Air CPU Cooler for Corsair Obsidian 250D

[Bobsy]

It's been almost 5 years since I built my current PC and I am now looking forward to upgrade. There are three drivers to my upgrade project:
1. I want to use the Corsair 250D case if possible (otherwise will be 350D).
2. I want a faster machine than my i3-530/GTX460 768MB. (The specs will be the object of a separate thread, but for now I am set on upper-midrange i5-4440/R9-270X, no OC.)
3. I want a quieter machine. I look forward to saying goodbye to the Intel stock cooler.

I have a couple of questions regarding CPU cooler options for the 250D.

1. Do you have any suggestion for a good air cooler? Cooler options seem limited because of the reduced clearance of 95 mm for the CPU cooler. I don't want the H100i or another water cooler because I don't run my PC hard and want to enjoy the silence when possible. That said, Anandtech Bench suggests that the H100i in "quiet" mode might be pretty quiet. How do you set it to that mode? Also, With two fans and one pump, I suppose there are three power connecters to plug? What if the mobo has only one CPU fan header?

2. For air, I am leaning towards the Noctua NH-L12, but with its two fans, won't I need a motherboard with two four-pins CPU headers? Does that even exist?

Thank you.

 

[Essence_of_War]

2. For air, I am leaning towards the Noctua NH-L12, but with its two fans, won't I need a motherboard with two four-pins CPU headers? Does that even exist?

You shouldn't need it, but many motherboards now come with two 4pin CPU fan headers. You should check to be sure, but I believe the NH-L12 comes with a PWM splitter cable that will allow you to run two fans off of the same 4pin connector.

Another standard recommendation is the Scythe Big Shuriken. It's considerably less expensive than the NH-L12, but still performs solidly.

For the H100i, it actually comes with a fan hub. You plug a SATA power connector into it which drives the fans, and the pump, and you plug the pump into your MoBo's CPU fan header to monitor pump RPM. You then choose modes using the Corsair Link software. Corsair has a pretty decent overview here.

 

[mistersprinkles]

The whole point of the 250D is that it supports the H100i. When run quiet, its not a noisy component.

Look at:

250D
H100i
4790K
GTX 970
1TB WD Blue
256GB Samsung 840 EVO
Corsair CX600M (or better)
2X4GB 2133 cas11

That'll be a nice fast system.

 

[Bobsy]

I am confident the fans on the H100i can run quietly, but what about the pump? I fear a constant, low-frequency noise. Noise at load don't bother me because I will be wearing headphones while gaming. It's noise at idle or near idle that worry me - I want peace and quiet while I write e-mail and read the news.

Perhaps I am too much of a perfectionist, but with a flat cooler such as Big Shuriken or NH-L12, it seems the air would not flow nicely through the case. The flat cooler will send hot air towards the mobo and all around it, disrupting the front-to-back flow of the other fans. Thoughts on that?

 

[Bobsy]

Thank you Essence of War, I reviewed the installation guide for the H100i and now understand how it works. It's got an integrated fan hub. It requires a SATA power plug for power, an internal USB header for control of the unit and the CPU fan header for reading the pump RPM data.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I do not think the H100i has an adjustable pump speed. I believe that the NZXT Kraken's do, but I'm not 100% sure.

Perhaps I am too much of a perfectionist, but with a flat cooler such as Big Shuriken or NH-L12, it seems the air would not flow nicely through the case. The flat cooler will send hot air towards the mobo and all around it, disrupting the front-to-back flow of the other fans. Thoughts on that?

I wouldn't worry too much about the low profile coolers, they're very good at their intended purpose, and unless you're pushing them to their absolute TDP limits, the air blowing through them doesn't actually get THAT hot. At any rate, both the Scythe Shuriken and the NH-L12 will be considerably cooler and quieter than Intel's stock cooler.

If you're still considering the 350D, it has very nice clearances, you'll be able to get a high end tower HSF into that one like the Arctic Cooling ACFZ13, the Scythe Mugen 4, the Thermalright Macho, or the Noctua NH-U12S. Those range from the ACFZ13 at ~$30, to the NH-U12 at ~$60, but they probably don't scale by the same factor in performance as they do for cost. That's a nice way of saying Noctua's are expensive Plus it comes with an exhaust fan and a front intake (and a 2nd front intake mount point) that will help with your front-to-back airflow.

 

[coffeejunkee]

I am confident the fans on the H100i can run quietly

It comes with 2700rpm fans, I don't think those can go to low enough rpm during idle to be really quiet.

NH-L12 comes with y-splitter and is plenty for i5 4440. Also a nice LP cooler: Prolimatech Samuel + fan of choice.

 

[Bobsy]

I have one past experience with low-profile coolers. I have installed a Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev B in my HTPC. Once I turned on the PWM fan control on the motherboard, the whole system became silent. Even with my ear two inches from the case exhaust, I cannot tell it is running when it's idling or playing a movie.

I guess it is this positive past experience that make me want to stick to air cooling for my next rig.

Thank you for all your comments.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Good luck, let us know how the build goes

 

[IGemini]

It comes with 2700rpm fans, I don't think those can go to low enough rpm during idle to be really quiet.

You'd be wrong. My H100i fans idle at 800RPM. Run as quiet as any other decent 120mm PWM fan.

 

[coffeejunkee]

You'd be wrong. My H100i fans idle at 800RPM. Run as quiet as any other decent 120mm PWM fan.

That's where the whole 'quiet is subjective' comes in. I consider 120mm fans really quiet at 500, preferably 300 rpm.