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Looking for a good CPU cooler

EuphoricLlama
By EuphoricLlama
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My little arctic freezer i32 has served me well for about a year but I feel that it's time for a proper upgrade but whenever I search for 'best CPU cooler' I get a load of ugly noctua ones which I'm sure are great but I just can't get over how they look and I don't want to drop another £15 on a new fan for one. I'm looking for:

  • Under £75
  • LGA 1151 slot
  • Air or water, I don't mind

If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them,

Thanks :)

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Noctua's are some of the best performing, but the dark rock pro 3 is very good too. 

https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/be-quiet-bk019-dark-rock-pro-3-cpu-cooler-with-dual-silent-wings-fan/bk019.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwicfHBRCh6KaMp4-asKgBEiQA8GH2x4ocYc-dG0GdNdNoDVq1Urk-LuF_zspselD81HIMUIwaAsuQ8P8HAQ#utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=products

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2 minutes ago, RKRiley said:

Noctua's are some of the best performing, but the dark rock pro 3 is very good too. 

https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/be-quiet-bk019-dark-rock-pro-3-cpu-cooler-with-dual-silent-wings-fan/bk019.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwicfHBRCh6KaMp4-asKgBEiQA8GH2x4ocYc-dG0GdNdNoDVq1Urk-LuF_zspselD81HIMUIwaAsuQ8P8HAQ#utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=products

Yeah, I like the look of that one, just worried it won't fit as my RAM isn't low profile or anything

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8 minutes ago, EuphoricLlama said:

Yeah, I like the look of that one, just worried it won't fit as my RAM isn't low profile or anything

How tall is your ram?

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1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

How tall is your ram?

I'm not sure, it's Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 (2x8gb). The website just says 'standard' height.

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Honestly..

 

If you want a proper upgrade from what you already have there are lots of choices but your budget might get stretched.

  • Cryorig R1 Ultimate
  • Dark Rock (Pro) 3
  • Noctua D14/15

And some other coolers are basically the kings of aircooling at the time of this post.

They're all pretty silent and one beats the other in some way.

 

D14 is what I use personally, it has decent RAM clearance but might still be an issue at some point.

DR(P)3 is known for its looks but terrible mounting sollution. RAM clearance will likely be an issue.

Cryorig R1 is also great, not very informed about it however.

 

For that budget you'll get better cooling with air rather than water.

 

I can suggest getting a D14 and change the fans to back NF F12's and to add chromax according to your colorscheme.

It's a tough one.

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2 minutes ago, MVPernula said:

Honestly..

 

If you want a proper upgrade from what you already have there are lots of choices but your budget might get stretched.

  • Cryorig H1 Ultimate
  • Dark Rock (Pro) 3
  • Noctua D14/15

And some other coolers are basically the kings of aircooling at the time of this post.

They're all pretty silent and one beats the other in some way.

 

D14 is what I use personally, it has decent RAM clearance but might still be an issue at some point.

DR(P)3 is known for its looks but terrible mounting sollution. RAM clearance will likely be an issue.

Cryorig H1 is also great, not very informed about it however.

 

For that budget you'll get better cooling with air rather than water.

 

I can suggest getting a D14 and change the fans to back NF F12's and to add chromax according to your colorscheme.

It's a tough one.

Woah, thanks for all that. I do like the look of the DRP3 but as you said, I feel ram clearance could be an issue and the mounting does not sound like fun. The cryorig (R1?) Ultimate look really nice and seems to have decent performance although it is pretty loud (from what I've read). As for the Noctua D14, It really does look good but buying two more fans is really going to push the budget which I'd really rather not do.

Also, the max CPU height of my case (Corsair 460x) is 170mm and the height of the Cryorig R1 is 169mm, is there a possibility this could be a problem?

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1 hour ago, EuphoricLlama said:

Nah, I want something more than a cooler master so I can really push my 6600k

I got my i5 to 4.6 on a  212 evo easily

 

but yeah if you can get better do it

Smoking weed at the red light like its legal

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11 minutes ago, EuphoricLlama said:

I'm not sure, it's Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 (2x8gb). The website just says 'standard' height.

It seems to be around 30mm and I think the dark rock pro 3 supports up to around 40mm so you should be fine (assuming you have the sport and not the sport lt). Though I've heard that the mounting system is kinda annoying on be quiet, though the cooler itself is pretty good.

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Or this:

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I love computer hardware and feel free to ask me anything about that (or phones). I especially like SSDs. But please do not ask me anything about Networking, programming, command line stuff, or any relatively hard software stuff. I know next to nothing about that.

 

Compooters:

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CPU: i7 6700k, CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3, Motherboard: MSI Z170a KRAIT GAMING, RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 4x4gb DDR4-2666 MHz, Storage: SanDisk SSD Plus 240gb + OCZ Vertex 180 480 GB + Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 7200 RPM, Video Card: EVGA GTX 970 SSC, Case: Fractal Design Define S, Power Supply: Seasonic Focus+ Gold 650w Yay, Keyboard: Logitech G710+, Mouse: Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum, Headphones: B&O H9i, Monitor: LG 29um67 (2560x1080 75hz freesync)

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Laptop (I use it for school):

Spoiler

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And if you're curious (or a stalker) I have a Just Black Pixel 2 XL 64gb

 

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4 minutes ago, EuphoricLlama said:

Woah, thanks for all that. I do like the look of the DRP3 but as you said, I feel ram clearance could be an issue and the mounting does not sound like fun. The cryorig (R1?) Ultimate look really nice and seems to have decent performance although it is pretty loud (from what I've read). As for the Noctua D14, It really does look good but buying two more fans is really going to push the budget which I'd really rather not do.

Also, the max CPU height of my case (Corsair 460x) is 170mm and the height of the Cryorig R1 is 169mm, is there a possibility this could be a problem?

Yes my bad, R1 Ultimate is what I meant.

 

With 1mm to spare you should technically be fine, but I wouldn't want to risk scratches.

As I looked closer to the RAM clearance on the DRP3 it actually seems better than I originally thought, and better than I've heard.

Google DRP3's ram clearance, you might be able to go for it! And as far as I'm concerned it's the cheapest out of the four I recommended.

 

The DRP allows you to move the fan UP if you find it blocking ram.

Besides; The Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 aren't very tall to begin with :)

The height of the DRP is 163 mm, so clearance should be fine.

 

If your case I'd go for the DRP3 when looking into it. The mounting is literally known to SUCK as mentioned, so keep that in mind.

But you'll hopefully just mount it once and keep it there ;)

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19 minutes ago, MVPernula said:

Yes my bad, R1 Ultimate is what I meant.

 

With 1mm to spare you should technically be fine, but I wouldn't want to risk scratches.

As I looked closer to the RAM clearance on the DRP3 it actually seems better than I originally thought, and better than I've heard.

Google DRP3's ram clearance, you might be able to go for it! And as far as I'm concerned it's the cheapest out of the four I recommended.

 

The DRP allows you to move the fan UP if you find it blocking ram.

Besides; The Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 aren't very tall to begin with :)

The height of the DRP is 163 mm, so clearance should be fine.

 

If your case I'd go for the DRP3 when looking into it. The mounting is literally known to SUCK as mentioned, so keep that in mind.

But you'll hopefully just mount it once and keep it there ;)

Yeah, cheers man. I'm really liking the look of the DRP3 but I'm really worried about messing up the mounting and screwing the motherboard or cooler. If i'm not up to it, it looks like it'll be the R1 Ultimate. Thanks a lot for your help.

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2 minutes ago, EuphoricLlama said:

Yeah, cheers man. I'm really liking the look of the DRP3 but I'm really worried about messing up the mounting and screwing the motherboard or cooler. If i'm not up to it, it looks like it'll be the R1 Ultimate. Thanks a lot for your help.

Look up some videos for the DRP3!

Speaking from experience, don't take the less apealing one becuase you're afraid to mess something up.

What can happen? Will you accidentally cHOP THE MOTHERBOARD PINS OFF!!

 

Nah, you'll most likely be careful enough to make it good. And make it look good at the same time.

I mean it's hard, sure, but I've never heard of anyone breaking anything while mounting it.

It's your choice however, I know you'll be happy with the result either way. :)

 

Good luck with the build!

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10 hours ago, lightlazer said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/ can i get a little help finishing this old build im up dating with some help with a cooler. please and ty.

That's not the correct link, everyone who clicks that link will be taken to their own personal build.

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On 15/04/2017 at 2:20 PM, EuphoricLlama said:

My little arctic freezer i32 has served me well for about a year but I feel that it's time for a proper upgrade but whenever I search for 'best CPU cooler' I get a load of ugly noctua ones which I'm sure are great but I just can't get over how they look and I don't want to drop another £15 on a new fan for one. I'm looking for:

  • Under £75
  • LGA 1151 slot
  • Air or water, I don't mind

If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them,

Thanks :)

For £75 you could get a Noctua NH-D15/15S ebuyer.com have one for £70~. I currently have a NH-U12S in my pc cooling my 4690K at 4.4Ghz at 1.215v. 35C at idle and 60 at load.

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On 15/04/2017 at 2:20 PM, EuphoricLlama said:

My little arctic freezer i32 has served me well for about a year but I feel that it's time for a proper upgrade but whenever I search for 'best CPU cooler' I get a load of ugly noctua ones which I'm sure are great but I just can't get over how they look and I don't want to drop another £15 on a new fan for one. I'm looking for:

  • Under £75
  • LGA 1151 slot
  • Air or water, I don't mind

If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them,

Thanks :)

Intel stock cooler? :D

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I's recommend the Scythe Fuma because it's cheap and rivals the Noctua NH-D15 and the NH-U14S for around 50 bucks. It does have sleeve bearings.
But it's not always available.
Not to promote scythe, but everyone jumps to the cooler master one. Which it's kinda expensive for what the price was first which was 20 bucks, it's now 30.

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On 16/04/2017 at 4:43 PM, Jimpov said:

For £75 you could get a Noctua NH-D15/15S ebuyer.com have one for £70~. I currently have a NH-U12S in my pc cooling my 4690K at 4.4Ghz at 1.215v. 35C at idle and 60 at load.

I did say I really don't want a noctua. my whole side panel is tempered glass and noctuas are ugly as hell.

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On 16/04/2017 at 9:56 PM, PokeyDoggo said:

I's recommend the Scythe Fuma because it's cheap and rivals the Noctua NH-D15 and the NH-U14S for around 50 bucks. It does have sleeve bearings.
But it's not always available.
Not to promote scythe, but everyone jumps to the cooler master one. Which it's kinda expensive for what the price was first which was 20 bucks, it's now 30.

It looks good just loud as hell which I'm not sure I want

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36 minutes ago, EuphoricLlama said:

I did say I really don't want a noctua. my whole side panel is tempered glass and noctuas are ugly as hell.

Sorry I must've missed it. I'd say a cryorig cooler. The dual tower one is 75~ probably more. But has a shroud covering the fin stacks. Some of the higher end cooler master air coolers are quite clean. Or the sapphire Vapor-X is shrouded. 

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40 minutes ago, EuphoricLlama said:

I did say I really don't want a noctua. my whole side panel is tempered glass and noctuas are ugly as hell.

If you want a water cooler for under 75 quid you could get an older corsair or cooler master loop. The deepcool maelstrom is within that price range. But if you can stretch to 80 then get one of the newer cooler master AIOs

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On 4/15/2017 at 6:35 AM, EuphoricLlama said:

I'm not sure, it's Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 (2x8gb). The website just says 'standard' height.

Pretty much all coolers are built with standard height ram in mind. You don't need to worry about ram clearance.

The Fuma is probably the best value for what you're looking for: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/dVwqqs/scythe-cpu-cooler-scfm1000

On 4/15/2017 at 3:28 PM, lightlazer said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/ can i get a little help finishing this old build im up dating with some help with a cooler. please and ty.

You need to post the permalink and not the url.

If you ever need help with a build, read the following before posting: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/3061-build-plan-thread-recommendations-please-read-before-posting/
Also, make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

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