A Good Single-Radiator AOI Liquid Cooler For Ryzen 5 2600?

[jwburks1976]

I've never used liquid before, and I've been paranoid about doing so. But... times change.

Story About PC Death (You Can Skip):
Recently, my old PC I built back in 2011 (my first, actually) has begun to die. After the last Windows 10 update, I tried to go back to gaming. All my games were freezing and I was forced to hard-reset using the power switch. Upon rebooting, Windows would randomly freeze up entirely which would also require using the power switch. This freaked me out. At first I blamed the Windows update, or just Windows 10 in general. I tried re-installing Windows 10 several times, and everything would be great until I played a game for about 1-2 hours. I've tested the RAM, the storage, ran a boot scan for viruses, everything: nothing is wrong. But then I got HWMONITOR and saw my CPU cores idling between 40-50 C.
Maybe that's not it, maybe it's something else, like the PSU. I have a 850 Corsair (Gold), but... I don't know.

Anyway, I think it's time to give this poor guy a proper burial...

So here I am, shopping for parts, fighting off the freeze-ups now and then.

TLDR Pick Up Here:

For the past 2 days I've decided on a Ryzen 5 2600. It's definitely better than my old CPU (i7-950). I could go with a stock cooler, or air. I've been spoiled by NOCTUA up until now. I think it's time to try liquid.

I was going to go with the H100i Pro, but the dual fan radiator doesn't fit into most mid-sized cases, and I don't want to go full-size on the tower.

I don't know just how reliable these things are, either. I used to see stories about leaks and total destruction of the PC. But then, bad luck can happen in all forms. What I need is a RELIABLE device by a reliable manufacturer, and one with a single fan that will fit an AM4 out-of-box.

Can anybody help?

 

[CountMike]

Couple of questions, do you plan to OC and can you find any Cooler Master products ?
Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML120L RGB MLW-D12M-A20PC-R1 http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-liquid-cooler/masterliquid-ml120l-rgb/ should do fine. Don't worry about leeks are very, very rare and only if abused.

 

[jwburks1976]

Couple of questions, do you plan to OC and can you find any Cooler Master products ?
Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML120L RGB MLW-D12M-A20PC-R1 http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-liquid-cooler/masterliquid-ml120l-rgb/ should do fine. Don't worry about leeks are very, very rare and only if abused.

I had planned to overclock, though lately I have to wonder if I should.

In my stressed out state I didn't see that Corsair had updated their H60 and H75 models to 2018 (new design and tougher cables, even). Though now I face the question of: Am I supposed to hook the radiator in such a way so that it pulls out from outside the case, or am I supposed to set it up to push hot air out of the case... I guess I have research to do. It'll be my first liquid cooler. I've always gone with Noctua in the past, but... currently my 7-year-old Noctua NH-D14's fans are barely spinning. I've already re-done the thermal paste 3x evened out over that time, and now the motherboard seems to have some damage as well.

I've been shopping around non-stop for days, and I can't seem to get less than 1000$ for this new PC, even if I get the cheapest Ryzen there is (2200G), so I may as well get the Ryzen 5 2600 and live the friggin dream. Maybe with an H75 (2018 model).

 

[CountMike]

I prefer having radiator fans push thru radiator because they are made so they have higher static pressure as they have to push air thru dense fins. Whole assembly to be used as exhaust for the case.
I also prefer sets with simple wiring where radiator fan(s) connect to CPU_Fan and pump to AiO_Pump header or any header where pump speed can be left at full but with speed indication and alarm in case it stops. Most new MBs have such connectors.
Right now I'm using Cooler Master Nepton 140 XL on my 2700x and it's fine even when OC-ed to 4.25GHz.(as far as this one could go with good stability).
You are right about wanting Ryzen 5 2600, it's probably best deal on a B450 MB, even if OC-ed to as high as it would go any 120mm AiO cooler should be enough.

 

[jwburks1976]

I appreciate you taking the time to explain that I didn't even know about the AiO_Pump header. I'll need to check the motherboard manual to make sure it has one, but I don't remember seeing one on the one I picked (ASUS TUF B450M-PLUS GAMING). At the end, I may even go with a Noctua NH-D15, though it looks 50% bigger than the DH14 I have in this pile of crud (and it lasted 8 years, so that's gotta be good right?)...

I don't know how legit this site is: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-2600-vs-Intel-Core-i5-8500/3955vsm447884

But it looks like the 2600 is THE processor when it comes to value.

 

[CountMike]

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/TUF-B450M-PLUS-GAMING/specifications/ doesn't seem to have AiO_Pump header but does have 2 CHA_Fan of which one could be used for pump and be set to have constant speed.
You could also keep that Dh-14 and just change fans as they are the only part that may wear out. R5 2600 has 65W TDP so any 140mm cooler should cool it just fine. To keep that cooler you would also have to get mounting kit for AM4 as it is different from all others. On the other hand, you might want to hold on getting another CPU cooler and give original AMD one as it's quite good. In your place, I would use money saved on new cooler and get 2600x processor which comes with even better cooler and gain 200 - 300 MHZ of boost clock. That way you need not OC processor at all, Ryzen X boosts (turbo) on all cores unlike earlier ones.