[SOLVED] What mid range cooler for I5-9600k?

[ZippyDoodah]

Hi there,


I have had a look at many coolers and originally intended on getting the Noctua NH-D15S cooler for my I5-9600K. I found it was pretty powerful and cooled the CPU well.

However i want to see if i can spend less money on a cooler that will also suffice, so i can spend some more money on other parts.

I will unlikely be overclocking my CPU and if i do will be very slightly. 99% chance i will not overclock.

I'm looking to spend somewhere between $35-50 ( £30-40) on one.



Thanks in advance.

 

[geofelt]

The case will come with motherboard mounting screws.
The motherboard usually comes with a couple of sata cables and should also include a small screw to hold down the m.2.
Samsung may also include one.

The motherboard you picked has both a 4 pin and a 8 pin eps cpu connector.
The psu has only one 8 pin eps cpu lead.
Usually, the added 4 pin is for extra pcie graphics cards and may not be needed.
Or for overclocking high powered processors like the i9-9900K.
Read the motherboard manual.
If, for some reason the extra 4 pin power is needed, you can buy a molex to 4 pin eps adapter cable.
It looks like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Funnytoday...+eps+adapter&qid=1566243147&s=gateway&sr=8-18


If this is your first build,

MY build process:

Before anything, while waiting for your parts to be delivered, download
and read, cover to cover your case and motherboard manual.
Buy a #2 magnetic tip philips screwdriver.
I find it handy to buy a power switch like this for testing.
https://www.ebay.com/p/4in1-PC-Powe...or-Computer/631889283?iid=142232821294&chn=ps

1. I assemble the critical parts outside of the case.
That lets me test them for functionality easily.
A wood table or cardboard is fine.
2. Plug in only the necessary parts at first. Ram, cpu, cooler, psu.
Do not force anything. Parts fit only one way.
Attach a monitor to the integrated motherboard adapter if you have one, otherwise to the graphics card.

1. If your motherboard does not have a PWR button, momentarily touch the two pwr front panel pins with a flat blade screwdriver.
2. Repeatedly hit F2 or DEL, and that should get you into the bios display.
3. Boot from a cd or usb stick with memtest86 on it. memtest will exercise your ram and cpu functionality.
4. Install windows.
5. Install the motherboard cd drivers. Particularly the lan drivers so you can access the internet.

Do not select the easy install option, or you will get a bunch of utilities and trialware that you don't want. Drivers only.

1. Connect to the internet and install an antivirus program. Microsoft security essentials is free, easy, and unobtrusive.
2. Install your graphics card and driver if you tested with integrated graphics.

You will need to remove the graphics card later to install your motherboard in the case.
As a tip when screwing the motherboard into the posts, give the screw a small counterclockwise turn until you feel a click.
That lets you know that the screw will engage properly.
Make a note of how the graphics card latches into the pcie slot.
The mechanism will be hidden under the card and may be difficult to work if you have not previously checked how.

1. Update windows to currency.
2. Only now do I take apart what I need to and install it in the case.
3. Now is the time to reinstall your graphics card.

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Wow thanks for the in depth guide.

I've built 3-4 PC's in the past, but i can definitely make use of some of your tips.

How is your build holding up, and how long have you had it?

I thank you leaps and bounds.


Cheers.

 

[geofelt]

No problems. I bought early near launch date. perhaps Oct 2017.
I wanted a 8700K but they were not available.
I paid a premium for a binned and delidded 8600K which has been running well @5.0
Essentially what you should expect from a 9600K.
The case, a Silverstone TJ08e has been in use for a couple of generations before that.
I bought the case in particular because I had limited depth to work with.
The case is only 15.5" deep.

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Do you think you will need to upgrade perhaps your case anytime soon, or is everything running fine?

Also, as i research into how to overclock ram, it's been getting more and more confusing about timings and changing voltages etc. Also there not being many tutorials for the Z390 UD. I've looked at the manual several times but it gives limited help.

How would you overclock your RAM to the advertised speeds and perhaps above.

Does overclock RAM and the CPU reduce lifespan significantly?

Also, the motherboard has 3 System fan connectors. Do you think the best configuration is 2 front and 1 back. Or should i do maybe 2 front and 1 at the top or 1 front 1 back and 1 top.

Cheers.

 

[geofelt]

Implement the xmp settings and you will get the advertised speeds.
Anything faster than ddr4 2400 or so is achieved by overclocking good chips.

I favor two intakes in front and one exhaust in the rear.

 

[mdd1963]

The Noctua NHD-15 cost twice as much as the Mugen, but, that makes since, as it appears to be twice the physical size, having two tower stacks with a fan in between the two, plus one more fan....

If you've not already bought the Z390, I'd rethink the decision to go this route over the R5-3600 or even the 2600/2600X, for that matter...; the 9600K with only 6 threads allegedly sometimes has min fps issues to the point of hitches or stutters in some games per several of it's users....(I've not witnessed it, only read it, but, it's not a rare unicorn event)

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Implement the xmp settings and you will get the advertised speeds.
Anything faster than ddr4 2400 or so is achieved by overclocking good chips.

I favor two intakes in front and one exhaust in the rear.

If my RAM is advertised to be 3000MHz and i turn on XMP, will i get those speeds?

 

[ZippyDoodah]

The Noctua NHD-15 cost twice as much as the Mugen, but, that makes since, as it appears to be twice the physical size, having two tower stacks with a fan in between the two, plus one more fan....

If you've not already bought the Z390, I'd rethink the decision to go this route over the R5-3600 or even the 2600/2600X, for that matter...; the 9600K with only 6 threads allegedly sometimes has min fps issues to the point of hitches or stutters in some games per several of it's users....(I've not witnessed it, only read it, but, it's not a rare unicorn event)

Do you really think it's worth it??

Why do you suggest the Ryzen chip over intels? I've never done a build with one but is it really better?


The R5-3600x has the 6 extra threads, yes. However its boost clock is lower than the i5 9600k's is.
And i do not want to be overclocking it.

On the other hand it does come with a cooler which could save me a few bucks.

Performance wise it is pretty close to the 9600k. Gonna take a lot of thinking.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Do you really think it's worth it??

Why do you suggest the Ryzen chip over intels? I've never done a build with one but is it really better?


The R5-3600x has the 6 extra threads, yes. However its boost clock is lower than the i5 9600k's is.
And i do not want to be overclocking it.

On the other hand it does come with a cooler which could save me a few bucks.

Performance wise it is pretty close to the 9600k. Gonna take a lot of thinking.

IMO the six-core i5 will suffer the same fate as the quad-core i5. Too few cores/threads to keep up with modern games. It's pretty good right now and a lot of games will work fine, but there are already a handful of games that will suffer because of it.

Two and a half years ago the new i5-7600K was a top-end gaming CPU and could handle every GPU on the market. It only had four cores, but it was FAST. Now, it's an entry-level CPU on par with Ryzen 3 and Core i3. It's 2019, Intel's 10-year reign of the Core i series is coming to an end. Their Core i7 is too power-hungry to keep cool, and their Core i5 is lacking in weight moving forward.

 

[geofelt]

If my RAM is advertised to be 3000MHz and i turn on XMP, will i get those speeds?

In the bios, you will have a selection of xmp profiles.
Some will be 3000 speed, and some will be lower speed with better timings.
Take your pick.
It probably does not matter much. The intel ram controller is so good that real performance is not dependent on ram speeds.

As to ryzen options, I am not so giddy about that.
If your purpose is gaming, I think Intel @5.0 is still better.
ryzen tops out at perhaps 4.3.
It turns out that very few games can make effective use of more than 4 threads.
If you run apps that are multitasking enabled then ryzen is a very good value.
With ryzen, the X570 motherboards start out near $160 and one needs faster ram to be able to perform at top speed.

Ultimately, I think any modern processor over $200 is going to game well. For fast action games, the graphics card becomes more important.

For cpu centric games like sims, MMMO and strategy games, clock is most important.
If you favor multiplayer games with many participants, that is where the many threads of ryzen shines.

 

[ZippyDoodah]

I've taken into consideration both intel and amd processors and have decided that the ryzen 5 3600x provides very close to or better performance than the i5 9600k.

I think i'll go with that because i can make use of the threads as i run Virtual machines often and i think it will be a better value for me.


Probably not gonna overclock it or anything.


Note: I am still unsure

Thoughts?

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

You can buy a B450 motherboard that supports BIOS Flashback allowing a BIOS update without a CPU. MSI B450 Tomahawk is a good one. Here is a list of other board with this feature - View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/bvfo57/list_of_b350_b450_x370_and_x470_motherboards_with/

It turns out that very few games can make effective use of more than 4 threads.

I find that statement to be antiquated. If you count every game ever made, then sure, they would greatly outnumber the ones that do make use of more than 4 threads. However, if you count the AAA games made within the past 3 years, then it's probably an even balance if not leaning towards more games using more than 4 threads.

If you favor multiplayer games with many participants, that is where the many threads of ryzen shines.

Those tend to be some of the most popular games. Even single-player games like Assassin's Creed will use all 16 threads.

 

[geofelt]

Windows spreads out cpu activity over available threads.
Just because task manager shows activity on all threads,
that does not mean that the extra threads are EFFECTIVELY improving fps.
Here is an older study:

Report: Despite Claims, Most PC Games Are Still Unable To Take Advantage Of More Than 4 CPU Cores

Well, you gotta love developers. This past year, we’ve been hearing from a lot of teams that their games were taking advantage of more than four CPU cores. And you know what? We decided to put a lot of CPU-bound games to the test. The results are a bit disheartening – to say the least – …...

www.dsogaming.com

As a test, disable a couple of threads and run YOUR games to see if it makes any significant difference.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Windows spreads out cpu activity over available threads.
Just because task manager shows activity on all threads,
that does not mean that the extra threads are EFFECTIVELY improving fps.
Here is an older study:

Report: Despite Claims, Most PC Games Are Still Unable To Take Advantage Of More Than 4 CPU Cores

Well, you gotta love developers. This past year, we’ve been hearing from a lot of teams that their games were taking advantage of more than four CPU cores. And you know what? We decided to put a lot of CPU-bound games to the test. The results are a bit disheartening – to say the least – …...

www.dsogaming.com

As a test, disable a couple of threads and run YOUR games to see if it makes any significant difference.

I will test it as you say. I've recently started back making YT videos with gameplay benchmarks. This seems like a good idea for one. I have limited time though, so idk how long it will take me.

 

[ZippyDoodah]

My final decision is to go with the i5-9600K

Here's the build:

• Intel CORE I5-9600K 3.7 GHZ SKT1151 9MB CACHE BOXED - BX80684I59600K (Components > Processors CPU)
• Noctua NF-P14s redux-1500 PWM, 4-Pin, High Performance Cooling Fan with 1500RPM (140mm, Grey)

• Samsung MZ-V7E1T0BW 970 EVO 1 TB V-NAND M.2 PCI Express Solid State Drive, Black
• Gigabyte Z390 UD (Socket 1151/Z390 Express/DDR4/S-ATA 600/ATX)

• Noctua NH-U14S, Premium CPU Cooler with NF-A15 140mm Fan (Brown)

• Seasonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550W (80+Gold, ATX 12V) PSU/Power Supply , SSR-550FX - Black
• Corsair Carbide Series 275R Mid-Tower ATX Gaming Case - Black

• Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3000C15W Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3000 MHz C15 XMP 2.0 High Performance Desktop Memory Kit, White

Will it have sufficient screws to stick on the extra fans?

I appreciate all of the help guys!

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Looks good.

Either the fan or the case or both will have extra fan screws.

 

[geofelt]

Noctua usually included some fan screws.
They may also include some low noise adapters.

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Thanks for all the help guys, can't thank you enough!

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Found that the Seasonic 80+ Gold 550W PSU comes with an EU plug instead of a UK one.

Not exactly preferable, anyone have any other suggestions for good PSU's below the £80 mark?

Perhaps this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CP...u+550w&qid=1566516040&s=computers&sr=1-4&th=1

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Found that the Seasonic 80+ Gold 550W PSU comes with an EU plug instead of a UK one.

Not exactly preferable, anyone have any other suggestions for good PSU's below the £80 mark?

Perhaps this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CP-9020133-UK-TX550M-Power-Supply/dp/B06WVWXPVZ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=psu+550w&qid=1566516040&s=computers&sr=1-4&th=1

That's a good one.

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Cool!

Can't wait for this build haha!

Again thanks soo much!

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Building the pc today!!

Looking forward to it haha. Lets hope everything goes smooth!

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Noctua usually included some fan screws.
They may also include some low noise adapters.

Everything works!

Well except for the 2 front USB ports because i bent the 2 bottom pins on the USB3.0 connector on the motherboard, unless it was like that already. But its no big deal.


Would i be able to overclock my 9600k on this motherboard ( Z390 UD) without changing the voltage? Even if its a small overclock.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Everything works!

Well except for the 2 front USB ports because i bent the 2 bottom pins on the USB3.0 connector on the motherboard, unless it was like that already. But its no big deal.


Would i be able to overclock my 9600k on this motherboard ( Z390 UD) without changing the voltage? Even if its a small overclock.

Unless you typed in a manual voltage, the voltage will be on Auto, in which case it would increase automatically.

 

[ZippyDoodah]

Unless you typed in a manual voltage, the voltage will be on Auto, in which case it would increase automatically.

Ok but its sitll possible?