Cooler for i3-8100 in a budget friendly but upgradeable build

[akb8812]

So, I recently made some upgrades to my own system and my HTPC and as a result I have some spare parts lying around. S340 Elite (red and black with stock fans), couple of Noctua 140s, 550W PSU and an MSI 1050Ti GamingX so I thought I'd put together a capable 1080p gaming PC for my sister on the cheap. Got the i3 8100 for less than 100 USD and just waiting for the B360 motherboards to land in my country. Now, aesthetics aren't important to her but since it's a TG case I'd like to have it look nice and with the CPU only having 65W TDP the stock cooler should suffice, however, airflow isn't the best in the case and I would like to have the option of upgrading the CPU later on without having to buy a new cooler. Since the GPU is so noticeably red and black I think that should be the colour scheme of the build itself, so I've been looking at this one https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/freezer-33-esports-edition.html

Massive overkill for an i3 but it fits the build and I could use the second fan as an replacement for the stock 120 from NZXT, since I don't need push pull for this CPU.

Has anyone had any experience with this particular cooler? Also, any suggestions for an alternative?

[cflanders]

I think that the integrated cooler for an i3 should be plenty. If you are just set on a different cooler, get something cheap around the $25-35 dollar range (that seems to be a sweet spot for performance on lower-end cpus.)

[akb8812]

2 minutes ago, cflanders said:

I think that the integrated cooler for an i3 should be plenty. If you are just set on a different cooler, get something cheap around the $25-35 dollar range (that seems to be a sweet spot for performance on lower-end cpus.)

I know it is. But I'm mostly looking at getting a better one now in case I upgrade the CPU to an i5 later on and with air flow not being the best with the S340 Elite I figure a beefier cooler would make more sense, and since I'm saving a ton of money using used parts I don't see it as an issue to spend a bit more.

[cflanders]

Just now, akb8812 said:

I know it is. But I'm mostly looking at getting a better one now in case I upgrade the CPU to an i5 later on and with air flow not being the best with the S340 Elite I figure a beefier cooler would make more sense, and since I'm saving a ton of money using used parts I don't see it as an issue to spend a bit more.

If money is less of an issues, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo is a great starting cooler if you have the space for it. For more serious coolers, you are looking at over $50

[akb8812]

3 minutes ago, cflanders said:

If money is less of an issues, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo is a great starting cooler if you have the space for it. For more serious coolers, you are looking at over $50

I live in Iceland. Every decent cooler is over 50 dollars

[cflanders]

22 minutes ago, akb8812 said:

I live in Iceland. Every decent cooler is over 50 dollars

Correction $50 american dollars. Or approximately 500 icelandic dollars

 

[WoodenMarker]

The Freezer 33 eSports is good but probably overkill if you're not oc'ing.

Can you link us to where you're shopping?

[akb8812]

13 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

The Freezer 33 eSports is good but probably overkill if you're not oc'ing.

Can you link us to where you're shopping?

Obviously I'm not overclocking the 8100 since it's a locked SKU. Overkill is OK if I decide to upgrade later on

I'm just shopping in local retail stores.

[WoodenMarker]

11 minutes ago, akb8812 said:

I'm just shopping in local retail stores.

That doesn't give me much of an idea of where you're actually shopping/located --like, what country?

[akb8812]

1 hour ago, WoodenMarker said:

That doesn't give me much of an idea of where you're actually shopping/located --like, what country?

Like I mentioned above. Iceland.

 

[WoodenMarker]

22 minutes ago, akb8812 said:

Like I mentioned above. Iceland.

Oh, my bad. I had mistaken this with another thread. 

Which retail store are you currently looking at? Is there a price list you can link us to? I'm not very familiar with Icelandic shops and the ones I've found so far don't have great pricing.

[akb8812]

38 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Oh, my bad. I had mistaken this with another thread. 

Which retail store are you currently looking at? Is there a price list you can link us to? I'm not very familiar with Icelandic shops and the ones I've found so far don't have great pricing.

We are the most expensive country in the world I always laugh a bit when I watch tech tube videos and the complain about steep prices of for instance the 1080Ti at launch. 700 USD. I bought mine here for nearly 1300 USD last year haha. I did however find the i3 8100 marked down at 99 bucks although it has now been lowered even further to 89! https://tolvutaekni.is/collections/orgjorvar/products/intel-core-i3-8100-3-6ghz-coffee-lake-4-kjarna-6mb-cache
 

This store also sells the Arctic eSports for around the same price as the CPU. Basically with the pricing here 20 dollar difference between two decent coolers for instance is nothing while a price difference like that is often mentioned in videos I watch on Youtube.

[WoodenMarker]

13 minutes ago, akb8812 said:

https://tolvutaekni.is/collections/orgjorvar/products/intel-core-i3-8100-3-6ghz-coffee-lake-4-kjarna-6mb-cache

This store also sells the Arctic eSports for around the same price as the CPU. Basically with the pricing here 20 dollar difference between two decent coolers for instance is nothing while a price difference like that is often mentioned in videos I watch on Youtube.

In that case, it looks like the Freezer 13 eSports is going to be the best option here.