[SOLVED] Should I upgrade the Wraith Spire CPU cooler?

[Orcka]

I currently have a 3600X attached with the stock wraith spire cooler that came with the box.

I am not too interested in overclocking just yet, since none of the games I play require it, but I was wondering if it is worth it to purchase something like the Hyper 212 for $35 more?

Since it's the middle of summer, the cpu is currently fluctuating between 50C-60C on idle, and around the 60C-75C mark when playing high intensive games.

So assuming that I DONT overclock the CPU, is it worth the upgrade? It is a bit on the louder end compared to other coolers, but again I am not sure if it is worth $35 to be slightly quieter.

This is something of a purely subjective topic I understand, but I would like to hear all of your inputs none the less.

 

[extreme_noob]

If you are doing no OC, stock cooler should be fine.
Your idle temps are 5-10C above normal, but thats probably because of ambient temps. Your load temps are fine.

 

[Karadjgne]

Temps are within amd spec'd limits. Idle is high due to ambient temps and maybe airflow, you might think about adjusting the case fans curve slightly to increase fan rpm. It could be that you could see some improvement by adjusting cpu fan curves too. Get what air is inside the case moving before it really gets a chance to heat up.

Since there's really nothing working wrong, any change will be your own personal choice. Even with a good cooler, idle temps won't drop much at all, and as close as load temps are to idle, there's not much room for improvement there either, but a bigger and more efficient cooler will be quieter.

 

[Orcka]

Temps are within amd spec'd limits. Idle is high due to ambient temps and maybe airflow, you might think about adjusting the case fans curve slightly to increase fan rpm. It could be that you could see some improvement by adjusting cpu fan curves too. Get what air is inside the case moving before it really gets a chance to heat up.

Since there's really nothing working wrong, any change will be your own personal choice. Even with a good cooler, idle temps won't drop much at all, and as close as load temps are to idle, there's not much room for improvement there either, but a bigger and more efficient cooler will be quieter.

Do you know by any chance what the noise difference is between the 2 coolers? (The wraith spire vs the 212 evos)? at, let's say around 1000 and 2000 RPM?

 

[extreme_noob]

According to this, the 212 Evo is actually noisier:

https://imgur.com/a/0C5NyQS

View: https://imgur.com/a/0C5NyQS

 

[Karadjgne]

That's actually kinda subjective. According to the review, yes, the hyper212 is louder, but the Wraith is noisier. It's a slightly smaller fan, spins slightly faster and the audible pitch of the noise is higher. Most ppl will notice it far more than the lower pitch of the CM.

For instance I personally can't stand the 3x gigabyte fans on their gpus. They may be quiet mostly, but they are right at that one pitch that is vastly different from the case fans, so I pick it out of the background.

 

[Orcka]

That's actually kinda subjective. According to the review, yes, the hyper212 is louder, but the Wraith is noisier. It's a slightly smaller fan, spins slightly faster and the audible pitch of the noise is higher. Most ppl will notice it far more than the lower pitch of the CM.

For instance I personally can't stand the 3x gigabyte fans on their gpus. They may be quiet mostly, but they are right at that one pitch that is vastly different from the case fans, so I pick it out of the background.

I decided to do a test with my current system, and turn off the wraith fan, apperently I can't tell the difference of the wraith being on or off at around 1200 RPM to 0 RPM.

In other words, maybe the stock fans of my H500 are what are causing the majority of the noise from the system. I also have an msi ventus, which also seems to have the same effect.

Maybe I should replace the H500 fans lol.

 

[Orcka]

If I decide to do overclocking, what cooler should I use?

I feel that the 212 evo doesn't provide much cooling, but maybe since it redirects air to the back of the case, I can get 5-10 degrees less in value.

 

[Karadjgne]

You can't ever over cool a cpu in a pc. You can very easily undercool one though. So the size and/or capacity of the cooler will depend on just what your goals are. For just a small-mild OC, even the hyper212 is fine, or the Arctic esports etc. But if you want push the OC to its limits, a much more capable cooler will be needed, Evan as far as 240/280 aios or giant air.

 

[Azzyasi]

That's actually kinda subjective. According to the review, yes, the hyper212 is louder, but the Wraith is noisier. It's a slightly smaller fan, spins slightly faster and the audible pitch of the noise is higher. Most ppl will notice it far more than the lower pitch of the CM.

For instance I personally can't stand the 3x gigabyte fans on their gpus. They may be quiet mostly, but they are right at that one pitch that is vastly different from the case fans, so I pick it out of the background.

That's why the testing is measured in dB(A) to account for the particularities of the human ear that for the same sound pressure the human perception is vastly influenced by the frequency of the sound, some frequiencyes are havily atenuated others are slightly gained. This "A" weightening of the dB is appling already this chart of atenuation.
Something still remains at discussion, the prefference of a particular frequency. Both sounds are equaly loud (in human ear perception, hence dBA) but have different tones and frequency.. so a loud 300Hz might be preffered more than a loud 2kHz sound.

 

[Karadjgne]

Yep. And that doesn't even take into account harmonics, transfered acoustics, noise cancelation etc. Asus and msi may not always have the top performance, that usually is gigabyte or Zotac, but to me there's a huge difference in fans. I'll take a slightly lower performance msi with its twin frozr fans over a hi-po gigabyte any day.

I see a lot of posts with only one criteria 'the best' and that's so subjective it's incredible. I'd be far happier with a quieter pc, even loosing out on 5-10fps, than maximum performance benchmark beasts.