( SOLVED) CPU Cooler Design Question, your opinions

[SyCoREAPER]

Hi all, new to the site. (Hopefully this is the right place, I was going off of other posts found with Google)
I've been around computers for about 15 years years and the last time I built one was probably 10. Recently I went half way and customized a prebuilt for way cheaper than I could have bought it the way I wanted. I apologize in advance for the long post but want to explain everything as much as possible upfront.

My setup is:
12 x 6 x 12 case (so it is fairly small)
Intel i3-7300
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 2400MHz
GTX 1050 TI SC
Corsair CX Series 750 PSU
Fans: 2x 90mm 4500RPM DBB 108 CFM


Temps are acceptable under load but I want to bring them down. I must face the cooler blowing air UP/TOP of the case. I have no front or back openings, only top.



The two coolers I have are my two options as I am budget restricted and space restricted, so please only let me know your thoughts between the two only, I already have them but have to decide which to keep.
Perhaps I am overthinking this but here are the two and my question.


Cooler Master Hyper T2

While the T2 has a greater surface area, it also shares/loops the heatpipes. While I can see the loop as an advantage I see bigger disadvantages.
Of course being heat rises. Won't the majority of the heat trap itself in the loop before heating the heatsink and once the heatsink is hot, won't that trapped air just stay hot in the loop since there is no direct cooling?
Also I am not finding any solid benchmarks on this cooler. So is looped good or bad?


The other option I have is:
Arctic Freezer 12 CO (dual ball bearing model)


This cooler has a smaller contact surface to the CPU but also has 3 (terminated? not sure the proper term) individual heat tubes at the bottom. So my thought here is the advantage being individual pipes but downside? being smaller contact area. On this cooler I was able to find some benchmarks 45.7C @full load on a i7-6700. So is will the smaller area affect much?


So what is everyone thought on this will be more efficient/better at cooling?

Thank you everyone in advance.

 

[GhislainG]

You can fit both in your case? The height of the Freezer 12 CO is 10 mm less than the Hyper T2. With your CPU I'd go with the newer Freezer 12 CO. You can't look at a cooler to determine its cooling performance; you have to check reviews like https://www.computerpoweruser.com/article/24347/review-arctic-freezer-12 Cooling your i3 is a lot easier.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

You can fit both in your case? The height of the Freezer 12 CO is 10 mm less than the Hyper T2. With your CPU I'd go with the newer Freezer 12 CO. You can't look at a cooler to determine its cooling performance; you have to check reviews like https://www.computerpoweruser.com/article/24347/review-arctic-freezer-12 Cooling your i3 is a lot easier.

Both indeed fit, T2 would barely fit.

I agree you can't go by looks but the looped design just doesn't seen efficient at a glance and I was concerned about the effect of the smaller contact area of the 12 CO but thats why I'm here, to get feedback.

Going to keep this going for a bit to see what others think as well.
Thanks for your input, that is what I was leaning towards as well.

 

[GhislainG]

The CPU is much smaller than you seem to believe; both coolers are larger than the core.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

The CPU is much smaller than you seem to believe; both coolers are larger than the core.

I am by no means arguing with you btw.
That is true however, the thing to keep in mind/my concern also was that I am rotating the cooler so that it is blowing up. By doing so, the heat sink is no longer running the same direction as the core, I know it's only off by a small amount and the spreader should help make up for that but that's where I was coming from.

(going based on MB diagram and where core actually under the spreader) Motherboard Image

Jeez, either I've been out of the game to long or things have gotten more complicated (or I am just way overthinking things).

 

[GhislainG]

Since both coolers are designed to be installed in any position on an Intel platform, you are way overthinking things. Look at the size of the CPU die for an i3-7360X: https://wccftech.com/intel-core-i3-7360x-cpu-x299-platform-leak/ Yours is even smaller.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

You can fit both in your case? The height of the Freezer 12 CO is 10 mm less than the Hyper T2. With your CPU I'd go with the newer Freezer 12 CO. You can't look at a cooler to determine its cooling performance; you have to check reviews like https://www.computerpoweruser.com/article/24347/review-arctic-freezer-12 Cooling your i3 is a lot easier.

Best Answer.

( I screwed up and made the wrong thread type )

Thank you for your help. The Freezer 12 CO is performing fantastic. OCCT isn't showing critical temperatures any more and overall temperature is better as well thanks to the better airflow

 

[BigBoomBoom]

While the T2 has a greater surface area, it also shares/loops the heatpipes. While I can see the loop as an advantage I see bigger disadvantages.
Of course being heat rises. Won't the majority of the heat trap itself in the loop before heating the heatsink and once the heatsink is hot, won't that trapped air just stay hot in the loop since there is no direct cooling?
Also I am not finding any solid benchmarks on this cooler. So is looped good or bad?

That's... not how it work. Heat pipe use vapourising liquid, as the liquid get hotter it vapourises into gas travel upward (not because it's hot but because it weighs less than liquid form). When the gas travel upward the heat is dissipated through the fins, temp drops and it liquefies again, drop downward.

Now Coolermaster has been trying this looping heat pipe concept for a while and it... doesn't do anything exceptional. It is not worse than traditional heat pipe though.

Usually the more heat pipes, the more cooling capability the heatsink can potentially handle (i.e TDP wattages). The more fin surface, the faster heat dissipation.

You are overthinking things. Your CPU is an i3-7000, even the stock cooler is plenty.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

While the T2 has a greater surface area, it also shares/loops the heatpipes. While I can see the loop as an advantage I see bigger disadvantages.
Of course being heat rises. Won't the majority of the heat trap itself in the loop before heating the heatsink and once the heatsink is hot, won't that trapped air just stay hot in the loop since there is no direct cooling?
Also I am not finding any solid benchmarks on this cooler. So is looped good or bad?

That's... not how it work. Heat pipe use vapourising liquid, as the liquid get hotter it vapourises into gas travel upward (not because it's hot but because it weighs less than liquid form). When the gas travel upward the heat is dissipated through the fins, temp drops and it liquefies again, drop downward.

Now Coolermaster has been trying this looping heat pipe concept for a while and it... doesn't do anything exceptional. It is not worse than traditional heat pipe though.

Usually the more heat pipes, the more cooling capability the heatsink can potentially handle (i.e TDP wattages). The more fin surface, the faster heat dissipation.

You are overthinking things. Your CPU is an i3-7000, even the stock cooler is plenty.

Thanks for the input, I agree with what you said. My specific question was very heavily upon (which you did answer later in the post) specifically the loop vs terminated pipes. Both seemed to have pros and cons in my mind.

As far as the stock cooler goes, it was adequate but not great.

The case is very small with limited ventilation (and options to enhance it). The CPU was not fairing well in OTTC tests and was generating enough heat to cause my GTX 1050 TI to heat up more as well.

New cooler pushes the hot air right out and temperatures are stable in OTTC and the GTX is even staying a full 10C cooler.

I'll have to get a picture but it is cramped, I know it's not ideal but I like the formfactor of the case and I couldn't even come close going custom or buying a prebuilt for the price that I customized this prebuilt machine.