I run an NZXT Kraken Z73 360mm AIO.

And it’s fucking wonderful. I haven’t seen my CPU get above 51°C and that was during a hot ass summer day where the AC couldn’t cut it in our house.

It idles at 19 and is under full load at ~33.

The problem is NOT heat saturation (which is what a 360mm rad solves for)

The real problem is the efficiency of heat transfer between the multiple gradients in your cooling system.

You could use a water cooler the size of an olympic pool (as Linus Tech Tips has done lol) but it still wouldn’t solve your high package temp.

Cores (Heat source) —>Indium Solder ——->IHS ————->Thermal Paste ——————>Cold Plate ———————-> Cooling Liquid —————————>Airflow through Radiator

That’s a lot of gradients for heat to travel through.

If you really want to solve your thermal problem without bottlenecking your performance, de-lid the CPU and replace the Indium Solder with liquid metal. The tools available nowadays make the procedure accessible to people with no prior experience.

“But my warranty!”

Yeaaaa yeaaahh… valid point. Undervolt the CPU and limit your power draw to 200W, problem solved. The 12900K is unlikely to be the bottleneck anyway so this is the more sensible thing to do. Just realize your CPU’s effective lifespan will be shorter as better and better GPU’s are released in combination with newer and more demanding titles.

The choice is yours!

Are you just gaming, or running a cpu intensive program? Gaming some people get away with an air cooler. If you want to maximize what it can do, get a contact frame and at least a 360mm aio.

Not a 12900k but I have a 13600kf oc to 5.5GHz and I use a coolermaster masterliquid ml240l and it keeps my cousin at about 25c idle and under 60c during gaming and 85c during a stress test

If you get an AIO get an Arctic Liquid Freezer II. You can honestly use a 280mm if you can’t use a 360mm. Just don’t use a 240mm.

noctua U12A works well and is nice if you prefer a smaller form factor air cooler that doesn’t cover your ram

i use the dark rock elite and it’s been wonderful

a 280-360mm AIO will help you maximize your performance but for me it’s not worth the extra hassle and risk associated with AIOs.

keep in mind your bios settings may be optimized for water cooling out of the box, depending on your motherboard. for my msi board, i just had to go into cpu settings in bios and change water cooling (unlimited power) to air cooling (288W power limit) in order to get my fan curves dialed in

arctic II 280, 360,420

but 280 is enough

Buy a high performance cpu cooler

I have a 13900ks. I am delidded with 3x560mm and 1x420mm rads.

Sometimes I run on modified ek delta’s in series(temps just above 0c).

In each case the issue is not how cold I can keep my chip, but how quickly i can get the heat out off my office.

I’d never use 12/13/14th gen CPUs without the contact frame, it makes day and night difference.

Lian li galahad ii preformance it is the best aio on the market not even the liquid freezer II 420mm is better

First off you don’t need a 360mm rad as a minimum, I am currently cooling my 14900k with a NZXT Kraken 280 @ 288w with a .050v undervolt. I am getting my performance and good temps. Unfortunately my beloved ND-D15s could not handle my 14900k, if I gave it low wattage the temps would be fine but the chip would under perform.

Anything from a 120mm tower cooler will give you most of the performance. Aio-coolers are probably your best choice if you want the reasonable maximum.

Ive got a Corsair H150i Elite 360mm AIO. Works great for the i9 12900K. Idle temps average at 35c and gaming load at 65-70c on a 1440p settings.

Thermaltake makes some coolers that work fantastic, even on an overclock. I use the water 3.0, 360 and it is cooling i9 9900kf at 5.3 GHZ and never gets above 83 c at full load. they make an upgraded version for your CPU. Now on year 5, so they do last nice. Better than last one witch I won’t mention as they went out of business.