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If you go with air cooling on a threadripper, I suggest going with a Noctua cooler instead of Dark Rock. Dark Rock extended the size of the heat plate to match

If you go with air cooling on a threadripper, I suggest going with a Noctua cooler instead of Dark Rock. Dark Rock extended the size of the heat plate to match the TR cpu size, but they didn't cover it with heat pipes, Noctua did. Cooling performance really suffers on the 3990X because there are chiplets on the edge of the cpu. the 32 and 24 core models it may not matter so much. See: https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/luke-hill/threadripper-3990x-cpu-cooling-comparison-how-to-tame-the-beast/11/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/luke-hill/threadr... On non threadripper cpus I actually like Dark Rock better. Cooling is the same as Noctua but it looks cooler and was quieter for me.

trzeci 6y ago
My addition is that Dark Rock Pro TR4 is pretty bulky and I have a problem with Asus Zenith Extreme (Please note it's the older generation for 2950X) and radiator covers my PCIE#1 slot, so that I can't put graphics card there.
- fsociety 6y ago
  Noctura is even more bulky, unless you get the slim version.
bob1029 6y ago
Noctua is an automatic default for me now. I've got the NH-U14S on my 2950X and a NH-D15 on my 1800X. Never have any problems with these. Easy to install and maintain. Will probably reuse both when I upgrade my CPUs.
bicknyers 6y ago
Also if you go air cooling and are confident with your abilities, consider delidding to drop temps. more (5 to 20C). If you go air cooling I would assume it is on the basis of long term stability, so don't use liquid metal either. Also invest in a nice PSU (gold minimum) with your peak load pulling only 75% of the rated max wattage Edit: Like most things look at components real-world testing figures, in this case, wattage, as opposed to TDP when planning
- formerly_proven 6y ago
  TR is a nine die CPU that is pretty difficult to delid and the improvement is minimal, nowhere near "5 to 20 C". It's not a 7700K.
  - bicknyers 6y ago
    Yeah to be fair I was basing my numbers on past projects namely Intel. I haven't looked at TR specifically just offered up the suggestion for those who have never heard of it to look into
- eightysixfour 6y ago
  Ryzen CPUs are soldered, delidding has minimal impact.
  - bicknyers 6y ago
    My mistake, I thought Ryzen CPUs were still bonded with silicone and a ??? grade paste on the IHS
  - formerly_proven 6y ago
    To be honest I can't recall any AMD CPUs that weren't soldered... apart from those that didn't have an IHS in the first place ;) Intel was just like "we can save 4 $ BOM cost on a 500 $ part there" with their 4th-9th generation of CPUs. No thermal headroom? No problem.
    - formercoder 6y ago
      0.8%? Could be worth billions.
wincy 6y ago
Also consider the new Icegiant ProSiphon Elite [0]. Mine is arriving in September (due to Coronavirus related delays) but initial tests of prototypes by LTT [1] and others showed better cooling than AIO water cooling. Also since it uses dielectric fluid there’s no risk of leakage and frying your expensive computer. It’s $169 MSRP but based on what I’ve seen seems worth it. I’m not associated with them in any way just think it looks like a cool new product! [0] https://www.icegiantcooling.com/ https://www.icegiantcooling.com/ [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M13dWRL9qkc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M13dWRL9qkc
- p1esk 6y ago
  Yes, if it is as good as it seems, I don’t see any reason to use water cooling anymore.
  - wincy 6y ago
    One drawback of AIOs that I've read about is that you're no longer air cooling the VRMs surrounding the socket, which can decrease the life of your motherboard. They also recently decided to include 4 120mm fans in the package, two push and two pull, which is a pretty crazy amount of air cooling.
  - fomine3 6y ago
    Noctua's cooler is most nice look for me so there's no problem
  - ADent 6y ago
    If you believe their copy it won’t work on most computers in a tower case, since the CPU isn’t on the bottom and it uses a gravity feed to return the liquid.
    - p1esk 6y ago
      This used to be the main problem with this technology and they claim they solved it.
switchbak 6y ago
I went with the U14S for my 24 core TR, thinking I was crazy due to AMD's recommendation for robust water cooling. I was worried at first when running heavy multicore benchmarks because the heat spiked so quickly. Turns out my workload scales quite poorly (boo), so I'm rarely pushing the temp envelope at all. I did notice that a two fan setup on this was pretty noisy though, too much to bear sitting next to, so I threw it in the garage and ran some cables. Nice for summer temps and no AC in the house too! I'm plenty happy with it now, even if the Noctua doesn't quite fit my case.
- paulmd 6y ago
  water cooling isn't really that much more efficient than giant air coolers. at the end of the day, dissipating heat is a function of the radiator fin area and air movement, the water is just a working fluid to move the heat to the radiator fins. Apart from having more thermal mass (takes longer to heat up/cool down) it isn't inherently more efficient than a heatpipe. It's water moving the heat either way, and in some ways the heatpipe is actually more efficient (evaporation moves more heat than raising the temperature of the water a few degrees). People don't realize it, but a D15 (dual tower cooler, a bit bigger than your U12S) is about on par with a 240mm or 280mm AIO. A 120mm or 140mm AIO is worse than your U12S.
  - m463 6y ago
    I always thought water cooling was about noise. You could move the heat to a giant radiator, which could have a giant fan. The bigger fan would move exponentially more air with exponentially less noise. Meanwhile air cooling seems to require a lot more engineering, and you end up with something that looks like an oil refinery in the center of your motherboard.
    - ben-schaaf 6y ago
      This is only partially true. A larger radiator needs a faster/larger pump, leading to more pump noise. Interestingly most air cooling solutions are really pump-less liquid cooling, as the liquid in the heat pipes is what transfers most of the heat away from the cpu.
logjammin 6y ago
I think this is good advice in general -- you can't really ever go wrong with Noctua. I built a Threadripper workstation last year but went with liquid cooling. However, I put 3 Noctua fans on the radiator and haven't looked back. Terrific company.
keeganpoppen 6y ago
yep, i went with noctua w/ the dual fans in a push/pull configuration on a 3960x, and it's worked great so far. except that the two fans aren't quite the same color, sigh.

trzeci 6y ago

My addition is that Dark Rock Pro TR4 is pretty bulky and I have a problem with Asus Zenith Extreme (Please note it's the older generation for 2950X) and radiator covers my PCIE#1 slot, so that I can't put graphics card there.

fsociety 6y ago
Noctura is even more bulky, unless you get the slim version.

bob1029 6y ago

Noctua is an automatic default for me now. I've got the NH-U14S on my 2950X and a NH-D15 on my 1800X. Never have any problems with these. Easy to install and maintain. Will probably reuse both when I upgrade my CPUs.

bicknyers 6y ago

Also if you go air cooling and are confident with your abilities, consider delidding to drop temps. more (5 to 20C). If you go air cooling I would assume it is on the basis of long term stability, so don't use liquid metal either. Also invest in a nice PSU (gold minimum) with your peak load pulling only 75% of the rated max wattage Edit: Like most things look at components real-world testing figures, in this case, wattage, as opposed to TDP when planning

formerly_proven 6y ago
TR is a nine die CPU that is pretty difficult to delid and the improvement is minimal, nowhere near "5 to 20 C". It's not a 7700K.
- bicknyers 6y ago
  Yeah to be fair I was basing my numbers on past projects namely Intel. I haven't looked at TR specifically just offered up the suggestion for those who have never heard of it to look into
eightysixfour 6y ago
Ryzen CPUs are soldered, delidding has minimal impact.
- bicknyers 6y ago
  My mistake, I thought Ryzen CPUs were still bonded with silicone and a ??? grade paste on the IHS
- formerly_proven 6y ago
  To be honest I can't recall any AMD CPUs that weren't soldered... apart from those that didn't have an IHS in the first place ;) Intel was just like "we can save 4 $ BOM cost on a 500 $ part there" with their 4th-9th generation of CPUs. No thermal headroom? No problem.
  - formercoder 6y ago
    0.8%? Could be worth billions.

wincy 6y ago

Also consider the new Icegiant ProSiphon Elite [0]. Mine is arriving in September (due to Coronavirus related delays) but initial tests of prototypes by LTT [1] and others showed better cooling than AIO water cooling. Also since it uses dielectric fluid there’s no risk of leakage and frying your expensive computer. It’s $169 MSRP but based on what I’ve seen seems worth it. I’m not associated with them in any way just think it looks like a cool new product! [0] https://www.icegiantcooling.com/ https://www.icegiantcooling.com/ [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M13dWRL9qkc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M13dWRL9qkc

p1esk 6y ago
Yes, if it is as good as it seems, I don’t see any reason to use water cooling anymore.
- wincy 6y ago
  One drawback of AIOs that I've read about is that you're no longer air cooling the VRMs surrounding the socket, which can decrease the life of your motherboard. They also recently decided to include 4 120mm fans in the package, two push and two pull, which is a pretty crazy amount of air cooling.
- fomine3 6y ago
  Noctua's cooler is most nice look for me so there's no problem
- ADent 6y ago
  If you believe their copy it won’t work on most computers in a tower case, since the CPU isn’t on the bottom and it uses a gravity feed to return the liquid.
  - p1esk 6y ago
    This used to be the main problem with this technology and they claim they solved it.

switchbak 6y ago

I went with the U14S for my 24 core TR, thinking I was crazy due to AMD's recommendation for robust water cooling. I was worried at first when running heavy multicore benchmarks because the heat spiked so quickly. Turns out my workload scales quite poorly (boo), so I'm rarely pushing the temp envelope at all. I did notice that a two fan setup on this was pretty noisy though, too much to bear sitting next to, so I threw it in the garage and ran some cables. Nice for summer temps and no AC in the house too! I'm plenty happy with it now, even if the Noctua doesn't quite fit my case.

paulmd 6y ago
water cooling isn't really that much more efficient than giant air coolers. at the end of the day, dissipating heat is a function of the radiator fin area and air movement, the water is just a working fluid to move the heat to the radiator fins. Apart from having more thermal mass (takes longer to heat up/cool down) it isn't inherently more efficient than a heatpipe. It's water moving the heat either way, and in some ways the heatpipe is actually more efficient (evaporation moves more heat than raising the temperature of the water a few degrees). People don't realize it, but a D15 (dual tower cooler, a bit bigger than your U12S) is about on par with a 240mm or 280mm AIO. A 120mm or 140mm AIO is worse than your U12S.
- m463 6y ago
  I always thought water cooling was about noise. You could move the heat to a giant radiator, which could have a giant fan. The bigger fan would move exponentially more air with exponentially less noise. Meanwhile air cooling seems to require a lot more engineering, and you end up with something that looks like an oil refinery in the center of your motherboard.
  - ben-schaaf 6y ago
    This is only partially true. A larger radiator needs a faster/larger pump, leading to more pump noise. Interestingly most air cooling solutions are really pump-less liquid cooling, as the liquid in the heat pipes is what transfers most of the heat away from the cpu.

logjammin 6y ago

I think this is good advice in general -- you can't really ever go wrong with Noctua. I built a Threadripper workstation last year but went with liquid cooling. However, I put 3 Noctua fans on the radiator and haven't looked back. Terrific company.

keeganpoppen 6y ago

yep, i went with noctua w/ the dual fans in a push/pull configuration on a 3960x, and it's worked great so far. except that the two fans aren't quite the same color, sigh.