Looking for cooler for Alder lake CPU

Denpepe

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So after much of pondering, I bit the buillet and ordered a 12700k a MSI MPG Z690 Edge Wifi DDR4 mobo and some 3600 RAM.

Now I still need a cooler since Corsair is not selling an upgrade kit for my AIO's.

From reading some reviews and how hot these suckers run I'm mostly looking into 360 AIO's and there are not that many around that support the new socket and are "reasonably" priced.

The ones that I can get are

MSI MAG CoreLiquid C360 (sold out unfortunatelly atm) but this one has the pump in the rad, not sure in that case that I should mount the rad at the top. The square block does seem to be better suited for the bigger CPU then most round ones

AORUS Waterforce 360 is another option but I'm not the biggest fan of Gigabyte and the mounting for alder lake seems lacking

be quiet! Pure Loop 360mm is the last one, seems to be a more no frills model (also the cheapest) but not a lot of info to be found for this one

I know it's WCCFtech but here it shows some of the issues https://wccftech.com/various-aio-cp...der-models-show-insufficient-thermal-contact/

Also would eventually a 240 AIO be sufficient, seeing it's "only" a 12700K?

Anyways I'm open for suggestions.
 
Well I finally got the machine assembled, I went with a C280 from MSI.

Now to get it set up how I want (BTW I did just move all my drives to the new machine without a clean install, so far so good, knocks on wood)

The build was actually quite painfull, not sure if I'm going to use a lot more Lian-Li in the future. I went with a O11 Dynamic and some unifans.

The O11 started out nice, but mounting drives to it is a pain, even SSD's, on the backplate you don't realy have room for the sata power cable to the drives and in the drivecage, even after looking over the documentation half a dozen times it's unclear to me how you are supposed to mount a 2.5 inch SSD's on there correctly so I winged it. I even have an SSD just stuffed in the back somewhere completely loose.

The Unifans sticking together is fun, screwing them down proved harder then I would like as the holes are not threaded and it always feels like the screws are going in croocked, it took so much force I feared they might crack. Adding the power cable to the little hub thingie also required a lot more force then I would like, doubt it is ever coming out though.

Now to find a way to make the 3 different lighting software programs to co exist (MSI, Corsair and Lian-li) or maybe turn all that **** off.

Also can't seem to get my memory to run at 3600, latest Bios seems flakey at best, took 4 attempt's to get the basics saved without crashing hoping for an updated one soon (also my first USB stick I was using proved non functional for bios updates which is strange to me as I used it for this purpose for ages)

Connecting the AIO's cable mess also was quite the adventure as those RGB headers are so loose they fall of the header if you so much as look at them funny.

At least I did not buy a ROG maximus HERO this time as they seem to spontaniously combust.

Maybe I'll try to take some pics of the end result for the post your 2022 workstations if we have such a thread.
 
Have an O11 Dynamic XL, so some notes:
Denpepe said:
even SSD's, on the backplate you don't realy have room for the sata power cable to the drives and in the drivecage
Click to expand...
Some PSUs end in a flat SATA power lead- and some don't. Might be able to use a short extension cable for this if it bothers you.

Denpepe said:
even after looking over the documentation half a dozen times it's unclear to me how you are supposed to mount a 2.5 inch SSD's on there correctly so I winged it. I even have an SSD just stuffed in the back somewhere completely loose.
Click to expand...
You can just use double-sided tape; anything more is really cosmetic IMO. As far as the drive cages, beats me. I put a pair of 3.5" spinners in one of mine to act as a local mirrored mass-storage volume. I've mostly moved to M.2 drives though. If you want a better solution, there are generic brackets that can mount a pair of 2.5" drives into a 3.5" bay, IIRC. Won't double the cables though.
Denpepe said:
The Unifans sticking together is fun, screwing them down proved harder then I would like as the holes are not threaded and it always feels like the screws are going in croocked, it took so much force I feared they might crack.
Click to expand...
Fans are interesting. I've skipped Lian Li's for now just due to sticker shock - I have 13 fans in my XL, ten of which are visible from the outside. I'm currently replacing the bargain-bin DeepCool fans I'd initially bought with packs of ARCTIC P12 PWM PST fans, in white ARGB for the inside ones, and black for the three hidden behind the radiator.

These are much quieter than the DeepCool fans!

I'll also say that the standard fan screws, while still being 'standard', have been iterated on by just about everyone. Noctua, Be Quiet!, and even EK in my most recent experience have shipped attachments that range from 'neat' to 'why...', but all of them better than threading in those awful short fan screws!

Denpepe said:
Now to find a way to make the 3 different lighting software programs to co exist (MSI, Corsair and Lian-li) or maybe turn all that **** off.
Click to expand...
I have some advice - you'll find that some of the software will work with other software. It's still the wild, wild west, but for example I know that you can get Corsair RGB RAM working with MSI's 'MSI Center'. Razer's software (otherwise for their own peripherals) is working out to be a sort of RGB software hub of its own, and the FOSS'ers are FOSS'ing with stuff like OpenRGB.

Keep playing with it, and be careful not to string too many RGB fans together - I've managed to make my personal system refuse to boot with just six of the P12 RGB fans strung together. Wasn't expecting that, and looking at possible workarounds beyond just unplugging them, like a powered RGB hub.

Denpepe said:
Also can't seem to get my memory to run at 3600, latest Bios seems flakey at best, took 4 attempt's to get the basics saved without crashing hoping for an updated one soon (also my first USB stick I was using proved non functional for bios updates which is strange to me as I used it for this purpose for ages)
Click to expand...
RAM is flaky to begin with. Really just no way to know how your combination of RAM, CPU, motherboard, BIOS, and settings will all work together, and that's not even all of the variables involved. Start conservative and change only one setting at a time if you're not getting the speeds you think you should.

As for BIOSs... they're weird too. I think I've been spoiled by ASUS and ASRock - not everyone does this well.

Best advice: format the stick to FAT32 before using it. You sound like you got it to work with a new stick, and it might require just that, unfortunately. Thankfully they're cheap!
Denpepe said:
Connecting the AIO's cable mess also was quite the adventure as those RGB headers are so loose they fall of the header if you so much as look at them funny.
Click to expand...
Picked up from watching Gamer's Nexus: use electrical tape for the RGB leads, at least once you've got them where you think you want them.

Denpepe said:
At least I did not buy a ROG maximus HERO this time as they seem to spontaniously combust.
Click to expand...
I saw that one too - of all the things...
Denpepe said:
Maybe I'll try to take some pics of the end result for the post your 2022 workstations if we have such a thread.
Click to expand...
Start one and tag me! I have some gore worthy of such a thread...

Denpepe said:
Well I finally got the machine assembled, I went with a C280 from MSI.
Click to expand...
Left for last, because I still don't know what would be 'good'. LGA1700 is a new thing and apparently cooler makers are half-arsing brackets and such, and well, that's just not something I'd want to roll the dice on, let alone recommend to someone. I'm glad the C280 is working out!
 
LazyGamer said:
I put a pair of 3.5" spinners in one of mine to act as a local mirrored mass-storage volume.
Click to expand...

Well there are holes where the 2.5" holes allign, they are just to big and the screws they advise to use are too long, so I just removed some of those rubber rings in the holes for the 3.5" spots and used those as washers

LazyGamer said:
I have some advice - you'll find that some of the software will work with other software. It's still the wild, wild west, but for example I know that you can get Corsair RGB RAM working with MSI's 'MSI Center'.
Click to expand...

I unfortunatelly use a corsair KB and mouse and both MSI center and L-connect mess with those if you launch them, need to find an overrride for that behavior
LazyGamer said:
RAM is flaky to begin with. Really just no way to know how your combination of RAM, CPU, motherboard, BIOS, and settings will all work together, and that's not even all of the variables involved. Start conservative and change only one setting at a time if you're not getting the speeds you think you should.
Click to expand...

Well even setting basic XMP does not work atm will look into it at some point it's currently running at 3.200.
LazyGamer said:
Picked up from watching Gamer's Nexus: use electrical tape for the RGB leads, at least once you've got them where you think you want them.
Click to expand...

Tried that with a daisy chain bit but it would not stick, changed the connectors the other way round and those at least pinch a tiny bit
LazyGamer said:
Left for last, because I still don't know what would be 'good'. LGA1700 is a new thing and apparently cooler makers are half-arsing brackets and such, and well, that's just not something I'd want to roll the dice on, let alone recommend to someone. I'm glad the C280 is working out!
Click to expand...

I'll have to see if it is any good, haven't had much time yet to test did get a lot of heat coming out of the PC while playing a bit of apex legends last night, may need to crank the Lian-Li intakes a bit more. Still a bit work in progress.
 
Small update, aftter using the machine for a while I'm not that happy with temps, think I'm going to add 3 fans at the bottom as intake and make the 3 against the back exhaust.

While gaming with the 3 unifans at 1500 RPM I get temps anywhere from the high 40°'s to even high 60°'s and I see even temps in HWinfo64 of 84°

At least I got my memory speeds fixed
 
Those are good temps - if you're seeing temps limited to 84c, then everything is running as it should. The CPU may even be backing off of boost clocks to hit 84c (you'd have to dig in to logging to see).

If you want more good fans, I've found that the Arctic ARCTIC P12 PWM PST line is very good for the money. I'm putting 13 into my own O11 Dynamic XL, ten RGB and three black. They're acoustically neutral and silent at sub-1000RPM.

(not knocking the Unifans except for that price sticker!)
 
Starting to regret buying this case, may need to get a bigger one, soundcard is blocking at least 1 of the bottom fan mounts, also I would need to rebuild a lot of the machine to better route cables to be able to fit 2 fans at the bottom, and 2 in and 5 out might not be the best idea either for pressure.

I kinda love the case but it seems better suited for more modest builds, may put the backup pc in there, need to let this sink in a while.

Also what the hell is wrong with the MSI RGB stuff, I like orange lights but it does not do orange well, sometimes it almost white even gets to purple.
 
Small update, I changed cases to the O11 Dynamic XL, added 2 140mm fans in the bottom, feels less like a space heater now.

CPU temps did not change much going from high 30's to law 60's while gaming, seems there is something going on with Apex legends menu as I seen that raise my CPU temps up to 80°+

Going to reuse the other case for my AMD system.
 
I have used the Lian Li 011 cases and without using fans on the bottom it can get pretty toasty and I blame that mainly on the glass holding heat. I have used the Aorus Waterforce X 360 on my 12700K and it worked well. I went back to air cooling though because I am a bit of a worrier with both the water aspect and the gunk that tends to build up in some AIO's over time. I went with the Noctua NH-U12A and it works very well.
 
Well small update if anyone cares, out of the 5 unifans I have in my system, 4 now have broken B's in the RGB part of the fans which is quite dissapointing given their cost.

If I can work up the courage I have some be quiet fans now to swap in and might look into RMA-ing the defective ones and if that works out I'll repurpose them in one of the backup systems.
 
LazyGamer said:
Should try - Lian Li has been mentioned to uphold the warranty on these.
Click to expand...
I agree. I had some that the glue holding the pads down on the corners wasn't working anymore and they replaced them no questions asked. Just sent a picture to them.
 
Hmm this seems more difficult then I tought going to add a couple pictures here as I gave this thread to Lian Li as I needed an URL for a video showing the issue but I have only pictures and already removed the fans from my PC.

Also I can only add one RMA request it seems and I have 2 different models beeing defective oh well let' see how it goes

btw all Lian li fans in the pictures are set to the same purple color 2 out of 3 120's show red and 1.5 of the 140's also.
 

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In case anyone is still following this, I did get a package from Taiwan a couple days ago with some 120mm fans inside, waiting on the 140's, they are a couple days behind.
 
My main pc is in for repair as it seems my cooler is about to die, playing BG3 I hit 100°c, still under warranty so we will see what happens
 
Seems I incorrectly installed the cooler 20 months ago and it finally caught up to me, should be fine now, we will see.
 
Well I have to disagree with the store, just rebooted my pc and after booting up and watching something on youtube i already have temps of 90+°

Fans are also pretty loud trying to compensate for the failing pump imo.
 
Seems the new one wont last longer as it seems to be dying already :unsure:

Getting red temps again on certain tasks and also the fans are ramping up a lot harder, seeing I'm eyeing an upgrade later this year I'm not sure what to do next. sigh
 
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