[SOLVED] Looking for an optimal AIO for the 5900x

[5900x]

Hello,

I just bought a 5900x on a B550M motherboard at 16g 3200 ram. I am looking for suggestions for a good AiO 360mm for this CPU. It has to be 360 no 240 or 280. After reading and watching for days, I have zeroed in on the Arctic Freezer II ARGB.

However, what I find surprising is the price of this AIO is extremely affordable compared to top-of-the-line named other products, like an upto 10K(in my currency OR 135$) difference on Amazon and other stores. So now a bit confused when every other review is going ga-ga over how good this AIO is, why is this so affordable? Are the parts made of cheap things, or functionality is less or the efficiency or noisy or something?

So, is this good enough for the 5900x (including overclocking) to sustain for atleast 5 years? I'm not a frequent upgrader of tech, I do once in 5-6 years and I still haven't bought a new GPU due to everything that has happened since 2020 and still have my old 970GTX running. I intend to get a 3070 when possible in the future. Also I still have a Corsair 650w, would that be needing an upgrade as well for the 5900x+3070 combo?

I would appreciate if someone could help with my queries. Thanks.

 

[Phaaze88]

Can I ask why the 360mm?

Need to be more specific on the 'Corsair 650w'. There's been over 20 of them, and they're not created equally in quality. Performance also slowly degrades over time, so you should mention how old it is.

why is this so affordable?

-No LED/RGB
-In house pump design. That's cheaper for the company than the NZXTs and Corsairs you may see, of which the OEM is another company - usually Asetek. Some of that buck is passed on to the customer, go figure.
-Software isn't mandatory to run it. Looking at you, Corsair(iCUE) and NZXT(CAM). I believe some of the cost to keep that software updated is also passed on the customer.

So, is this good enough for the 5900x (including overclocking) to sustain for atleast 5 years?

Depends on you - use and abuse. I think there's some luck involved too.
Longevity isn't a strong suit for AIOs, although some users do manage to get 5+ years out of them.
You should also have a backup cooler on hand for whenever it does fail, or starts giving you trouble.

 

[5900x]

I choose 360mm because I will use the same PC to game and stream at 1080p for atleast 8hrs every day. I understand the longetivity part I was more asking like in it will work with my intense usage as mention here.

And it's a relatively new Corsair CV650 which was in the box but I think something better might be better for the 5900x combo, not sure.

 

[Phaaze88]

I choose 360mm because I will use the same PC to game and stream at 1080p for atleast 8hrs every day. I understand the longetivity part I was more asking like in it will work with my intense usage as mention here.

Sure? The big ol' AIO isn't going to reduce the amount of heat being released into your room. 180w is still 180w whether the part is running at 80C or 65C. Better cooling will make the system use more power, due to how the turbo boost works.

And it's a relatively new Corsair CV650 which was in the box but I think something better might be better for the 5900x combo, not sure.

That would've been ok... for a 2060. The poor power efficiency of RTX 30 has set the bar higher in regards to which psus should be used with them.

Article - [psucultists] PSU tier list rev. 14.8 (Final Update Jul '21)

PSU Tier List 4.0 rev. 14.8 (outdated) Last Update: 12-07-2021 Legend : Gray - EoL/obsolete and/or otherwise not recommended for purchase. Green - small form-factor (gold and blue colors are disregarded due to scarcity of SFX PSUs) Gold - best units in the tier (includes requirements for blue...

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Something from Tier A would be best.
A few popular recommendations:
Corsair RMX - avoid the RM-nonX, those are known by some not to get along well with RTX 30, especially the higher end.
Seasonic Focus PX
EVGA Supernova G2
Superflower Leadex III Gold

 

[5900x]

Thanks for the info on the Corsair I will check on those.

Coming back to AIO, I thought/read the triple fans lengthier radiator setup would distribute more heat and stay more silent compared to a two fan 280?

When I got the CPU I didn't actually decide on the AIO so the dealer put a 120mm Corsair basic Hydro along with it and send it through to me, I didn't even ask for it. Though as I'm using it, on default Bios and CPU stock settings, it sits idle 35-42c and hits anywhere between 65-75c on most games, some games like Warzone, Back 4 Blood beta and Cyberpunk even push the temps beyond to 82c. I don't want to see temps beyond 70c to be honest, even though Ryzens are designed to run hotter. And as much as I have read them saying things like 95c is the expected temp to be hit as the CPU boosts for a higher clock, I would prefer it to be cooler for longer periods especially when streaming.

I'm not exactly a high tech power user who puts things by hand, so sometimes I might sound outlandish and outdated, so please bear with me during my misinformations.

 

[Phaaze88]

Coming back to AIO, I thought/read the triple fans lengthier radiator setup would distribute more heat and stay more silent compared to a two fan 280?

It has a higher capacity to soak heat, but it still needs to get out of the PC.

More silent? No, I've noticed the opposite. I've used/using the following coolers:
Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 360
Fractal Celsius S36, Celsius+ S28 Dynamic
Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power, Silver Arrow IB-E Extreme
Noctua NH-D15S
Cooler Master Hyper 212
And found that the ones that use 140mm fans were better overall. The 140mm fans can move as much air as the 120mm(at the same rpm) while having a nicer sound profile.
Thus, the 140mm coolers ended up doing just as well or better, because I could comfortably run the fans faster. No more 120mm coolers for me, if I can help it.

Since AIOs are more or less the 'same ol' same ol' these days(innovation has stagnated) much of the difference between them comes down to the fans and your ears(comfort zones).

I'm not exactly a high tech power user who puts things by hand, so sometimes I might sound outlandish and outdated, so please bear with me during my misinformations.

No problems here!

 

[5900x]

It has a higher capacity to soak heat, but it still needs to get out of the PC.

But doesn't a proper airflow case take care of that? I was checking out the Antec Flux DF600/700 for that, nothing too expensive but a moderately starter optimal build. I plan to put the AIO at top and one fan at the rear for exhaust while three fans in the front and two on top of the PSU shroud take care of the intake.

And if 280mm what brand do you suggest say in the 200$ price?

 

[logainofhades]

The arctic freezer AIO's are very good units, that have reviewed quite well.

 

[5900x]

The arctic freezer AIO's are very good units, that have reviewed quite well.

Indeed, but that particular size and of that brand are completely out of stock everywhere(in my region) due to reviews, so a 360mm I can get instantly and I don't want to settle on a 240mm.

The bottomline, I just want my CPU to be cooler preferably<65c under intense(gaming+streaming) load and not peak as it is doing now in specific situations.

Also, if need be I will undervolt it a tad bit if it still doesn't cool enough. It is auto boosting right now to 4.9ghz and that is where the temps come from with this basic cooler.

 

[Phaaze88]

I'm making this more confusing than it needed to be - I know I don't have the best way with words...

The bottomline, I just want my CPU to be cooler preferably<65c under intense(gaming+streaming) load and not peak as it is doing now in specific situations.

Then your whole system power consumption is more important than some 360mm AIO mounted at the top.
Plus, with a cpu temperature target like that, on a 5900X? The turbo boost algorithm is far too aggressive for that. You're not going to be able to do that without gimping the cpu's performance. HARD.

 

[5900x]

I'm making this more confusing than it needed to be - I know I don't have the best way with words...


Then your whole system power consumption is more important than some 360mm AIO mounted at the top.
Plus, with a cpu temperature target like that, on a 5900X? The turbo boost algorithm is far too aggressive for that. You're not going to be able to do that without gimping the cpu's performance. HARD.

Ok let me rephrase that, it would be nice if it doesn't hit 80c (on autoboost) as it has to work for extended periods of time every day. I can still limit the clock manually though as I'm doing now (4ghz,1.2v) without much hit in perfomance but I'm more thinking in terms of the future with a 3070 and more performance during the workload.

Well but the question remains, if not a 360mm and no stock of 280mm AFiii what would be the next better option for the 280?

 

[logainofhades]

The AFII 360 and 280 perform similarly, according to GN reviews

 

[Phaaze88]

It would be nice if it doesn't hit 80C, but if you want more performance, you need to let it boost properly.
Manual clocks tend to hurt performance on Ryzen in applications that depend more on single thread performance, such as games, because of the primary command thread designated by the game engine.
The faster it can complete those commands, the better.
It does affect the gpu too, because the cpu + ram work together to feed it a constant river of pre-rendered frames. Now, you can let the river flow faster, or let it flow more slowly.

We can't avoid passing the energy from one cooler to the other, so we should pick the 'lesser evil' between the following:
Do you let the power being used by the cpu feed into the gpu cooler, or do you let the gpu's feed into the cpu cooler? It's normally not a big deal, but since you seem to be seriously gunning to keep the 5900X below a threshold it was already ok with, well...
The 5900X is perhaps an 180w part in an extreme scenario(it's not going to use that much regularly), whereas the 3070 is 240w for the FE. Aftermarket models usually have higher limits.
Plus, both the 5900X and 3070 have their performance tied to thermals and power consumption.

Several hours of playtime though? Eventually, there's no avoiding higher thermals. The energy coming out of your PC will warm up your room ambient, and inevitably feed back into the chassis, and warm up its ambient, in turn, making the coolers operate at higher temperatures.
Probably not too big of a deal if you live in a colder climate, but in warmer ones, that does mean having to run the A/C for longer periods, and cost of electricity isn't the same everywhere.
Also, due to the higher thermal tolerance of liquid and the greater volume of liquid in them(compared to air coolers), it takes longer for AIOs to cool down.




Short(er) version: Get a Liquid Freezer II 280, and front mount it(intake, obviously), or get something like a Deepcool AS500 or Thermalright Macho Rev. C.
Probably don't overclock, nor use high performance power plans either = lower overall power consumption.

 

[logainofhades]

The 5900x can't be terrible to cool. A $30 Vetroo 5 handles it. 🤣

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LDz-uDKoJo

 

[Phaaze88]

From what I've read/watched, it's not. It's the 5800X perhaps, that caused all the scares.

 

[logainofhades]

From what I've read/watched, it's not. It's the 5800X perhaps, that caused all the scares.

Yea that is a highly binned full chiplet, which is why it is so hot. Though mine does ok, with a Cryorig A40.

 

[5900x]

Ok thanks for the responses and the time guys. I will look into it.