A word to the wise

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Monday, April 22, 2013

My next computer build: Part 3 (CPU cooling)

Okay, so I've got my case (Antec P280), my Power Supply (Seasonic SS-520FL Active PFC F3) and continuing  my new found predilection for putting the cart before the horse, I purchased the Austrian designed Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler. Computer enthusiasts will know the reputation for the NH-D14 is near impeccable for quiet air cooling. And more importantly somewhat less worrisome than those liquid cooling systems with their seemingly rare, but easy to find horror stories of unattended leakage.

The NH-D14 is fairly versatile as far as socket compatibility goes too. It looks like the SecuFirm2 Mounting System will even be compatible with the upcoming Haswell boards if I decide to go in that direction. All in all it it looks like a reasonably safe bet for a mildly overclocked (4.2GHz or so) air cooled system, but I'm addicted to researching my options and didn't really make a tentative decision until I seen this comparative review from Guru of 3D.








There's just no getting around it. The Noctua NH-D14 outperforms the competition in every category relevant to my specifications. Still, I was disappointed that the Thermalright Silver arrow wasn't part of this comparison. I know a lot of enthusiasts like it and it's priced a little better than the Noctua, but then I seen the results of a poll conducted by Overclock.net over a 2 week period in November 2012 where more than 35,000 computer enthusiasts from around the world voted for their choice for the top computer parts and accessories. The results were posted in January 2013. Not all 35,000 voted on every category. I expect the majority of hardcore enthusiasts have liquid cooling systems, but for air coolers:

First place (Gold) went to the Noctua NH-D14 with 63% (515) of the votes

Second place (Silver) went to Phantecks  PH-TC14PE with only 15% (124) of the votes

Third Place (Bronze) went to Cooler Master TPC 812 with a paltry 6% (54) of the vote

Thermalright didn't even make it into the top 8.

I don't think that kind of input from real computer enthusiasts can be ignored even accounting for a generous margin of error. For me, that settled the matter.

As is always the case with purchasing top quality items, the big drawback was the price. In the end it might contribute to throwing my $1,200.00  budget into an uncontrollable tailspin, but in the grand scheme of things I have a really hard time justifying compromises in quality for the sake of a few measly bucks. I found it on sale for $74.99 (with free shipping) on Amazon. Yeah, Not a fantastic deal and I could have saved 30-40 bucks and had something that probably would have been more than adequate for my CPU cooling needs, but it wouldn't have had the all important buttery factor (for which I intend to attempt an explanation in my next post: "Caught and Called Out by my Wife").

So far, with case, PSU and CPU cooler, we're up to $315.00.

BTW, I've purchased the Cooler Master 212 EVO to replace the stock intel cooler on my wife's 3770k computer so I can play with overclocking it a bit more. I don't want to get too carried away with testing on her computer.

Oh, and BTW2, the Zalman CNPS FX100 Cube Fanless CPU Cooler turned out to be a total flop as far as versatility goes (in my book), so that was completely out of the question.




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