Pick me a cooler for mild OC of i7 920

[jamieWakeham]

This is the second phase of my project to renovate my PC - not that it's vital, but my previous thread where I've been helped with some general decisions is here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3289722/cost-effective-upgrades-920-system.html

This thread is specifically to choose an upgrade to my stock cooler to allow for some mild overclocking.

My current system: ASUS P6T, i7-920, 3 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz, NVIDIA 9800GT. Velociraptor 150GB as boot drive, and a slow 500GB data drive, likely to add an SSD soon.

My case is a PCSpecialist.co.uk 'Trigon'. They don't seem to offer it any more, and I can't find all that much information about it. It wil have been a relatively cheap option, but it does have front and rear case fans and quite a bit of side ventilation.

My CPU with the standard Intel cooler runs at around 10-15 degrees C above ambient whilst idling. An hour of OCCT saw it get to 60 degrees above ambient.

My intention is to OC lightly - aiming for between 3.2 and 3.5GHz, but I'd rather extend the chip's lifetime than cook it for the sake of an extra 0.2GHz.

Given the issues of an X58 board with tall RAM right next to the CPU, I think that a Cryorig H5 Universal is my best choice - I see them available for less than £50, and it sounds like they're easy to install. Looks like it has better performance than, say, the CM Hyper 212X.

Does that sound about right? Or have I missed something? I don't think I need to go as far as water cooling for my aims, and whilst sound levels aren't my priority, I would prefer to keep it on the quieter side.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Chugalug_]

Cryorig M9i should be plenty of cooling, and is supported by the socket.
Goes for $19 on Newegg.

 

[jamieWakeham]

According to the Cryorig site, the M9i doesn't fit socket 1366?

 

[Chugalug_]

Oh, jeez, my bad.
Accidentally read 1156 as 1336.... :/
Get the Cooler Master 212 Evo, check if it meets your case's CPU height limits though.

 

[jamieWakeham]

Thanks, Chugalug. I guess you're saying that the H5 is simply overkill for my requirements?

I was initially pretty much set on the EVO 212, which I can get for £31 delivered. But then I saw people complain it was a tricky install, and there seem to be questions about whether it will fit over my tall RAM.

I can get the H5 delivered for £50, so not significantly more expensive. I'm the kind of person who will happily pay an extra £19 for ease of installation! Both will fit my case, with about 15mm to spare. I have access to the bottom of the motherboard.

I'm also the kind of person who wants to buy once and re-use kit as long as possible - which is why I'm still on the CPU and motherboard I bought in 2009... It looks like the H5 is actually about 5 degrees cooler in most situations, and so might have a longer useful life on whatever my next build will be? Both coolers support LGA 1150 and 1151.

Given that, does it look like the H5 is at a sweet spot of cost/performance? I certainly don't think I want to spend £80 on a Noctua D15.

On a tangent, I presume the best orientation (for whichever I get) is going to be with the cooler fan pulling air over the RAM and into the heatsink, and then the case fan directly behind the heatsink pulling air out of the case in the same direction?

Cheers
Jamie

 

[Chugalug_]

The H5 is way overkill. 😛
I see you're in the UK.
Generally you install it facing the exhaust fan; towards the rear.
Get this, performs better than the 212 Evo.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3HGj4D/thermaltake-riing-silent-12-red-530-cfm-cpu-cooler-cl-p022-al12re-a

 

[jamieWakeham]

Ah - at £36 delivered, that might be an interesting compromise between the EVO 212 and the H5. I'll take a look. Thanks!

 

[Chugalug_]

No worries.