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Best budget cpu air cooler?

F

Fallengod

Diamond Member
Looking to build a new computer here. Just doing some research. I have been rocking an older i5-2500k oc'd with a hyper 212+ evo on it and decided its time to ugprade. I have not decided on cpu yet as I know intel is about to release some new stuff, but my direction is either a i5-8400, i5-8600k or i7-8700k atm(without knowing the new releases). I may hold off to buy anything because of newer chips coming out. Not decided yet.

Just in general, what are some opinions on the best air coolers these days?

I value good performance but low noise levels as well. Perhaps even, quiet first and foremost. I am kind of over my hyper 212+ evo because the fan is not the quietest in the world. I have not decided if I am ocing or not yet since I dont know what I am building yet....

My picks so far:
be quiet! Pure rock, or pure rock slim
Cryorig H7 or maybe H5
Deepcool gammaxx 400
Noctua NH-U12s or U14s (Really the one I want, but I also dont want to pay ~$70 for a damn air cooler 🙁)


Thanks.
 
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i like cryorig....

however maybe just getting a new fan for the hyper 212 might be a better solution?

As for the best, the Noctua is where i would goto if money was no object.
You get good fans paired with most units.

However whenever i go air, i tend to go cheap, so i will usually pickup a cryorig or a hyper 212+ for that need.

If im not looking at budget, well, my current PC is using a 800 dollar Custom Liquid Cooling setup, so that should explain itself. :T
 
Just keep your 212 evo and change its fan with Noctua F12 IPPC-3000rpm. I did the same with my Gammaxx 400 and never looked back since.
 
I was considering that. My logic was like, If I am going to spend $20 for just a fan, I might as well spend slightly more for something new that performs a little better. Well see.
 
H7 is definitely on the shortlist. That is basically what my go-to is going to be if I cant make a decision on a higher-end cooler. My issue at the moment is figuring out what I want and/or need. I do want to oc and since I dont actually have the new CPU or MB yet, it makes things a little more difficult.

Thus far here are my considerations after reading like 30 review sites on coolers lol...

Thermalright True Spirit 140 BW Rev.a $44.90
Be Quiet Pure Rock $36.90
Deepcool Gammaxx 400 $23.69
Cryorig H7 $34.99
Cryorig H5 Universal $46.99
MSI Core Frozr L $52.96
Noctua NH-U12s $57.99
Noctua NH-U14s $63.75
 
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Fallengod said:
Thus far here are my considerations after reading like 30 review sites on coolers lol...

Noctua NH-U14s $63.75
Click to expand...

Add to cart, checkout, and done. 🙂

I use that cooler in my main desktop, and it's a great cooler (I also own two of the NH-U12S). Although depending on how high you want to push your overclocking, the U14S for $5 is definitely worth it.
 
UsandThem said:
Add to cart, checkout, and done. 🙂

I use that cooler in my main desktop, and it's a great cooler (I also own two of the NH-U12S). Although depending on how high you want to push your overclocking, the U14S for $5 is definitely worth it.
Click to expand...

My issue is after doing research, the NH-U14s seems to have ram slot and pcie slot clearance issues. Some sites I was reading were actually recommending the NH-U12s over the U14s because of that. And since I dont have the mobo yet. I dont necessarily care about the ram clearance issue, because even now my Hyper 212 overhangs the first ram slot on my current mobo. I dont need to use that slot probably. But the PCie slot could be an issue for the video card.
 
ao_ika_red said:
I hope you won't consider this one anymore because you already had Hyper212 which a better performer than the Gammaxx.
Click to expand...

It was at the bottom of my list 😛 It got some decent reviews so I was looking at it, but yeah seems like its kinda the same budget performance as 212.
 
Fallengod said:
My issue is after doing research, the NH-U14s seems to have ram slot and pcie slot clearance issues. Some sites I was reading were actually recommending the NH-U12s over the U14s because of that. And since I dont have the mobo yet. I dont necessarily care about the ram clearance issue, because even now my Hyper 212 overhangs the first ram slot on my current mobo. I dont need to use that slot probably. But the PCie slot could be an issue for the video card.
Click to expand...

I've used it on two different boards so far, and it hasn't gotten in the way of the PCIe slot. It may be an issue on some mATX or iTX motherboards.

In fact, Noctua maintains a compatibility list on their website which will tell you if there are any clearance issues on certain motherboards, or if it is fully compatible.
 
UsandThem said:
I've used it on two different boards so far, and it hasn't gotten in the way of the PCIe slot. It may be an issue on some mATX or iTX motherboards.

In fact, Noctua maintains a compatibility list on their website which will tell you if there are any clearance issues on certain motherboards, or if it is fully compatible.
Click to expand...


Good to know. I am leaning towards the NH-U14s I think. 😛 It will be kind of a waste of money to some degree but, maybe I wont have to worry about a heatsink or cooling for a long time with it.

I kind of wanted to try the cryorig H7 or H5 because they seem very good bang 4 buck but... I also see they have lots of difficulty mounting.

Conflicted on the Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 BW rev.a. That cooler seems to perform very well for like 2/3 less money than most. I dunno, well see.
 
I stumbled onto the Scythe Mugen 5 Rev.B and Scyth Fuma Rev.B. They seem to be fairly underrated and seems to be about on par with Noctuas and other beastly coolers for quite a bit less. I am leaving towards one of the Scythes now I think.
 
Fallengod said:
I stumbled onto the Scythe Mugen 5 Rev.B and Scyth Fuma Rev.B. They seem to be fairly underrated and seems to be about on par with Noctuas and other beastly coolers for quite a bit less. I am leaving towards one of the Scythes now I think.
Click to expand...
That Fuma looks great. Just be aware about memory clearance.
 
Thanks for the help and input. I just purchased the Scythe Mugen 5 Rev.B off amazon. $49 after tax. It seems to even beat the Noctua U14s and other $80+ coolers in all the reviews I looked at. It even beats or is on par with most in terms of noise levels as well which I definitely wanted. I almost went with the Cryorig H7 just because its cheap, but thought it would be dumb to pay $35 just for similar performance to my Hyper 212+ and everyone seems to say mounting the H7 sux. Will have it by Friday.

If this one doesnt work out for some reason, I will try the Thermalright True Spirit 140 BW Rev.A next. The Scythe Fuma seemed good, but later read people have mounting and tightening issues with it and that the Mugen is actually the update to the Fuma. The Fuma is discontinued.
 
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Jimie said:
get a new fan
Click to expand...

I know. I was considering that. A handful of people suggested that already. As I said in last post, I already purchased the scythe mugen 5 rev.b. I dont think if I build a new computer with an i7-8700k or similar and plan to oc a little that the Hyper 212 would be able to manage that so.... I didnt want to spend $20 for a Noctua fan or something just to have the same cooling with less noise.
 
Jimie said:
get a new fan
Click to expand...

Fallengod said:
I know. I was considering that. A handful of people suggested that already. As I said in last post, I already purchased the scythe mugen 5 rev.b. I dont think if I build a new computer with an i7-8700k or similar and plan to oc a little that the Hyper 212 would be able to manage that so.... I didnt want to spend $20 for a Noctua fan or something just to have the same cooling with less noise.
Click to expand...

I don't think simply putting a new fan on your old cooler would help that much. In this thread, an overclocked 8700k pushes the NH-U14S pretty good. See this thread if anyone is interested: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/the-8700k.2552388/
 
UsandThem said:
I don't think simply putting a new fan on your old cooler would help that much. In this thread, an overclocked 8700k pushes the NH-U14S pretty good. See this thread if anyone is interested: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/the-8700k.2552388/
Click to expand...

Yeah that was kind of my guess. Hyper 212 has been a great cooler for my i5-2500k. I mean, I bet it was like $20 when I bought it. Ive had it for years and years, but its time to move on. 🙂
 
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