Processor air cooling buyer's guide

[Guest]

This guide will show you what air coolers are best for your money whether you want it as cheap as possible without it being a total "fire extinguisher practice zone" or whether you want liquid nitrogen alternative because N₂ is expensive af. 

 

I made this comparison guide based off several charts and sites to give as accurate results as possible.

 

This guide only compares temperature. Does not compare acoustic and aesthetics.

 

Due to the fact different sites use different setup and stress testing method I will not be going over with specific numbers. 

 

Pricing might be different depending where you live so use it with caution.

 

Will add more coolers later on.

 

1. Budget oriented

These are coolers that does its job well for a relatively low cost.

• Cooler Master 212 Evo: The most popular cooler out there, decent performance. I will be using it as a base to compare it since there's gotta be a reason why it is so popular.
• Cooler Master Hyper 212X: An improved version of 212 Evo with lower temperature for a slight increase in price
• Cryorig H7: Very decent cooler, costs similar to 212X yet in some tests have better temps.
• Cryorig M9: Tiny cooler that packs a big punch. Good performance. On par with 212 Evo in some tests yet consistently costing lower. (a and i are the same, just different mounting brackets with i for intel and a for AMD). 
• Raijintek Aidos: Performs on par with 212 Evo but costs less in some case. A very good cooler for budget builds.
• Deepcool Gammaxx 400: Good temps and good price. Some tests shows it can compete with some 120mm AIO like a Corsair H60. 
• Enermax ETS-T40: Good cooler, similar performance with Cryorig H7. Price is a bit higher though. 
• Enermax ETS-N30: Performance around 212 Evo range. Costs more in some case.
• be quiet! Pure Rock: Excellent performance in some tests, worst result was on par with a 212 Evo.
• be quiet! Shadow Rock 2: Not an excellent performance, better than 212 Evo by a bit, good to consider if price is extremely cheap.
• Intel BXTS115A: Bit higher temps than 212 Evo and costs slightly bit more. It's a stock cooler FFS. Wait what is it doing here?

 

2. Mid-range coolers

Not too expensive yet still delivers a significant performance increase over budget ones. 

• Cryorig H5 (see below for difference between Ultimate and Universal, same applies to H5): Good performance, good price. Beats out Dark Rock 3 below by a small margin. 
• be quiet! Dark Rock 2: Good performance for its price. Nothing special.
• be quiet! Dark Rock 3: Good performance and price. 
• Phanteks TC12DX: Very good performance, reasonable price. 
• Noctua NH-D14: Good performance but not a good price. 
• Noctua U12S: Similar performance to Shadow Rock Slim while costing more.
• Noctua U14S: Similar performance with D14 yet costs less in some case.
• Enermax ETS-50: Competing with Noctua NH-D15 in temps while having a very affordable price.
• Thermalright Macho Rev. B: Thermals done right. On par with D14. In some tests can match the performance of higher end ones
• Cooler Master V8 GTS: Unique looking design but not enough to be able to compete with high end cooler. Good performance but the price you are paying is mainly for aesthetic.
• Deepcool Gamerstorm Lucifer: Very good temperature, better than U12S in some tests (the Lucifer V2 is a slightly better version, they are almost identical). Price is reasonably low.
• Reeven Justice: Excellent performance for a really low price. Performance close to Cryorig R1.
• Scythe Fuma: Excellent performance for a really low price (deja vu). Temps seems to be higher than Cryorig R1 and Dark Rock Pro 3 a bit, in some tests even matching.

3. High-end 

Best coolers out there in temperature. 

• Noctua NH-D15: Consistently being the best air cooler out there. On par with some 240mm AIO. 
• Cryorig R1: The difference between Ultimate and Universal isn't much. Though for "ultimate" setup the R1 Ultimate would be cooler by few degrees but its design will make it little bigger than Universal (hence the name since it would be more easy to fit in with some large RAM or small cases). 
• Phanteks TC14PE: Excellent cooler for its price. Higher temps than an R1 by few degrees. 
• be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3: Loses to the above 3 in temps by few degrees. (however, it is one of the quietest cooler ever).
• Thermalright Le Grand Macho RT: Excellent performance, easily competes with Noctua NH-D15. 
• Thermalright Macho Direct: Good performance with really good price.
• Deepcool Assasin II: Good temperature though price isn't really good. 

4. Low-profile coolers:

They deserve a separate spot because cooling a CPU with limited space is hard

• Cryorig C7: Not a good cooler if you plan to overclock. Did get thermal throttled in some tests. 
• Noctua L9x65: It's a Noctua so it must be good? Not this. Good-average low profile cooler. Not so good in price.
• be quiet! Pure Rock Slim: A low profile cooler that can keep temps reasonably good, on par with Noctua L9x65. Price is good.
• Cryorig C1: Excellent performance for a low profile cooler with reasonable price. One of the best LP cooler.
• be Quiet! Shadow Rock Slim: Very good low profile cooler, the price is considerably low. On par with Noctua U12S.
• Deepcool Gabriel: Good performance for a low profile cooler. Price isn't too high.
• be quiet! Shadow Rock LP: A Low Profile cooler as the name states, very good performance and price, beating out L9x65 by a considerable amount. 

 

 

[Aereldor]

Sort into low-profile and tower. It doesn't make any sense the way it is just sorted by brand.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

Sort into low-profile and tower. It doesn't make any sense the way it is just sorted by brand.

Sorting by brand is easier to read and there isn't much LP coolers. I could maybe color them to differentiate between LP and tower

[Aereldor]

Just now, deXxterlab97 said:

Sorting by brand is easier to read and there isn't much LP coolers. I could maybe color them to differentiate between LP and tower

I think they need their own tier, honestly. The C7 has no place in the same tier as the H7, and those are coolers from the same brand.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

I think they need their own tier, honestly. The C7 has no place in the same tier as the H7, and those are coolers from the same brand.

Good idea. I will seperate tower and LP later. 

[Herman Mcpootis]

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7169/reeven-justice-rc-1204-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

reeven justice, on par with 240mm aios and the r1 universal/deepcool Assassin for only $45.

[Guest]

Just now, herman mcpootis said:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7169/reeven-justice-rc-1204-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

reeven justice, on par with 240mm aios and the r1 universal/deepcool Assassin for only $45.

I don't trust only 1 review. I will take a look thougj. 

[Herman Mcpootis]

1 hour ago, deXxterlab97 said:

I don't trust only 1 review. I will take a look thougj. 

lots of reviews on the justice.

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/REEVEN-JUSTICE-Tower-Air-CPU-Cooler-Review/Performance-Results-and-Conclus

https://m.hardocp.com/article/2016/07/18/reeven_justice_120mm_cpu_air_cooler_review/

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/reeven_justice_1204/4.htm stock load isn't much but overclocked load beats everything else.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

lots of reviews on the justice.

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/REEVEN-JUSTICE-Tower-Air-CPU-Cooler-Review/Performance-Results-and-Conclus

https://m.hardocp.com/article/2016/07/18/reeven_justice_120mm_cpu_air_cooler_review/

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/reeven_justice_1204/4.htm stock load isn't much but overclocked load beats everything else.

So basically a ETS T50 comperitor. Neat. I will put it in once have time

[Simon771]

And which one is the most quiet one? Not interested in passive coolers without fans.

Dark Rock 3 seems to get good reviews, just wondering if there is even more quiet CPU cooler avaliable. And I'm aware that Dark Rock 3 is hard to mount. Luckily for me I don't have too fat fingers, so I think I will manage to put it on in several hours  

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

And which one is the most quiet one? Not interested in passive coolers without fans.

Dark Rock 3 seems to get good reviews, just wondering if there is even more quiet CPU cooler avaliable. And I'm aware that Dark Rock 3 is hard to mount. Luckily for me I don't have too fat fingers, so I think I will manage to put it on in several hours  

Just temps comparison. But I'd say Pro 3.

[Simon771]

4 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Just temps comparison. But I'd say Pro 3.

But doesn't Pro 3 generate more noise because it's using 2 fans, while Dark Rock 3 only uses one?

And to be fair I'm more interested in idle noise, when PC isn't doing much. For example, when I go to sleep, I don't want to hear my PC at all. Right now that's impossible because of 6 fans in case on radiators + pump.

I'm deciding to go with single fan on CPU cooler (Dark Rock 3) + 1 intake fan from be quiet on around 800rpm. And I hope that GTX 1070 founders edition won't be too loud on idle either.

 

Aaaand I'm off the topic again lol

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

But doesn't Pro 3 generate more noise because it's using 2 fans, while Dark Rock 3 only uses one?

And to be fair I'm more interested in idle noise, when PC isn't doing much. For example, when I go to sleep, I don't want to hear my PC at all. Right now that's impossible because of 6 fans in case on radiators + pump.

I'm deciding to go with single fan on CPU cooler (Dark Rock 3) + 1 intake fan from be quiet on around 800rpm. And I hope that GTX 1070 founders edition won't be too loud on idle either.

 

Aaaand I'm off the topic again lol

Spoiler

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TPU shows they are neck to neck. While DR3 does win at 25% fan setting. But is 3dbA that much? 

And tweaktown

Again same result

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Dark Rock Pro 3 cools better though. So yeah.