What is the best way to cool an overclocked CPU?

I would like to ask a question on what is the best way to cool an overclocked CPU. I am asking this because of these factors.

1. intel vs AMD
2. specific brands of CPU fans/heatsinks
3. What are the ideal number of case fans?

First, I would like to mention that my main an current CPU is an AMD Phenom II X4 955BE @ 3.6 Ghz (stock is 3.2Ghz). Do intel equivalents such as the i3 or i5 quad core CPU's produce less heat and are they better over clockers? Right now I would like to change form AMD but my budget at the moment is not so flexible.

Second, I would like to ask about fans and heatsinks. My current CPU cooler is a Zerotherm FZ120, with a full copper base. With this cooler and some Arctic Silver 5, it idles around 28-33 C and it maxes out to 45-52C. I have heard that these CPU fans by Coolermaster and Logisys are a lot better at cooling overclocked CPU's, is it true or am I fine with the cooler I have now?

Third, I currently have 2 120mm case fans. One is at the front of the case cooling my HDD and SSD, and the other is at the back next to the I/O panel and very close to the heat sink. Is that all I need or should I at least get 1 more?

Finally, I overclock mainly because I play a lot of Flight Simulator X. The higher the clock is, the better frames I get.

well for that price range the i3 doesnt overclock so no, and lower end i5 dont either but they have turno boost, only the 2500k and 3570k have unlocked multipliers and these are more expensive. The rest of the questions really depend on how far you want to go, if you want to increase about 5-15% more ghz then you might be able to do it with a semi-decent cooler and 1 or 2 case fans, maybe even stock cooling but it is not advised. If you want to go over 20% then it is recommended to invest in a good cooling kit, air or water. But remember, unless you play with the voltage the cpu wont increase more heat. The biggest limit in overclocking is the cpu temperature. look on the cpus website, it will state how hot it will go before it throttles, as long as you stay under that then your cpu will be safe.

Have you stress tested it and found what your max temps are? If after several hours of stress testing, your max temps are 45-52*C, then you are OK. As per your question, I would ask this: What exactly are you trying to do that your CPU won't do currently?

pedroc1999 said:

well for that price range the i3 doesnt overclock so no, and lower end i5 dont either but they have turno boost, only the 2500k and 3570k have unlocked multipliers and these are more expensive. The rest of the questions really depend on how far you want to go, if you want to increase about 5-15% more ghz then you might be able to do it with a semi-decent cooler and 1 or 2 case fans, maybe even stock cooling but it is not advised. If you want to go over 20% then it is recommended to invest in a good cooling kit, air or water. But remember, unless you play with the voltage the cpu wont increase more heat. The biggest limit in overclocking is the cpu temperature. look on the cpus website, it will state how hot it will go before it throttles, as long as you stay under that then your cpu will be safe.

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So only the 2500K and 3570K are great overclockers? I dont plan on going up to 4.0GHz and higher, just to about 3.7-3.9Ghz. How is this i5 model going to do?

kbrady1979 said:

Have you stress tested it and found what your max temps are? If after several hours of stress testing, your max temps are 45-52*C, then you are OK. As per your question, I would ask this: What exactly are you trying to do that your CPU won't do currently?

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I have stress tested it before. With this current overclock, it got to 56 C max. What I am trying to do with this CPU is to get it to around 3.7 - 3.9Ghz. I am hesitant to do so because I am unsure if it might get unstable with temps and voltage etc. I have posted a CPU-Z screenshot of my current config.

Do some research on how to OC your specific CPU/Mobo and see if you can squeeze just a little more out of it. Your temps are fine.

the i5 wont got past its turbo boost speed

pedroc1999 said:

the i5 wont got past its turbo boost speed

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What?

pedroc1999 said:

the i5 wont got past its turbo boost speed

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Erm, I have overclocked an old i7 to 4ghz where its base Clock is 2.8, 4ghz with HT on and off. And this is an lynnfield so it got some years on its neck, and its not unlocked so what you just said makes no sense

No, the OP suggested a i5 (i5-3350P) It Hasnt got an unlocked multiplier but you can only overclock it about to 3.7GHz. So I disregarded it

pedroc1999 said:

No, the OP suggested a i5 (i5-3350P) It Hasnt got an unlocked multiplier but you can only overclock it about to 3.7GHz. So I disregarded it

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the i7 I have dont have an unlocked multiplier either, it ranges from 9-21x so if I want to overclock it I have to use the BLCK. And for the OP I would like to say that its not Worth O.C imo I tried it and I get the same FPS in games regardless if I have my cpu at 2.8 GHz or 4 Ghz or the increase was so Little it was not Worth mentioning

sixty01 said:

I would like to ask a question on what is the best way to cool an overclocked CPU. I am asking this because of these factors.

1. intel vs AMD
2. specific brands of CPU fans/heatsinks
3. What are the ideal number of case fans?

First, I would like to mention that my main an current CPU is an AMD Phenom II X4 955BE @ 3.6 Ghz (stock is 3.2Ghz). Do intel equivalents such as the i3 or i5 quad core CPU's produce less heat and are they better over clockers? Right now I would like to change form AMD but my budget at the moment is not so flexible.

Second, I would like to ask about fans and heatsinks. My current CPU cooler is a Zerotherm FZ120, with a full copper base. With this cooler and some Arctic Silver 5, it idles around 28-33 C and it maxes out to 45-52C. I have heard that these CPU fans by Coolermaster and Logisys are a lot better at cooling overclocked CPU's, is it true or am I fine with the cooler I have now?

Third, I currently have 2 120mm case fans. One is at the front of the case cooling my HDD and SSD, and the other is at the back next to the I/O panel and very close to the heat sink. Is that all I need or should I at least get 1 more?

Finally, I overclock mainly because I play a lot of Flight Simulator X. The higher the clock is, the better frames I get.

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See my system specs:

CPU: Intel i7-2600K
Cooling: Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan

Generally Zaiman fans don't seem to be great. My model is an exception. But, honestly, to get, say 4 Ghz out of a decent modern processor, such as the 2600K, is not likely to require the use of much in the way of extra cooling. I think you might be OK even with processor stock fan.

Sorry back on track, I got no idea about intel vs amd since I am only used intel but I would guess heat related they are about the same.

About the fans I would recommend Noctua they got a special color but it kinda grows on you after a while but they do push a lot of air at quite a low noise, corsairs latest series of fans are about equal a bit lower scores but they come in black and they 2x fans for the price of 1 noctua fan. But would you get a lowered max temp using noctua fans maybe but I would not guess a lot more so main reason to change the fans would be to get lower noise.

And about ideal number of fans is hard to say also, I got 11 in my 800D but I could remove 3-4 fans without seeing a change in temps. I keept on adding fans intill the exhausted air was Cold instead of warm/luke warm and smelled hot/bad.

I hope this post helps a bit more

sixty01 said:

Do intel equivalents such as the i3 or i5 quad core CPU's produce less heat and are they better over clockers?

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Intel stuff does not usually come with an unlocked multiplier like AMD, the intel processors that have "K" at the end of the name have the unlocked multiplier, the others don't. Example: i7 3770K is overclockable, i7 3770 is not.

The ones that have Turbo Boost allow you to one-click overclock them to their max Turbo Boost frequency IF the motherboard has in it's feature list and BIOS something called "no-K overclock" or Multicore Enhancement" or whatever that says it does things with Turbo Boost-enabled CPUs to boost the clock.

Some Intel CPUs (especially high-end) allow you to increase the Turbo Boost clock by 4 or so bins (400 Mhz), coupled with the above mobo feature you can get most a bit past the 4 GHz.

are a lot better at cooling overclocked CPU's, is it true or am I fine with the cooler I have now?

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You need to look at the processor specs, the entry called TDP (Thermal Design Power) is the amount of watts of heat the processor generates, and the cooler has to remove. Two processors with the same or very similar TDP will have similar temps with the same cooler. AMD ones tend to overheat more easili with overclock though, so if you want more extreme overclocks a brawny cooler is going to help.

ALso check the mountings. Different sockets have different cooler mounting points, and the fan you have may need some accessories to bolt it in correctly even if would be able to cool whatever you place it on top of.

Third, I currently have 2 120mm case fans. One is at the front of the case cooling my HDD and SSD, and the other is at the back next to the I/O panel and very close to the heat sink. Is that all I need or should I at least get 1 more?

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Unless you live in a very hot place/room the only components worth cooling are the CPU and GPU, case fans are mainly to change the air in the case to make sure the coolers for CPU and GPU always have fresh air to work with. The check is looking at the difference in CPU and GPU temps when the case is open and when the case is closed. The closer they are, the better.

Finally, I overclock mainly because I play a lot of Flight Simulator X. The higher the clock is, the better frames I get.

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That's probably because you have a relatively weak processor. More powerful processors will probably keep the frame rate of FSX very high even if not overclocked.

To judge the relative number-cruncing power (which is influenced by clock, but it is another thing alltogether, as an i3 at 3.6 GHz is NOT ANYWHERE NEAR a i7 at the same clock frequency, the same for different AMD cpus), I use CPU benchmark.

Your current processor is here on their charts. More points = better. A worthy upgrade is one in the 6000-7000 points range, where at the top of the range you find the best gaming processor for the money, the i5 3570k and its AMD equivalents (that are the best AMD processors, a bit high on heat, AMD doesn't have anything as good as the third generation of i7, the 3770).

From my experience AMD always run that little bit hotter.. Regarding overclocking then it really depends on your budget and how flexible you are when it comes to buying a new CPU, obviously if you move from AMD to Intel then REMEMBER the board will have to changed also.

It runs a bit hotter because of the last generation die (32nm) means it uses more volatge and has higher temps

Also an i3 May hit 3.6, but it may damage processor if you increase the blck (fsb) too much

pedroc1999 said:

Also an i3 May hit 3.6, but it may damage processor if you increase the blck (fsb) too much

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No, I am definitely going for the 3570K. Its worth the investment not just for the now but for the long term. I have had my AMD quadcore for almost two years. So I am going to stick with it and get more out of it until I finally get enough disposable funds to spend on the CPU + mobo & fan/heatsink. I have a great video card, decent amount of memory, and an SSD already.

Hopefully my next upgrade(s) in the near future:

i5 3570K: Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

GIGABYTE mobo: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-H61M-DS2 LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

CM Hyper 212 EVO: 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/FM2/AM3+

What do you think?

I am not sure you can overclock on motherboards with the H series chipset. You want a P67 or Z68 or Z77... Even if you could that board wouldn't be much of an overclocker.

Also, read the reviews of the MB on newegg. You graphics card might not fit, it is a mATX format. In addition, does that MB support Ivy bridge 3570k processors?

The processor and cooler are good choices.

Most 2nd gen motherboards support 3rd gen woth a simple flash. It is easy and safe nowa days with things like dual bios incase something goes wrong

MSI mobo: Newegg.com - MSI H61M-P31/W8 LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS


What do you think?