Seeking advice regarding cooling options for 9800X3D

[0131PCS]

Hi, I'm considering picking up the configuration below for the holiday season; I plan to install Fedora Linux and utilize this PC for gaming and light workstation usage. I'm quite happy with the specs I've selected but cooling wise I'm a little stuck. To keep things simple - can the PCS Frostflow 200 handle the 9800X3D or would I be better off selecting an AIO cooler, and if so which one for my case? Its TDP of 250 certainly meets the 9800X3D's wattage of 125, and other air coolers available (but not on PCS currently) such as the Phantom Spirit 120 can handle, but I'd like to hear about its performance and thermals from anyone who's got experience with it on the 9800X3D or similarly powerful CPUs. Thank you for your time.

Case
FRACTAL NORTH TG GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core CPU (Up to 5.2GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB XFX RADEON™ RX 7900 XTX MERC 310 - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fans
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days

 

[sck451]

First, I'd pay no attention to TDP levels, either for the CPU or for the cooler. One is dramatically understated, the other exaggerated on every occasion.

The PCS air coolers tend to be decent without being exceptional. Realistically yes, in gaming scenarios, the 200 is going to be enough to keep the 9800X3D cool, though with the way modern CPUs boost their frequencies for short periods, it's conceivable you may miss out on a small margin at the very top end. "Workstation" use, depending what it is, could see you miss out on a larger margin of performance in some scenarios.

For use with Linux, I wouldn't use a Corsair cooler as they are a nightmare to control without the Windows-only software. So it would be your best bet.

Your build looks pretty good to me, though I'd strongly urge you to consider getting a separate boot drive (I'd have a 500GB P44 and a 2TB P41+ for the best combination of speed and price). Having a separate boot drive isn't necessary but it is really nice, even though I know Fedora won't mind living on a partitioned drive in the way Windows does.