Air cooling for 3770k

[Greg S]

I will be getting a silverstone kublai KL04 (http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=324) and an ASRock z77 extreme 4 and I want to get a new cooler as the stock one is not going to work for overclocking. I hope to get a 4.5Ghz overclock with reasonable temps, so I am in need of a pretty good air cooler. I don't care what it costs as long as it's under $150, which shouldn't really be a limiting factor for air cooling. Please post what you think I should get. Thanks.

 

[CMH]

You can't go wrong with any tower-style coolers out there, especially if you stick to well known brands. I'd probably favor noctua's NH-D14. They used specialize in fans, until they decided to come out with their own coolers as well some years back.

 

[Leeky]

Noctua's NH-D14 or NH-C14 are both good, as is Thermaltake's Silver Arrow. Coolermaster's V8 cooler should also be up to the job.

I'd recommend the Noctua NH-D14 personally, or the Thermaltake Silver Arrow -- but I'd also purchase a 3rd fan and clips to upgrade it to a triple fan cooler. These are both large coolers though, so its important to check they will be compatible with your motherboard and RAM. You can check the motherboard compatibility here. Generally speaking they will require low-profile RAM.

Our 4-way cooler review is also worth a read.

 

[slh28]

The Noctua NH-D14 is a great performing cooler but if you prefer something a bit less fugly and just as good then consider the Phanteks PH-TC14PE or the Alpenfohn K2.

 

[CMH]

Fugly is a very subjective opinion....

But like I first said, any tower cooler of the same size would do the job. Bigger is most probably better as well (or at least won't hurt). You'd see a few degrees difference in reviews, but that's pretty much down to statistical errors (You'd rarely get 2 coolers even of the same model/production run/etc to perform exactly the same).

Stick to whatever's been mentioned that looks the best to you (or your hip pocket).

 

[Benny26]

I myself am shooting for this processor with the Noctua NH-D14. The benchmarks and reviews around the net just say it all for me really. The Silver Arrow seems to be a great choice also.

OC3D do a good head-to-head review of both the Thermalright Silver Arrow and the NH-D14 here

 

[slh28]

Fugly is a very subjective opinion....

Well I don't think you can find a single person who thinks Noctua's colour scheme looks good.

 

[magaman598]

Well I don't think you can find a single person who thinks Noctua's colour scheme looks good.

I bet you probably could, I wouldn't mind having 6 of their 120MM fans on my radiator.

As for the OP. Do some research about the coolers mentioned in this thread all of them are very good. As for what Leeky said, there's the start of your research.