CPU Cooler Performance Tier List

[Energycore]

On 1/31/2018 at 4:30 AM, Princess Cadence said:

I'd assume you're completely disregarding cost-to-benefice and only considering "performance" since the Hyper 212X was cheap enough to me, cools my i7 8700 to 65Cº max load temp while being virtually silent, has good looking parts and is classified as "tier 6" when it was probably the most beneficial purchase for my user-case?

 

See this kind of issue is non-present on the PSU Tier list... I'd give this a second thought.

This Tier List is different to the PSU List because you can't kill your computer off a bad cooler - thank god for thermal shutdown. So it's actually just fine to have a low-tier CPU cooler if you're running a low power CPU or don't overclock. So if you have a locked i7 you don't care that your cooler is Tier 6. I for one have a 212 EVO and my CPU stays at 60C without the fans running for most of my usage of it. Only under stress do the fans actually kick in. Is that a testament to how good the 212EVO is? No, it's a testament to how little heat this locked Xeon dissipates even under stress test.

[WoodenMarker]

21 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Hit it out of the park @WoodenMarker. Any cooler I could think of that you may have missed, is right there. Not even the most obscure ones.

Well maybe the Fortis 3 HE1425 is a different model than what you have there.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/SilentiumPC/Fortis_3_HE1425/

Another tier list I feel compelled to follow now.

Thanks! The HE1425 is what's on the list but I avoid adding entire names to lessen clutter. Updated to add Fortis MCE / V2's, and Fera 2 / 3. The Fortis' all perform effectively the same.

[genexis_x]

Thanks for updating the list. BTW could you add these:

ID-Cooling SE-207
Xigmatek Colosseum
Silverstone AR01, AR02

Cooler Master Gemin II M5

Thermaltake Contac Silent 12

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, ZM Fong said:

Thanks for updating the list. BTW could you add these:
Xigmatek Colosseum
Silverstone AR01, AR02

Cooler Master Gemin II M5

Thermaltake Contac Silent 12

Added AR01 / 02 / 03 and GeminII M5. 

Still need more data for the Colosseum and Contac Silent 12.

[MindUnited]

Can you clarify the masterliquid? Why theres Masterliquid pro 120/140 in Tier 2

 

and Tier 5 have the Masterliquid...120 too? Pro is also in there?

 

Another Question added : you say in Tier 5 "High End 120mm" 

This means it stays tier 5 does not mean it's horrible compared to Tier 1. Which there are 240mm and above right?

 

Im confused

[MindUnited]

Also , you wanna add this one too? I have not seen it in any tiers

 

http://th.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00003089

[WoodenMarker]

7 hours ago, MindUnited said:

Can you clarify the masterliquid? Why theres Masterliquid pro 120/140 in Tier 2

and Tier 5 have the Masterliquid...120 too? Pro is also in there?

Another Question added : you say in Tier 5 "High End 120mm" 

This means it stays tier 5 does not mean it's horrible compared to Tier 1. Which there are 240mm and above right?

Im confused

Thanks for pointing that out. The 120 Pro should be in just Tier 2 and not 5. I think I accidentally pasted too much when adding the MasterLiquid series. 

As for why the 120 / 140 are in the same tier, they perform similarly partially due to the 120mm rad being considerably thicker than the 140mm rad at 38mm compared to 27mm.

The tier titles are a summary of that category and not a hard rule. I'll add that to the post.

7 hours ago, MindUnited said:

Also , you wanna add this one too? I have not seen it in any tiers

http://th.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00003089

I couldn't find much info on it so it's been added to the 'Currently awaiting more info' section. If you have any helpful articles reviewing the cooler, please send them my way.

Thanks for the helpful feedback!

[MindUnited]

7 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Thanks for pointing that out. The 120 Pro should be in just Tier 2 and not 5. I think I accidentally pasted too much when adding the MasterLiquid series. 

As for why the 120 / 140 are in the same tier, they perform similarly partially due to the 120mm rad being considerably thicker than the 140mm rad at 38mm compared to 27mm.

The tier titles are a summary of that category and not a hard rule. I'll add that to the post.

I couldn't find much info on it so it's been added to the 'Currently awaiting more info' section. If you have any helpful articles reviewing the cooler, please send them my way.

Thanks for the helpful feedback!

So far most reviews were in Thailand , maybe they make the marketing in Thailand 

 

The only EN Youtube I found is 

 

[grimreeper132]

Having the stock heatsinks for intel and AMD might be quite nice to have. The intel ones are probably teir 8/9 but the AMD ones might be a bit higher

[Energycore]

Just now, grimreeper132 said:

Having the stock heatsinks for intel and AMD might be quite nice to have. The intel ones are probably teir 8/9 but the AMD ones might be a bit higher

The Intel ones with the copper slug may be around T9, but I'm sure the others go below T9. As an owner of a Tier 9 cooler (Arctic Freezer 11 LP), the performance between that and the stock Intel cooler (no copper slug) is still night and day. This F11LP runs fans off at everything except 100% CPU load.

[grimreeper132]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

The Intel ones with the copper slug may be around T9, but I'm sure the others go below T9. As an owner of a Tier 9 cooler (Arctic Freezer 11 LP), the performance between that and the stock Intel cooler (no copper slug) is still night and day. This F11LP runs fans off at everything except 100% CPU load.

fair enough, yea it would help significantly help you with trying to work out what to upgrade to. especially with the AMD spires and wraiths as they are pretty good at cooling and probably higher.

[Energycore]

Just now, grimreeper132 said:

fair enough, yea it would help significantly help you with trying to work out what to upgrade to. especially with the AMD spires and wraiths as they are pretty good at cooling and probably higher.

The wraith Spire is probably 8 and the Stealth is probably 9, just based on conjecture though. The "good" wraith is T7, almost for sure since it was tested to match or just lag behind the 212 EVO.

[grimreeper132]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

The wraith Spire is probably 8 and the Stealth is probably 9, just based on conjecture though. The "good" wraith is T7, almost for sure since it was tested to match or just lag behind the 212 EVO.

yea that's fair enough, and good to know. 

 

now I think of it the ones that LTT made should be on it, the would be teir 12 at best

[WoodenMarker]

19 minutes ago, Energycore said:

The wraith Spire is probably 8 and the Stealth is probably 9, just based on conjecture though. The "good" wraith is T7, almost for sure since it was tested to match or just lag behind the 212 EVO.

Added: The Wraith / MAX goes into T7 since it's pretty similar to the 212 Evo. The Spire performs similarly to the Hyper T2 and is in T9 along with the Stealth.

https://youtu.be/umzzTpJ4Tms?t=445

https://youtu.be/FpjA3TdF6GE?t=470

I plan to divide T1 and T9 for more granularity but that's going to take some more research--same goes for adding more stock coolers.

14 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

now I think of it the ones that LTT made should be on it, the would be teir 12 at best

Haha, I'd add it to the list if I had a few more test results to go on. It's not that LTT benchmarks aren't reliable but I prefer not to rely on any single benchmark when comparing coolers since many reputable sources tend to have wildly differing results.

[grimreeper132]

Just now, WoodenMarker said:

The Wraith / MAX goes into T7 since it's pretty similar to the 212 Evo. The Spire performs similarly to the Hyper T2 and is in T9 along with the Stealth.

https://youtu.be/umzzTpJ4Tms?t=445

https://youtu.be/FpjA3TdF6GE?t=470

I plan to divide T1 and T9 for more granularity but that's going to take some more research.

Haha, I'd add it to the list if I had a few more test results to go on. It's not that LTT benchmarks aren't reliable but I prefer not to rely on any single benchmark when comparing coolers since many reputable sources tend to have wildly differing results.

Add a new category for them then "beyond shit" or "don't even think about using"???

[WoodenMarker]

8 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

Add a new category for them then "beyond shit" or "don't even think about using"???

I'll look into that after sorting through more coolers that are more worth using. There are many crappy coolers that can fit in that category.

[grimreeper132]

9 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

I'll look into that after sorting through more coolers that are more worth using. There are many crappy coolers that can fit in that category.

oh yea no that's a good choice, I'm trying to think of some good coolers that you might of missed but can't think of any right now

[deXxterlab97]

You made my topic COMPLETELY useless  oh well, that is something to remember of my old dex

 

 

[TVwazhere]

Corsair H90  140mm slim AIO (Tier 5 most likely)

 

[Energycore]

@WoodenMarker The Deepcool Frostwin V2 is in two tiers - 5 and 6

[grimreeper132]

10 minutes ago, Energycore said:

@WoodenMarker The Deepcool Frostwin V2 is in two tiers - 5 and 6

that's because it's so notable that it deserves two places on the list (even though I haven't heard of it before)

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, Energycore said:

@WoodenMarker The Deepcool Frostwin V2 is in two tiers - 5 and 6

Thanks for catching that! It's fixed to be in T6 and not T5. Also, added Neptwin V2 which is basically the same as the first version but with LED fans. 

2 hours ago, grimreeper132 said:

that's because it's so notable that it deserves two places on the list (even though I haven't heard of it before)

It was probably due to a mix up when sorting both the original Frostwin and the V2 which is a tier above it--might have done that twice. 

[Energycore]

Just now, WoodenMarker said:

Thanks for catching that! It's fixed to be in T6 and not T5.

Kind of surprising for a dual tower cooler, but it does look like it's got a meager number of heatpipes / cooling area

[WoodenMarker]

5 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Kind of surprising for a dual tower cooler, but it does look like it's got a meager number of heatpipes / cooling area

Yeah, it may have 120mm fans but the dual towers are similar to those of 92mm heatsink and appearances are deceiving. The weight at 712g is very similar to other coolers in the same tier like the H7 at 711g or Shadow Rock Slim at 730g.

Looking at Deepcool's other dual tower designs like the Neptwin weighing in at 1109g and Lucifer at 1079g, it's not that surprising the Frostwin V2 lags behind.

[WallacEngineering]

Ive got a Cryorig R1 Universal with upgraded Phanteks PH-F140 HP II fans, I can confidently state that with proper airflow it deserves a bump to tier 1

Stress Testing with my Ryzen 5 1600X OC - 3.975GHz @1.392V for two hours and it never even hit 70C. See my build log in my signature for details. I installed my buddies Corsair H150i for comparison and it tied.