CPU cooler for I7 4790k

[PixAlan]

Hello guys,

I used the stock cooler for the cpu since I got it because I didn't have the money for the upgrade, now I want to improve it.

At the moment I don't want to overclock my cpu, but I want my setup to be as quet as possible with a healthy temperature on the cpu at stock speed. My case is a fractal design R4.

My question is, what setup would be the most quet:
a single fan water cooler mounted in the back
a dual fan water cooler mounted at the top of the case(I would have to remove the top plates for this, and those block some sound I suppose)
or a normal cpu cooler with a big fan with my current fans(2 at the front and one in the back)?

Could you also recommend specific coolers please?

 

[Ximerous]

Since you are not overclocking you don't need water cooling, you could get one if you'd like. However for 30$ or less you can pick up a CM Hyper 212 Evo. It offers great cooling performance at a great price. What motherboard and ram do you have? Also if you did want to OC(which is super easy and you have a K Edition CPU) water cooling would be good.

 

[PixAlan]

My motherboard is an asus maximus VII ranger, ram is 16gb corsair vengeance lp

The PC was built with overclocking in mind, however I don't need it yet, as the pc can handle most tasks at stock speed at the moment, I want to overclock it in the future to expand it's life a bit.

I wanted to buy a corsair H80 or a H110 back when I bought, but I ran out of money, plus I heard that they can be quite noisy at idle, something I don't want since I like my pc quet.

I could drop the money on one of those coolers, as they could handle overclocking later on, but I'm affraid that they would generate a lot of noise on idle.

 

[Ximerous]

Alright, well the EVO has great reviews and I own one myself, although I use water cooling on my main build now. It will fit in your system, if you want a good temporary cooler the evo is great, 25$ right now. Then later you can drop bigger $$ on a quality AIO.

Your case specs says it will support a 240mm rad on top(some not all). You will just have to check specifics, I'm sure most would fit. If you go water I'd go double over single. The two fans will work less since there are two, so less noisy and allows for higher overclock. Although some 120mm might be better than another's 240mm. Lots of factors that I can also help you with, if you wish to go that route.

 

[Karadjgne]

I have a define r5. My 3770k is at 4.6Ghz. I took the stock rear exhaust and paired it up with the stock intake. All I use for exhaust is the 2x fans on the top mounted nzxt Kraken X61. It's quiet. I barely hear the fans. With a clc top mounted there's no good reason for a rear exhaust fan at all. Yes I like a quiet pc too.

Some complain of pumps being loud, I've never run into this on any of my clc's, some complain of loud fans, and yes, stock corsair fans in the past have sucked. By fan noise is indemic in any cooler, all depends on the fan.

I personally prefer clc's over big air, but that's not to say a Noctua d14/d15 or Phanteks PH-TC14PE or cryorig r1 don't work well,

 

[Mark_1970]

Buy a NZXT Kraken x61 or x41 they are great, Mine idles at 28c in a 25c room, full load is 65c at 100% cpu use. I did add more fans to radiator though in push/pull config and the NZXT had plugs to add these colour changing leds are nice too. also you can turn up/down pump/ fans to suit use.These have a thicker radiator and added surface area helps cool better than others i believe

 

[Ximerous]

I also own a Kraken x61 and it works great, you don't need to add extra fans to it as they have good static pressure(since they were made for radiators). Adding more does nothing, for the most part.

 

[Mark_1970]

I also own a Kraken x61 and it works great, you don't need to add extra fans to it as they have good static pressure(since they were made for radiators). Adding more does nothing, for the most part.

A few small degrees but i already had some spare corsair white/black fans so i thought why not

 

[Ximerous]

I put some extra on as well but deiced to take them off and go for just pull on top of the rad, easier cleaning!

 

[Karadjgne]

Generally, fans below 1400rpm work better in pull configuration, fans above @1700rpm work better in push. Fans @1400-1700rpm work equitably in either direction. This is @2-5C difference and since the X61 is generally run on silent (below 60% fan duty) the fans will max out @1200-1300rpm.

Thus pull is actually a better configuration to begin with.