Best cooler for i5 2500K?

nesf · 23-11-2011 07:11PM #1

I see the Scythe Mungen recommended a lot but I've read that it can be a bitch to install. I don't really fancy that as I'm fairly lazy*. What other good options are there out there?

*Memories of Zalman coolers from 7+ years ago being annoying are haunting me. I've looked at the H series coolers from Corsair but I think they might be overkill really.

MakeNine · 23-11-2011 07:16PM

I have the Noctua NH-U12P SE2. It's quite expensive (53e on HWVS) but I've tried BF3, Shogun 2 and Skyrim all on ULTRA and the max temperature for my i5-2500k so far is 43 C. I haven't overclocked it yet though. It's also very quiet too.

akazzz · 23-11-2011 07:51PM

Go check out HR-02 Macho.

I changed my decision from the scythe mugen rev.b to this cooler.

Serephucus · 23-11-2011 10:27PM

Me being the guy that recommends watercooling... Hydro series!

If you're going to be overclocking, they're not really. They'll also do a given OC quieter than an air cooler, and with slightly better temps too

asif2011 · 24-11-2011 12:33AM

Serephucus wrote: »

Me being the guy that recommends watercooling... Hydro series!

Have to agree, for the craic I downloaded Speccy and Core Temp both are telling me my Athlon II X4 640 is running @ 15C and using Prime95 for 30mins it's 33C. I'll be updating it to Phenom II X6 1100T in the next week or so, so it might go up a bit then. I'm using the Corsair H50 which is the older one, well worth it, not totally quite but very good I must say...

nesf · 24-11-2011 09:26AM

Serephucus wrote: »

Me being the guy that recommends watercooling... Hydro series!

If you're going to be overclocking, they're not really. They'll also do a given OC quieter than an air cooler, and with slightly better temps too

Yeah, I can see myself wanting that kind of cooling (or watercooling proper for that matter) in a few years when I want to eek out another year or two out of components but am balancing that against the hassle of doing something as simple as just upgrading a GFX card with a watercooled system and getting put off.

Serephucus · 24-11-2011 11:25AM

Corsair's coolers aren't difficult to install... if anything they're easier than an air cooler because you're not trying to screw a big, heavy something onto the CPU socket, just the pump/block combo unit.

nesf · 24-11-2011 11:52AM

Serephucus wrote: »

Corsair's coolers aren't difficult to install... if anything they're easier than an air cooler because you're not trying to screw a big, heavy something onto the CPU socket, just the pump/block combo unit.

I was thinking of proper watercooling with that comment.

Corsairs look fine to install alright from what I've seen from videos on Youtube etc. Some issues reported with noise though.

Serephucus · 24-11-2011 11:58AM

nesf wrote: »

I was thinking of proper watercooling with that comment.

Corsairs look fine to install alright from what I've seen from videos on Youtube etc. Some issues reported with noise though.

Don't know about the newer ones (H80, H100), but the H70 was quite loud. My H50 was very quiet though. If you can find the fin density for each, that'll give you an idea. The lower the better.

nesf · 24-11-2011 12:09PM

Serephucus wrote: »

Don't know about the newer ones (H80, H100), but the H70 was quite loud. My H50 was very quiet though. If you can find the fin density for each, that'll give you an idea. The lower the better.

Yeah the new ones have adjustable fan settings. With a nice quiet setting that's useless for anything other than mild overclocking, a middle setting I don't know much about and a Performance setting for heavy overclocking that works well but is loud under heavy load. This is from reviews etc. The Antec H2O coolers are meant to be slightly louder again.

Review I got the details from: http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=corsair%20h80%20review&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhexus.net%2Ftech%2Freviews%2Fcooling%2F31533-corsair-hydro-series-h80-hydro-series-h100%2F&ei=xCXOTuj6HcqKhQe_l9TPDQ&usg=AFQjCNGiAfprbySGQALpfPxoEQLUPzPfvw&sig2=BFbxIK1l9QetfEIrN65gjw

Serephucus · 24-11-2011 12:26PM

That's actually quite a nice review. From what I can tell - and this is purely on visual inspection alone - the H100 has about the same fin density as the H50, so it should be decently quiet.

Either way though, I'd replace the stock fans; Corsair ones usually are pretty bad as far as noise is concerned. A pair of NF-P12s or Gentle Typhoons, and you're sorted.

uncle_sam_ie · 24-11-2011 12:44PM

I was going to go with watercooling, but instead went with the Noctua NH-D14. It's a quality product, very easy to install and quiet. With the self contained watercooling units I questioned how long they'd last.

Also , you need a case the will fit the H100 rad.

dannyd20 · 24-11-2011 01:20PM

I got the BeQuiet DarkRock Pro for my i5 2500k.

The mounting bracket for the cooler was a little awkward to fit but once done it runs cool and quiet!

Here is a youtube review

Tea_Bag · 24-11-2011 02:41PM

friend has the H80. very, very easy to install, great at cooling when we tested the chip to 4.8ghz (2500K) but my god its loud. I've become somewhat of a silence freak in the last few months for no apparent reason, and now I seem to get really annoyed when my PC makes aany noise at all. I've disconnected my case fans because of it. the 600T is a giant sieve though so temps are still fine. I'm dying to get some water blocks and go completely quiet, but Im totally broke.

anyway, I'm well off topic, bottom line, if you want to get the H80 get some better fans. the stock fans push a seriously impressive amount of air (!) but you pay the price.

Zith · 25-11-2011 11:50AM

Have a H60 on my 2500K. Have never heard the fan. MB can control the speed.

vibe666 · 26-11-2011 12:51AM

i've got the H60 as well and the first thing i did was replace the fan. it's a standard 120mm fan unit, so it's a piece of cake to swap out with the fan (or two) of your choice.

Eamonn Brophy · 26-11-2011 03:56AM

The closed loop corsair water coolers are not as impressive as they seem, in general under stress tests, they perform worse than price equivalent air cooling solutions.

Reccommended coolers:

*Noctua NH - D15

*Thermaltake frio

*Cooler Master 212+

Zalman make some nice coolers too.

All of these are universally praised and recommended as being some of the best coolers, that list goes by order of price.

With the modern way Cpu's are at the moment (35 nm intel ones I'm referring to), you wont need liquid to overclock and they're gimmicky and flashy. Also note that your radiator and fan will in most cases remove the functionality of your rear exhaust fan (where corsair recommends mounting). This results in higher temperatures for your RAM, voltage regulators and GPU.

nesf · 27-11-2011 03:30AM

Right thanks guys, after thinking about it and reading a few reviews on sound output vs performance I'm going to go with the Noctua cooler and overclock this 2500K.

Thanks very much for the advice and opinions and for pointing me in the direction of a few coolers and a few brands I hadn't heard about before (the disadvantage of 5 year old knowledge in this area is missing out on a lot of the changes in the market and the players in the market, last time I was doing this the Zalman coolers were king or close to it).

Best cooler for i5 2500K?

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