CPU Coolers
 

I'm not overclocked, but I find with running LL tests one of my cores hit a high of 94c, with overall cores averaging mid to upper 80s. I'm using the stock fan that came with my i5-4670.

Do you think I should throw a coolmaster on there, or not necessary as long as I'm consistently under 95c? Do you guys with dedicated rigs for prime hunting overclock your CPUs?

On a slightly different (but related) topic, I assume those with dedicated machines OC their ram to get max throughput?

It's not strictly necessary to run a better cooler. The stock cooler is a bare minimum though.

If you have the height, a Hyper 212 is great.

I would also make sure you have decent airflow through your case.

I'd improve airflow and de-dust the case before I'd get a bigger cooler (though I might do both if I couldn't get temps under 80C).

Yes, many people overclock their memory to the memory's speed rating rather than the basic-standard of the motherboard default. Prime95 is one of the few applications where memory OC leads so clearly to better performance.

I have an i7-4770K (not overclocked) that was running hot.
I put a water cooler on it and the temp only came down to 75C range.
(When running prime95.)

Some Haswell CPU have a physical design problem that affects cooling.
I do not suggest using their "delidding" procedure, but the description of
the issue is interesting.

[url]http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/two-ways-to-cool-down-your-defective-overheating-intel-cpu/[/url]

[QUOTE=VBCurtis;424921]Yes, many people overclock their memory to the memory's speed rating rather than the basic-standard of the motherboard default. Prime95 is one of the few applications where memory OC leads so clearly to better performance.[/QUOTE]

And I have a theory (but probably can't prove it) that memory overclocking and not CPU overclocking leads to a majority of the flaky results. Or just bad RAM in general (overclocked or not).

Been using Noctua's NH-U9B for i7-5820Ks and i5-4690K, all stay under 60C - 65C here.

I find the all-in-one water coolers (e.g. Corsair H100i) to work quite well and not be too loud for the amount of cooling.

Noctua air coolers are great as well. There are some other air coolers that likely work as well or close enough, but after enough systems I felt it was worth the extra money to get such well designed coolers. They put a lot of thought into the installation process compared to a number of other vendors.

I endorse the H100i. It does quite well with an FX-8350 running P95 full time, with two hot GPUs sharing the case.

I have "one of the most powerful Air CPU coolers" according to Cooler Master:
Cooler Master V8 GTS
[url]http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-air-cooler/v8-gts/[/url]

8 cores running Prime95 at 60-65C with the cooler only at 60-70% power.

It cost me 679 dkk ~ $100 but it does take up a LOT of room, you need a big cabinet and it is very hard to get the RAM in and out without removing the cooler.

I also endorse the H100i; the case is easier to get hands into, and temps are very nice on my 5820. Less weight = less physical strain on the board/cpu.

Thanks all. Budget is a factor, and it sounds like the Coolmaster Hyper 212 EVO is a solid all around cooler (good reviews), so I'll probably grab one of those for $30. Space isn't an issue.