Question Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE with LGA1700

THRobinson

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I am looking to upgrade to an i5-13600kf system and in another thread was told that the fan I was looking at wasn't powerful enough and a few people recommended the Assassin 120 series.

In Canada, seems they're about $70-90, but I saw the black 120 SE selling for $43 from one seller on Amazon, free ship so grabbed it.

Where I am confused is, Amazon says LGA1700. The manufacturer site, though sparse in detail, lists LGA1700. No asterisk or in brackets mentioning extra hardware.

But I keep seeing reviews about needing a $10 adapter for LGA1700. One review says it mounts fine to LGA1700 but you need to buy a CPU buckle? No idea what that is.

I grabbed the fan because cheap, but rest of the parts will likely be another month away. Will this fan work? Does it need extra hardware? Or does the newer SE model have all that?
 

Math Geek

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i have the same cooler and mine came with mounting hardware for the LGA1700

it's a great cooler for the money. keeps my 5900x nice and cool even with 200w pumping through it.

do note though that it is a big cooler and the ram slots on your mobo will be in the way. i have normal height ram and had to raise the cooler about a 1/4 inch to get above the ram. tall ram with all the bling will need to be accounted for even more.

the CPU buckle thing is fairly new but i don't recall which cpu's needed them or not. it is basically a brace to help keep the cpu from bending slightly. you'll have to google that question before buying. tom's did a story on them when tey came out so likely can find all the info right here.
 
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THRobinson

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Oh, seriously? I don't plan on getting any ram with RGB but in the reviews on YouTube so far, none have mentioned ram clearance issues. MAYBE Ryzen vs Intel issue?

I plan to use a non-overclocked i5-13600kf. I think power limit rating of 181w. Fan I think says handles 200w no problem. Hopefully I'm good.

Tight budget, may have to drop to an i5-12600k anyway, but, hopefully not.

Anyone else with memory clearance issues?
 

Math Geek

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you can see what i am talking about in this pic. this is from tom's review of the cooler

2hQGZZWkafWQzdRoce2obe-1920-80.jpg.webp


i did not raise the fan that much but i had to do this with mine to clear my ram. i'm probably only half as much as this one is but you can see it hangs over the ram slots a lot. for the cheap price and great performance i'll deal with a slightly raised fan :)

does not effect the cooling any but worth knowing ahead of time in case it would bother you too much.

here is tom's review if you want to read it.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se

i see maybe 125-150w on average with normal load. i think the 13600k is similar for day to day use. so it won't have any issue keeping it nice and cool.
 
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THRobinson

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Ya, offset fan by a few millimeters vs the cost, I can live with. I paid extra to get a full metal case with no windows so not gonna see it anyways. 😁

Hoping case is fine, should be, it's fairly large in size. Corsair Carbide 300r.

Wow, Amazon seller actually responded to my question, kinda rare. Said current offered models have the bracket now, so that's good, not old stock missing the part. Was wondering if that why it was cheap.

Saw some wattage use on OC systems with the i5 and that seems to push the limits some, but on stock it seems I'll be fine.

Also noticed that link to the review shows amazon.ca selling it at $93. So for $43 is a pretty decent deal. 👍
 

Math Geek

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from what i could gather, the non SE model can mount to more sockets. the SE cuts out a few less used sockets and saves a few bucks on the price. works for me, since i have the popular AM4 so don't really care if it mounts on a 6 yr old HEDT socket or whatever :)

i'm sure you'll love it as much as i do. was easy to install and works well and is cheap. that's a win win win in my book.
 

THRobinson

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from what i could gather, the non SE model can mount to more sockets. the SE cuts out a few less used sockets and saves a few bucks on the price. works for me, since i have the popular AM4 so don't really care if it mounts on a 6 yr old HEDT socket or whatever :)

i'm sure you'll love it as much as i do. was easy to install and works well and is cheap. that's a win win win in my book.

I also read that the non-SE has maybe 3 or 4 more fins at the top with the very top being a fancy banded cap, and the SE doesn't, which makes it shorter by 4-5mm. Apparently affects the temperature results, but only by a very very small margin. Kinda splitting hairs at that point.

So long as it comes with LGA1700 I'm not too worried about older boards/cpus. Though I still debate between AMD and Intel... I had hoped to upgrade around when COVID hit and at the time everyone was bonkers about Ryzen and their new breakthrough in speed, but then a year later everyone was asking why Ryzen? the Intel for the same price is much better.

I dunno... on a budget and I have a now 10yr old Xeon (4th Gen i7 basically) so.... anything current is probably faster, even an i3.
 

Math Geek

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i went with ryzen simply due to the much lower power draw and i could still get the high end cpu. let me get a pretty cheap mobo, the cheap quality cooler and still spend some extra on more ram and storage.

i'm a bang for the buck guy and don't care if i lose a few % of performance not getting the newest, latest, greatest if it is gonna cost me hundreds more. just not worth it to me. ryzen 7000 platform cost is too much as is the power hungry intel chips right now.

you could get a 5700x and save $100 and never even miss the 13600k. will likely save on the mobo as well. unless you sit back and do nothing but benchmark over and over you'll never even know the difference. put that extra money in your pocket or go a step up on gpu or more storage.

just my useless opinion anyway but it's your money and your call :)
 

THRobinson

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I'm kinda the same way. I use to do that but last system I bought I spent extra on knowing it be a while before the upgrade, and planned to upgrade when Covid first hit so, pushing 9yrs now with this system.

I use to alternate, upgrade system, then a year later the GPU, then a year later system, etc... but then the "i" systems came out (i3. i5, i7) and seemed like every year a new one was released, and often with minimal performance jumps. But that said, my 4th gen is gettin' sluggish and I finally got Borderlands 3 (I'm cheap, so won't buy games until under $15CAD on Steam) and between it and my GPU, it's running but on LOW settings. Fortnite just updated to Unreal 5.1 and I went from EPIC to HIGH.

Hoping the system now, then in FALL find a used RTX2070s and upgrade the GPU from my GTX1060 (jump up a model and a tier). Debated newer RTX3060 but the RTX2070s still out performs that.

RYZEN wise... I'll have to look into it. I've used Intel since my first build, a 486 DX/66. :D Yeah, I'm old. Stopped following tech years ago and just play catch-up at upgrade time. :D

So, 5700x is somewhat on-parr with the i5?
 

Math Geek

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i just retired a 4690k system myself. still in use as a home office pc with a friend but it served the house well over the years. i went nuts with ryzen and kept building with them and now we are all ryzen at the moment. at the time of the 4690k the amd fx series was not worth it vs intel so i went that way. and really i stuck with intel until ryzen came out and took back the bang for the buck crown in my eyes.

it's not so much what the 5700x is equivalent to in terms of i3/5/7/9 but how does the single core performance stack up. the cores are the same in each of the i's (well p cores anyway) you just get more of them and usually some extra cache.

there is a clear leap from a 5700x to a 13600k for sure. at least 25% at 1080p gaming (general average from various reviews). that is of course with a 4090 gpu or other top end part. at our lower budget and the gpu model you are considering that difference will be much less. both cpu's can ask for a lot more than the gpu can provide which removes the performance gain of the cpu. at higher resolutions the same applies to an even further extent.

so if you plan on a top end gpu that can do more than the cpu can ask for, then the 13000 series is worth the cost. but at our lower end of the market, that extra performance goes to waste a lot. that's just games of course, if you use it for other things that can use that extra core performance, then that extra $100 is worth considering. you really have to be honest with yourself about what you will do with the pc and what those needs rally are. i needed a ton of cores and ram so i went with the 5900x and 64gb ram to run a lot of vm's at once. pure speed was not needed as much as amount of resources for me.

all i know is i can run any game i want and enjoy it with the gpu installed. the key to enjoy your system is to not overthink it and get wrapped up in what could be different "if you just spent more!!" even if you buy top end today, in 6 months something new will be out that beats it. never ending cycle. :)

not saying no one needs those cpu's, just that one should evaluate their needs carefully rather than just going with the newest thing available.

as you noted though, if you know you will keep it for many years, then a bit more than needed today does keep it relevant a bit longer down the line. neither the ryzen 5000 series nor the current 13000 series will allow for a cpu upgrade down the line. so that's not a consideration. the AM4 platform is done with the 5000 series and intel will introduce a new platform with every other cpu as they always do. the 12 and 13000 series are all that will likely work on the same mobo. whatever is next (14000 series?) will likely bring a new mobo as well. so 2 or 3 gens down the line either way will bring a new mobo cost with it for sure.
 
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THRobinson

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Oh yeah, the "beast".... whatever you buy now, if you just waited another few months you coulda got that instead.

The other beast I am running into is, if you pay just another $25 you can get this instead... if already paying another $25, may as well round it up to $40 and make the leap into this better one. If you got that then you probably should take advantage of this feature and get better memory while at it.... next thing you know, "for just a little more" your system jumped up in price another 25%. :D

My goal is a used RTX270s video card upgrade. Newer model and higher tier than what I have, but still not "pro" level.

Other than some games, I use the PC a lot (daily almost) for shrinking video files for my media server. So, 30GB files shrunk down to 4GB H.265 files. Since started to include 4k files with 10bit SDR, well... depending what it is, can take 20-30h to shrink.

I'm also learning Fusion360 which is a bit sluggish the more complex stuff gets.

Problem with a lot of the reviews is exactly what you mentioned. Running an i5-13600k with a $1200 GPU like an rtx3080, with 64GB DDR5 ram. Hard to find average-user results. I have no idea how many cores get used or what cores get used. :D
 

Math Geek

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i am my own worst enemy and can upsell myself the same :) i've paired it back a lot with pc parts but in everything else i am my own worst enemy for sure. especially new cars. no chance i'm not getting the "platinum/titanium super hardcore edition" lol

what do you use to convert the video? the cpu does make a big difference in many of those programs. the new intel chips are much better than ryzen 5000 and by a long shot for things like blender and the like. for that alone i'd give the nod back to going new intel. should drop the time a good bit vs a 5700x.
 

THRobinson

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I use VidCoder. Basically Handbrake with a different GUI that I find works better. Though not tried Handbrake in a decade, maybe I should. :D

I will be using Adobe for video editing though soon. Not learned it yet, but plan to start a YouTube channel for guitar repair/restoration. I use Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop now a lot but still using CS6 so, computer is fine for that.
 
i have the same cooler and mine came with mounting hardware for the LGA1700

it's a great cooler for the money. keeps my 5900x nice and cool even with 200w pumping through it.

do note though that it is a big cooler and the ram slots on your mobo will be in the way. i have normal height ram and had to raise the cooler about a 1/4 inch to get above the ram. tall ram with all the bling will need to be accounted for even more.

the CPU buckle thing is fairly new but i don't recall which cpu's needed them or not. it is basically a brace to help keep the cpu from bending slightly. you'll have to google that question before buying. tom's did a story on them when tey came out so likely can find all the info right here.

How tall is your RAM Math Geek? I have Corsair Vengence LPX ram with the standard small heat sink, no RGB.

I don't mind an offset fan either if the cooling is good. I'll be swapping out a 3800x using a Corsair H60 AIO with a 5800x3d and the Peerless Asassin. Primary pc use is for gaming at 1440p with a 2070S in an NZXT 510h case (my profile pic). But the cooler height at 157mm doesn't leave me much clearance as the max cooler height for the case is 165mm.

Thanks.