Windows 7: Ready to try Overclocking, which cpu cooler?

If you read more about overclocking alot of people recommend the H100 overall

Like I was saying earlier the Antec i bought beats out the Corsair by a few degree's

It's really hard to Judge what will perform the best Ussually it will perform only as good as it was installed pretty much meaning people that had issues probally didnt install it correctly

Even with the easy set up Vids it isn't all that easy

I was one of the first to install and run my H100 and I have nothing but praise to heap. I went from stock to Zalman to an H50 to push/pull to the H100 with p/p noc's. Agree the Corsair fans must be speed controlled and what you can do is order 2 Noctua fans and use the provided speed reducers to quiet the Corsair as exhaust fans then phase II the other two Noc's at $19.00-$24.00 each it does add up! Noise from the pump.....none and I run the pump full blast all the time. Sealed water has come a long way but I too feared the idea but once I used the H50 all fear faded and only higher overclocks came! There of course are outstanding air solutions available.

I have a eVGA Superclocked on my 2700K, so I can share my thoughts about it.

The Pros:
-Cooling Performance is quite good. It may not be the best choice for extreme overclocks, but it does do very well.
-Its design also tend to cool the PWM area as well.
-Easy to install and very secure mounting. Bolt on type installation.
-It looks very nice with its matte black and Red lights.

The Cons:
Its Loud!!!! Its high speed fan really will scream.

The only saving grace here is if you can adjust the fan profile in the bios.
I have mine set to top out at 80% MAX speed, which reduces the noise a great deal while still keeping good thermal performance.

Granted, it normally will not reach those those speeds and stays fairly quite for the most part. Even gaming. But if you run a Benchmark, or anything thats heavily CPU intensive to heat up the CPU (such as Video Encoding that will max the all cores), it will ramp up and you WILL hear it easily above all else.



Honestly, I think I should have went with something like the 9900MAX Zalman for asethic looks, but a 212+ would probably be pretty close as well for 1/2 the price.
Im satisfied with it, as for the most part it doesn't need to ramp the fan up that high. But still, its certainly worth pointing out.
That loud, high speed fan is the only flaw with this cooler IMHO.

I personally believe it depends on what type of overclocking you intend to do. For a more moderate overclock there are several good coolers out there that will do the job. If you want to do serious high overclocks you better pick your cooler carefully. It also depends on what CPU you are overclocking. My experience is with the 2500K and the 2600K. It ultimately gets down to how many volts you put to the CPU. I have an H100 with 4 Noctua fans in push / pull. I run all 4 fans at 100% all the time and they are dead silent. I have had no issues that you speak of such as pump noise and water leaks. my pump runs at 22-2300 RPMs all the time. But, for cooling it just does not do the job for me. When I run Intel burn test at around 1.38V temps get to 80C, which I don't believe they should. I also have a Noctua NH-D14. Before I damaged a few parts of it ( I'm a dummy) I have run over 1.4V and never seen 80C. When my new parts arrive I am sure that at some point, the Noc will go back on. However, I am only talking about benchmark tests. On normal use, even gaming the H 100 does well. At the same voltage I mentioned above, I can game for hours with a max temp of 55. So to me, it all depends on what you want to do. If you are going to do just moderate overclocks the 212+. Evo a zalman or the H100 and several others would do well for you. IMHO, if you are like me and like to 'play in bios' and push the limits on air, you should look for something like th NH-D14 or the Silver Arrow or maybe the phantaks. If none of those 3 will keep it cool, you will have to go full water. that has been my experience anyway. Another consideration is your ambient temps. I live in Florida where it gets quite warm. If you are in a much cooler climate, your experience will be much different than mine. I have a friend who has basically the same rig as me, but lives in the UK. His Thermaltake Frio does outstanding for him. But, he was running his in a much cooler climate than me. just my opinion.

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/AM3+

I greatly appreciate the input from everyone.

I've taken into consideration the info posted here and read reviews (professional and consumer) until I was cross-eyed.

On the Corsair forum it was stated that the return or failure rate was less than 2% but I just didn't want to chance it.

So, I've ordered an EVGA Superclock cooler. I'm not going to try to push my E8500 to the absolute max, just want to get a good, stable OC. I'll post my results when I have them.

Lava King,
It sounds like you made a good informed decision. The look of the equipment in our rigs can be extremely important. I'm sure when I get my 800D with it's huge side window then I'll re-evaluate the lighting and look of several items as well. Take some shots when it's going in and tell us how you like it after it's broken in.

@LavaKing

When you install the eVGA SC cooler, make sure to pay attention to the backplate. Ive seen a few that shorted thier Mobos installing it.

The backplate has one side thats coated which should be against the MOBO, and it also has rubber grommets that go beween the HS and both sides of the MOBO.
It isn't that difficult, but i think a few may have just threw it together in a hurry without paying attention resulting in issues.

As I mentioned before, once you get it up and running, just set a fan profile to quite it down if you choose. It is a good cooler overall.


One other thing that may be worth mentioning.
You can put a slower RPM, quieter fan on it but it seems to choke its performance somewhat. Perhaps if you go this route you'll have better luck but it seems its design really depends on that high speed fan, largely when the CPU is at MAX load.

It does look quite nice and does a very good job though.