The Best CPU Coolers

[merikafyeah]

Still rocking the legendary Prolimatech Megahalem paired with a Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000. This right here is basically the limit of practical air-cooling. Past this point you're going to need waaay higher dB for not much lower temp, in other words, vastly diminishing returns. Would I have gone with Sanyo Denki fans instead of the Ultra Kaze? Sure, but those are not easy to come by and Ultra Kazes were dirt cheap in comparison.

 

[Questors]

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.

I have noticed one doesn't see Thermalright around many comparisons very often these days. Oddly enough they are still very much in business and make some great air cooling towers and sinks. I guess it isn't what the cool kids want now. Performance is so yesterday. Today is about flashing lights, 'cause you know, flashing lights make your CPU and GPU run fast and cooler without overclocking. Tee hee!

 

[mbk34]

I have an old i5 3570K based system running at standard clocks. The processor came with a cooler that was fairly quiet and worked well but I fancied a change and liked the idea of liquid cooling. I bought a Corsair H60 (gen 1) which was very easy to install, well made and, like all water coolers, it took the heat straight out the case rather than circulating hot air inside the case. The one thing I didn't like was that my system is no longer silent. I can now always hear the fan going on the cooler which is a bit annoying. Maybe I missed a setting somewhere?

 

[Evernessince]

I have an old i5 3570K based system running at standard clocks. The processor came with a cooler that was fairly quiet and worked well but I fancied a change and liked the idea of liquid cooling. I bought a Corsair H60 (gen 1) which was very easy to install, well made and, like all water coolers, it took the heat straight out the case rather than circulating hot air inside the case. The one thing I didn't like was that my system is no longer silent. I can now always hear the fan going on the cooler which is a bit annoying. Maybe I missed a setting somewhere?

If the fan is a 4 pin many motherboards are able to control it's speed via UEFI.

 

[mbk34]

If the fan is a 4 pin many motherboards are able to control it's speed via UEFI.

It's showing a CPU temp of 37C and a fan speed that's varying around 1600. I can't change the speed itself but I altered the profile from standard to silent and the min speed to 100 (I doubt it will ever get there). I did the same for the chassis fans. I didn't hear any difference in sound though (it's not loud but it's definitely not silent).

 

[Evernessince]

It's showing a CPU temp of 37C and a fan speed that's varying around 1600. I can't change the speed itself but I altered the profile from standard to silent and the min speed to 100 (I doubt it will ever get there). I did the same for the chassis fans. I didn't hear any difference in sound though (it's not loud but it's definitely not silent).

Yeah often times that's the trade-off of liquid cooling. If you wanted a completely silent solution there is a fanless version of the Le Grand Macho RT. The version with the fan is very quite as well. I had a corsair h100i but I didn't like it's noise levels either.