Question Cheapest sufficient cooler for PL unlock on i5-11500 on H510

[kizki]

Greetings! I'm running an i5-11500 with an MSI H510M Pro MB. I saw the option to unlock PL in bios, so I plan on doing that. What is the cheapest (possibly white color) recommended cooler to be able to handle it with pl unlocked and to be able to run at max (fully utilize the CPU) ? Would appreciate any insight or tips/recommendations that you provide. Thanks!

*It shows 135W on PL1 for unlocking in BIOS

Also does unlocking the PL1 mean it will run at higher base frequency constantly?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

By cheapest, how much can you spend on the cooler. In fact, you should be fine with the stock cooler that comes with the processor. With that, I would advise against an form of overclocking on that motherboard unless you want the VRM on that board to take itself out.

 

[kizki]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

By cheapest, how much can you spend on the cooler. In fact, you should be fine with the stock cooler that comes with the processor. With that, I would advise against an form of overclocking on that motherboard unless you want the VRM on that board to take itself out.

Hey. I appreciate the welcome!

Well I saw the VRMs run cooler than most boards since it has 16 VRMs (the MSI H510M PRO)... would you really strongly advise against unlocking the PL from Bios? I'm not doing any other overclocks just will unlock to the 135w limit.

By the cheapest I mean the cheapest possible that will do the job properly (so any price range just the cheaper model). I really have to do it because the performance is super bad compared to what it should be on my i5-11500, such as Cinebench 23:
- Single core: 1437
- Multi core: 7687

Should be sc 1500+/ mc 10000+ respectively from the benchmarks I saw, also my CPU never hits the max boost clock nor anywhere near it, max was like 3.9 ghz and for a short while, mainly 3.7 ghz

EDIT: if the VRM is really a problem given they're supposedly 16, can I buy VRM heatsinks or something like that?

 

[TerryLaze]

Also does unlocking the PL1 mean it will run at higher base frequency constantly?

Base frequency is a different thing, speed step is what regulates the clocks during idle low usage and that does not change with PL. It will still downclock to 800Mhz or whatever it is if there is nothing to do.

Also you do not have to make PL1 unlimited to get the max out of your CPU, since the max clocks do not change you only have to increase the PL until you don't get any increase in performance anymore.

Just increase the PL1 with your current cooler in 10W steps and see at what point the temps become too bad for you, you can use Intel Extreme Tuning Utility to do this under windows.
If that's not enough then you can still look for a better cooler.

Also this is a review of coolers, from cheap to expensive, done on the 13900k ,maybe this will help you, the 11500 will draw 253W max because it can't run higher clocks so any cooler in the 240-260W range would be great.

Amazon Basics CPU Cooler Review: Quiet Air Cooling for Mainstream Rigs

Amazon enters the CPU Cooling game with an affordable, quiet cooler

www.tomshardware.com

 

[kizki]

Base frequency is a different thing, speed step is what regulates the clocks during idle low usage and that does not change with PL. It will still downclock to 800Mhz or whatever it is if there is nothing to do.

Also you do not have to make PL1 unlimited to get the max out of your CPU, since the max clocks do not change you only have to increase the PL until you don't get any increase in performance anymore.

Just increase the PL1 with your current cooler in 10W steps and see at what point the temps become too bad for you, you can use Intel Extreme Tuning Utility to do this under windows.
If that's not enough then you can still look for a better cooler.

Also this is a review of coolers, from cheap to expensive, done on the 13900k ,maybe this will help you, the 11500 will draw 253W max because it can't run higher clocks so any cooler in the 240-260W range would be great.

Amazon Basics CPU Cooler Review: Quiet Air Cooling for Mainstream Rigs

Amazon enters the CPU Cooling game with an affordable, quiet cooler

www.tomshardware.com

I'm currently getting 85-88c at 65w, so I'd rather not risk increasing. I forgot to mention i'm running the stock cooler right now. Checking out the charts now, those are really helpful. The lowest priced one I could find is the AK400 which is practically the same as AG400 except visually, right?

I know there is a PL2, do I have to find and touch that as well or is it automatic once I pick 125W at PL1 setting?

 

[TerryLaze]

I'm currently getting 85-88c at 65w,

That would be with PL2 being the default 154W ? So at 154W.
I would still go into bios and look at the cooler settings, make sure it's not set to quiet or something.

I know there is a PL2, do I have to find and touch that as well or is it automatic once I pick 125W at PL1 setting?

If you leave PL2 at the default 154W then it will never go above 154W and after 56sec (TAU) it would go to the 125W you set for PL1.

If your current cooler can handle 154W at 85-88C then you could have it run at 154W all the time by setting PL1 to 154W .

 

[kizki]

That would be with PL2 being the default 154W ? So at 154W.
I would still go into bios and look at the cooler settings, make sure it's not set to quiet or something.

If you leave PL2 at the default 154W then it will never go above 154W and after 56sec (TAU) it would go to the 125W you set for PL1.

If your current cooler can handle 154W at 85-88C then you could have it run at 154W all the time by setting PL1 to 154W .

I'm with the stock cooler. MSI bios let me choose what cooler i'm using so it limits my power, so I am never able to draw more than 65-68w no matter how much I push the CPU. I'm getting those degrees at ~ 65w unfortunately. Given the link you posted, I'll probably go with the AK400, people say its similar to the AG400 and it's cheaper here so it should be sufficient to cool this.