Suggestions for Air Cooling i9-9900k

[nmmahner]

Ok, so before we get started, here are my current PC parts:
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Pro 5 RGB Mid-Tower
MB: GIGABYTE Z370 AORUS Gaming 7
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4

Ok, so now for the question. I am going to be upgrading my CPU this spring to a i9-9900k. I do not want to use liquid cooling, as i have had bad experiences in the past (very loud, and parts failure leading to damage). I want a high quality air cooler for my CPU that will fit in my rig. My research has led me to believe that the Noctua NH-D15 is as good as they come, but unfortunately it appears that it would likely need to go over my ram, and i would prefer that it didn't. (If this information is inaccurate for my build, let me know.)

I am looking for suggestions for a high end air cooler that will keep my i9-9900k cool, while not overlapping my RAM sticks. RGB would be great, but performance is my number 1 priority. Please, and thank you.

 

[Dragos Manea]

NH-D15 or Dark Rock PRO 4

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

I've been using the Kraken X62 Rev. 2 for a long time now sitting on my 6700k oc 4.6ghz @ 1.34v and it hasn't failed me yet. Albeit, it costs about $130
The vengeance LPX should be fairly low profile and should allow clearance for the cooler.
But if you want, can just double check clearance requirements for the noctua then check the height specs of your ram.

 

[rustigsmed]

just built my 9900k upgrade with the noctua nh d15 no problems. gaming in the 60s, handbrake test ~86 with one or two spikes up to 92. so perfectly fine @ 5ghz. have 4 sticks of ram, all good. also on these cpus it is really important to get a good mobo and quality vrm. gigabyte have lifted their game for the z390s.

 

[nmmahner]

Well, honestly, i think i am going to go with the "be quiet! BK022 Dark Rock Pro 4" Although after reading many reviews and watching many videos, i do recognize that the NH-D15 has a slight performance boost over a few other high end contenders, we are talking about a temp difference of less than four degrees. But with that, you have to deal with the ugliest of them because for some unknown reason, they only offer a beige/brown color scheme, which unsurprisingly doesn't look good in almost any build.

So, in summary, i have decided to go with the "be quiet! BK022 Dark Rock Pro 4".