how should i cool a i7 8700k

[zionawesome23]

im looking to get a i7 8700k and was wondering how to cool it, im new to pc building so i dont know if water cooling will be too hard

 

[jimthenagual]

Many different opinions on air vs. AIO liquid cooling. My take on it? If you don't have a window side panel on your case to show of the glory inside, then go for an air cooler. If you do have a windowed case, the liquid coolers just look cleaner. Just my opinion.

The liquid coolers are extremely easy to install. In fact, it's only slightly harder than installing an air cooler. The only difference between installing an air cooler and an AIO liquid cooler is, there is typically a SATA power connection required (although not always), and then there is mounting the radiator to the case. Easy. I wouldn't worry about that. Actually, take a look at the user manual link below and read the installation instructions for an idea of what you're getting into.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/hydro-series-h100i-v2-extreme-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler
click on 'downloads' then look at the manual.

Now, if you're talking about a CUSTOM water loop, not the all in one liquid coolers, THAT is a lot more involved 😀

 

[marksavio]

most reliable aircoolers right now for an overclocked 8700k is the noctua NH-D15/s or NH-U14s. and maybe the upcoming Dark Rock Pro 4. or you can settle with any as cheap as the CoolerMaster 212 Evo if you are just happy enough with stock speeds with no OC. they all have very huge heatsinks and quite heavy at around 1.2kg. may be pretty difficult to try to install by yourself and have to be very careful.

and the rest are AIO coolers. the cheapest effective one is probably the corsair h80i v2. you can go for the nzxt,thermaltake, swiftech's 240mm rads. and are relatively easy to install compared to the air coolers above.

thing to be wary about extra huge aircoolers is not to move your PC too much coz if you drop your chassis with a bit too much force may break your motherboard. as for watercoolers, it has a shorter lifespan compared to aircoolers like 5 years max. and the risk of damaging your other hardware from leakage.

 

[k.mazurk88]

I have the noctua d14 with the square and round fan with a 8700k at 4.9ghz and temps at idle are 21c and 65c under full load.

Awesome cooler imo.

 

[kgt1182]

Water cooling is not as hard as it used to be. Nowadays its just plug and play. Liquid All-In-One (AIO) coolers have the radiator, pump, tubing, waterblock and liquid all sealed in one.
It only requires you to mount the block on the CPU, like any air cooler.

The complicated variant of water cooling you are referring to is Custom Loop Liquid cooling. Custom loops are mainly for extreme overclockers wanted to push their chips to the absolute limit, and those setups are much harder.

For general watercooling I recommend you to get a 240mm liquid cooler, and some good 120mm fans. Dont forget your paste!

Edit: Here are a few AIOs you may want to consider. (no particular order)
Corsair Hydro H105 240mm
EVGA CLC 240mm
Thermaltake Water 240
Cooler Master Nepton 240L
NZXT Kraken X52 240mm
Deepcool Captain EX 240
...among many others

Happy building and have a nice day