Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 1296

I think it depends. If you buy an NH-D14 class cooler, you might stay with stock simply because you don't need more cooling performance.

But 'a lot of people' (i can use weasel words too) replace the fans as well, and especially with tower designs you have a lot of people running push/pull, getting extra fans or replacing the fans altogether. It's better to just buy 2 yate loons for push/pull, and then use the stock fan as a case fan.

In the real world, people don't need aftermarket heatsinks because they aren't overclocking or not overclocking much, and even then, most people will do just fine with a stock hyper 212+ and that's the end of it. For those looking for more performance or overclock, or running a hot chip, your definitely going to be interested in apples to apples configuration, sound if that's your thing, and how a heatsink performs with better fans or with identical fans.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Seems to me that just even 4ghz on an i5-2500k is going close to 150W, and that's quite a conservative overclock. Get an IB-i5 or stronger, a phenom ii, an FX, or i5 on a more standard overclock, and your definitely pushing past 160.

There are definitely tons of factors involved with heatsink performance, but you can get a relative idea of a heatsink's performance compared to other popular heatsinks based on looking at tons of reviews by trustworthy sites (no tomshardware, no frostytech, basically, just avoid those 2 shitty sites and your good) and user anecdotes by reliable users (OCN, Anandtech forums, etc). A Logisys Assassin may or may not be the best cooler in the world, but it's going to definitely be in the top 5, and within 1*C of whatever the best cooler in the world is.

Every benchmark out there shows the K2/assassin within 1*C of the SA, Nh-d14, Phanteks, they are all the top 4 coolers. They also show that the Hyper 212+/Evo is generally behind a good 10*C on a full load on an intel chip, ie signifincantly behind in performance. Not, as the frosytech review shows, withn 1*C of the best air coolers in the world, and better than the Silver Arrow.

I don't trust any one single site (except hardocp, they tend to be on the money, but not too many reviews by them), but getting the big picture by looking at many sites, you should see a trend. Every single review out there shows the SA/k2/nhd-14/phanteks as within top 4, and hyper 212+/evo as 10*C worse in performance, all but frostytech. You can probably rule out that frostytech is crap, especially when everyone says so, and everything on their list is so far from every other reviewed result out there.

Tim is responsible for maybe 1-3*C at most, and mounting is a matter of doing it correctly. There are plenty of TIM benches out there, showing the differences between different TIM spread levels and methods, showing at worst you have like 3*C for massively too much/too little paste. As long as you use consistent TIM for every test and consistent spread, and you test multiple times, you have good results. You need to remount the cooler multiple times for accurate tests, hence why you aren't going for absolute results, you look for relative results on many different benches.