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.

[ugafan]

引用自 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.

Why are you switching away from the dark rock 4 and noctua fans?

[Ariortega]

Because I want to overclock the i5-8600K while keeping it as cool as possible. As you certainly know that cpu is a 6-core while my old one was only a 4-core. I think a custom loop will be better in terms of keeping temperatures down while staying at the same time as silent as possible.

But should it turn out that the water cooling system is louder (or not as good as expected) I will most definitely go back to an air cooling solution. (btw: my radiator is also euqipped with Noctua fans).

There is something very interesting coming this year (I believe spring) : "IceGiant ProSiphon Elite"
I'm excited about this product and if it can truly be a game changer in the cpu cooling market.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Custom loops aren't worth it for most users on tighter budgets and it's fairly pointless to invest into that when you don't even have high end specs.

Dark Rock Pro 4 would be more then enough for any Intel 115x cpu, no matter the OC. It being stable will depend alot on motherboard, bios, settings, vrms. Keeping such a cpu cool with that cool won't be an issue. And it's quiet even at max rpms.

[fux]

引用自 Ariortega：

Because I want to overclock the i5-8600K while keeping it as cool as possible.

then go for the 360 rad because I don't think a 240 one will beat a good air cooler by that much and the dr4 is probably quieter anyway

[Autumn_]

引用自 ugafan：

Why are you switching away from the dark rock 4 and noctua fans?

-

引用自 Bad 💀 Motha：

Dark Rock Pro 4 would be more then enough for any Intel 115x cpu

He already has the parts, and no compatibility for larger air coolers, even the Hyper 212 Evo doesn't fit iirc;

引用自 Ariortega：

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.

A 240mm loop would cool it fine. It's not going to be silent, but it'll be quiet enough.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

引用自 fux：

引用自 Ariortega：

Because I want to overclock the i5-8600K while keeping it as cool as possible.

then go for the 360 rad because I don't think a 240 one will beat a good air cooler by that much and the dr4 is probably quieter anyway

360 is complete overkill unless you OC an 8700K or 9900K

You can easily find stats that prove a 360mm rad won't help when a 240 or 280 can do the job well enough.

[Clint E]

EK is recommending a 360 but a 240 will also work for this CPU. Again just use the EK configurator to narrow the guess work down, plus almost nobody on this forum water cools with a custom loop.

[Ariortega]

Just tried the EK configurator. It recommended a 360mm radiator, but (!) the slim version. I already have an 240mm but the thick version (PE). Thickness of a radiator should make a difference.

If it truly turns out that my custom loop (EK-CoolStream PE 240 + EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 + EK-Velocity CPU cooler) will not be sufficient and silent enough, I will sell the O-11 Dynamic along with all the watercooling components and get back to my Fractal Design Meshify C with the be quiet! Dark Rock 4. Since I'm going to delid the cpu anyway and substitute the IHS with a better copper based HS I should be fine, although overclocking will most likely out of option.

I really want to thank all of you guys for your input so far. Helps me a lot, trust me.

[Clint E]

You get the slim for silent operation, when you pick it. You pick “Performance” it will show the PE series, thick radiator means more noise as fan works harder. The configurator when I did mine was 2 degree difference in water temperature so it works pretty well.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If you must go AIO liquid style, look at Corsair H115i or H150i

[Ariortega]

hey people, I justed wanted to make my final comment in this thread, since I found the "right" solution for my case. I went through the official EK blogs about watercooling / radiators which helped me to make my final decision. So here's the thing:
if going for a little bit of overclocking but primarily wanting to stay as silent as possible, the solution always seems to be to get the biggest radiator your case can hold and run it in a push/pull configuration.

Means in my case: get that 360mm PE version, attach it on the sidepanel of the O-11 Dynamic and run it with push/pull. That way all the fans can be set to a very low speed while still having great heat dissipation.
(another solution would be to have 2 240mm radiators in a loop. but...that would look ridiculous).

So that's it...found a proper solution to keep that i5-8600K as cool as possible and my system as silent as possible.

Final declaration: I would NEVER...never ever waste my money on any AIO, no matter how beautiful the RGB effects are, how convinient it might be. Either I safe money and spend it on a nice custom watercooling loop or I'd get a high-end air cooler.

[Nepgear]

240mm is fine for my 9700k @5.1 if I don't run avx(2) stress tests.

[Zireth]

Get a be quiet dark rock pro 4, its very quiet and will cool better than that aio

[Jelly Donut]

You don't need an expensive liquid cooler from EK. A decent 240mm Liquid Cooler AIO is good enough.

4.6Ghz depends on your silicon lottery luck, but it should be fine.

Also, if you're using an open air GPU, consider mounting the rad on the side on your 011 and it's own intake of fresh air.

My current setup has a 9700k @ 5.1, AVX2, 1.35V. Using Corsair H150i Pro (360 AIO) and it's in a 011-Dynamic as well.

[Autumn_]

引用自 Ren：

Get a be quiet dark rock pro 4, its very quiet and will cool better than that aio

It's already been several times, he doesn't have the space in his case for it.