics is so I don't have to spend hours re-writing it like I am now. That is why I posted the link and said check it out, read the related topics, than ask educated questions.