AIO Cooler Intel Core i7 5960X Extreme Edition

Kirk

New member
Hi Guys

Pre purchase question/recommendation for a AIO cooler for the Intel Core i7 5960X.

Can someone recommend a good AIO cooler for me, I will have plenty of room as it will be going in the Corsair Obsidian 750D, with Rampage V Extreme mother board, Happy to go push/pull and was thinking the H100I or H105 so I can swap out the stock fans with SP120 PWM High Performance Edition High Static Pressure Fans this is for performance and looks with the coloured outer rings.

My other option was to put looks aside and go with the Kraken X61 with Noctua NF-A14 Industrial PPC 140mm 2000RPM PWM Fan in push/pull for the performance.

Open to suggestions and obviously want to be able to overclock.
 
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Hi Guys

Pre purchase question/recommendation for a AIO cooler for the Intel Core i7 5960X.

Can someone recommend a good AIO cooler for me, I will have plenty of room as it will be going in the Corsair Obsidian 750D, with Rampage V Extreme mother board, Happy to go push/pull and was thinking the H100I or H105 so I can swap out the stock fans with SP120 PWM High Performance Edition High Static Pressure Fans this is for performance and looks with the coloured outer rings.

My other option was to put looks aside and go with the Kraken X61 with Noctua NF-A14 Industrial PPC 140mm 2000RPM PWM Fan in push/pull for the performance.

Open to suggestions and obviously want to be able to overclock.

Do you want a 280mm or would you be happy with a 240mm i can say i'm not a fan of the X61, i ended up changing my X61 to a Corsair H105 but there is also the Fractal Design S series AIO now
 
To be honest the size for me isn't an issue as long as I get the performance to be able to do a little OC. I was heading towards the Corsair H105 with push/pull and the SP120 PWM fans for the red rings (looks).

I also liked the look of the Fractal Kelvin S36 but don't see it available to purchase in Australia anywhere yet.

What didn't you like about the x61?
 
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the x61 is a good AIO, even with ambient temps of ~33c my 5930k at 4ghz, it is still topping out at 51c on the hottest core.

The Fractal Kelvin series, and silverstone tundura are also quite nice.
 
Yea I can fit a 360 in the top, not sure is I will loose a drive bay or not though, will try contact Fractal to see if they can advise of where to purchase, checked there supplier list on the website but none of them stock from looking.

The only problem I will have is optical bays, I will have the OC panel, NZXT Hue and one optical drive, it will partially block one bay just not sure how much of it. I suppose I could loose the optical drive it not like it gets used often.
 
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To be honest the size for me isn't an issue as long as I get the performance to be able to do a little OC. I was heading towards the Corsair H105 with push/pull and the SP120 PWM fans for the red rings (looks).

I also liked the look of the Fractal Kelvin S36 but don't see it available to purchase in Australia anywhere yet.

What didn't you like about the x61?

The reason why i didn't like the X61 is cause of all of the wires are wired into the pump itself, IMO i didn't think it did a good job with cooling, plus i don't want to run software in my case the H105 is a better choice for me.
 
Have you really thought this out ?

Yes you can use an AIO cooler on the 5960X but these CPUs are not known for their overclocking headroom and do put out a lot of heat when overclocked. If you are going to spend a lot of money on a CPU like the 5960X/DDR4/Mobo why not spend a bit extra and go for a custom waterloop and get the maximum amount of cooling possible.
 
Have you really thought this out ?

Yes you can use an AIO cooler on the 5960X but these CPUs are not known for their overclocking headroom and do put out a lot of heat when overclocked. If you are going to spend a lot of money on a CPU like the 5960X/DDR4/Mobo why not spend a bit extra and go for a custom waterloop and get the maximum amount of cooling possible.

Would love too, but have no clue where to start with a custom loop, have always used air or an AIO. I have thought about it often. Also I am a little OCD so would like to make it look as clean as possible. Also maintenance is an issue for me.

I may consider down grading the CPU for the 5930K but to be honest it has been seven years since I have had the chance to splash out on a complete build so wanted to go top end as it maybe some time before I get to do it again.

Also I have noted that the 5960X can be overclocked to a stable 4.4 GHz with the Corsair 100i quite easily.
 
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Would love too, but have no clue where to start with a custom loop, have always used air or an AIO. I have thought about it often. Also I am a little OCD so would like to make it look as clean as possible. Also maintenance is an issue for me.

I may consider down grading the CPU for the 5930K but to be honest it has been seven years since I have had the chance to splash out on a complete build so wanted to go top end as it maybe some time before I get to do it again.

Also I have noted that the 5960X can be overclocked to a stable 4.4 GHz with the Corsair 100i quite easily.

My mate uses a 5960X and an AIO and the max he can manage is 4.4ghz but he puts it down to a bad CPU.

Building a custom loop is actually quite easy and there are plenty of very good examples on these forums.

If you use coloured tubing and clear coolant there is very little maintaining to do as most of the problems are from the tubing becoming discoloured.

If you want to go for it the 5960X is very powerful but there are cheaper options for gaming like a 4790k, having said that I use a 5960X. As long as you have thought out what it entails go for it.:)
 
My mate uses a 5960X and an AIO and the max he can manage is 4.4ghz but he puts it down to a bad CPU.

Building a custom loop is actually quite easy and there are plenty of very good examples on these forums.

If you use coloured tubing and clear coolant there is very little maintaining to do as most of the problems are from the tubing becoming discoloured.

If you want to go for it the 5960X is very powerful but there are cheaper options for gaming like a 4790k, having said that I use a 5960X. As long as you have thought out what it entails go for it.:)

Well I have the green light for the extra on the budget from the misses since I'm quitting the cigarettes ha ha! Just have to delay the purchase a little longer unless of course I get extremely lucky and win the lotto....

I could upgrade the planned GTX 980 Strix for the Poseidon since it has the connections for the water cooling already and would make life easier on that side again pushes the budget up.

But honestly Water Cooling my system has always scared me, that said I have always wanted a water cooled system
 
Ok started planning a custom loop, my god its expensive I'm already up to $700 without fittings adaptors etc.. I think it would be something to plan for further down the line.

So Fractal came back to me on the S24 & S26 and told me the should hit the Australian market here by the end of Jan and there will be limited stock. Now just trying to find out where I will be able to get one.

Other thought process was the Cooler Master Nepton 280L I hear it preforms well apart from the noisy fans which I could replace with Noctua NF-A14 fans..... ?
 
I have looked at some kits, Frozen is in USD I'm in Australia and works out about $370 + shipping which is still much better but I really like the EK kits which are $495 here for the good 360 Rad kit. Have put together my own list mainly EK apart from the Pump Res combo which is now at $550 as I removed the second rad and not going to cool the graphics card.

Anyway it's all good for thought at the moment I think going to so the math and work it out and will post again once I know what way to go and probably need help if I go ahead with the water cooling.

Thank you to all for their comments and suggestions I certainly have alit to think about.
 
One more word of advice, make sure to build a drain in from the start. That is something I did not do when I put mine together, and now I am due to take down my loop for maintenance, and will have to be a little more careful. If I would have had a drain, it would be almost as simple as any air cooler to change.
 
Thanks again for the good advise, I am going to take it all away and look at it all along with my budget a decide weather to do a custom loop of just an AIO for now then look at custom loop further down the line. At this stage I am steering towards the AIO then custom loop further down the track, mainly due to budget.
 
One more word of advice, make sure to build a drain in from the start. That is something I did not do when I put mine together, and now I am due to take down my loop for maintenance, and will have to be a little more careful. If I would have had a drain, it would be almost as simple as any air cooler to change.

This is really good advice and something I forgot about on my first build using water.

What I do now is use Quick Disconnect connections to isolate parts of the loop but you only need one of these joins in the loop that can also double as a drain point by connecting hoses to one or both sides to drain everything into a bucket without mess or spillage.
 
Ok, Awesome news for me at least!

Fractal are just great to deal with and have informed me of limited stock availability in Australia for the Kelvin S36 but have also been kind enough to notify me of the container shipment and will keep me posted so I can get my hand on one as soon as they drop.

Custom loop will be another day I think, but I have already done a lot of research watched the beginners guides and pretty much designed the loop for when the budget allows.
 
The Kelvin is a fantastic introdution to watercooling and a great all round product. Because there are only two components you can do all of the leak testing and fiddly stuff outside of the rig and be confident that it's 100% right before it ever goes near your hardware. So before you go full custom I would recommend switching bits around on your Kelvin to get used to how everything goes together, even if you just re-assemble it. You will get a feel for fittings, tubing, filling and bleeding etc. I thoroughly enjoyed tinkering with the Kelvin even though it was my 3rd watercooling project and by far the simplest.

If the T12's or S24's land first consider that and swap the fans and rads around especially if you are going to re-use them down the line.

JR
 
The Kelvin is a fantastic introdution to watercooling and a great all round product. Because there are only two components you can do all of the leak testing and fiddly stuff outside of the rig and be confident that it's 100% right before it ever goes near your hardware. So before you go full custom I would recommend switching bits around on your Kelvin to get used to how everything goes together, even if you just re-assemble it. You will get a feel for fittings, tubing, filling and bleeding etc. I thoroughly enjoyed tinkering with the Kelvin even though it was my 3rd watercooling project and by far the simplest.

If the T12's or S24's land first consider that and swap the fans and rads around especially if you are going to re-use them down the line.

JR

Hi, I don't suppose you still have access to the Kelvin do you? I'm really interested in seeing how performance changes with different fans eg. Corsair SP120 high pressure fans.

Thanks
 
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