Just fishing for the sort of temperatures that can be expected from the Antec Kuhler 620 on an i5 2500K overclocked to 4.5GHz. Tempted to simplify my case and allow more air in by removing the bulky Gelid Tranquillo and like the look of the Kuhler 620. On the Gelid with the fans pumped I get around 30 idle and 60 - 65 under load with Prime95. Can similar be expected on the Kuhler 620 from personal experience?
I have a Kuhler 620 + 2500k @ 4.6 and idle is 27-28C and I haven't seen it go over 64C max, aslo in an R3 using the stock Fractal fans as intake at the front and Kuhler as the exhaust. I'm quite impressed with it tbh, apart from the fan being slightly louder than i would have liked. Much prefer these kind of solutions over normal HSF as its much neater, strapped to the side of the case and not radiating heat in the middle of my case.
That's my way of thinking as well, thanks for the input. I would be ditching the Antec supplied fan anyway and using the Scythe Gentle Typhoon that currently occupies my rear exhaust. Does the pump on the Kuhler make much noise? That'd be my only other concern.
There is a very slight buzzing sound if I take off the side panel and stick my head in the case(!), but it isn't overly loud and certainly can't be heard when the panel is on. Other than what I have said about the fan (which isn't a problem for you), I would recommend it highly! One thing I will point out (which may or may not be a problem for you) is that the little plastic fittings are colour coded (green for AMD and blue Intel) to make installation easier but, they are visible once installed. Before I stuck it in, I did a little test run through the instructions and realised this so went and bought a little pot of matt black paint. Very pleased I did. If I'm honest it was a bit of a bugger to put on but not the end of the world. You have to put the screws in so they just bite and then twist the pump in, but I couldn't loosen them enough to allow me to do this which made it a bit trickier than anticipated. These points still wouldn't deter me from recommending it however. Very pleased I got one.
I'm using the stock TIM. I do have some MX-4 lying around but I figure the stock TIM would probably be quite good (I don't really understand why a company would use inferior TIM as it would effect its products performance). Not sure what the TIM is on it tbh though - I know Antec make (or at least sell) their own TIM and some of it is quite good.
I'm curious how well the Antec Kuhler 920 would perform if I were to use a single fan! I do have a couple of Akasa Apache 120mm fans around here somewhere that would be good for this!
Just an update on my Kuhler exploits! I've tried lots of connotations of fans and placement of the Kuhler 620 and finally settled on a decent configuration that works really well. I have a Silverstone Air Penetrator acting as an intake from the rear exhaust with the radiator attached using two long screws (courtesy of the Kuhler box of goodies) on a diagonal plain to secure it to the case and a further two fan screws on the other diagonal for further stability. This saves a couple of long screws so I can attach a second fan on the other side of the radiator so in went another Silverstone Air Penetrator and then connected via a 3-pin splitter cable to the rear case fan header of my motherboard. Also I have to mention the quality of the Silverstone Air Penetrator braided fan cable is fantastic. Just needed to wrap it around the fan shroud in a loose knot to tidy it away nicely. Next I removed the Fractals so called Modu-Vent nearest the front panel and installed a Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850RPM fan to dump the heat out of the case. Incidentally I connected this to the Kuhler 620 fan header and it all works very well. The CPU temperatures are handled better than the Gelid Tranquillo I had installed previous to the Kuhler but it is at the expense of a little more noise overall. Also replaced the stock TIM on the Kuhler with some Arctic Silver 5 so I hope over time temperatures will improve even more.
