92mm rad for 8700k?

Im not sure if it’s possible, but would like to get some opinions if a 92mm rad in a custom loop would be able to cool a 8700k effectively.

I was looking at this rad:

http://hardwarelabs.com/nemesis/micro/m92gtx/

It says it has a cooling capacity of 220w.


On another note, is Hardware Lab stuff any good? I’ve only used Aquacomputer stuff.

Thanks is in advance.

I've never used a 92mm rad, but I'd argue that it can cool an 8700k.

The question is, is it worth it?

One of the reasons people water cool is for lower temps. If you skimp on radiator capacity, you might be better off just using an air cooler.

It will absolutely cool it.

How sensitive are you to fan noise, exorbitant cost, and a maintenance schedule? And are you planning to overclock with any aggression?

AP2 said:

On another note, is Hardware Lab stuff any good? I’ve only used Aquacomputer stuff.

Click to expand...

The Nemesis and Black Ice product lines have been around for a LONG time so there should be plenty of reviews out there. It's one of those brands I've looked at many times but their radiators tend to be thicker than I have the available case location for.

I would echo the sentiments that a 92mm dual core rad will cool the 8700K - depending on your uses for it.
Like the others I would also say that if you don't mind the maintenance, noise (92mm fans are louder than 120s) and the fact that your overclocking headroom would be more limited with the smallish rad, then it should be ok. Consider however that the heat-handling ability of that rad would only about the same as a Noctua nh u14 air cooler (the nocua might actually be a wee bit better). The only thing you are really gaining with that water loop is the fact that you can move the heat-exchanger from the CPU socket area to some place that has more room.

thanks for the valuable opinions as always. I ended up ordering a 120mm rad, but also a 92mm just to kill my curiosity.

This is non-scientific, but the good old school rule of thumb is that the starting point should be one 120mm radiator slot per component, and then go up from there if you want more performance.

So, for a build with one CPU and one GPU block, the starting point ought to be one dual 120mm rad (often called 240) or two 120mm rads.

The more radiator capacity you have, the slower you can run your fans and the more silent the build will be, or the more voltage you can use to get higher overclocks.

This old standby assumed you probaböy want to overclock though, so you might get away with less at stock clocks.

That and the latest generation of CPU's use much less power than back when this rule of thumb was devised, so you might get away with less.

My old 32nm 3930k at 4.8Ghz and 1.445v is an absolute beast heat wise. It Will be nice to see how much cooler everything runs when I finally get around to upgrading.