Is a CPU cooler required

[SatanLucifer]

I am buying an i5 4440 CPU and would like to know if I should buy a CPU cooler separately.

 

[WildCard999]

The stock cooler should be fine for that cpu. Try it and check your temps, if they exceed 70C on load then you will need a aftermarket cooler but try the stock one first.

 

[Eximo]

That CPU should be fine with the stock cooler. If you intend heavy use you might want an aftermarket CPU cooler to keep it a little quieter. Cooler Master Hyper TX3 is my usual recommendation because it fits in most cases.

 

[SatanLucifer]

Even if I dont use a cpu cooler and do heavy gaming then will the cpu be damaged

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

You don't need a cooler , the one that comes with it will do fine.

 

[WildCard999]

Even if I dont use a cpu cooler and do heavy gaming then will the cpu be damaged

If you don't use a cooler at all you WILL DESTROY THAT CPU!

 

[SatanLucifer]

Even if I dont use a cpu cooler and do heavy gaming then will the cpu be damaged

If you don't use a cooler at all you WILL DESTROY THAT CPU!

I will be using the stock cooler that comes with the CPU.My question was that do I need to purchase an extra CPU cooler?

 

[boosted1g]

You have to use a cpu cooler, but the cpu comes with a stock one.

As stated you will likely be fine with stock cooler but watch your temps, if they get over 70C then you will need an aftermarket cooler.

If you find you need a better cooler then one of the most preferred ones is the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO which runs $30-35

 

[cosmo77]

The cooler that comes with your cpu will work fine as long as you use your cpu in the way it was meant to be used even if you you your computer for heavy gaming and under heavy load constantly. At worse case if your cpu got too hot, which is unlikely, your cpu would throttle itself to a lower speed and allow the extra heat to be dissipated.

The way it was meant to be used is that you plug it into your motherboard and do not raise the cpu above its manufacturer limits 'ie overclocking'.

Some people who do not overclock still use an aftermarket cpu cooler, i am one of those people. The reason I use the aftermarket cooler is because of noise more than anything else. Other reasons that you would use an aftermarket cooler would be that you want to avoid any possible throttling or that you live in a very hot climate where the ambient temperature keeps the cpu a little hotter than normal.

Bottom line though is that you can't hurt by you not not installing an aftermarket cooler because the cpu will throttle itself to a slower speed should it get too hot to allow itself to cool. If it was unable to shed enough heat by throttling down it would shut down your pc before any damage could occur due to high temperature.

 

[WildCard999]

Even if I dont use a cpu cooler and do heavy gaming then will the cpu be damaged

If you don't use a cooler at all you WILL DESTROY THAT CPU!

I will be using the stock cooler that comes with the CPU.My question was that do I need to purchase an extra CPU cooler?

You don't need it unless your temps start to reach over 70C on load which I doubt that cpu even with a stock cooler will get that high if you've properly mounted it and are not stress testing the cpu.