Am I going overkill on cooling for Overclocking an i7 5960x?

[LeftyInSpades13]

Here's the plan; to overclock an i7 5960x to a stable, cool, 24/7/365 4.8-4.9 Ghz (definitely want over 4.7)

Here's all the hardware going in the build:
i7 5960x
ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME/U3.1 LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99
Corsair Dominator Platinum Series 32GB DDR4 DRAM 2800MHz C16 4x8Gb kit
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti ACX SC+ ACX 2.0+ Graphics Card with Backplate 06G-P4-4995-KR
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR PCIe Sound Card
Intel Solid-State Drive 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G4R5 400GB PCI-Express 3.0 MLC
2x1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD
2x1TB WD HDD
2x2TB WD HDD
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 80PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V/EPS12V Active PFC 1000W PSU

Now here's my planned cooling:
Obsidian 900D ATX Super Tower Case
2x480 mm rads (I started a different thread about which is better, either Black Ice Nemesis 480GTX or Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta 480)
Twin D5 Pump XSPC reservoir
In a single loop through a EK-FB ASUS R5E Monoblock
8x Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 120x38mm Grand High Speed Fans, @29 watts 240 CFM @ 29 mmH20 pressure,
Run on a Lamptron CF525 60W - 5 Channel controller. (It seems some don't recognize this controller so let me add a footnote; this is NOT a 60W controller, it's 300W with 60W on each channel having 3 molex plugs that recommends a 700 Watt PSU or better)
2x Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 120x38mm Grand High Speed Fans on the front of the case
With finally w/e 3-5 watt fan I can slap on the back, also blowing in to try and have at least reasonable pressure going in the case (Probably a Noctua Industrial)

Footnote 2- before anyone says anything about jet engines and loud fans, I've lost most of my hearing, it would actually literally have to be a jet engine for me to hear it.

Finally, I know these CPUs are very easily taken up to 4.5-4.6 on decent 240-280mm rads with good ventilation on them, I've also seen them taken up around low to mid 5's on Phase Change cases or Water Chillers. From what I've read and a little from what I've seen, up around 4.7+ it starts getting much hotter than 280 or 360mm rads can handle. My biggest question is, am I going overboard with these fans? That's 300 watts just to the fans with close to 2000 CFM being moved through 2 massive 480mm rads. Is that overkill, should I just go with decent 3-5 watt fans or am I doing the right thing for my planned 4.8-4.9 OC. I would also like to add that I do a lot of video encoding so this CPU is going to be maxed out for hours at a time, often.

 

[Aune Khan]

I don't see an reason overclocking i7 it is more than enough ?

 

[4Ryan6]

ROFL :lol:
This is a joke right? :lol:
Wow, what a good laugh this early in the morning, I needed that!

Do you even have a clue at how loud just one 120mm x 38mm Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 is?

That is a 5200rpm fan pushing 240cfm, which translates to server cooling capability, usually in a closet or closed room.

It literally sounds like a jet sitting on the runway waiting for the OK to take off at 62dba, and you intend to use 10 of them total in your setup. :lol:

Good luck with that! :lol:

 

[Aune Khan]

ROFL :lol:
This is a joke right? :lol:
Wow, what a good laugh this early in the morning, I needed that!
It literally sounds like a jet sitting on the runway waiting for the OK to take off at 62dba, and you intend to use 10 of them total in your setup. :lol:

Good luck with that! :lol:

hahaha :lol:

 

[4Ryan6]

One other thing to mention, I see you posted it uses 29W (actually 29.4W x 10 = 294W), of your proposed 1000W power supply, but the killer problem you are overlooking is each fan pulls a 2.45amp draw and that's a combined draw of 24.5amps, molex 18g cabling cannot handle that much amperage, so you had better investigate a lot more before you buy anything!

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

ROFL :lol:
This is a joke right? :lol:
Wow, what a good laugh this early in the morning, I needed that!

Do you even have a clue at how loud just one 120mm x 38mm Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 is?

That is a 5200rpm fan pushing 240cfm, which translates to server cooling capability, usually in a closet or closed room.

It literally sounds like a jet sitting on the runway waiting for the OK to take off at 62dba, and you intend to use 10 of them total in your setup. :lol:

Good luck with that! :lol:

I really get a laugh out of those that have no clue what other's circumstances are and get all anal about things not asked. Yes I know how loud they are, I have 12 of them on my 50TB Raid6 Media Server. Child, I worked in Stone Cutting for the better part of a decade, with nothing, but air compressors and air hammers all day long. If you're all woopty-doo OH MY GOD about a few fans blowing, you may want to see the noise power tools make, but regardless that's your problem and not the question I asked. You may want to actually learn to comprehend what you read and answer the question asked.

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

One other thing to mention, I see you posted it uses 29W (actually 29.4W x 10 = 294W), of your proposed 1000W power supply, but the killer problem you are overlooking is each fan pulls a 2.45amp draw and that's a combined draw of 24.5amps, molex 18g cabling cannot handle that much amperage, so you had better investigate a lot more before you buy anything!

The Lamptron CF525 60W - 5 Channel controller can handle 10 of the exact fans I mentioned and on that PSU I'm ordering, because SURPRISE, this is a custom cooling case I'm ordering from PerferformancePCs.com. I lost my right hand, I can't assemble a cooling case like this. I've been talking to the builder for the last week, because of some problems with rad thickness and the fans where the PSU is located, which is why he suggested I pick the 480GTX rad instead of the Monsta, because I said just put a 25mm fan instead of a 38mm where the PSU is.

 

[4Ryan6]

I really get a laugh out of those that have no clue what other's circumstances are and get all anal about things not asked. Yes I know how loud they are, I have 12 of them on my 50TB Raid6 Media Server. Child, I worked in Stone Cutting for the better part of a decade, with nothing, but air compressors and air hammers all day long. If you're all woopty-doo OH MY GOD about a few fans blowing, you may want to see the noise power tools make, but regardless that's your problem and not the question I asked. You may want to actually learn to comprehend what you read and answer the question asked.

Ooh what a comeback, your build list shows you do not know what you are doing!
You're going to run 294 watts of cooling fans on a Lamptron CF525 60W - 5 Channel controller.
So are you saying you've worked all your life with ear killing tools and cannot hear the fans running?
Well you still have to power it all dude, whether you can hear it running or not!
And you intend doing that with a EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 80PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V/EPS12V Active PFC 1000W PSU!
Hey good luck with that!

Edit FYI: I've run power tools all my life, have you ever heard of ear plugs?

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

I really get a laugh out of those that have no clue what other's circumstances are and get all anal about things not asked. Yes I know how loud they are, I have 12 of them on my 50TB Raid6 Media Server. Child, I worked in Stone Cutting for the better part of a decade, with nothing, but air compressors and air hammers all day long. If you're all woopty-doo OH MY GOD about a few fans blowing, you may want to see the noise power tools make, but regardless that's your problem and not the question I asked. You may want to actually learn to comprehend what you read and answer the question asked.

Ooh what a comeback, your build list shows you do not know what you are doing!
You're going to run 294 watts of cooling fans on a Lamptron CF525 60W - 5 Channel controller.
So are you saying you've worked all your life with ear killing tools and cannot hear the fans running?
Well you still have to power it all dude, whether you can hear it running or not!
And you intend doing that with a EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 80PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V/EPS12V Active PFC 1000W PSU!
Hey good luck with that!

Edit FYI: I've run power tools all my life, have you ever heard of ear plugs?

Instead of being a smartass, how about recommending a better PSU? Aso, because you're butthurt about noise, which I've already said isn't a problem, and you don't think the PSU is adequate, which I would have found out sooner or later anyway, that makes you incapable of answering the question I asked?

By the way, if these fans are so bothersome to you, I'm sorry to inform you, the sewing machines you played with don't really count as power tools. Btw oh yee of so much knowledge, I've lost 70% of my hearing due to a cranial fracture rupturing one of my ear drums and sitting with my head next to an air hammer for 10 years. So fan noise IS NOT A PROBLEM!

 

[4Ryan6]

The Lamptron CF525 60W - 5 Channel controller can handle 10 of the exact fans I mentioned and on that PSU I'm ordering, because SURPRISE, this is a custom cooling case I'm ordering from PerferformancePCs.com. I lost my right hand, I can't assemble a cooling case like this. I've been talking to the builder for the last week, because of some problems with rad thickness and the fans where the PSU is located, which is why he suggested I pick the 480GTX rad instead of the Monsta, because I said just put a 25mm fan instead of a 38mm where the PSU is.

Look dude I am sorry you lost your right hand!

That doesn't give you the right to post false statements here, a 60w fan controller cannot handle 294w of total fan load, that is absolutely not true!

Any company building a machine for you and telling you it can handle those fans is lying to you, I would stop the build right there!

 

[4Ryan6]

I apologize for laughing at you in the beginning I thought this was a joke thread because your build parts were so far off from reality just some simple math will tell you that, so good luck to you with however it turns out.

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

The Lamptron CF525 60W - 5 Channel controller can handle 10 of the exact fans I mentioned and on that PSU I'm ordering, because SURPRISE, this is a custom cooling case I'm ordering from PerferformancePCs.com. I lost my right hand, I can't assemble a cooling case like this. I've been talking to the builder for the last week, because of some problems with rad thickness and the fans where the PSU is located, which is why he suggested I pick the 480GTX rad instead of the Monsta, because I said just put a 25mm fan instead of a 38mm where the PSU is.

Look dude I am sorry you lost your right hand!

That doesn't give you the right to post false statements here, a 60w fan controller cannot handle 294w of total fan load, that is absolutely not true!

Any company building a machine for you and telling you it can handle those fans is lying to you, I would stop the build right there!

As I said in my first reply, please LEARN how to understand what you read, or better yet actually learn how to read. It's not a 60 watt controller, it's 60 watts on EACH of 5 channels, making it 300 watts all together, 6 watts over the max of the fans.From what I was told, it's about the most heavy duty controller you can stick in a PC, because up until now I've only used controllers that had 10-36 watts per channel. Also if you researched stuff a little better before jumping the gun to attack me, you would know that the description for that controller states that it has 3 molex plugs and requires a minimum 700 watt PSU. Only idiots rely on luck.

 

[DubbleClick]

I'm fairly sure you'll need ln2 cooling if you want to achieve 4.7ghz 24/7. Most I7 5960x's get to around 4.2-4.4ghz with reasonable voltages, so even in the case of a lucky pick you'll have to go well over safe voltage levels. At that point, you'll get a LOT of heat to remove, which traditional cooling (air/water) won't achieve. And then, an I7 5960x running at 1.5v (which will shorten it's lifespan to maybe 1-2 years at best) is going to draw well over 500w, together with 300w on fans, 300w peak from the gpu, surely 100w from the board and around 100w for the hard disk drives you mentioned, I'd recommend no less than a 1500w quality power supply.

So you might want to lower your expectations a bit, because even if it would work in theory, ln2 cooling isn't very practical. Requirements for the psu stay however.

That aside, if you didn't already get the tam - replace it. Yes, this is a very expensive build and you've probably got the money, but noone likes wasting such, I guess? It isn't any faster/better than other ram but costs twice as much - just get 4x16gb other ram instead.

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

I'm fairly sure you'll need ln2 cooling if you want to achieve 4.7ghz 24/7. Most I7 5960x's get to around 4.2-4.4ghz with reasonable voltages, so even in the case of a lucky pick you'll have to go well over safe voltage levels. At that point, you'll get a LOT of heat to remove, which traditional cooling (air/water) won't achieve. And then, an I7 5960x running at 1.5v (which will shorten it's lifespan to maybe 1-2 years at best) is going to draw well over 500w, together with 300w on fans, 300w peak from the gpu, surely 100w from the board and around 100w for the hard disk drives you mentioned, I'd recommend no less than a 1500w quality power supply.

So you might want to lower your expectations a bit, because even if it would work in theory, ln2 cooling isn't very practical. Requirements for the psu stay however.

That aside, if you didn't already get the tam - replace it. Yes, this is a very expensive build and you've probably got the money, but noone likes wasting such, I guess? It isn't any faster/better than other ram but costs twice as much - just get 4x16gb other ram instead.

Thing is, initially I was just going to buy a DigitalStorm Aventum II and they guarantee a 4.6 OC. Their order form says 4.6-4.8 and that's just on a single 480mm 50mm thick rad, with w/e corsair fans and I got into it with their salesman about a few things, because he said they will only take it to 4.6 and that's all they'll guarantee so I was like, how about if I order the 2nd 480mm rad you have for the GPU watercooling offered, you make that big single loop just for the CPU & Chipset and give me the 4.8 that's advertised? They were like nope. I was not pleased, because I've literally seen one of these, with my own eyes, taken to a stable 4.7 on a 280mm x 80mm rad with Delta fans in push/pull at my local PC repair shop. 4.8 on 2 x 480mm 60 or 80mm thick rads with massive airflow can't be that unattainable. The world records on this CPU is at 6.4 single core and 6.2 all 8 cores using ln2 and I've seen vids with these at 5.2-5.3 on Phase Change coolers as well as Water Chillers.

 

[4Ryan6]

As I said in my first reply, please LEARN how to understand what you read, or better yet actually learn how to read. It's not a 60 watt controller, it's 60 watts on EACH of 5 channels, making it 300 watts all together, 6 watts over the max of the fans.From what I was told, it's about the most heavy duty controller you can stick in a PC, because up until now I've only used controllers that had 10-36 watts per channel. Also if you researched stuff a little better before jumping the gun to attack me, you would know that the description for that controller states that it has 3 molex plugs and requires a minimum 700 watt PSU. Only idiots rely on luck.

http://www.lamptron.com/product/controllers/cf525/

OK I stand corrected and apologize additionally for the false statement accusation, seems that controller is 60w per 5 channels and gets its power from either a 4pin or 8pin M/B connector.

I honestly was not even aware that powerful of a fan controller even existed, most overclockers would never need anything like that.

That's some serious hardware so are you comfortable with just a 1000w power supply with your fan load, plus the GPU load, and the CPU overclock load as well?

Nah forget that last question, I'm sure I can find some other way to embarrass myself this morning!

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

As I said in my first reply, please LEARN how to understand what you read, or better yet actually learn how to read. It's not a 60 watt controller, it's 60 watts on EACH of 5 channels, making it 300 watts all together, 6 watts over the max of the fans.From what I was told, it's about the most heavy duty controller you can stick in a PC, because up until now I've only used controllers that had 10-36 watts per channel. Also if you researched stuff a little better before jumping the gun to attack me, you would know that the description for that controller states that it has 3 molex plugs and requires a minimum 700 watt PSU. Only idiots rely on luck.

http://www.lamptron.com/product/controllers/cf525/

OK I stand corrected and apologize additionally for the false statement accusation, seems that controller is 60w per 5 channels and gets its power from either a 4pin or 8pin M/B connector.

That's some serious hardware so are you comfortable with just a 1000w power supply with your fan load, plus the GPU load, and the CPU overclock load as well?

That's kinda one of the things, I always got yelled at by friends and what not for going totally overboard on PSU for absolutely no reason, this time I tried to be conservative. First of all, it is VERY rare for the CPU and GPU to be maxed out at the same time, that's one of the reasons all the tests show that a single loop for both CPU and GPU is much better than separate loops, because of the larger overall water mass provided and the fact that they basically need cooling at different times. That's the reason DigitalStorm only uses single loops for CPU+GPU watercooling and they even cite the tests on their website. For the CPU+GPU at max along with the fans, seems incomprehensible to me. I don't even game, the only reason I'm going with the 980Ti is because I've had a lot of problems with 1080p 10bit vids making vid cards choke when they upscale to 4K output (runs totally fine at 1080p output, but at 4K... chooookes), causing all sorts of frame drops and stutters, which is kind of ironic since 10bit encodes are CPU decoded, not GPU, but I guess it's because of the exponential rise in the stream complexity that chokes the card. The other gentleman suggested a 1500, but that seems like total overkill. Since you and he both brought it up though, I'll probably go with a 1200. Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention, a jet makes 150-250 decibels over 30 meters away, while 60 decibels is only a normal conversation more than a meter away. Even if I wasn't almost deaf, that still wouldn't bother me, especially since I like background noise, it relaxes me. 😛

 

[DubbleClick]

The problem at those frequencies isn't solely heat, but mostly getting the cpu to still work without going absurd on voltages. The 6.x ghz world records are achieved at -150c for maximum stability due to lower loss at 2v and more - having your cpu run at that for a week kills it. 4.6ghz is an extremely high overclock for the I7 5960x, 4.8ghz is simply not achievable under safe voltages without winning the lottery. If the website claims 4.8ghz oc's, they won't be achieved under safe voltages.

I mean, I can take my I7 4790k to >5ghz with no problems on an air cooler. It simply won't survive that for long (maybe a week).

 

[4Ryan6]

That's kinda one of the things, I always got yelled at by friends and what not for going totally overboard on PSU for absolutely no reason, this time I tried to be conservative. First of all, it is VERY rare for the CPU and GPU to be maxed out at the same time, that's one of the reasons all the tests show that a single loop for both CPU and GPU is much better than separate loops, because of the larger overall water mass provided and the fact that they basically need cooling at different times. That's the reason DigitalStorm only uses single loops and they even cite the tests on their website. For the CPU+GPU at max along with the fans, seems incomprehensible to me. I don't even game, the only reason I'm going with the 980Ti is because I've had a lot of problems with 1080p 10bit vids making vid cards choke when they upscale to 4K output (runs totally fine at 1080p output, but at 4K... chooookes), causing all sorts of frame drops and stutters, which is kind of ironic since 10bit encodes are CPU decoded, not GPU, but I guess it's because of the exponential rise in the stream complexity that chokes the card. The other gentleman suggested a 1500, but that seems like total overkill. Since you and he both brought it up though, I'll probably go with a 1200.

You probably think my advice is useless at this point but in my defense you did edit the original post adding more detail about the fan controller, but that's still on me because all I had to do was Google the model# to learn all I needed to know about it, so live and learn for me.

Any time I build from scratch I am always after future additions, and I would personally go with at least a 1200w single 12v rail power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...438029&cm_re=1200w_psu-_-17-438-029-_-Product

********************************************************************

Just a suggestion for your consideration:

If I had the money to build what you are investing right now in your build, I would make some changes.

I would not get the:
Intel Solid-State Drive 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G4R5 400GB PCI-Express 3.0 MLC
2x1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD

I would get the:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167298
and run it as my main drive.

It would not be as much initial SSD storage volume but it would be faster and cheaper by about $400.

That was just a suggestion, OK.

********************************************************************

Though the fans you've chosen you've been 100% clear about, sound levels etc., but you really do not need those server style fans to cool the radiators.

They are not only extreme overkill, they are just not necessary, will you not even consider another fan alternative?

*******************************************************************

 

[DubbleClick]

Uhm as for choking videos at 4k... you'll need to use a displayport 1.2 port to get 60hz at 4k, hdmi limits to 30hz. The gtx 980tI is absolutely overkill for just video playback, even a HD4600 (integrated gpu) has zero problems playing 4k videos.

 

[4Ryan6]

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention, a jet makes 150-250 decibels over 30 meters away, while 60 decibels is only a normal conversation more than a meter away. Even if I wasn't almost deaf, that still wouldn't bother me, especially since I like background noise, it relaxes me. 😛

Keep in mind that is 60 decibels per each fan running, when I did the Cooling Fan Roundup I was sent 2 of those high speed fans and even though they were not included in the roundup, I did test them but had to leave the room while the test was running and that was just 2 of them.

Don't you have family or friends that come over to see you, it is not really just about you, is it?

Surely you'll want to show off your build to someone.

I would think if you are almost deaf you would want to preserve the hearing you still have, I urge you to consider that.

 

[4Ryan6]

For what it's worth, here's my fan suggestion that is still IMO slightly overkill, however I'm planning on snagging a couple of these myself.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-f...rmance-liquid-cooling-fan.html#Specifications

120mm X 25mm an EK brand design fan priced $10 cheaper per fan.

Mechanical and electrical specifications:
- Speed: 3000 rpm (+/- 10%)
- Rated Voltage: 12V DC
- Power Draw: 5.64W
- Amperage per unit at max load: 1.3A
- PWM Duty Cycle: 40-100%
- Connector: 4-pin PWM header
- Shaft bearing: Double-ball bearing
- Bearing durability: 50.000 hrs @ 40°C (MTBF)
- Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25 mm
- Fiber-glass strengthened impeller

Performance characteristics:
- Max Air Flow: 107 CFM = 181 m³/h
- Static Pressure: 5.81mm H2O = 57 Pa
- Sleeved cable length: 300 mm
- Noise Level: 42 dBA

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

That's kinda one of the things, I always got yelled at by friends and what not for going totally overboard on PSU for absolutely no reason, this time I tried to be conservative. First of all, it is VERY rare for the CPU and GPU to be maxed out at the same time, that's one of the reasons all the tests show that a single loop for both CPU and GPU is much better than separate loops, because of the larger overall water mass provided and the fact that they basically need cooling at different times. That's the reason DigitalStorm only uses single loops and they even cite the tests on their website. For the CPU+GPU at max along with the fans, seems incomprehensible to me. I don't even game, the only reason I'm going with the 980Ti is because I've had a lot of problems with 1080p 10bit vids making vid cards choke when they upscale to 4K output (runs totally fine at 1080p output, but at 4K... chooookes), causing all sorts of frame drops and stutters, which is kind of ironic since 10bit encodes are CPU decoded, not GPU, but I guess it's because of the exponential rise in the stream complexity that chokes the card. The other gentleman suggested a 1500, but that seems like total overkill. Since you and he both brought it up though, I'll probably go with a 1200.

You probably think my advice is useless at this point but in my defense you did edit the original post adding more detail about the fan controller, but that's still on me because all I had to do was Google the model# to learn all I needed to know about it, so live and learn for me.

Any time I build from scratch I am always after future additions, and I would personally go with at least a 1200w single 12v rail power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...438029&cm_re=1200w_psu-_-17-438-029-_-Product

********************************************************************

Just a suggestion for your consideration:

If I had the money to build what you are investing right now in your build, I would make some changes.

I would not get the:
Intel Solid-State Drive 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G4R5 400GB PCI-Express 3.0 MLC
2x1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD

I would get the:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167298
and run it as my main drive.

It would not be as much initial SSD storage volume but it would be faster and cheaper by about $400.

That was just a suggestion, OK.

********************************************************************

Though the fans you've chosen you've been 100% clear about, sound levels etc., but you really do not need those server style fans to cool the radiators.

They are not only extreme overkill, they are just not necessary, will you not even consider another fan alternative?

*******************************************************************

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention, a jet makes 150-250 decibels over 30 meters away, while 60 decibels is only a normal conversation more than a meter away. Even if I wasn't almost deaf, that still wouldn't bother me, especially since I like background noise, it relaxes me. 😛

Keep in mind that is 60 decibels per each fan running, when I did the Cooling Fan Roundup I was sent 2 of those high speed fans and even though they were not included in the roundup, I did test them but had to leave the room while the test was running and that was just 2 of them.

Don't you have family or friends that come over to see you, it is not really just about you, is it?

Surely you'll want to show off your build to someone.

I would think if you are almost deaf you would want to preserve the hearing you still have, I urge you to consider that.

The two 1TB Samsung 850 Pros I already have, they're running in this AMD build I'm on which I've finally given up on at 4.96 OC, because with 5.02 I blew 3 mobos in a row. I can keep the CPU cool and stable, but something always fries out the mobo and it's mental too, because I get all the lights and beeps of a healthy board, but it's dead, black screen no BIOS, get the mobo replaced, boots right back up. As for friends and family, I live in a fairly large home. My home theater (home office on tax forms 😛 ) is the entire first floor that's 18 feet under ground. it's basically just 2500 square feet of open space with some pillars for the upper floors, a work desk, a 120 inch projector screen, an 84 inch Bravia UHD, a central couch, some lazy boys, a ton of speakers, a bar, the sound and media server closet and some other crap. There's 42 speakers throughout my house on a whole house multiroom sound system, central or individual play, that's usually playing significantly louder than any noise server fans can make. Fan noise is REALLY not an issue, especially since I'm home alone most of the time since my wife travels a lot for work and is away more than she's home. I mean I really WANT other fans, strictly because 300 watts on just PC fans sounds stuuuupid to me, but it seems like I only have insane server fans pumping 3-5 times what regular 2-5 watt case/radiator fans push with nothing really in between. From my years of being a gearhead and all my other towers I really don't see regular fans having anywhere near the CFM or Static Pressure to adequately ventilate these massive rads while push/pull isn't an option because of the thickness and the Obsidian 900D is the only case these guys will custom build for me. When it comes to that, since I'm really trying to push this CPU, I'd rather overshoot than shoot blanks.

The problem at those frequencies isn't solely heat, but mostly getting the cpu to still work without going absurd on voltages. The 6.x ghz world records are achieved at -150c for maximum stability due to lower loss at 2v and more - having your cpu run at that for a week kills it. 4.6ghz is an extremely high overclock for the I7 5960x, 4.8ghz is simply not achievable under safe voltages without winning the lottery. If the website claims 4.8ghz oc's, they won't be achieved under safe voltages.

I mean, I can take my I7 4790k to >5ghz with no problems on an air cooler. It simply won't survive that for long (maybe a week).

These are things I'm well aware of. I'm getting the Intel Tuning guarantee that says if I fry the CPU due to overclocking they'll replace it and I think it spans the 3 year warranty or w/e they offer, while I'm only shooting for for 1 or 2 year use, it's not like I'm going to marry the thing. 😛

Uhm as for choking videos at 4k... you'll need to use a displayport 1.2 port to get 60hz at 4k, hdmi limits to 30hz. The gtx 980tI is absolutely overkill for just video playback, even a HD4600 (integrated gpu) has zero problems playing 4k videos.

That's not really the problem, because the videos I watch are 24 FPS and I have Cards + TV synched to 24hz. It's also, not playing 4K vids, it's upscaling vids to 4K output. It's because of the 10Bit encodes. 8bit encodes don't have the problem, 10bit does, because it has an extra 2 bits of data per channel so it literally has 4 times as many levels of color for each color channel. That's going from 16 million colors to 68 billion colors. Before I get into a bunch of technobabble, it's just much harder for a card to handle upscaling 10bit encodes to 4K then it is 8bit encodes to 4K. It's also not all 10bit encodes, it's just the really aggressive ones that are very massive bitrates, with all kinds of basically mastering edits through filtering.

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

For what it's worth, here's my fan suggestion that is still IMO slightly overkill, however I'm planning on snagging a couple of these myself.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-f...rmance-liquid-cooling-fan.html#Specifications

120mm X 25mm an EK brand design fan priced $10 cheaper per fan.

Mechanical and electrical specifications:
- Speed: 3000 rpm (+/- 10%)
- Rated Voltage: 12V DC
- Power Draw: 5.64W
- Amperage per unit at max load: 1.3A
- PWM Duty Cycle: 40-100%
- Connector: 4-pin PWM header
- Shaft bearing: Double-ball bearing
- Bearing durability: 50.000 hrs @ 40°C (MTBF)
- Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25 mm
- Fiber-glass strengthened impeller

Performance characteristics:
- Max Air Flow: 107 CFM = 181 m³/h
- Static Pressure: 5.81mm H2O = 57 Pa
- Sleeved cable length: 300 mm
- Noise Level: 42 dBA

Thank you for the suggestion, but if I was going with something like that, and if I may suggest something to you, since you seem to want a couple, I would highly recommend the Noctuas:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/noctua-120x25mm-fans/noctua-nf-f12-industrialppc-3000-pwm-120mm-fan.html

They're not the prettiest to look at, but more CFM at 110, a lot more Pressure at 7.63 mmH20, only 3.6 watts having 43 dB with 3 times the life span and a 6 year warranty.

Specs:
Size 120x120x25mm
Connector 4-Pin PWM
Bearing SSO2
Blade Geometry Heptaperf™
Frame Technology FocusedFlow™
Rotational Speed (+/- 10% 3000 RPM
Min Rotational Speed (PWM +20% 750 RPM
AirFlow 186.7 m³/h -110.0 cfm
Acoustical Noise 43.5 dB(A)
Static Pressure 7.63 mm H2O
Max. Input Power 3.6 W
Max. Input Current 0.3 A
Voltage 12 V
MTBF >150,000 h
Warranty 6 years
Scope of delivery
Fan
4 Fan Screws
Warranty 6 years
Ingress Protection IP52
Material Fibre-glass reinforced polyamide
Motor Type Three-phase

 

[4Ryan6]

I was going to suggest those to you but they're presently out of stock.

 

[LeftyInSpades13]

I was going to suggest those to you but they're presently out of stock.

Yeah, those are preorder only I think, they don't actually stock them. The last ones I got I had to preorder too. I'm not in a gigantic rush, I usually take weeks to months researching and trying to figure out what I want. Even this case, is the 3rd one in line to their modshop and it will be a good month or so before he can get started on it.

What I really want is like 150-180 CFM at 10-15 mmH20 and around 10W, but it seems they insist on either VW Bug level performance or Mclaren F1. It's like, why can't you just give me a decent Porsche? I can't even understand that logic, from 3-5 watts to 27-34 watts and nothing in between???