Best cheapish, quiet cooler for AMD Phenom II 955

[joe gray]

Hey again all

Looking for a good, cheapish, preferably quieter than stock cooler for my amd phenom xii 955

Motherboard is asus m4a77t (http://www.asus.com/Motherboard/M4A77TD)

I was looking at the arctic freezer a30 as it looks amazing in terms of price to performance, and noise.. but it is huge, im a bit worried if it will fit on the board.

 

[MrBlkfx1]

When it comes to budget coolers, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is one of the best you can buy. It's extremely cheap ($34.99) and extremely efficient.

 

[joe gray]

Looks good, my main concern is size, it has dimensions of 13 x 10 x 18 cm
the arctic has dimensions of 14 x 10 x 16 cm
they both seem rather big, will they fit?

 

[hood6558]

They will both probably fit, unless you have a very narrow case or tall heat spreaders on your RAM. I moved away from air coolers because they stress your motherboard and take up too much space, making everything you do inside the case a lot harder (and you constantly bump into them when changing RAM or plugging in fans). Right now on NewEgg you can buy a 120 mm liquid cooler for $44.99 (Thermaltake A80), so it makes good sense all around to move up to water cooling, and entry level models will fit any case with a 120 mm fan mount. Think cooler and quieter at the same time.

 

[LukeDJ]

What case do you have? And if you cannot find out, measure up some rough dimensions for us.

The 212 Evo is actually relatively small in the world of air cooling (compared to, say, a Noctua NH-D14) and I also highly recommend it.

Personally, I wouldn't go with water cooling for a budget cooler, as they tend to not perform as well for the money. (although if you are EXTREMELY short on space, and have a 120mm fan mount available, then water cooling may be the way to go for you).

 

[joe gray]

Dimensions of Case (LxWxH) : 52.25 x 20.5 x 45 CM

Im looking at the Coolermaster hyper 212 EVO and Arctic Cooling Freezer a30

The Arctic is (LxWxH) : 10 X 13.9 X 16.1

The Coolermaster is (LxWxH) : 8 x 12 x 15.9

 

[LukeDJ]

Looking at that, it SHOULD fit in. If you want to be extra sure, you can open the case up, and measure from the motherboard to the other side of the case.

Again, I would recommend the Hyper 212 Evo, although the Arctic should be fine as well.