Ryzen 5 5600x, best cooler for under $50 rn?

[Jagwar8]

Hello all,

After doing much (hours and hours) of research, I just can't seem to choose a cooler for my Ryzen 5 5600x. My choices have come down to the SE-225-XT, the Esports 34 Duo or the Pure Rock 2. Initially, I was looking at something like the NH-D15, but I realized I didn't need that much performance. I won't be doing any OC, but I want to be able to reach the max boost speeds on the CPU without going over around 80C on max load. With the stock cooler, my CPU goes up to 95C playing games, so I really need a solution ASAP. Part of the issue is poor ventilation in my room as well as 105F California weather, but ideally it wouldn't exceed 80 max at full boost and load while also being quieter than stock. I would prefer under $50 and availability from Amazon, but I am open to other options. Any help would be very appreciated!

My PCPartPicker list for reference: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ytwDGq

[kittyducky06]

Pure rock is a great pick, but all three of those are good picks aswell.

[curiousmind34]

The stock cooler is not that bad, but if you want to get a stronger cooler that is not stock I would stretch your budget a little bit and get this:
 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YsHRsY/scythe-fuma-2-5117-cfm-cpu-cooler-scfm-2000

[Alex Atkin UK]

DeepCool AS500?  I'm using one on a 5950X with PBO enabled and was surprised at how such a relatively small cooler (compared to the Noctua NH-D15 on my 9900k) keeps things under control even with just one fan (I did buy the Plus so have a second fan, but turns out it only shaves a couple of degrees off at a dramatic increase in noise so I added a case fan instead).

[Jagwar8]

6 minutes ago, curiousmind34 said:

The stock cooler is not that bad, but if you want to get a stronger cooler that is not stock I would stretch your budget a little bit and get this:
 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YsHRsY/scythe-fuma-2-5117-cfm-cpu-cooler-scfm-2000

I also heard some good reviews about it, but it seems a bit overkill for my purposes and larger than I would like. The issue with the stock cooler is as I mentioned 1. It's very loud, so much so that I can hear it while wearing headphones and 2. Is doing a poor job of cooling under my conditions, sometimes exceeding even 100c under normal gaming loads

[-rascal-]

Arctic Freezer eSports DUO, ~$44, different colors available.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dmXnTW/arctic-freezer-34-esports-duo-cpu-cooler-acfre00060a

 

Noctua NH-U12S Redux, ~$50, can handle 5600X with OC no problems.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/vV7G3C/noctua-nh-u12s-redux-7075-cfm-cpu-cooler-nh-u12s-redux

[Guest]

Wraith Prism if you can find one from a buddy for free. 39 bucks on amazon. RGB, blows down on VRMs and it clips right on. 140w dissipation (overclocked 5600x - 475 btu/hr) no problem. Mine came with 2700X. It's a pretty good cooler. (Not the best, def not the worst). 

[WoodenMarker]

Are you using PBO or auto-oc?

[Jagwar8]

26 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Are you using PBO or auto-oc?

I believe it's both, in my BIOS everything is set to auto and I also have PBO enabled

[Dogzilla07]

It is pointless to consider any of the above mentioned coolers, and for that matter any coolers in the US market atm other than these two:

 

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120

 

Thermalright Asssassin King 120 (ARGB White version)

 

These two are the best bang for the buck, nothing comes even close. the PA 120 is a cooler than destroys everything else in +- $20 range (and technically even more). It's a dual tower 6x heatpipe, coldplate cooler 2x120mm fan. It's closest competitor is Noctua NH-D15/Dark Rock Pro 4/Deepcool Assassin III. It is the most fiscally-responsible option, it has the best value-to-performance-longevity-quality ratio. The only thing it's missing is ARGB.

 

And the Assassin KIng 120 is a slightly lower performance while being all White and ARGB (it is when you add aesthetics to what I mentioned above, the jack of all trades, master of all).

 

For as long as they stay priced the same as they are now, they are the only sensibly buy in the Continental US.

[Jeppes]

Id-cooling Se-224-xt basic for 25$ or PA120 for 45$ are the best choices. You need to push 5600X quite far in order to see any meaningful differences between the two.

[freeagent]

It’s really nice to see people recommending Thermalright coolers. They are top quality for sure.. as people are seeing

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

definitely the pa120. 

 

Also for $3 more you can grab a gen 3 blacked out fs140. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-V3-Aluminium-Cover，AGHP-Technology/dp/B097DVSKM1/

 

The blacked out pa120 I have looks great too. 

 

[Dogzilla07]

15 hours ago, Jeppes said:

Id-cooling Se-224-xt basic for 25$ or PA120 for 45$ are the best choices. You need to push 5600X quite far in order to see any meaningful differences between the two.

PA120 is $41.30, not $45. And the ($26 id-cooling is out of stock on amazon atm, and $35 on newegg) 

 

Additionally, the noise is gonna be so much lower with the PA120, especially if you remove the front fan.