I am thinking of doing some light overclocking so (say) a Noctua U series would be more than adequate, but I am totally over-killing and going for a Noctua D14. This got me to thinking would I get away with the stock cooler for this light overclock (maybe as little as that provided via ASUS' TPU button)? What sort of overhead, cooling wise, is there in a stock air cooler? Not being a hard-core gamer I think most water cooling is a leak waiting to happen, apart from Aio s which have cost, finding space and (possibly) noise concerns.
Specs? Stock coolers for haswell, ivy, am3 8/6core arent worth a pinch of sh*t for oc'ing unless your ambient temps are really low. Any review for your cpu will show this.
You're getting a D14 anyway so why even bother with the stock cooler option?
WC leaks 'waiting to happen' is very debatable. I've had loops in rigs for over a decade now and have never had a leak just happen. Thats why one leak tests upon re-filling/setting up a loop.
I am not using the stock cooler was just musing would it have sufficed if it was used.
The 4930K doesn't even have a stock cooler but 'ordinary' Hasswells do
As regards the loop, gamers may well be prepared to test (and if a leak is found) rejig their loop and live with the (may be quite small IDK) chance of a leak developing but I am not.
Jings a bit shouty this pirate text.
For stock coolers, your overhead is pretty much what ever overclock you can get at stock voltages. Other than that, the stock coolers do not have enough headroom to handle a voltage boost that will make an unstable overclock, stable. You are more likely to end up will less performance in that case, due to throttling.