The Best CPU Coolers

Having had a Scythe Ninja and a Scythe Mine 2 I'd go for another Scythe. That aside, what happened to copper pipes - too expensive now?
 
I recently swapped out my H110i GT for a Noctua NHD 15. As I have a define R5 this enabled me to place the soundproofing back on the top of the case. The solution is much much quieter for it and I can still get the same overclock on my i7 and the temps are still under 75 degrees, not delidded (oh no!). Can’t see myself using an aio again unless I move somewhere hot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NimbusTLD
  • Like
Reactions: Questors and Agnomen
I just LOVE Noctua products. Just buy them if you want a cooler for a lifetime. It is really silent for its performance, the fans are really durable, and best of all, their customer support is superb at the point they send you for free every adapter you need when new sockets come out if your cooler is compatible, does not matter what country you live, and you only need a picture of your cooler, a paper with your name and date and the invoice of your new MOBO/processor. The only problem I see on their products its their color scheme. At least the brown/beige is getting fixed by their new line of fans and covers.
 
Evernessince said:
I believe the Thermalright Le Grand Macho deserves a spot on this list. It not only outperforms the NH-D15 but also a good chunk of AIO coolers. All that while being silent at 22db full load and costing $10 less.

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7986/thermalright-le-grand-macho-rt-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

It also doubles as a completely passive cooler. Due to it's sheer size, you could even take the fan completely off for a completely silent build.
Click to expand...

Yes it is indeed a beast. However the problem with it, and Scythe, to an extent is availability worldwide. Noctua is likely to be available everywhere, while Scythe and Thermal Right Macho series is very hard to find here in Sydney, only a couple of stores having them. Adding postage on top breaks the price advantage, and Noctua has a very good warranty (6 years for everything).
 
Pretty good round up to be honest!
You mention the AlphaCool Eisbaer 240 as it can expand to a GPU for example, I feel this is where the market is heading slowly and steadily (As people get braver and watercool their GPU's).

Is there enough of these on the market to maybe do an article on these? Performance just on a CPU and then with another item in the loop?

AlphaCool Eisbaer 240
EK-MLC Phoenix
ID-COOLING Hunter Duet
Swiftech H220-X
Fractal Design Kelvin Series

As examples, Would be an arse of an article to put together but interesting results. If I was going to build a new Gaming PC, With the way GPU's turbo these days, I'd probably go for one of these coolers to keep temps down on the GPU and CPU.
 
Just replaced an aged CM 212 in my file/plex server with the Cyorig H7. I used to grab a 212 for nearly any build but the H7 is my new go to for cheap air cooling. I cannot recommend it enough but it's most easily installed during a new build before mounting the MB.
 
I've had the Noctua NH-D15 for about 4 years now. I don't even run it with the fan's plugged in. Runs at 34C idle and about 44C under load... lol
 
BigBoomBoom said:
Yes it is indeed a beast. However the problem with it, and Scythe, to an extent is availability worldwide. Noctua is likely to be available everywhere, while Scythe and Thermal Right Macho series is very hard to find here in Sydney, only a couple of stores having them. Adding postage on top breaks the price advantage, and Noctua has a very good warranty (6 years for everything).
Click to expand...

Kind of makes sense though, the Australian company having more product in the Australian market. Australia is one thing but is availability significantly worse around the world for the Le Grand Macho? I don't think simply not being super available is Australia should strip it's chances of being on this list.
 
I'm 100% certain the X62 is a fantastic cooler, but unfortunately, the first one I received recently was defective and failed after a few days of use.

NZXT's RMA process is a bit too lengthy for my tastes so I simply returned it and grabbed an NH-D15 instead, but I'll miss the X62's fancy lights. They really do look great - easily the best aesthetics of the AIO coolers I've seen so far.
 
Burty117 said:
Pretty good round up to be honest!
You mention the AlphaCool Eisbaer 240 as it can expand to a GPU for example, I feel this is where the market is heading slowly and steadily (As people get braver and watercool their GPU's).

Is there enough of these on the market to maybe do an article on these? Performance just on a CPU and then with another item in the loop?

AlphaCool Eisbaer 240
EK-MLC Phoenix
ID-COOLING Hunter Duet
Swiftech H220-X
Fractal Design Kelvin Series

As examples, Would be an arse of an article to put together but interesting results. If I was going to build a new Gaming PC, With the way GPU's turbo these days, I'd probably go for one of these coolers to keep temps down on the GPU and CPU.
Click to expand...

The only thing preventing me from going water cooled was that I had a leak with a AIO before. I'm not going to ever watercool again either unless they provide a guarantee that they'll pay for any damage should something go wrong. I'm not talking about like what Corsair does with it's AIOs either, where there's no official policy but eveyone of their forums tells you it's covered. It's more of a case by case basis if Corsair feels like it.
 
Can confirm the Corsair H60 works great. Have had it running 24/7 for two years now with CPU at 100%. CPU is an i6600K overclocked to 4.2 Ghz and temps are currenly 119*F or 48*C
 
Evernessince said:
Burty117 said:
Pretty good round up to be honest!
You mention the AlphaCool Eisbaer 240 as it can expand to a GPU for example, I feel this is where the market is heading slowly and steadily (As people get braver and watercool their GPU's).

Is there enough of these on the market to maybe do an article on these? Performance just on a CPU and then with another item in the loop?

AlphaCool Eisbaer 240
EK-MLC Phoenix
ID-COOLING Hunter Duet
Swiftech H220-X
Fractal Design Kelvin Series

As examples, Would be an arse of an article to put together but interesting results. If I was going to build a new Gaming PC, With the way GPU's turbo these days, I'd probably go for one of these coolers to keep temps down on the GPU and CPU.
Click to expand...

The only thing preventing me from going water cooled was that I had a leak with a AIO before. I'm not going to ever watercool again either unless they provide a guarantee that they'll pay for any damage should something go wrong. I'm not talking about like what Corsair does with it's AIOs either, where there's no official policy but eveyone of their forums tells you it's covered. It's more of a case by case basis if Corsair feels like it.
Click to expand...
As far as I know, at least a few AIO makers actually make exactly that guarantee. I believe Corsair is one of them, possibly NZXT as well. Feel free to look it up to confirm, but I'm pretty sure their policies reflect that sort of thing now.

That said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to good ol' air coolers. As I mentioned above, I've had issues with AIOs myself (nothing related to leaks, thankfully). The Noctua NH-D15 is roughly half the price of a top-tier AIO, and offers even better cooling in some cases (I'm getting about 28C idle, 50-58C under load).
 
Polycount said:
As far as I know, at least a few AIO makers actually make exactly that guarantee. I believe Corsair is one of them, possibly NZXT as well. Feel free to look it up to confirm, but I'm pretty sure their policies reflect that sort of thing now.

That said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to good ol' air coolers. As I mentioned above, I've had issues with AIOs myself (nothing related to leaks, thankfully). The Noctua NH-D15 is roughly half the price of a top-tier AIO, and offers even better cooling in some cases (I'm getting about 28C idle, 50-58C under load).
Click to expand...

They don't have a guarantee. Official responses from the companies below.

Corsair is case by case
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=156154

NZXT is as well
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/3n3irj/build_help_will_nzxt_replaced_leakedon_components/

"Case by Case" is just another way to put "if we feel like it". Like usual, unless you are a YouTuber or press you will always get special treatment and if you aren't you better pray. As far as I'm aware there is no company that provides such a guarantee.

They say the chances of getting a AIO with a broken pump is 0.5% chance but for me it felt allot higher. I can tell you for sure that the defect rate for Air coolers is much lower though, since the worst thing that can happen to an air cooler is damage to the fins/fan. Either way, it won't destroy your $6,000 rig. No way I'm going to leave that much money up to a "maybe".
 
Evernessince said:
They don't have a guarantee. Official responses from the companies below.

Corsair is case by case
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=156154

NZXT is as well
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/3n3irj/build_help_will_nzxt_replaced_leakedon_components/

"Case by Case" is just another way to put "if we feel like it". Like usual, unless you are a YouTuber or press you will always get special treatment and if you aren't you better pray. As far as I'm aware there is no company that provides such a guarantee.

They say the chances of getting a AIO with a broken pump is 0.5% chance but for me it felt allot higher. I can tell you for sure that the defect rate for Air coolers is much lower though, since the worst thing that can happen to an air cooler is damage to the fins/fan. Either way, it won't destroy your $6,000 rig. No way I'm going to leave that much money up to a "maybe".
Click to expand...

Ah, thank you for clarifying. I was browsing Reddit the other day and a few people mentioned they were able to get reimbursed for their parts. It could be a rare thing, or based on how many past transactions you've made with them, or something to that effect.

Yep, air coolers are definitely more reliable in general. Just fewer points of failure. That said, when you're one of the unlucky few to have issues with an AIO, it always feel like its more common than it really is, so the gap between the two as far as consistency goes could actually be pretty small - 0.5% sounds about right, maybe a bit higher.
 
Polycount said:
Ah, thank you for clarifying. I was browsing Reddit the other day and a few people mentioned they were able to get reimbursed for their parts. It could be a rare thing, or based on how many past transactions you've made with them, or something to that effect.

Yep, air coolers are definitely more reliable in general. Just fewer points of failure. That said, when you're one of the unlucky few to have issues with an AIO, it always feel like its more common than it really is, so the gap between the two as far as consistency goes could actually be pretty small - 0.5% sounds about right, maybe a bit higher.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know it's pretty unlucky to get a bad AIO. Given the amount of computer parts I deal with yearly though, that chance is definitely higher than the average person. I got two bad AIOs this year alone. Both had pump issues. Mind you, this is out of at least 150 other coolers I've dealt with. I've only gotten a bad air cooler once in my life and they simply sent me a fan replacement.

A 0.5% failure rate simply means that 1 out of every 200 AIO CPU Coolers is going to be defective on average.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JaredTheDragon
That Noctua NH-D15 looks like it would be out of balance unless 3 fans were on it. I'm still chucking along with my Noctua NH-U14S (using two fans) which is still doing the job quite nicely.
 
I'll stick with my Thermolab Baram for now two Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm fans keeps my FX8320 @ 4.0GHz in a nice 60c range when doing F@H and less when gaming
 
I picked up a refurbished corsair H100i for 84 buck cdn and I'm totally impressed .my i5 3570 k is at 4.9 gig 24/7.prime stable, no issues.doesn't hit 70 degrees.C.under full load.at 5.0 gig it gives a 70 C warning.still no throttling though.
 
Evernessince said:
Kind of makes sense though, the Australian company having more product in the Australian market. Australia is one thing but is availability significantly worse around the world for the Le Grand Macho? I don't think simply not being super available is Australia should strip it's chances of being on this list.
Click to expand...

You meant the Austrian company having more availability in Australia? We are not Austrian... we are Australian. Noctua is a joint venture of Austrian AND Taiwanese companies. Austrian, the guys in Europe, they certainly don't have Kangaroos there.

At least CNN made the same mistake
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ly-mocked-online-mixes-Austria-Australia.html

There's about 14,000km distance inbetween.
 
I always went air. They are huge and if you want to look in your case and admire it...I don't want to see some massive air cooler. I was sent a Cooler Master 120 for review. It takes up much less space then an air cooler and it cools better then the hyper 212 evo I was using. So my recommendation is an AIO if aesthetics play a role in your scheme
 
BigBoomBoom said:
You meant the Austrian company having more availability in Australia? We are not Austrian... we are Australian. Noctua is a joint venture of Austrian AND Taiwanese companies. Austrian, the guys in Europe, they certainly don't have Kangaroos there.

At least CNN made the same mistake
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ly-mocked-online-mixes-Austria-Australia.html

There's about 14,000km distance inbetween.
Click to expand...

Ok great but it doesn't change my point. Availability in one country is still availability in one country and it does not speak for the rest of the world.
 
Not sure why, but Noctua fans usually died out fast... I bought twice, and both times they were the same.

Finally settled on the Be Quiet! Dark Rock 3 Pro reviewed here too. And never looked back. I think more than a year or already 2 years since using now. Very quiet. As good as my Corsair H110i which became noisy later.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TechSpot
The Best CPU Coolers - Early 2024
Replies
21
Views
987
McMurdeR
M
TechSpot
  • Locked
The Best GPU for Every Price Point
2 3
Replies
61
Views
2K
m3tavision
m3tavision
TechSpot
The Best 4K Gaming Monitors: OLED Wins
2
Replies
28
Views
293
Disiw
D

Latest posts

Back