I'm considering upgrading to a Ryzen 7 5700X, but I currently don't have a proper CPU cooler and my PC already runs quite hot. I'm trying to keep costs down, so I'd prefer an affordable air cooler rather than an AIO liquid cooler. I have a Fornax 500 case with three preinstalled front intake fans, but no rear exhaust fan. Should I add an exhaust fan, or move one of the existing intake fans to the rear?
3 Answers
The Ryzen 7 5700X isn’t especially difficult to cool, so a basic single-tower or dual-tower air cooler should be enough. You don’t need an AIO for this chip. Also, definitely add rear exhaust airflow—moving one of your front fans to the back is a free option.
Start by relocating one of the three front intake fans to the rear as an exhaust. That should improve the case airflow immediately. Pair it with any inexpensive tower CPU cooler that supports AM4, and the 5700X should be fine at stock settings.
A Peerless Assassin 120 SE handles this class of Ryzen processor easily, but if that’s outside your budget, a cheaper tower-style cooler will still do the job. The important thing is getting a proper cooler instead of relying on a very basic stock AMD heatsink.
I currently have a basic AMD cooler that I bought used for a few euros, but I’m not sure whether it’s good enough for the 5700X.
I’m trying to spend as little as possible, so I’d rather reuse one of the fans I already have if that works.