Cooling for i5 2500k

[lipzo]

I'm planning on helping a friend building a new computer but i'm not sure what cooling system would be to overclock i5 2500k at 4.5 ghz. I'm guessing it would be liquid cooling but if someone could let me know which cooling system they would suggest it would be appreciated

 

[Slaymate]

Air-cooling is all he needs. How much money is he willing to spend?

 

[lipzo]

alright, he said he could spend up to $100 - $150 but preferably less

 

[Slaymate]

He can easily air-cool the system to reach 4.5GHz for $50 or less. I would go with this for the money.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm Dual-Fan CPU Cooler

For a nicer heatsink that will overclock even higher I would go with the Noctua NH-D14, but it's extremely large.

Newegg.com - Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

Another good choice, that isn't quite as bulky, would be the Corsair H70. It's a self contained water-cooling system. You can't add components to it like a custom loop, and it's not going to cool as well as a custom loop. But it will perform pretty good, about like the Noctua NH-D14 I linked to above.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Hydro H70 CWCH70 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler

 

[lipzo]

alright i think the first one you suggested may be the go as he shouldn't need to take it over 4.5 ghz though i have heard good things about the H70 so as always i can never make up my mind -.-

 

[gurusan]

I have a cheapo CM Hyper 212+ I bought off the egg for 27 shipped and my CPU is stable at 4.8GHz and temperatures aren't anything to worry about. At 5GHz I hit a voltage wall, but still temps aren't a problem.

Sandy Bridge has eliminated the need for spending more than 30ish on a cooler, and eliminated the need for WC altogether.

 

[95BlackGA]

I have the Corsair A70 on my Phenom II, overclocked to 4.0Ghz, it idles at ~34C maxes at ~45C. Not sure what the stock numbers are, but I remember when I first set it up, it was idling at 26C stock clocks. I bought mine for $24 at BEST BUY! They are/were clearing their stock of these, so they're going CHEAP. The A50 was also cut to like $18-$20.

I've heard MANY people suggest the H50 over the H70, as the extra costs don't really justify the SLIGHT difference, if there was even one at all. There have been a few occurrences where the H50 was actually better than the H70.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CWCH50-1 High Performance CPU Cooler