Just bought a huge CPU fan ... just for NS2

KamamuraKamamura Join Date: 2013-03-06 Member: 183736Members, Reinforced - Gold
edited April 2013 in NS2 General Discussion
NS2 forced me to overclock the CPU, thing I didn't think I will do, since other games are mostly GPU dependent. I managed to overclock i3570K to 4.2GHz with just the stock cooler, but I noticed the CPU runs about 75 °C hot, which is not quite healthy longterm. So I bought this monster - Noctua NH-C12P SE14:

IMG0027656.jpg

and voila, the temperature when idle decreased from 50-55 °C to ~37 °C, and when playing NS2, I now have only about 55°C, which I consider quite amazing. Take care, however, if you have memories with tall heatsinks, they may not fit under the cooler (there is a space for them, but not every type fits). I had the old Corsair XMS chips with huge silver heatsink, they had to go too.

Well, the added costs of gaming ;-) But I recommend the cooler, it's very silent and the mounting system is very well done, the installation itself is rather easy once you figure it out. Be advised that you would have to remove the mainboard, though, since the cooler includes a backplate.

Comments

  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
    edited April 2013
    hmm i may have missed it, but didn't see anywhere in there in which you mention what heatsink it is.

    I personally went with a Noctua heatsink, can't remember which model off hand, but it was rated somewhere in the top10 for heatsinks in terms of performance.

    I can overclock my phenom 2 x4 (with old stepping so it builds up more heat than other ones) over 4ghz, which is pretty good for that model cpu.

    When I built my computer I purposely bought ram without large heatsinks on them because I knew large heatsinks would get in the way.

    edit: I see you got a noctua as well. Although the one I got is one of the tower ones.
  • AdambeanAdambean Cardiff, South Wales Join Date: 2005-06-03 Member: 53038Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    Kamamura wrote: »
    Well, the added costs of gaming ;-)
    Even decent CPU coolers aren't that expensive. They are also only as effective as the thermal paste used between the CPU and heatsink, and how well it has been applied. Review of 80 different thermal pastes benchmarked, including tips for how to apply them on different shapes/surfaces of heatsink.

    You also didn't mention which cooler you purchased :)
  • alzarocalzaroc Join Date: 2003-07-26 Member: 18451Members, Constellation
    Actually, I was thinking about upgrading my rig with a i3570K (got 12Gb RAM and a 560 TI). How are your frames?
  • KamamuraKamamura Join Date: 2013-03-06 Member: 183736Members, Reinforced - Gold
    I have edited it into the original post - Noctua NH-C12P SE14. It had excellent reviews, and Noctua coolers have good reputation.

    Ad pasta remark - you can't be serious.

    Ad frames - I have 90 - 110 in the beginning of a round, and it goes down to 50 - 70, or so in the thick of late game battles.

    I have 8GB of RAM clocked at 8-8-8-22@1600MHz, GTX 670 with 4GB RAM, I run the game at 1920x1080 with all details maxed except Ambient Occlusion which I have set on Medium.
  • joshhhjoshhh Milwaukee, WI Join Date: 2011-06-21 Member: 105717Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    I am using their flagship Noctua NH-D14 on my i7 990x @4.6. That cooler outperforms my buddies watercooling. Its insane.

    On a side note, Noctua have the most quiet fans on the market. Hands down.
  • draktokdraktok Join Date: 2013-02-18 Member: 183156Members
    It's a nice cooler but it's pretty big! I had to actually do a pretty cable management job because i had done such a lazy pisspoor job originally.
  • KamamuraKamamura Join Date: 2013-03-06 Member: 183736Members, Reinforced - Gold
    draktok wrote: »
    It's a nice cooler but it's pretty big! I had to actually do a pretty cable management job because i had done such a lazy pisspoor job originally.

    Yeah, it's pretty big, it fills all the remaining space between the memory sticks, PSU and GFX card. I measured my case and found out the tower would not probably fit, did not want to risk it. However, I am quite happy now, the only thing remaining is to sell the old memory sticks online, and I am done.
  • ResRes Join Date: 2003-08-27 Member: 20245Members
    joshhh wrote: »
    I am using their flagship Noctua NH-D14 on my i7 990x @4.6. That cooler outperforms my buddies watercooling. Its insane.

    On a side note, Noctua have the most quiet fans on the market. Hands down.

    yep, a lot of people don't seem to understand that the top rated heatsinks can do just as well if not outperform many watercooling setups.
  • derWalterderWalter Join Date: 2008-10-29 Member: 65323Members
    use "liquid pro" and oc further
  • IronsoulIronsoul Join Date: 2011-03-12 Member: 86048Members
    I could understand overclocking high end cpus in the past to play ns2. But since the recent performance improvements, I don't get it.

    I'm getting 80+fps and more importantly, 80 responsive frames per second these days... I have a 2500 (non k).
  • KamamuraKamamura Join Date: 2013-03-06 Member: 183736Members, Reinforced - Gold
    Framerates in the beginning of the game are good, but those late-game massacres need an overclocked gear. That said, many server struggle under the load too.
  • ma$$a$$terma$$a$$ter Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165651Members
    Res wrote: »
    joshhh wrote: »
    I am using their flagship Noctua NH-D14 on my i7 990x @4.6. That cooler outperforms my buddies watercooling. Its insane.

    On a side note, Noctua have the most quiet fans on the market. Hands down.

    yep, a lot of people don't seem to understand that the top rated heatsinks can do just as well if not outperform many watercooling setups.

    I'm surprised by that as well. I do however see Water coolers are less "bulky" - space wise.
  • KamamuraKamamura Join Date: 2013-03-06 Member: 183736Members, Reinforced - Gold
    Just raised the clock to 4.4 GHz, CPU at 58 °C after playing for two hours. Amazing.
  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Ironsoul wrote: »
    I could understand overclocking high end cpus in the past to play ns2. But since the recent performance improvements, I don't get it.

    I'm getting 80+fps and more importantly, 80 responsive frames per second these days... I have a 2500 (non k).
    1. If you have a 120Hz monitor and want to get as close as possible
    2. If you plan on doing any video capture/streaming

    As a personal preference, I like to have NS2 stay above 50fps at all times, which typically only occurs for high overclocks.
  • Rich_Rich_ Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167152Members
    edited April 2013
    i use to buy into the whole noctua fad, then i got an h70 core and sorry, but it's 5-8c better than a noctua. and pursuaded me to go custom loop sometime this year. Still gotta update gpu and case though.

    Honestly dont see much difference between a 20 dollar evo and a 75 dollar noctua, you might get a 5 degree advantage from that noctua if you're lucky.
  • JektJekt Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Use to have one of those Corsair water coolers also, the fan would get incredibly loud and the kit failed to maintain low temperatures at high overclocks. I went from that to the Noctua NH-D14 and would recommend it to anyone disappointed with those pre packaged water cooling kits.
  • briatxbriatx Join Date: 2013-01-18 Member: 180352Members
    edited April 2013
    Water cooling only moves the heat from one location to another. All the actual cooling is still done with air, whether it's a heatsink on top of the cpu or a radiator in a water loop.

    Water cooling has additional non zero costs in the form of powering the pump, pump noise and risk of water leakage. If you are custom loop you then have additional costs of maintaining the loop which is a pain in the ass compared to air cooling.

    I did the custom loop thing, and I think it made sense for my hardware at the time. The air cooling on the HD4870 1GB sucked and screamed like a banshee at load. Putting the water loop on that cooled it down fairly quietly. Eventually the pump died and I upgraded to a new rig with a Noctua NH-D14 and an Asus Gtx 660 Ti that clocks in at 24 dB at load, stock.

    So... these days I see very little reason to go watercooling unless you are absolutely determined to squeeze out every last Mhz.

    I could overclock my 3570k, but I don't because I'm quite happy with the noise/performance ratio right now.

    PS: If you still want a custom loop I have a thermaltake radiator, swiftech cpu block and dual gpu blocks I want to sell.
  • ScatterScatter Join Date: 2012-09-02 Member: 157341Members, Squad Five Blue
    +1 to NH-D14.

    Just make sure if you get it that your ram doesn't have large heatsinks and that you have enough pci-e slots as mine covered the top one enough to render it unusable.
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    I've been running a Prolimatech Megahalems for a number of years now. It's an absolutely superb cooler. I put an Apache on that, and it's nice and quiet.
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