[SOLVED] What cooler do I use for Intel Core i9-12900K?

[Astralv]

What Air cooler do I use for Intel Core i9-12900K? And is Arctic Silver paste good for it? (already ordered the paste). Thank you.

 

[Why_Me]

What Air cooler do I use for Intel Core i9-12900K? And is Arctic Silver paste good for it? (already ordered the paste). Thank you.

Wait for the reviews on that cpu so you know how much watts it uses and how much heat it produces. By then there will be more conversion kits for that socket. Until those reviews nobody knows what cooler is right for it.

 

[dwd999]

I have an 11900K and I use a Noctua NH-D15 for that. So I already went onto Amazon and bought the Noctua socket 1700 kit NM-i17xx-MP83 rather than wait for the rush next month. I also bought some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut which is a higher rated paste, so I'm all set.

 

[Astralv]

I have an 11900K and I use a Noctua NH-D15 for that. So I already went onto Amazon and bought the Noctua socket 1700 kit NM-i17xx-MP83 rather than wait for the rush next month. I also bought some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut which is a higher rated paste, so I'm all set.

Thank you for sharing. Wow- it is big! I need something simple, I am not a gamer, this is for video editing. Although, I noticed fans start spinning during rendering, so it might heat up under load, I am not sure. Thank you.

 

[dwd999]

Thank you for sharing. Wow- it is big! I need something simple, I am not a gamer, this is for video editing. Although, I noticed fans start spinning during rendering, so it might heat up under load, I am not sure. Thank you.

At lot depends on how your video software is designed. I use the Movavi Video Editor Plus and when exporting videos, I can click on the Task Manager and see that the 3D and Video Decode functions of the GPU portion of my 11900K are running a near 100 percent but the other cores are not running very high at all. So as a whole the CPU heats up some but not as much as I might think. OTOH if I run a Windows Defender virus scan, that will really stress all the CPU cores and heat way up quickly to near maximum. I need the fan power for that.

 

[Karadjgne]

Expect the 12900k at full boost on all cores to be well above the 200w mark.

It's not a 'gamer' thing, it's a core use and heat output thing. There's plenty of video editing related software that uses up very large amounts of cpu power, some using upto 100% of what a cpu can use. The gpu isn't used for everything video related.

Do not make the mistake of thinking the big air coolers are not 'simple'. There's exactly No difference between the tiny, pathetic Intel stock coolers and a Noctua NH-D15. Both are exactly the same in all respects except 2. Size and ability. It's just a larger heatsink and larger fans. That makes for larger cooling capacity, which is guaranteed to be needed with a 12900k.

If in doubt, watch any of the unboxing videos on YouTube. MSI, Asus sent a 12900k to several and included a 360mm AIO for cooling. There's a reason for that. It's necessary.

What cooler would I use on a 12900k? A 360mm AIO, 280mm AIO or full custom loop. The 12900k has 8 p-cores, 16 threads and 8 e-cores. That's basically an 11900k + a redesigned Atom cpu under the same lid. It's going to get hot, period.

 

[TerryLaze]

Expect the 12900k at full boost on all cores to be well above the 200w mark.

It's going to be either 125 or 241W choosable by the user from bios.

AstralV you have to look at benchmarks when they get available to see if there is enough of a performance difference between the two for your software to make it worth it for you to go with the higher power draw that needs a bigger fan.

For example for the 11700k there was like a 1% difference in performance for a huge amount of higher power.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i7-11700k-cpu-review/2

 

[Karadjgne]

It's going to be either 125 or 241W choosable by the user from bios

Maybe. Asus will most likely stick to Intel guidelines as far as bios goes, and make options for unlocked powerlimits available. Gigabyte historically has ignored Intel guidelines under the guise of 'highest performing motherboard advertising' and set ungodly high powerlimits as default 'performance mode', which most users seem to automatically choose. I'd not be surprised to see closer to the 283w peak power from the 11700k, if not higher.
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/...erboards-with-default-settings-for-your-build.

If you look at asus mobo's, they follow the intel guidelines for PL1 drop (±) after 56 seconds, the others don't. If you further look at 'default' settings for msi and asrock as shown, default puts PL1 and PL2 at 4095w, 255x multiplier limits etc. All in Windows, so bios is subverted after boot. This is at a mobo level, so no matter what the bios shows as Auto settings, surprise! you get max boosts and an overly hot cpu.

I don't see the AIB's doing much different with 12thgen.

 

[Astralv]

This will be my 6th or 7th build, limited experience. Asus has these boosting settings in BIOS, I tried it before, it feels better. I used Evo fan cooler on one of my builds and it was protruding over memory slots so I had to use low profile memory. I usually use Corsair Vengeance Pro, but Corsair Dominator looks super tall, so the fan should stay within CPU limits and not cover memory slots. Can anybody post some specific products, please? Thank you.

 

[Astralv]

This will be my 6th or 7th build, limited experience. Asus has these boosting settings in BIOS, I tried it before, it feels better. I used Evo fan cooler on one of my builds and it was protruding over memory slots so I had to use low profile memory. I usually use Corsair Vengeance Pro, but Corsair Dominator looks super tall, so the fan should stay within CPU limits and not cover memory slots. Can anybody post some specific products, please? Thank you.
This is Cooler Master Evo V2. They claim that they improved clearance over memory slots. What you think?
Hyper 212 V2 CPU Air Cooler | Cooler Master

 

[geofelt]

What is the make/model of your case?
You usually need 160mm headroom for a top air cooler.
As well as a good intake airflow.
Noctua maintains a list of coolers suitable for various processors.
Here is the list for the i9-12900K:
https://ncc.noctua.at/cpus/model/Intel-Core-i9-12900K-1577
I am surprised that they think even a NH-U12s would do the job.

And... most coolers will come with suitable paste.
Differences in performance are not much worrying about.

 

[Karadjgne]

Ram clearance? NH-D15S, Scythe Fuma2. Ram clearance will not be the biggest obstacle. The motherboard will be. The Z690 motherboards rated to easily handle the 12900k have absolutely massive heatsinking around the VRM's and other voltage regulatory circuitry near the socket. For the highest end boards designed to really open up the 12900k to its full potential, expect use of an AIO to be standard cooling, with very few options for air cooling. I'm seriously doubting the Scythe Fuma2 will be in much use as low as it sits to the motherboard.

 

[geofelt]

Good point on motherboard compatibility.
Here is the noctua list for motherboard compatibility:
https://ncc.noctua.at/motherboards/all/LGA 1700

Sampling the list, it looks to me like most all mainstream motherboards will be ok.

 

[TerryLaze]

Maybe. Asus will most likely stick to Intel guidelines as far as bios goes, and make options for unlocked powerlimits available. Gigabyte historically has ignored Intel guidelines under the guise of 'highest performing motherboard advertising' and set ungodly high powerlimits as default 'performance mode', which most users seem to automatically choose. I'd not be surprised to see closer to the 283w peak power from the 11700k, if not higher.
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/...erboards-with-default-settings-for-your-build.

If you look at asus mobo's, they follow the intel guidelines for PL1 drop (±) after 56 seconds, the others don't. If you further look at 'default' settings for msi and asrock as shown, default puts PL1 and PL2 at 4095w, 255x multiplier limits etc. All in Windows, so bios is subverted after boot. This is at a mobo level, so no matter what the bios shows as Auto settings, surprise! you get max boosts and an overly hot cpu.

I don't see the AIB's doing much different with 12thgen.

What's maybe about it? Your gamersnexus article says that you can change these settings, and as far as I know every mobo that has these settings boosted has these settings in bios so you can put them back to normal.

If you don't want to mess with bios ixtu or throttlestop can be used in windows to set the limits.

The biggest problem is the user knowing about this not the mobos using boosted defaults.

 

[Karadjgne]

I'm thinking we are both wrong. And right. The motherboards do boost with crazy limits, and can be adjusted in bios, yet owners don't know of the surprises in the boards and most don't know what or how to change or are afraid of getting into deeper bios settings than XMP.

I'm thinking the bigger issue is lack of communication by the vendors. They do not specify that the boards are boosted as such, so Default Auto (literally the plug and play) settings create over-heat issues where they should not. Factory Default settings should follow Intel guidelines, instead they are a factory supplied OC.

 

[Astralv]

For the motherboard, I would like to stick to Asus as I understand it and able to figure things out and find things. I was thinking to get Hero model. It is kind of ridiculous to pay 600$ for MoBo, but this is what they want for it. I do need Thunderbolt, and less expansive motherboards have TB Header- it probably would need some card that will never become available. My Caby Lake and Hero board use special card for my audio interface with TB connection.

 

[Karadjgne]

Bios between vendors is all the same. Just different naming schemes and placements. DOCP, A-Xmp, EOCP, all the same XMP setting, for example. Some bios are built differently, but that's usually per model and runs across all the vendors. You don't get nearly the same diversity with the base model VDH or Prime or Pro as you do with an Ace or Hero or Master level board.

So if you are comfortable with adjusting bios settings, whether that's OC or undervolting or just cleaning up and streamlining the pc, then you can do it with most mobo's of that level. I'm comfortable dealing with mid-upper range, like the Hero, but show me a Maximus Extreme or Taichi or Master bios, I'm lost, just far too many settings I'm clueless about. Much will depend on your level of technical expertise in cpu, ram and system settings, and not so much based on knowing what name asus or msi or gigabyte calls vcore or vccio etc.

 

[dwd999]

Good point on motherboard compatibility.
Here is the noctua list for motherboard compatibility:
https://ncc.noctua.at/motherboards/all/LGA 1700

Sampling the list, it looks to me like most all mainstream motherboards will be ok.

Thanks for this info. It looks like I won't be able to use my D15 so I'll need to either go back to a C14S or consider an AIO. Or is see there's an H670 that's compatible so I may go with that.

 

[Karadjgne]

Planning is everything. It's one thing for ppl to just throw out a build using parts they got from PCPartPicker on the 'cheap' list, it's another entirely when you have to factor in dimensions, whether the cooler is going to hit the glass, the heatsinks, the ram choice, colors, case size, aesthetics etc.

The old saying 'measure twice, cut once' very much applies.

 

[dwd999]

Planning is everything. It's one thing for ppl to just throw out a build using parts they got from PCPartPicker on the 'cheap' list, it's another entirely when you have to factor in dimensions, whether the cooler is going to hit the glass, the heatsinks, the ram choice, colors, case size, aesthetics etc.

The old saying 'measure twice, cut once' very much applies.

You're right, so I just revised my plan based on this new information. According to Noctua and ASUS, if I switch from a Strix-E to a Strix-G mATX I'll be OK to continue air cooling with the D15. I'll get almost all the same features but will go from 16+1 to 14+1 power stages so the motherboard VRM heatsinks are smaller and compatible. After that I'll lose 2 case fan connectors that I didn't plan on using anyway. In a lot of ways the Z690 Strix-G is very similar to the Z590 Strix-E that I'm using now so my upgrade should go smoothly. I'll probably wait until January to finalize this plan so I can see what kind of memory sticks are available and if there are any new m.2 ssd breakthroughs. So I'm all set thanks to you.

 

[geofelt]

There will be a decision to make on ram.
DDR4 vs. DDR4.
To date, I have not seen any leaks as to what the difference will be.
It looks like the DDR5 and DDR5 motherboards will be priced at a premium and may be scarce.
In the past, there has been little performance differences between DDR3 and DDR4.
The benefit is mostly reduced power.
Until Nov4 release, there will be little you can go on.

Patience.....

 

[Karadjgne]

When DDR4 2133/2400 was released, for gaming purposes at the time, games didn't make use of the extra bandwidth afforded by DDR4, so as a consequence of the looser timings the higher end DDR3 got better fps. Production, sure, was somewhat better if it was memory intensive, but not for games as a whole.

DDR5 doesn't look to be any different, especially at stock settings. Looking at the 38/40 Cas timings of DDR5 4800/5200, that's going to put a damper on things compared to 3600/16 or 3200/14. Gskill is headed in the right direction with its 6000/36, but even that'll be close.

The high clock speeds are impressive, but if it's taking that long to get data stuffed through, not going to make much, if any, real benefit to most games currently.

 

[Astralv]

Noctua- horrible website. Pictures would not load, everything is confusing. Coolers on the list that supposed to be compatible with LGA 1700 dont list LGA 1700. They point "Read this" and "read that"- what about people that dont want to read this and that? Why not just put it on the first page: THIS ONE works. Not many people have time to research it for days. Lucky for them- nothing is available, I got my Windows 11, that's all I could get, but they not making it simple.

 

[Why_Me]

Noctua- horrible website. Pictures would not load, everything is confusing. Coolers on the list that supposed to be compatible with LGA 1700 dont list LGA 1700. They point "Read this" and "read that"- what about people that dont want to read this and that? Why not just put it on the first page: THIS ONE works. Not many people have time to research it for days. Lucky for them- nothing is available, I got my Windows 11, that's all I could get, but they not making it simple.

https://noctua.at/en/noctua-announc...-upgrades-and-updated-cpu-coolers-for-lga1700

 

[geofelt]

Noctua- horrible website. Pictures would not load, everything is confusing. Coolers on the list that supposed to be compatible with LGA 1700 dont list LGA 1700. They point "Read this" and "read that"- what about people that dont want to read this and that? Why not just put it on the first page: THIS ONE works. Not many people have time to research it for days. Lucky for them- nothing is available, I got my Windows 11, that's all I could get, but they not making it simple.

I have had no problems with the noctua web site.
Yours may be browser related.

I am loath to say "buy this" without knowing much more than what is included in the post.
There are tradeoffs. Noise, cost for example. The intended purpose, aesthetics and so on.
Case and motherboards in question may be limiters for some products.
THIS ONE WORKS for the poster, but it may not work for the OP.

LGA1700 is new, most cooler makers, including Noctua have announced mounting kits for lga1700. Even then, the kits will differ, depending on the cooler you plan to use.
You may need a 78 or 83 pitch depending on the cooler you will use.
New manufacturing will include the proper mount, but if you get older stock, or have a cooler already, Noctua will send you a kit gratis.

 

[Karadjgne]

Coolers are only made for a few different sockets. Pretty much Intel lga115x/amd Am3+ and prior, Threadripper and lga2011. Cpu dimensions really haven't changed in decades, so apart from a select few oddities, if you make a cooler where the cold plate physically fits the widest variety of IHS, the only thing you need supply is the brackets. That works for every current cpu, whether AM4 or lga1200.

So don't bother searching for a cooler to fit the new Intel, because they already make a cooler to fit, everybody who makes a cooler does. The Only thing you'll need is the bracket. The only question there being whether the company of choice will follow Noctua's efforts and provide brackets for free, or whether they'll charge you $10+ shipping.