https://www.1a.lt/p/be-quiet-dark-rock-pro-4-cpu-cooler-135mm/hdl
Is this a great cooler for an overclocked 3700X? And how much improvement that would be over Wraith Prism overall?
I have never considered liquid cooling simply because I never had any experience dealing with them. In the current setup I would have to look for the case where I could install a radiator in the front as installing it at the top is not a good idea. And I am not sure I am willing to go through that hassle.
So TL;DR. Are there really good options in Air Coolers that could keep my overclocked CPU like 3700X practically chill and is a cooler like Dark Rock Pro 4 one of those?
First thing is to understand what your overclocking goals and expectations are for a Zen2 CPU. Because I hope you've been watching the tech reviews: all-core overclocking offers limited clock-lift potential, generates massive amounts of heat, and gets extremely minor performance gains (especially gaming FPS) vs. just letting using the Zen boosting algorithms to let it boost as it needs to.
Take for instance my 3700X: I have a 240mm AIO it sits under. I can get a 4.3 Ghz all-core OC and the graphics score difference in 3DMark is no different. I don't notice games any difference. In CB20 multi-thread benchmark score goes up but single thread goes DOWN; both by less than 1% but still. 4.3G is a major OC for a 3700X; so for all that I have to watch my processor laboring under fixed high volts 24/7 and AIO is vital to keep cool in a 30 min. encoding.
By contrast, I turn on a feature called PBO and open up the boost limits (power, peak current, total current) to mother board limits (what the VRM is rated to handle). Then I get frequent single core boosting to 4.4Ghz on light loaded threads, and even moderately heavy loaded threads run at 4.3-4.35Ghz constantly. My multi-thread scores in CB20 go down less than 1%, ST scores up about 1% and I can't tell the difference in anything. For that my AIO fans are running at 10% almost constantly even in games.
OC'g ryzen 3000 is generally considered pointless. AMD has wrung all the goodness out of the silicon with their boosting algorithm so that's just the way it is.
I think that heatsink might work beautifully on a 3700X, but I think it might be overkill too. I'd STRONGLY suggest using the wraithe prism that comes with a 3700X, being sure to customize fan curves to keep it quiet, and see how you like it. When you get the bug to start trying to OC, make a decision whether to buy one then.
Also, you can't exactly keep a Ryzen 3000 chill. It's an inevitable side effect of the aggressive boosting behaviour coupled with 7nm geometry and how it reports temperatures. When one core boosts to 4.4Ghz for a few ms it will heat up a tiny area of the die to 50 C or so, then the boost will dial back volts to keep temp in check, the boost will drop back and temperature will ramp back down over several MS. That happens over and over, you see it as little pulses of temperature in the temp charts (that's also why you can't track temp too closely with fan curves or they pulse).
There are temp sensors all over the CCX's...in each core. And the Tdie temp reported is the HOTTEST at the moment so in that moment you see 50 C it's really a tiny little area of the chip that for one instant gets to dissipate the entire TDP rating of the CPU. Trying to keep that 'chill' with a cooler is like turning up the AC to try and put out a lit match in the room.
Unless you chill it with LN2, which is how they get 5Ghz on Ry3K.
Check out this vid, it's fascinating if you can handle his lack of a script:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORHYffg5ipM&t=1781s