Cooler for CPU i7 920

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Kblavkalash

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Nov 12, 2011
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hey guys, i bought i7 920 2.67Ghz cpu 3 years ago and never overclocked it, so now it's definitely the time to do so. I am planning to overclock it to ~3.8 or 4Ghz. Now all I need is a decent cooler, right? So from looking at tests i came to these models:

1. Corsair H100 - really nice, but is quite loud and often have problems.
2. Noctua NH-D14 - really nice, but I think it won't fit over my Corsair Dominator rams, which are quite high. Not sure about this 100%.
3. CM Hyper 212 Evo - excellent price, but not sure how it will cool cpu at 4Ghz?
4. ZALMAN CNPS9900 MAX - good cooling according to tests, and I think it will fit over my rams.

What else, maybe Corsair H80 or H70.. dunno, what do you advice? :sarcastic:
 
I would suggest the Hyper 212 or *H100*

I personally have the H100, and it is a beast! I have had absolutely no problem with it, and remember 90% of the people who have good experiences with products do not write a review on newegg or similar sites. So they are always going to be predominately the bad experiences.

If you are worried about noise, you can swap the Corsair fans for 120MM fans of your choice. I personally swapped mine out with 4 (forgot type, sorry) fans in a push / pull. I am able to keep a stable overclock on my 8 core bulldozer at just over 5GHz, so plenty of cooling power.


Edit: Oh, I almost forgot. They Hyper 212 is not a quiet cooler by any measure.
 
Thanks itzdanielp, but what about CM 212 evo, it costs more than 3x times less than H100, do you think it is capable of cooling this CPU at ~3.8-4Ghz ?



Cool, I just hope it won't break or something like that.. Btw, is it louder than stock intel cooler?
 
I have used both the Corsair and the Noctua referenced above. Both are MORE than adequate for what you are looking to do.

My i7-920 sits at a stable 3.8ghz (was at 4 for a while, but I changed it kicked it down since I never really saw the proc as a bottleneck). I use the box as a media server and virtual server host so it runs 24x7 without a hiccup.
 
For the price the the 212 is solid, can't really get much better.

It's really up to you. The H100 has a much higher cooling capacity, as to whether you are going to use that potential or not, I don't know. The 212 should be adequate but it's up to you
 


I'm not really sure. I never actually used the stock cooler. I went from a coolermaster v8 to the H100. But you don't actually _need_ the included fans. you can just screw it onto any two 120mm fans in your case, which wouldn't increase the noise level at all. Right now I'm using a push/pull configuration that includes two case fans on one side, then the fans that came with the H100 on the other.
 
Yes, it is louder. Any aftermarket cooling solution will be louder, unless you are going for a silent cooler, which struggles to keep stock speeds cool...

You have to remember that the H100 will be attached to the top of the case, so there is less noise dampening than a fan in the center of the case.

and it will be up to 4 120mm fans, so a bit louder than a single fan
 
With the Cooler Master hyper 212 Evo it can work well for cooling your Intel® Core™ i7-920 and if it is running a little hotter than you would like simply add a second fan to it in a push/pull setup.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team
 
there are better coolers out there for the 920 the hyper isnt 1 of em. its very midrange on a 920. true, noctua, and prolomatech, all are high end good quality and will give exceptional performance the fully copper true is a stunning cooler if your cpu runs hot anyway. paired with 2 yate loon or scythe kaze/gentle typhoon fans you will have a cooler thet will take your 920 to 4.2 easily and have headroom. as it should max out at around 72'c...
personally i found 3.6 to be the sweet spot... on most samples your can run a 3.6 oc off stock clocks which means no real increase in temps...something like 2-4 degrees for 1ghz at idle and about 10'c over normal at load...
this will give your roughly 20 percent more performance,
after thsi you have to start increasing voltages and is where efficiency to performance ratios drops off over the next 600mhz to 4.2 giving roughly 7 percent for the extra 600mhz which if efficiency was perfect should give 10-12percent. but the extra voltage and resistance in the cpu cause a serious decline in what you get out to what you put in...

so yeah if your gonna oc the 920 just go for 3.6 it will give you stock 2500k/2600k performance. and as an added bonus the system will be so stable you will be able to run the c1 halt stat and intel speed step . meaning your cpu can both be efficient and energy frugal...
 
Thanks everyone for replies.

HEXiT, i have no doubt noctua and prolomatech are great coolers, but they are huge, and as i said I got tall corsair dominator rams, and I think i won't have space for those huge coolers. And noctua & prolomatech cost 2 or 3 times more than cm 212 evo, and if as you said it's better to just overclock to 3.6Ghz, then prolly cm 212 evo would be enough? On the other hand, 212 evo with 2x fans probably won't fit either..
 


You can have the 2nd fun (Hyper 212) installed as the first one is aside the memories modules, and it fits without a problem, despite the high of the memories. The 2nd fun, which is a bit hard to find to buy, will give you around 5C less heating. Depending on average temps at your location you can have a try at 3.8GHz. Good luck!
 
Hey guy I am really thinking about corsair H60, I will add second fan, and do you think it will be enough to cool i7 920 on 3.6Ghz on decent temperature?
 
Ahh.. the problem I see with H80 is that its price is very similar to H100 and still very high. H60, on the other hand, is much lower price compared to H80.

And H60 is not that great at cooling, but with double gentle typhoon fans I think it should be better than those which were tested with single stock fan.
 
It is less about the airflow, and more about the design of the waterblock, pump and radiator. They just don't allow enough flow to be very effective.

Also, unless you already have a couple Gentle Typhoons laying around, the price after fans will be the same as an H100
 
Yeah I got couple gentle typhoons in my old case and gonna transfer them into my new corsair 500R case, so I may as well use them for my new cooler.

I am just wondering what kind of temps i would get with my i7 920 at 3.6ghz with H60, because H80 and more is so expansive..
 


Yeah saw that, that's different processor. I imagine my temps will be higher.

Now i am thinking about prolimatech megahalems oe 212 evo with double fans.. :sarcastic: :sarcastic:
 


That's not available in my country :kaola:
 
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