Voice_Of_Reason_116

Best comment on this thread by far! I'm dying laughing.

It seems well-reviewed on Amazon. I'm rocking a Thermalright True Spirit 140 on an old overclocked hex-core Xeon and couldn't be happier. In reviews it's cooling performance seems to be within a degree or two of the much pricier Noctua NH-D15. The 212 EVO mentioned above is incredibly popular, and cheaper. I'd say if you're going for the $30 price point go for the 212 EVO, and if you're willing to spend a bit more get the TS140 for $55. Just make sure you've got a wide enough case to accommodate the heatsink regardless of the cooler you choose. Generally speaking, a bigger fan/larger heat sink provide greater overclocking potential, and less noise when not under max load. There's a slew of sites that compare air coolers, but ultimately it's up to you to establish your budget and then align it with your noise/thermal expectations. Hope this helps!

All I can say is that after switching to a 144hz Gsync display I'm hooked. There's no going back. If you have a setup that can drive 1080p at 144hz, I think it's very worth it! The reality is most 144hz have a rated 1ms response time anyway, which as others have pointed out, is hard to measure and perceive. 60hz vs. 144hz on the other hand is night and day (in my experience).

I suspect they meant that it would be better price-to-performance-wise to buy an Intel i5 processor and use air cooling versus paying for a cheaper AMD processor and spending more on water cooling. However, it appears you've already got the AMD CPU, so that suggestion would be pointless. The NZXT Kraken X61 is a dual 140mm (280mm), so that's probably out of the question. I'd say reading reviews on newegg/amazon comparing the various 120mm water-cooling options would be one way to gauge the long-term quality/reliability of what's out there. Presumably there are a handful of sites that have reviewed said coolers as well, and those could be used to gauge relative performance. Honestly, unless you're really trying to push the limits of your CPU, you may be better off with a good air cooler a la Noctua NH-D15, as the performance will likely be as good if not superior to a 120mm aio.