Build Advice Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE For A - i7 14700k

[ccoo84]

I recently made the decision to purchase the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE air cooler for my 14th Gen Intel i7-14700K processor Due to budget constraints. The cooling solution is designed to offer superior thermal performance at an affordable price.


I've been wondering if this was the best choice for the money. I’ve been considering whether the Peerless Assassin 120 SE will be sufficient for my needs or if I should have opted for a 240mm or 360mm AIO cooler for better cooling under load.
But like I said its due to budget concerns.
Peerless Assassin 120 SE

Do you think for gaming it will be ok with a little all the above editing, Compiling code, & recording Music?
Thank you.

 

[bill001g]

This one generally is try it and see if you get thermal throttle on hwinfo64.

If you keep the 14700k at the intel recommended levels you should have no issues. If you do something like set the p1/p2 to unlimited it will hit the thermal throttle limit even with the largest AIO in existence. Intel used to say you could run it like that with no danger. After they had some other non related bios issues fry cpu they have not been as vocal about overclocking.

What you will find if you look through all the cooler reviews is that air cooler and other with similar design are fine for almost everyone. What the reviews also show is that these coolers are the same or beat 240 AIO. To get more you need to go to a 360.

The only application that maxes out the heat is something that runs all cores at the maximum. More common applications max out a couple of the cores and leave the rest idle.

 

[ccoo84]

Yeah, I have a feeling I will be upgrading it after awhile.. I don't plan to overclock it on the aircooler. I just need something to get me by for now with out it degrading the CPU.

 

[bill001g]

A added thought. There are actually three versions of that cooler. V2 and V3 coming out later. Not a huge difference different fans that can run higher RPM... of course with more noise.

 

[geofelt]

What is the make/model of your case?
Cooling for either AIO or air needs a good source of fresh air to let the cooler do it's job.
Heat generation should not be much of a problem.
Your usage is not going to fully load all threads that generate heat like a batch app might.

The assassin should be fine.

 

[ccoo84]

What is the make/model of your case?
Cooling for either AIO or air needs a good source of fresh air to let the cooler do it's job.
Heat generation should not be much of a problem.
Your usage is not going to fully load all threads that generate heat like a batch app might.

The assassin should be fine.

Cooler Master XB Evo

 

[geofelt]

I have the HAF XB evo, and it is a very good case for air cooling.

 

[VizzieTheViz]

It’ll be fine, it’s a pretty good air cooler.

A 360 aio will probably do a little better but if you’re going to spend so much for so little extra performance why not buy a faster pc in the first place.