cpu coolers

[Robert png]

Is there any good cpu coolers for cheap?

Im using aamd ryzen 5 3600 cpu and the stock cooler.

[CommanderAlex]

What processor? You got to give us more information here to be helpful. 

[Chris Pratt]

CPU coolers are, generally speaking, priced accordingly to quality/performance, unlike some products where you're just inherently charged more for brand or something. There's fixed materials costs that prevents making it both cheap and good.

 

What determines the effectiveness of a cooler is the surface area of the fin stack (both design and number of fins), the number of heat pipes, and the composition of the cold plate (both the material and machining). The better you make any of these things, the more materials costs you have, and therefore, the more expensive the cooler will be.

 

Now, that doesn't mean you can't get a cooler that's "good enough" for a cheap/reasonable price, but that "good enough" factors depends on what you're trying to cool. A lot of budget coolers will have fairly basic and minimal fin stacks, as little as 3 heat pipes, and aluminum, rather than copper, cold plates, that are often not precision milled (less smooth contact surface, which equates to less efficient heat transfer). That might be perfectly fine for a very low powered CPU that isn't being worked that hard, but for something like an i9 pulling 200W+, it would be completely unacceptable.

 

In other words, there's very much a balance of cost to performance, but in general, you get what you pay for.

 

 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Thermalright pa120, can't recommend this enough.

[Dogzilla07]

7 hours ago, Chris Pratt said:

in other words, there's very much a balance of cost to performance, but in general, you get what you pay for.

Technically correct, but in practice not, specifically in regard of Thermalright PA120. U get less than u payed for if u buy any cooler other than this one as long as it's continued to be priced at around ~$41 in the US. There is no possible excuse in regard to aesthetics as well, as the white and black ARGB Thermalright Assassin Kings 120 are also <~$45 in the US, and these represent the most fiscally responsible purchases (best-buy) for the Continental USA. (De-throning Reeven products)

 

The same goes for Thermalright Macho Rev.C for the europe market. and for Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280/360 for the AIO market.