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Best cooler under $40?

konakona

konakona

Diamond Member
I just got me a i7 860 and a mobo, now I need to find some cheap DDR3 (oxymoron?) and a decent HS/F. Overclocking performance is important to me, but not quite as much as keeping things quiet. When gaming, I would figure whatever the GPU i will end up having with this machine will take over, fine. With the GPU idle though, I want something near silent.

Last time I put up a rig, this was considered best value. In my secondary rig, I am using this one at the moment Since I have been out of the loop for some time, I am clueless as to what newer and better HS are out there, and what is needed for a i7 860.

$40 is not a hard limit, but I reasoned I would want something $30ish AR to pair up with a GentleTyphoon that everyone seems to be in love with and stay under $50.

Oh, feel free to suggest some cheap DDR3 while at it, 4gb or 6gb 🙂 Do we really need 6gb for gaming?
 
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Forget the $40, I guess it's just not happening. I would rather stick with 1 fan to keep the cost and noise down. Would the Noctua work better in perf and noise than Gentletyphoon + any of those other high perf HS in that thread? With the cost of Gentletyphoon factored in, I see don't see a whole lot of difference in price. NH-D14 does come with two fans right?

Shipping is for ND-D14, which I assumed to be the heaviest with the two fans (could be wrong).

Sidwinder
Baram : $39.95
TRUE rev C: $59.95
NH-D14: $81.95
$10.69 for s/h

SVC
NH-D14: $79.99
Megahalems rev B: $61.99
$9.49 for s/h

Frozen CPU
NH-D14: $87.95
IFX-14: $79.99
Megahalems: $64.99
TRUE rev C: $59.99
Mugen 2: $44.95
$9.67 for s/h

Performance-PCS
NH-D14: $84.95
Megahalems: $61.99
Mugen 2: $38.99
$13.27 for s/h

Petra's Tech Shop
TRUE: $46.99
$10.45 for s/h

Jab-tech
NH-D14: $82.95
Mugen 2: $37.99
$7.28 for s/h

Based on this info, I think I could go with Petra's TRUE for $57.44 or Sidewinder's Baram for $50.64 or Jab-tech's Mugen 2 for $45.27 (actual shipping might be a bit off). With any of the three, I would get a gentletyphoon (from newegg, I assume) for $17.99. That would be $75ish for TRUE, which is more than my $50 mark but reasonable. That, or I could get a NH-D14 from SVC for $89.48 shipped though unlikely; now that I know TRUE is some $15 cheaper, I might swing that way.
 
Scythe Mugen 2 is the best heatsink in its price range. The TRUE and Megahalem both cool really well though. Two of my friends are cooling i7-920's (4.1+) with push/pull TRUE.
 
If you suspend your cooler on wires, weight is no issue. I saw a report once that suggested adding a 3d fan to a two-radiator cooler like the IFX or the D14 would get you another couple of degrees, since the middle fan is a pull and a push, but has no pull fan for it.

The Noctua fans are quiet, and they clearly are the experts in choosing fans for their cooler. The package - cooler and fans - seems reasonably priced for what's in it.

If you're going to buy GT's, you can do better than $17-18. Try Jab-Tech or Koolertek, for example.
 
ehume said:
If you suspend your cooler on wires, weight is no issue. I saw a report once that suggested adding a 3d fan to a two-radiator cooler like the IFX or the D14 would get you another couple of degrees, since the middle fan is a pull and a push, but has no pull fan for it.

The Noctua fans are quiet, and they clearly are the experts in choosing fans for their cooler. The package - cooler and fans - seems reasonably priced for what's in it.

If you're going to buy GT's, you can do better than $17-18. Try Jab-Tech or Koolertek, for example.
Click to expand...

I am not all that worried about weight, I just mentioned that so I can guestimate what the upper bound on shipping is going to be. But thanks anyway 🙂 I kinda like Mugen 2 now, since Jab-tech has them cheap and they also have GTs; their shipping is low to boot.

$60.03 shipped for Mugen 2 AND a GT, not bad!
 
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Took me a while to decide, but I think I am going with Mugen 2 + 1 GT from jab-tech. At $60.03 shipped, I think that really is the sweet spot for me. I am hoping the fans included in my P180 at the lowest speeds will be enough for case cooling.
 
ehume said:
...
The Noctua fans are quiet, and they clearly are the experts in choosing fans for their cooler. The package - cooler and fans - seems reasonably priced for what's in it...
Click to expand...

+1,, Have to factor in the cost of the Noctua fans (and TIM) in these equations...
 
well I do have some quality OCZ TIM left from my previous build not too long ago.

I didn't wanna wait for shipping, so narrowed it down to three at my local microcenter:
1) Mugen 2: $44.99
2) Titan Fenrir: $44.99
3) Vendetta2 (S1283 clone): $24.99 AR
4) Hyper 212+: $29.99

In the end, I settled with mugen 2. Too bad they don't carry gentletyphoon's, will have to live with stock fans for now 🙂
 
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