[King Who Dat]

I'm looking for a new cooler for my sig rig. It's an older setup and will be about as heavily overclocked as I can manage pretty soon. Being that the UD3P is an older board I really like the idea of a downward blowing CPU cooler. I used to have a Noctua NH-C14 that I gave away in a freebie and it was a great cooler. I'm thinking of buying another one. I really like Noctua stuff, their fans are nice and quiet. My rig is going to be housed in a Fractal R4 and I want it to be as quiet as possible so unless it comes with high quality fans out of the box I will be replacing the junk fans that usually come with coolers. Doesn't have to be downward facing, but that's a plus for me for sure. I think the R4 will house just about anything. I would be willing to spend up to about $120 or so, but of course the less I can get away with the better. I do not want a CLC. TIA for your replies.

Thanks for your answers. I've got what I need.

 

[francisw19]

Noctua does indeed make good stuff.

If you're shooting for a big overclock, I'd go straight for the Noctua NH-D14. It will have no problem fitting in the Fractal R4 and assuming you don't have huge heat spreaders on your RAM, you shouldn't run into any issues with fitting on your board. Another plus is that the stock fans on the D14 are quite good...they're well built and suited to the design of the cooler. Sure, you could get a bit better performance from other fans, but in most cases it comes at the expense of much more noise.

Another cooler to consider is the Phanteks TC14PE. It's a good competitor to the Noctua D14...most reviews I've seen show the Phanteks coming out on top of the D14 by a few degrees. I've got no experience with this cooler personally, but I've heard lots of good things so it's definitely worth considering.

Regarding the fit on this cooler, the heat sink itself should be OK in the Fractal R4, but just check to be sure that the fans will fit as they are 140mm fans. The first push fan will sit directly above your RAM, so you'll have to be sure that the heat spreaders on your RAM are short enough to allow the fan to fit.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[tatmMRKIV]

just get a new noctua D 14 or whatever

 

[doyll]

Only problem with NH-D14 is it does not come with PWM fans.. NH-D14 SE2011 has PWM fans.

Here's a list of many of the top coolers and their sizes.
Several are new like the Cryorig R1 Ultimate and Universal off-center to the rear 18mm (38mm center of CPU to fron of radiator). Ultimate has 13mm thick front fan. Also the new Dark Rock Pro 3 and Silver Arrow IB-E (off-center 9.5mm for better PCI-E clearance; 67.8mm center of CPU to edge of cooler).

Code:

Cooler size comparison 
(Width x Depth x Height looking from front of case with motherboard laying flat)

    Cooler       Heatpipes     Size W/O Fans          Fans                     RAM Clearance*      CPU to Frt**
Akasa Medusa    8x 6mm pipes  144x129.5x163mm     140mm & 120mm PWM fans         49.6mm             64.3mm
Cryorig R1 Ult  7x 6mm pipes  140x142.4x168.3mm   XF140(140x25) fans             40mm               38mm *2*
Cryorig R1 Uni  7x 6mm pipes  140x130x168.3mm     SF140(25mm) & XT140(13mm)      40mm               38mm *2*
K2 / Assassin   8x 6mm pipes  140x128x158mm       120mm & 140mm PWM fans         43.2mm             64mm
Dark Rock Pro 2 7x 6mm pipes  138x124x166mm       120mm & 135mm PWM fans
Dark Rock Pro 3 7x 6mm pipes  137x150x163mm
NH-D14          6x 6mm pipes  140x130x160mm       120mm & 140mm fans             44mm               62mm
NH-U14S         6x 6mm pipes  150x52x165mm        + fans                         41mm               26mm
NH-D15          6x 6mm pipes  150x136x165mm       2x 140mm fans                   *1*               67.5mm
PH-TC14PE       5x 8mm pipes  140x159x171mm       2x 140mm fans, PWM adaptor     40-45mm            72mm
Megahalem       6x 6mm pipes  130x74x158.7mm      + fans                         34.45mm            37MM
SS HE01         6x 6mm pipes  140x119x160mm       1x 140x38mm PWM fan            42mm               47.5MM *2*
Archon SB-E     8x 6mm pipes  155x53.6x170.2mm    + fans                         4.45mm             26.8mm
Silver Arrow    4x 8mm pipes  147x123x163mm       2x 140mm Fans                  40.87mm            61.4mm
SA SB-E         8x 6mm pipes  155x105x164mm       mid 150mm/frt 140mm PWM        31.9/39/46mm*3*    51mm
SA SB-E Extreme 8x 6mm pipes  155x105x164mm       mid 140mm/frt 140mm PWM        31.9/39/46mm*3*    51mm
SA IB-E         8x 6mm pipes  154.6x103x164mm     2x 140mm 1300rpm fans          41.95mm            51.5mm
SA IB-E Extreme 8x 6mm pipes  154.6x103x164mm     2x 140mm 2500rpm fans          41.95mm            51.5mm
TRUE Sp140Power 6x 8mm pipes  155x53.4x170mm      + fan                          44.3mm             26.5mm

* cooler base to bottom fin. (add 8mm for motherboard to bottom fin.)
** center of CPU to front of cooler without fan
*** base is off-center 9.5mm for better PCI-E slot clearance
*1* recessed lower fins, the NH-D15 provide 64mm RAM clearance
*2* offest back for better RAM clearance
*3* fins are at 3 different levels

And here are some with temp reading at different wattage from 117w to 345w
Quote:

Cooler Model . . . . . Fan . . . . . . . . . CFM . . . 345.1W 289.9W 232.1W 175.4W 117.1W dBA*
Akasa Medusa . . . . FN059,/FN073 . 84/74 . . . 26.7 . . . 22.5 . . 18.7 . . . 13.7 . . 10.1 . . . 48.1
Silver Arrow SB-E. . TY-140TY-150 . 84/74 . . . 26.9 . . . 22.8 . . 18.7 . . . 14.1 . . 9.5. . . . 37.4
Noctua NH-U14S . . 1x NF-A15 . . . . 1x 82.5 . . 27.0 . . . 22.9 . . 19.4 . . . 14.9 . . 10.6 . . . 35.8
PH-TC14PE Black . . 2x PH-F140. . . . 2x 88.6 . . 27.4 . . . 23.5 . . 19.2 . . . 14.1 . . 9.9. . . . 41.3
Dark Rock Pro 2 . . T12025/T13525. . 68/57 . . . 28.2 . . . 25.9 . . 20.2 . . . 16.4 . . 11.2 . . . 38.2
Megahalems . . . . . 2x FN059 . . . . . 2x 83.6 . . 30.4 . . . 25.8 . . 23.4 . . . 16.0 . . 11.5 . . . 46.5
Noctua NH-D14 . . . 2x NF-P14 . . . . 2x 64.9 . . 30.6 . . . 26.2 . . 21.3 . . . 16.3 . . 11.8 . . . 38.2
Aall shown temperatures represent the rise over ambient temp
* Measured at 0.5m distance

http://www.thelab.gr/heatsinks-coolers-watercooling-reviews/cpu-cooler-review-database-89014.html

Cooling difference is minimal. The biggest difference in the top coolers temperatures is their fans. Use the same fans on all and the results will surprise you. When Sahil Mannick was doing cooler reviews for Vortex he uses different fans (Noctua NF-P12s/NF-P14s and SWiF2-120Ps). You can use them to compare cooling in below link.
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/phanteks_ph_tc14cs_cpu_cooler_review,14.html

Build quality and customer support are also very important.

 

[AlphaC]

The UD3P is one of the boards with a hot Northbridge right?

Prolimatech Genesis might be a suitable hybrid of topflow and tower for you. (http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-GNSS)

Outside of the Northbridge concerns I'd definitely go for a Phanteks PH-TC14PE. (See http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1291-page5.html , http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html , buy at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709011)

Availability of cryorig / Thermalright Silver Arrow IB-E is scarce in the USA after all. Silver Arrow SB-E is out on Amazon/Superbiiz , don't know what's going on there but you can find it at PerfomancePCs, FrozenCPU & Nan's.

IB-E reviews

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

4,8 GHz, 1,464 Volt : http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/gehaeuse-und-kuehlung/2014/thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e-cpu-kuehler-im-test/5/
4.3GHz i7-4820k: http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/858-thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e.html?showall=&start=5
300W heat load http://www.coolingtechnique.com/recensioni/75-dissipatori/1390-recensione-thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e.html?start=7
1.4V , vs mostly single towers... http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/858-thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e.html?showall=&start=5

 

[King Who Dat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaC

The UD3P is one of the boards with a hot Northbridge right?

Prolimatech Genesis might be a suitable hybrid of topflow and tower for you. (http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-GNSS)

Outside of the Northbridge concerns I'd definitely go for a Phanteks PH-TC14PE. (See http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1291-page5.html , http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html , buy at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709011)

Availability of cryorig / Thermalright Silver Arrow IB-E is scarce in the USA after all. Silver Arrow SB-E is out on Amazon/Superbiiz , don't know what's going on there but you can find it at PerfomancePCs, FrozenCPU & Nan's.

IB-E reviews

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

4,8 GHz, 1,464 Volt : http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/gehaeuse-und-kuehlung/2014/thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e-cpu-kuehler-im-test/5/
4.3GHz i7-4820k: http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/858-thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e.html?showall=&start=5
300W heat load http://www.coolingtechnique.com/recensioni/75-dissipatori/1390-recensione-thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e.html?start=7
1.4V , vs mostly single towers... http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/858-thermalright-silver-arrow-ib-e.html?showall=&start=5

THANK YOU for recognizing my NB issues and addressing them intelligently. Prolimatech Genesis, I'll definitely give it a look.

What do you guys think of this one ? I'm sure it wont cool quite as well as the D14, but the benefits of a fan blowing down may outweigh the drawbacks. Not a bad price on it too. It's about $20 less than the C14.

Perhaps this one ?

 

[AlphaC]

You'd be (pleasantly) surprised:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/43787-prolimatech-genesis-cpu-cooler-review-8.html


http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/prolimatech_genesis_cpu_cooler_review,13.html


http://www.legitreviews.com/prolimatech-genesis-cpu-cooler-review-the-super-cooler_1935/7


http://www.eteknix.com/prolimatech-genesis-cpu-cooler-review/8/


http://www.pureoverclock.com/Review-detail/prolimatech-genesis/4/


http://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/zardon/prolimatech-genesis-all-in-one-cpu-cooler-review/5/


http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/article/1000153/Prolimatech-Genesis-Dual-Blue-Vortex-140mm-Edition-CPU-Cooler-Review/6

& http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/594-test-ivy-bridge-twin-tower-roundup.html?showall=&start=4

& http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/gehaeuse-und-kuehlung/2011/test-prolimatech-genesis-cpu-kuehler/9/

& http://awardfabrik.de/prolimatech-genesis/6/

& http://www.tech-review.de/include.php?path=content/articles.php&contentid=10681&page=6

& http://www.hartware.de/review_1669_5.html

& http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/153-exklusiv-test-prolimatech-genesis.html?showall=&start=6

& http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1191-page6.html

& http://www.pc-max.de/artikel/kuehlung/prolimatech-genesis/8791

& http://vr-zone.com/articles/prolimatech-genesis-cpu-cooler-review/18159.html/5

& http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2011/07/12/prolimatech-genesis-review/2

& http://www.hardwareoverclock.com/Prolimatech_Genesis_Dual_Orangeline_Edition-5.htm

The biggest issue with the Genesis is recirculation of hot air.

 

[doyll]

I don't like downflow / pancake cools because their heated exhaust goes everywhere and mixes with cool intake air making it hotter. It's very hard to resolve this problem with them.

Tower coolers draw cool air int the front and heated exhaust blows toward back of case. Much easier to keep heated exhaust separated from cool intake air.

The use of low profile RAM allows the tower intake fan to mount low enough so it flows air under cooler on motherboard components.

I'm still running 1366 systems and mobo temps are never over 55c, normally 47-49c.

 

[unknown601]

Have a look at the Noctua NH D14 club http://www.overclock.net/t/628569/official-noctua-nh-d14-club/0_20

might be helpful.