NH-U12S vs Hyper 212 BE vs Dark Rock Slim

[bappled]

Hi there,

 

I’m choosing to upgrade my CPU cooler since it is now summer for me and idle temps are mid 50s to 60s while using the stock Wraith Stealth on my Ryzen 3600.

 

I’m trying to choose between these three coolers given that they’re in the same category of single fan tower coolers. Essentially, I’m hoping to improve temps by upgrading but will going with a Noctua cooler be worth the extra money vs the cheaper Hyper 212? ($70 vs $38 currently)

 

I’ve also heard that the BeQuiet cooler is essentially the same as a Hyper 212 but with a better fan and almost negligible performance gains. Is this true?
 

I realize that I’m comparing two more premium options to a more budget friendly option but I would like to assess all possibilities.

 

Thanks!

[Statik]

Hyper 212 isn't good for performance. It's basically something to replace a stock cooler for cheap.

 

The Dark Rock Slim IMO is one of the best bang for buck. It's cheap, and has solid performance.

 

Noctua is pure performance. If you want the best cooling possible they're the guys to go with.

[bappled]

3 minutes ago, Statik said:

Hyper 212 isn't good for performance. It's basically something to replace a stock cooler for cheap.

 

The Dark Rock Slim IMO is one of the best bang for buck. It's cheap, and has solid performance.

 

Noctua is pure performance. If you want the best cooling possible they're the guys to go with.

Given that the Slim is $65 for me and the Noctua is $70, you’d probably suggest the Noctua right?

[Statik]

1 hour ago, bappled said:

Given that the Slim is $65 for me and the Noctua is $70, you’d probably suggest the Noctua right?

I would yes.

[Dr0y]

I have the NH-U12S and put a second fan on it.   Performs great and is quiet enough that I don't hear it over the noise of my case fan when folding ...

[Jeppes]

Those are pretty much all the same cooler. You could add Deepcool Gammaxx 400 and Arctic Freezer 34 to the list too. Just pick the cheapest one of them and youll be fine. Feel free to pay the 100% extra for branding if you feel like its worth it.

[RAV1720]

i bought myself Antec A400 RGB, pretty good will do 41 idle and 65 load, here my room temperature is around 29 - 31,

 

in stock it used to be 55 - 60 idle like you said, and it did 86+ in load.

 

Plus i got it for 2550 inr (33) usd 

[freeagent]

When the 212 first came out it was a 20 dollar cooler. And it let you run your cpu with it melting down. Over the years the price has gone up with its popularity but its performance is still the same. Mediocre. People can talk the cooler up all they want, but it is what it is. I’ve got one in my closet just in case I need a little air cooler for something.

[bappled]

12 hours ago, freeagent said:

When the 212 first came out it was a 20 dollar cooler. And it let you run your cpu with it melting down. Over the years the price has gone up with its popularity but its performance is still the same. Mediocre. People can talk the cooler up all they want, but it is what it is. I’ve got one in my closet just in case I need a little air cooler for something.

I guess in this case the 212 is the inferior cooler? I haven't bought it yet because they're not in stock yet but once I do I think I'll get the NH-U12S which is probably robust enough to last me through upgrades as well.

[Dr0y]

consider the nh-u12a also, it's more expensive but it comes with 2 fans and will perform better than the stock nh-u12s. 

[Maxxtraxx]

Help us all. 

 

Everyone Likes to beat on the Hyper 212/evo, its a great cooler and for the price is awesome... sure it is a FEW degrees off the nocuta and dark rock but it's... Half?(maybe) the price. If money is a concern and you're not overclocking more than midly (which should be the case with any of these coolers), the 212 is the performance per dollar winner. If you want the best performance... IMO get a bigger tower cooler for money similar to the NH-U12S. if you can fit these coolers you can probably fit a much larger cooler in the same space like a NH-D15.

 

i'll throw some tests up here, you can go find your own if you like, we all have opinions, many are crap... but they're ours none the less.

 

here's some charts since I haven't seen any to go along with opinions yet.

Hyper 212 is 2.6C warmer than the dark rock and $24.95 less dough.

Hyper 212 is 5C warmer than the nh-u12s and $35(Half) less.

[Maxxtraxx]

Here's the NH-D15 which is about $90. It is one of the best air coolers, why not spend another $30 and get the best air cooler money can buy instead of fiddling around with these mid tier coolers for 60-70$?

[bappled]

52 minutes ago, Maxxtraxx said:

Here's the NH-D15 which is about $90. It is one of the best air coolers, why not spend another $30 and get the best air cooler money can buy instead of fiddling around with these mid tier coolers for 60-70$?

Wow, thanks for all this information! Especially the charts and comparison, much better to make choices when it's all laid out.

[freeagent]

I’m up in the D14/15 class, and that’s about what I saw was roughly 25c difference with a 3770K, but at a lower speed since the cooler couldn’t handle 4.6. 212 can barely handle my x5690 at 4ghz in the stock voltage range with a buttload of air. With Le Grand Macho RT and True Spirit 140 Power I can comfortably run 4.2-4.4 and bench at 4.8. With D14 I could run my x5690 4.2-4.3 comfortably and bench at 4.6-4.7. Maybe I just got a dud 212. My brother used it on 3770K at 4.3. I was able to run 4.4-4.5 but it was hot.

[Mista G]

I own both the Dark Rock Slim and Noctua NH-U12S. Both do an outstanding job considering their compact sizes. However for me the Noctua gets the win as it's inaudible even on stock fan curves, give it a custom curve and sometimes you have to check if it's even working? Also the Noctua is easier to mount/install as I found the Dark Rock Slim doesn't give clear instructions on how tight the heatsink bar screws need to be fastened, this is something be quiet! needs to work on.

[WoodenMarker]

On 6/3/2020 at 7:05 PM, Statik said:

Hyper 212 isn't good for performance. It's basically something to replace a stock cooler for cheap.

The Dark Rock Slim IMO is one of the best bang for buck. It's cheap, and has solid performance.

Noctua is pure performance. If you want the best cooling possible they're the guys to go with.

The DR Slim is far from being a good bang for buck cooler and doesn't perform much better than the Hyper 212 BE. You're probably thinking of the PR Slim if you had a low price in mind. 

On 6/3/2020 at 6:50 PM, bappled said:

I’ve also heard that the BeQuiet cooler is essentially the same as a Hyper 212 but with a better fan and almost negligible performance gains. Is this true?

That's not a bad way to describe it. 

Where are you shopping / located? What case and ram are you using?

Are you sure that the cpu is idling and that there aren't any programs or updates causing the cpu to boost? What are you using to read temps?

What are load temps?

On 6/5/2020 at 12:31 PM, freeagent said:

When the 212 first came out it was a 20 dollar cooler. And it let you run your cpu with it melting down. Over the years the price has gone up with its popularity but its performance is still the same. Mediocre. People can talk the cooler up all they want, but it is what it is. I’ve got one in my closet just in case I need a little air cooler for something.

There have been many iterations with small improvements since the original Hyper 212. The Hyper 212 had an MSRP of 43 USD and it had impressive performance for the time especially considering the price. https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/coolermaster-hyper-212-review,1.html

It didn't gain its legendary status from having subpar performance. 

20 USD wasn't a common price until years of price lowering when the cooler was pretty old and often bundled with rebates. 

[Statik]

1 hour ago, WoodenMarker said:

The DR Slim is far from being a good bang for buck cooler and doesn't perform much better than the Hyper 212 BE. You're probably thinking of the PR Slim if you had a low price in mind. 

 

Oops that is 100% my mistake. I completely mistook it for the DRP4. Good catch.

[bappled]

4 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

The DR Slim is far from being a good bang for buck cooler and doesn't perform much better than the Hyper 212 BE. You're probably thinking of the PR Slim if you had a low price in mind. 

That's not a bad way to describe it. 

Where are you shopping / located? What case and ram are you using?

Are you sure that the cpu is idling and that there aren't any programs or updates causing the cpu to boost? What are you using to read temps?

What are load temps?

There have been many iterations with small improvements since the original Hyper 212. The Hyper 212 had an MSRP of 43 USD and it had impressive performance for the time especially considering the price. https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/coolermaster-hyper-212-review,1.html

It didn't gain its legendary status from having subpar performance. 

20 USD wasn't a common price until years of price lowering when the cooler was pretty old and often bundled with rebates. 

I’m in the US and I’m using the NZXT H510 with Trident Z RGB ram, all the coolers should fit within the case.

 

And yes I’ve made sure it’s at idle with everything closed and quit out of. I get 50s-60s idle and under gaming load I’ve only seen it peak at about upper 70 to low 80. It is a bit toasty given that I have 2 intake and 2 exhaust.

 

I’ve used three different programs to read temps and the results are pretty much identical: NZXT Cam, Open Hardware, and Ryzen Master (no OC, just for temps).

 

My CPU is auto boosting to 4.1 ghz though which is apparently the case with Ryzen (as I was told through my research about it).

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, bappled said:

I’m in the US and I’m using the NZXT H510 with Trident Z RGB ram, all the coolers should fit within the case.

 

And yes I’ve made sure it’s at idle with everything closed and quit out of. I get 50s-60s idle and under gaming load I’ve only seen it peak at about upper 70 to low 80. It is a bit toasty given that I have 2 intake and 2 exhaust.

 

I’ve used three different programs to read temps and the results are pretty much identical: NZXT Cam, Open Hardware, and Ryzen Master (no OC, just for temps).

 

My CPU is auto boosting to 4.1 ghz though which is apparently the case with Ryzen (as I was told through my research about it).

Those are pretty normal temps for the stock cooler. There's no need to get a new cooler but it can still help to lower noise and temps. 

If you're just looking for a cheap upgrade, the Gammaxx 400 is alright although it's usually closer to $20: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/w3c48d/deepcool-gammaxx-400-blue-7434-cfm-cpu-cooler-deepcool-gammaxx-400-blue

 

Are you monitoring with only one program at a time to avoid conflicts? I recommend just Ryzen Master as some other programs can cause the cpu to boost. At idle, it should be much lower than 4.1ghz.