240mm Radiator enough to cool a i5-8600K @ 4.6GHz ?

[Ariortega]

Hello tech people,

I'm asking for your advice / suggestion.

I'm going to build a new gaming rig with a i5-8600K CPU which I want to overclock to 4.6 GHz(or if having the luck of getting a good sample to 4.8GHz). The CPU will be delidded and the thermal paste will be replaced with liquid metal and the IHS will be replaced with a nickeld copper HS from der8auer.

Question: will a 240mm Radiator (EK-CoolStream PE 240) suffice to keep my overclocked CPU cool or would it be better to go for a 360mm Radiator?

Additional info: case is Lian Li O-11 Dynamic and the 240mm radiator is installed on top with 2 fans, no push/pull.

[Gru]

It should be fine, i'm using a 280mm radiator (Corsair AIO) to cool my 9700k, and it works great.
You should do even better since you are going to delid your cpu, mine has the stock ihs.
By the way and i don't want to seem rude or anything like that, but why so much trouble/work with an 8600k??

[Komrade]

Why not a Ryzen 5 3600? It's equal to the 8600K for over $100 cheaper, and sometimes even beats it in performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2wLo2r86Qo

[Ariortega]

Thanks for you suggestion my friend. Nothing rude about your question, I'll answer it: I'm an absolute silence / cool temp. enthusiast and I'm very sensitive to noise. So in order to get my rig as silent as possible I need to get temps as cool / low as possible, so I can set fan speed as low as possible.

[Ariortega]

@ notkennyS

Seriously, I would probably really go for a Ryzen 3rd gen or even wait for the 4th gen, that's said to come out this summer. But I had the luck of getting my hands on a very nice MSI Z370 M5 board for a very good price. So now that I've already have a Z370 board a Ryzen cpu is out of question.

[L37]

AIO-s are not great for silent systems. They have the same fans air cooler will have and pump as a "bonus".
IMO most realistic way to build relatively silent system is using good air cooler with appropriate case and make sure all fans are controled based on temperature.
This way you can get almost completely silent system when idle (which AIO-s cannot do because pump) and noise will gradually increase with load. How much? It will depend on hardware/settings. You generally do not want to do things that reduce performance/power efficiency too much, like increasing voltage.
If you are building a custom loop it is not much different too, water cooling does not make things quiter, it is louder in most cases, it has different advantages.

[Spec_Ops_Ape]

Your system would be dead silent (from your perspective) if it was in a different room than where you are.

[fux]

or with a fanless case and a massive heatsink on cpu and gpu

[Ariortega]

@ L37 : you're right, AIO's are really not that great for silent systems (think most people buy them because of RGB effects and convinience). Problem with aircoolers (even if high-end ones) is that they will be good as long as cpus are running at stock speed but as soon as you overclock even they will have their troubles. And a good air cooler (e.g. Noctua NH-D15s) will not fit my case (Lian Li O-11 Dynamic). Apart from that I already have a EK D5 pump and a 240mm radiator.

@Spec_Ops_Ape: hehe trust me, I would do that, but I don't have the luxury of putting my pc in a different room.

[Ariortega]

@ fux: like mentioned above, I already have all the components for my rig (just haven't built it yet). I just don't know for sure if the above mentioned radiator will be "enough" to keep my overclocked i5-8600K as cool as possible or if a 360mm radiator would be better.

To buy another case, another cpu, etc. is out of question.

[Clint E]

Just use the EK configurator give you a rough estimate

[L37]

Originally posted by Ariortega:

@ fux: like mentioned above, I already have all the components for my rig (just haven't built it yet). I just don't know for sure if the above mentioned radiator will be "enough" to keep my overclocked i5-8600K as cool as possible or if a 360mm radiator would be better.

To buy another case, another cpu, etc. is out of question. :markofgoku:

Depends on too many factors to be able to tell this without testing. How far you want to push your cpu, how lucky you got with it, how loud is too loud, how hot is too hot etc. Will 360 be better - obviously it will. By how much is another question...

[Ariortega]

Of course you're right, it depends on many factors. How far do I want to push the i5-8600K ? 4.6GHz - max. 4.8GHz (depends on the sample), Voltage as low as possible but at the most 1.25v, not going above that voltage, no matter what. If it means not hitting even 4.6GHz then be it so, I don't care. How hot is too hot? I'm hoping for idle temps around 26° - max. 30°C (room temperature around 24° ~ 27°C) and under "load" (means for me gaming 1080p / 120Hz or if possible 1440p / 120Hz) max. 45°C.
How loud is too loud? If I'm able to hear the pump or a single fan while sitting at my desk it's already too loud.

[Ariortega]

My old system was a i5-7600K @ 4.2GHz with 1.08v (running absolutely stable) aircooled by a Be Quiet Dark Rock 4, GTX 1070 SC in an Fractal Design Meshify C case (with Noctua fans). And brother I tell you: It was really dead silent. You could only hear the fans spinning if you'd really held your ear next to the case. Even during hours of gaming my system was silent. You're asking for temps? Idle was around 26° ~ 29°C and while gaming max. 38°C (!).

[L37]

Unrealistic. You have to choose either cold or quite.
If you want to dissipate a lot of heat fast wit low temp difference you want as much airflow as possible, if you want silent system you want as little airflow as possible. Pumps are also going to be audible no matter what.

I've built silent systems in the past, what it basically means - as little moving parts as possible. No hdd-s, no pumps, etc. Large heatsinks, large relatively slow fans and fan controls configured to run them as slow as possible (and turn off entirely at idle if possible) while maintaining temps as high as possible within spec (higher difference with ambient means higher transfer efficiency).

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You do realize that AIO are not by any means quiet right? The pumps in all the major brand aio are never quiet. Not by a long shot. Beefy cooler with 1 or 2 140/120 mm fans can be super silent.

But also to have quieter PC, look at a case that is all solid steel, not aluminum. Many cheap aluminum cases are around 0.5mm thick Chinese or Korean aluminum which will be noise and have vibration issues.