What is the Best Looking CPU Air Cooler?

[StormtrooperStu]

Well that escalated quickly but good to see that we are back on topic.

 

I always liked these.

 

[Guest Generallee]

OP is just asking for good looking air coolers, not an argument about Water vs Air cooling (everybody knows what's better, why bother explaining), also i cracked my pants for the V8GTS & the V10, although i have a water cooled setup 

[Lays]

water cooling is quiet, but not as quiet as air cooling. if you compare a water cooling setup with noctua fans vs an air cooler with noctua fans, the air cooling will be much quieter than the custom loop(but with worse temps), the pump is the extra noise source that make it loduer.

 

 

Noctua's aren't that quiet.  I replaced all my nf-f12's with sycthe gentle typhoons(1450rpm model), and I kid you not, the Gentle typhoons at 1450rpm are quieter than my nf-f12's at 600rpm.  

 

 

Don't believe all the hype, it simply isn't true.  

 

If you buy a worthless POS pump yes it will be louder, but if you buy a decent one with adjustable speed, it's completely silent.  Not to mention with watercooling you can lower all the fans RPM's and still get better temps than air cooling.

 

 

If I had to pick any air cooler to be my favorite, it'd probably be the dark rock 2.

[HeathCliff]

Real beauty right here.

[HerEscutcheon]

Real beauty right here.

Dat Intel sticker.... And cables that remind me of the Brazilian flag.

[shirokado]

Noctua's aren't that quiet.  I replaced all my nf-f12's with sycthe gentle typhoons(1450rpm model), and I kid you not, the Gentle typhoons at 1450rpm are quieter than my nf-f12's at 600rpm.  

 

 

Don't believe all the hype, it simply isn't true.  

 

If you buy a worthless POS pump yes it will be louder, but if you buy a decent one with adjustable speed, it's completely silent.  Not to mention with watercooling you can lower all the fans RPM's and still get better temps than air cooling.

 

 

If I had to pick any air cooler to be my favorite, it'd probably be the dark rock 2.

I've actually never tried gentle typhoons. I'd like to try them if theyre that quiet, just can't seem to find any in NA.

[Lays]

I've actually never tried gentle typhoons. I'd like to try them if theyre that quiet, just can't seem to find any in NA.

 

performance pc's has em for like 17.99 and they'll sleeve them for free

[McMurderMonkey]

Even at stock clocks, under load your going to need pretty high rpm fans to keep things in check (1300rpm or so) Where a water cooler you can ramp down the fans very low as well as your pump.

There isn't a comparison here so please stop arguing a null point. If you had any experience with a custom loop at all, or ever even seen one, then you would know what your talking about, but it's so very clear that you don't have a clue, so just stop cause this is quite embarassing to see you spit out complete rubbish like this

The point he is trying to make is that when you have heatsink with fans running at 900rpm and a loop with fans at 900rpm the aircooler is going to be quieter because of the lack of pump noise. The temperature is irrelevant, because I run my fans at 900rpm regardless of whether I am on air or water, so the pump is just another source of noise.

[shirokado]

performance pc's has em for like 17.99 and they'll sleeve them for free

17.99, that's pretty cheap. I guess I'll try ordering some because I can't be fully convinced that a 1350rpm fan is quieter than a 7v noctua until I've heard it myself.

[Lays]

17.99, that's pretty cheap. I guess I'll try ordering some because I can't be fully convinced that a 1350rpm fan is quieter than a 7v noctua until I've heard it myself.

 

 

When I first put them in, I couldn't believe it, I put them on max rpm at 1450, and then plugged in 1 nf-f12 and put it at max, and it was so much louder than the 4 gt's, even though they roughly spin at the same RPM, Then I turned the nf-f12 all the way down, which I believe is around ~600rpm with my fan controller, and I could still hear those and they were about the same, if not a bit louder than the GT's.  I turned the gt's down to the minimum too, noise completely gone.  

 

I tried it last night as-well at like 4 am when it was dead quiet in my house/neighborhood just to see if it was just placebo, I plugged 2 in and turned em to the minimum, and they have a slight low-"hum" to them, while the GT's don't.

 

I was really suprised lol

 

The other plus side is I believe sycthe gt's are much easier to paint, and they already look better than nf-f12's by a long shot when "stock"

[rentaspoon]

I never said air cooling gets better temperatures, I just said its quieter with worse temps.

Running no fans get quieter but bad temps, your arguement is invalid because there are to many variables. Pick a temperature or argue over how long a peice of string is.

[shirokado]

Running no fans get quieter but bad temps, your arguement is invalid because there are to many variables. Pick a temperature or argue over how long a peice of string is.

The only variable is ambient temperature. At around 25 degree as the ambient, bad temps would be high 70s to low 80s. I guess another variable would be case airflow.

[rentaspoon]

The only variable is ambient temperature. At around 25 degree as the ambient, bad temps would be high 70s to low 80s. I guess another variable would be case airflow.

As well as fan speed, what fans, fan size, decibel cap limit, rad size, case suited for air or watercooling.

I mean I'm pro air cooling but in the name of science atleast stop upsetting the waterboys.

[Steve N. Mavronis]

Topic is about best looking (not best OC performer) so this is about as perfect as you can get with a 95x95x37mm size and petite style:

 

Noctua NH-L9i

I'd love to see them do something like a 100mm 'tall boy' version with more cooler fin surface area, maybe another fan and heat pipes and still maintain that footprint. It doesn't interfere with anything - 100% compatibility.

[flibberdipper]

be quiet! Dark Rock 3 Pro. Ugh, that thing is beautiful.

[AndyCapets]

I'd easily say this, the Cryorig R1 Ultimate!

 

[loony979]

The cpu cooler i think is great is this :

i have it on my rig & with great cooling too .

[Jun-Kun]

Zalman's heatsink & fans has always been on the cool-looking side.

 

[Admire]

Love this thread. The last two coolers look more like spaceships than coolers.

[mrzee]

Not letting this thread die...

[loccilucas]

D14 on a OCd cpu running 600rpm fans, yeah nah, your full of shit. Like completely full of shit

Wow you and IVIeLt are so narrowminded it's untrue, and you've both made yourselves looks like complete idiots, I've got a 3770k@4.6Ghz using a NH-U14s, and guess what the fans are running at 700rpm and I get a max of 81-82c at load.Try not to be so wrong in the future yeah?

[Stefan Becker]

The new NH-D15 from Noctua. It's gorgeous.

[loccilucas]

http://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/luke-hill/prolimatech-releases-blue-series-armageddon-cpu-cooler/

This is pure beauty.

[HerEscutcheon]

Not letting this thread die...

 

(really big picture of Asus Silent Knight II)

I am a fan of those older Asus coolers. Like...

 

Edit: mrzee, your first post on these forums was to revive my thread? i'm touched! and welcome!

[Nickolas47]

I really like v8 gts