Best CPU cooler under 50 dollars with 4+ heat pipes and 2 fans?

[Okjoek]

My current cooler is great I think, but I think I'd be willing to fork a little more towards another when I do finally decide to get a new CPU (probably a Zen one) and pay about double what I spend on my current CPU cooler which is 50 dollars 5 dollars give or take ofcourse.

 

My current cooler was in the 25 dollar budget, has 3 heat pipes and a single fan so I was thinking that the next one should have atleast 4 heat pipes and 2 fans.

 

- This one by Phanteks is one option which looks to fit the description. It looks exactly like what I'm looking for.

http://www.amazon.com/Phanteks-U-Type-Heat-Sink-Cooler-PH-TC12DX/dp/B00AXUTKEY/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461415944&sr=1-1&keywords=phanteks+cpu+cooler

 

- Cooler Master fills the same description with their remarkably cheaper Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-Plus-RR-B10-212P-G1/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1461417973&sr=8-19&keywords=cooler+master+CPU+cooler

 

- I always hear Linus raving about his Noctua stuff so I looked them up too. The closest thing to my price range that fit my description was the Noctua i4 with 4 heat pipes and 2 fans just the way I wanted it.

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-Cooler-LGA2011-Platforms-NH-U9DXi4/dp/B00E1JGFA0/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1461417677&sr=8-19&keywords=noctua+cpu+cooler

 

- I looked at the Cryorig store since I like the Cryorig cooler I have now, but there weren't any options with the two fan setup I wanted in this price range.

 

- There's also a Thermaltake option with the NiC C5

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E1JA1PA/ref=s9_dcbhz_bw_d0_g147_i1_sh

 

- Lastly I found this curious thing by Zalman, just look at it for yourself and tell me what you think:

http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Cooler-Intel-Socket-CNPS12X/dp/B0062L8ZN0/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1461419001&sr=8-10&keywords=Zalman+cpu+cooler

 

I guess between all these options my biggest concern is future AM4 socket compatibility assuming that's the way I go. A loose tolerance for dealing with RAM height is also appreciated as is overall height for fitting in my case, but my case is fairly roomy in that aspect despite being quite cheap. Which one of these options would look the most appealing to you?

 

[l__T__l]

How much do you care about its aesthetics? I'm sure they all perform quite similar. I'd probably go for the Phanteks one because it looks the nicest in my opinion.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-Ver-2-RR-H6V2-13PK-R1/dp/B00PJSFR7Y/ref=sr_1_23?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461419944&sr=1-23&refinements=p_36%3A4000-6000%2Cp_89%3ACorsair|Cooler+Master|Phanteks|Thermaltake|noctua

this one only has one fan but you could add another pretty cheap, it should cool a bit better as it has a larger heatsink.

 

I think you can look at other coolers than ones with 2 fans, some are fine with only one, like the NHD-15s but that's a bit out of your pricerange.

[suchamoneypit]

I think that noctua one is more tailored to SFF scenarios. I think the 212 plus will perform well and look good , and its a good price.

[mikat]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13C-000X-00037

Hyper 212X Dual fan?

[alexnt]

Take a look at the be quiet cpu coolers!

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A!493964%2Cn%3A541966%2Cn%3A193870011%2Cn%3A3012290011%2Cn%3A11036281%2Cp_89%3ABe+Quiet!&qid=1461422744&bbn=11036281&sort=price-asc-rank

[nster]

Heat pipes and fans aren't necessarily going to give you the best cooling 

 

If you're cooling that i5 3450, I'd say go with Be Quiet Shadow Rock Slim for great acoustics and decent cooling and looks 

 

[Okjoek]

4 hours ago, l__T__l said:

How much do you care about its aesthetics? I'm sure they all perform quite similar. I'd probably go for the Phanteks one because it looks the nicest in my opinion.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-Ver-2-RR-H6V2-13PK-R1/dp/B00PJSFR7Y/ref=sr_1_23?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461419944&sr=1-23&refinements=p_36%3A4000-6000%2Cp_89%3ACorsair|Cooler+Master|Phanteks|Thermaltake|noctua

this one only has one fan but you could add another pretty cheap, it should cool a bit better as it has a larger heatsink.

 

I think you can look at other coolers than ones with 2 fans, some are fine with only one, like the NHD-15s but that's a bit out of your pricerange.

Aesthetics aren't all that important to me. My case doesn't have a window, but it has a grate area of holes where it looks like a radiator would be mounted. IDK how you would do that though, so I guess it's just for air circulation. Not really enough to see the components that well so there's nothing to really see on the inside.

 

I really like my case, I got it because it was so cheap, yet utilitarian looking. My only gripe might be that there's not enough room to wire manage behind the back panel and I don't have a modular power supply which compounds the problem, but it's not like I see inside it anyway. Plus a recent video by LTT did an experiment proving that cable management doesn't affect air flow all that much.

http://www.amazon.com/ANTEC-VSK4000E-BLACK-MICROATX-MINI-ITX/dp/B00E2U3NO4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

3 hours ago, ganja7 said:

Take a look at the be quiet cpu coolers!

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A!493964%2Cn%3A541966%2Cn%3A193870011%2Cn%3A3012290011%2Cn%3A11036281%2Cp_89%3ABe+Quiet!&qid=1461422744&bbn=11036281&sort=price-asc-rank

They look more like overpriced versions of existing designs to me. Am I missing something?

 

The 50 dollar model "pure rock" looks about the same as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus minus the fan and yet at a higher price.

http://www.amazon.com/quiet-Pure-Rock-CPU-Cooler/dp/B00OB40ULU/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461435082&sr=1-4&refinements=p_89%3ABe+Quiet!

 

My favorite of the list so far is still the Phanteks.

 

 

[DrM]

51 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

The 50 dollar model "pure rock" looks about the same as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus minus the fan and yet at a higher price.

thats because it is overpriced on amazon. ncix sells it for $35, which is the normal price. its still better than a 212 though, and quieter

[alexnt]

44 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

They look more like overpriced versions of existing designs to me. Am I missing something?

 

The 50 dollar model "pure rock" looks about the same as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus minus the fan and yet at a higher price.

http://www.amazon.com/quiet-Pure-Rock-CPU-Cooler/dp/B00OB40ULU/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461435082&sr=1-4&refinements=p_89%3ABe+Quiet!

 

My favorite of the list so far is still the Phanteks.

Go with the phanteks!

I see different prices on newegg(just take a look):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008000%2050085693&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

 

Here are some temp results of pure rock.

 

I believe that be quiet is better in quality and noise levels than 212. Here is a review: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/beQuiet/Pure_Rock/7.html

I own a dark rock 3 and I love it!

 

In your place I would make all "VS" searches in google between the coolers I am interested in and that are in the price range of your budget.

[Okjoek]

4 hours ago, ganja7 said:

Go with the phanteks!

I see different prices on newegg(just take a look):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008000%2050085693&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

 

Here are some temp results of pure rock.

 

I believe that be quiet is better in quality and noise levels than 212. Here is a review: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/beQuiet/Pure_Rock/7.html

I own a dark rock 3 and I love it!

 

In your place I would make all "VS" searches in google between the coolers I am interested in and that are in the price range of your budget.

This does seem a much fairer price. I've never even considered a VS search before. I didn't know that was really a thing commonly done with CPU coolers.

 

One question I might have because I'm looking at the Shadow Rock 2 on newegg and it looks really nice for the price on there, but I'm curious if for a lot of these 1 fan coolers if it's possible to install a second fan manually. With this specific model I don't see any spares for the wire  thing that holds the fan to the side of the cooler. Is that a proprietary thing that can't be found easily or is it possible to get these sort of things to install your own 120mm fan? Or is there a sort of DIY thing people commonly do to get said fan mounted?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68V21E0641

[alexnt]

13 hours ago, Okjoek said:

This does seem a much fairer price. I've never even considered a VS search before. I didn't know that was really a thing commonly done with CPU coolers.

 

One question I might have because I'm looking at the Shadow Rock 2 on newegg and it looks really nice for the price on there, but I'm curious if for a lot of these 1 fan coolers if it's possible to install a second fan manually. With this specific model I don't see any spares for the wire  thing that holds the fan to the side of the cooler. Is that a proprietary thing that can't be found easily or is it possible to get these sort of things to install your own 120mm fan? Or is there a sort of DIY thing people commonly do to get said fan mounted?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68V21E0641

You can install a second fan but the difference in temps won't be more than 2.0 °C on average.

http://www.overclockers.com/be-quiet-shadow-rock-2-heatsink-review/

This happens generally in push/pull.

 

I saw in this review that it has only one pair of fan clips so if you want to add a second fan you need to buy another pair of fan clips, maybe you can order them directly from be quiet.

[Okjoek]

Maybe I could try ot get my hands on AMD's Wraith cooler because that thing looks pretty sick. That is if it will work with an AM4 motherboard. Is that the cooler that would probably come with a Zen CPU or will they have something different probably with it?

[aisle9]

Adding a second fan doesn't really do much other than make it louder, if we're being honest about it. Awesomesauce even mentioned that the new Hyper 212X is definitely not worth buying with a second fan, because the second fan accomplishes very little for the cost it adds. I'd rather have an H5 with a single fan than a 212X with two, but that's just me and my experience.

 

Don't waste your time with the NiC cooler. I love Thermaltake in general, but that cooler is loud, expensive, and doesn't perform as well as cheaper alternatives. Phanteks and Noctua make great coolers, but again, let go of the two-fan requirement and look at bigger 120mm coolers with a single fan, not 92mm coolers with two. That Zalman cooler is gigantic, according to reviews, and knowing Zalman, it probably doesn't perform nearly as well as others in its price range, but it looks...cool? Cool enough that I might spend money on one at some point just to see how it looks in a system?

[Okjoek]

7 hours ago, aisle9 said:

Adding a second fan doesn't really do much other than make it louder, if we're being honest about it.

That does seem to be the impression that I'm getting from reading the replies. So you think it's better to get a larger sized fin area rather than the second fan?

 

The H5 looks like a monster in sheer surface area. and it is the same brand as my current which means I do have reason to trust the quality because I'm quite pleased with My M9i. My only concern is then that it looks potentially intrusive against my RAM, but the fan is extremely compact. How well does this fan perform for being so slim and how much do you think it would interfere with RAM on an ATX MB?