6700K air cooler

[Exeonx]

I recently asked here and i was thinking of going with the noctua D-15 but then i started wondering, is this CPU cooler overkill if i don't really plan to OC that much? I mean my aim will be mainly gaming, and the base clock is already at 4GHZ so I don't see the need for it, so right now I'm wondering if I should go with the D-15 or look for a smaller alternative.

I am looking for a good cooler nonetheless, but from what I get this cooler is pretty much one of the best air coolers on the market, hence it's cost, I'm just getting doubt about it, it will be paired up with an 980GTX TI so I don't want that getting hotter then it should be because of the CPU though

 

[SBargisen]

Generally Intel's stock coolers are fine.

But, do look at watercooling, almost same price as air cooling just cleaner look, better cooling etc. I would strongly advice this, not even hard to fit or anything.
+ You can move the "heat" from the CPU to say, the top of your case with the radiator.

 

[Exeonx]

Generally Intel's stock coolers are fine.

But, do look at watercooling, almost same price as air cooling just cleaner look, better cooling etc. I would strongly advice this, not even hard to fit or anything.
+ You can move the "heat" from the CPU to say, the top of your case with the radiator.

The skylake processors do not come with a intel stock cooler, and liquid tends to be more expensive then air, to be all honest from the reviews I read I'm not going to risk liquid, I don't want to be worried all of the time that there might be a drop of it leaking out and destroying everything.

 

[Gracodana]

Skylake isn't coming with stock coolers.

The D-15 is an amazing cooler and I would say even if you don't want to overclock much it's pretty worth it. You don't just get good overlocking but also the silence and coolness of the cooler. Noctua make some of the best fans that you can get.

You can also move this from system to system so it should be able to last you a good while after lots of upgrading.

 

[SBargisen]

My bad, didn't know they didn't come with stock coolers.

 

[Gracodana]

I would personally get the D-15 but don't feel that liquad cooling is the scariest thing ever. As long as your not getting a custom loop then you should find it actually easier to set up and it really is going to be ver unlikely to brake as long as you are careful when setting it up.

 

[synphul]

What case are you using? An nh-d15 is a great cooler but if not pushing a very hard overclock especially on the newer 6700k it's a bit overkill.

The ereboss black is a good budget cooler.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100011
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Raijintek/Ereboss/6.html

The raijintek tisis is another decent cooler, almost the same cooling as the nh-d15 and just as quiet, half the price.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100001
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9415/top-tier-cpu-air-coolers-9way-roundup-review/12

Just some alternatives, you don't have to spend $100 to get good cooling performance with low noise. It's not taking away from noctua which do make great products but at some point you have to wonder if the additional $50 is worth 1-2c temp difference and 1db lower noise.

 

[Exeonx]

What case are you using? An nh-d15 is a great cooler but if not pushing a very hard overclock especially on the newer 6700k it's a bit overkill.

The ereboss black is a good budget cooler.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100011
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Raijintek/Ereboss/6.html

The raijintek tisis is another decent cooler, almost the same cooling as the nh-d15 and just as quiet, half the price.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100001
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9415/top-tier-cpu-air-coolers-9way-roundup-review/12

Just some alternatives, you don't have to spend $100 to get good cooling performance with low noise. It's not taking away from noctua which do make great products but at some point you have to wonder if the additional $50 is worth 1-2c temp difference and 1db lower noise.

My current setup is:

I5 3570 3.4Ghz
Asus Z77 V-LX Motherboad
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD
Corsair 4x4GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM
EVGA 980GTX TI
EVGA Supernova G2 850W PSU

I'm using a Thermaltake Chaser MK-I case and CPU cooler is the Zalman CNPS12X(though I've lost my tools for it as mentioned above)

I'm planning to upgrade to the following:

I7-6700K
Asus Z170 ROG Hero VIII
Corsair DDR4 2x8GB 3000Mhz C15 RAM

And what's left is the cooler, so doubting between somehow using my old zalman, buying the D15 or geting an alternative, I'm also from the EU, and the "Rajintek" you mentioned is about 15€ cheaper here then the D15

 

[Chayan4400]

My only problem with 1151 socket, is that it doesn't have that many M-ATX mobos, and I need something clean like the 1150 Gryphon Armored Edition.

Be patient, Skylake is very new so it will be some time until motherboard manufacturers release their entire line-up.

 

[MarkW]

1151 is brand new. Most of the 1151 CPU's are not even available to be purchased yet. And the motherboard companies are still putting the final touches on many of their motherboards.

On the Noctua CPU cooler, it might be a bit of overkill if you are not going to overclock, but it is one of the best products out there for air cooling. Instead of standard 1 year warranties, you get 6 year warranties on the fan. And the fans are rated at 150,000 hours (17.1 years). Try that with most fans on the market. So basically, the noctua CPU cooler is going to last you for well over a decade. Most likely, it will last through your next 4 to 6 motherboards. They also are very quiet, and blow more air than most other fans on the market as well.

Be patient. The motherboards are coming.

 

[synphul]

You mentioned you lost or no longer have the rest of the cooler kit that came with the box. So long as you have the intel hardware you should be good to go for the 1151, same mounting. The wrench you're talking about appears to be an allen wrench. Not sure what size it is exactly and not being from the eu I don't know how difficult it is or isn't finding tools from hardware stores. It appears to be somewhat long handled for the reach to the allen head fastener. If you have a hardware store nearby what I would do is take the motherboard with the cooler attached with me and ask to try a couple different wrenches to find one that fits it. It may take a little time but the cost of a wrench should be inexpensive compared to the cost of a new cooler.

 

[Gracodana]

What case are you using? An nh-d15 is a great cooler but if not pushing a very hard overclock especially on the newer 6700k it's a bit overkill.

The ereboss black is a good budget cooler.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100011
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Raijintek/Ereboss/6.html

The raijintek tisis is another decent cooler, almost the same cooling as the nh-d15 and just as quiet, half the price.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raijintek-cpu-cooler-0r100001
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9415/top-tier-cpu-air-coolers-9way-roundup-review/12

Just some alternatives, you don't have to spend $100 to get good cooling performance with low noise. It's not taking away from noctua which do make great products but at some point you have to wonder if the additional $50 is worth 1-2c temp difference and 1db lower noise.

My current setup is:

I5 3570 3.4Ghz
Asus Z77 V-LX Motherboad
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD
Corsair 4x4GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM
EVGA 980GTX TI
EVGA Supernova G2 850W PSU

I'm using a Thermaltake Chaser MK-I case and CPU cooler is the Zalman CNPS12X(though I've lost my tools for it as mentioned above)

I'm planning to upgrade to the following:

I7-6700K
Asus Z170 ROG Hero VIII
Corsair DDR4 2x8GB 3000Mhz C15 RAM

And what's left is the cooler, so doubting between somehow using my old zalman, buying the D15 or geting an alternative, I'm also from the EU, and the "Rajintek" you mentioned is about 15€ cheaper here then the D15

Do you really need the extra performance? The i5 is a solid cpu and if this is just for gaming I would say wait out for a bit. You could also get an i7 3770k for a bit more performance which could be second hand as it's a bit old by now.

 

[Exeonx]

Do you really need the extra performance? The i5 is a solid cpu and if this is just for gaming I would say wait out for a bit. You could also get an i7 3770k for a bit more performance which could be second hand as it's a bit old by now.

Well I thought about it for quite a bit, I do need an upgrade, as I tend to play one of the few games which is really much heavier on the CPU then the GPU(GW2) however another reason is that I'm building a new PC for a relative as a gift, Now I could make a new PC from scrap, or Pay a bit more use my current components, and get an upgrade for myself in the meanwhile, this seemed to be the better option.

I've also considered a lot about the 6600K vs 6700K in terms of gaming, But I like futureproofing, And i plan to use this setup for at least 4-5 years(especially the CPU) So what if in said period of time I either find an interest in video editing, streaming or games finally start to benifit from hyperthreading? where I live there is a 100€ difference between them, if in a couple of years I start to do anything of the above I'll feel sad I went with the 6600K.

At least that's my reasoning

On the Noctua CPU cooler, it might be a bit of overkill if you are not going to overclock, but it is one of the best products out there for air cooling. Instead of standard 1 year warranties, you get 6 year warranties on the fan. And the fans are rated at 150,000 hours (17.1 years). Try that with most fans on the market. So basically, the noctua CPU cooler is going to last you for well over a decade. Most likely, it will last through your next 4 to 6 motherboards. They also are very quiet, and blow more air than most other fans on the market as well.

The futureproofing kinda sold me there, and yea indeed build quality and noise, while keeping great airflow, thanks for the pointers there

 

[Y0GI]

With infrequent OCing, you could get by with the Noctua NH D14:
NH D14

The NH D14 is $17 cheaper than the NH D15.

Yogi

 

[Gracodana]

Okay with that in mind then I compleatly agree, get the i7 no point getting such a small upgrade in the i5. Nice choice I think overall.