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Best CPU cooler for the price???

S

Shephard

Senior member
Ok for those with experience with different CPU coolers which is best?

I looked at some reviews and it seems the #1 CPU cooler is Hyper 212 Plus by Cooler Master.

The second best looks to be Hyper 212 Evo by Cooler Master.

I don't really see a big difference between those 2 from the pictures. It looks like the Hyper 212 Evo has a cheaper looking fan but it's more expensive?

Water cooling seems to be to expensive. Maybe good for enthuaists who want to make a really flashy build and overclock high, but not worth it so much for regular games who just want highest settings. You have to change the water and stuff and make sure no leaks...

But I did see a water cooler CPU called H70 I think. It looks way different than the water cooling systems I seen in computer pictures. It only has 2 little tubes, not like tubes going everywhere.
 
212 Evo > 212+

Evo has a new and better fan, different fin spacing, and better surface contact instead of the spacing used on the 212+. The mounting bracket on both is identical and it sucks, very Micky Mouse. Even so it'll be the best $30 you'll spend if you truly intend to OC. The ROI on the AIO's is still nonexistent. Maybe the H100i or Kraken X60 changes that, but @ $120'ish I doubt it.

DSCF1461.jpg
 
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the old corsair a50 and a70 were the best of the cheap coolers. similar or better performance as hyper212+ or thermalrights and could be found on sale with rebates for around 15$. corsair stopped making them so they are no longer available at that price.

212evo is probably the best right now.
 
If you have to spend a lot on cooling, you start getting into the territory of being able to use that money instead to get higher performing hardware.

Like, getting a $200 video card and spending $150 on a cooling system to let you overclock it, may be worse overall than if you just spent the total $350 on a $350 video card.

For this principle alone, I'd say go with the Hyper 212 and get the overclocking ability for a very low amount, keeping the total cost of the chip+cooler lower to be in a best bang/buck situation.
 
Water cooling is great but is bulkier overall and more difficult to set up. On top of that the Corsair H series doesn't really perform that much better than the 212 EVO, usually costs at least twice as much, and it's much louder than the EVO. You can see how the H100 and H80 compare to the 212 EVO in this chart. The EVO is really a no-brainer unless you are going for super high overclocks.

FWIW, the H60 is currently on sale for $39.99 after rebate, and that probably doesn't perform any better than the $34.99 EVO.

EDIT>> For the record, I have 3 PCs in my household and each have the 212 Plus. I highly recommend either the Plus or EVO.
 
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ok so the Evo is newer and better. I thought the fan looked cheaper to me guess it's just a different material.

how come those water cooling only have 2 hoses or tubes. is it a CPU only cooler? I thought water cooling was for everything.
 
500 gram cooler for so so oc temps, 800 gram cooler for water cooling temps oc'd. The more weight your air cooler has the better temps youll get. Theres nothing better than a Tuniq Tower for the price, and it does a lot better than most closed loops for a lot cheaper.
 
Tuniq Tower? That's $65 on newegg, hardly good value for money. 212 Evo is less than half that and probably performs around the same
 
Yes, no changing of water and CPU only. I personally don't see a reason to get the models that perform on par with similar air cooling units. However, the top end of these self contained water units are an interesting alternative. Some people don't like the idea of a kg of air cooler pulling on their motherboard. ;p
 
Best CPU cooler for the price is the stock cooler. Free! 😛

The 212+ and 212 Evo are okay coolers, made good by their constant sale pricing.

Shephard said:
I wonder what the point is then if they don't perform much better than Cooler Master. Maybe just cool for looks with those hoses.
Click to expand...

They're great for SFF systems, and for those who don't want to leverage a couple pounds off their motherboard.

Also, with an appropriate adapter, they're GREAT for GPU cooling.
 
I still adhere to my opinion for the Hyper 212+. The EVO does have the better fan though. The difference in the past has been around $10, but I have seen the EVO within $5 of the 212+ price fairly recently. Either are really good bang 4 buck coolers. Theres a reason they are highly recommended and purchased.

In regards to the Tuniq Tower. Yes, it definitely performs better. However, its like $50-60 vs the $15/$20 pricetag of the Hyper 212+/Evo. I could buy 3 for the price of one Tuniq....
 
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Vesku said:
Yes, no changing of water and CPU only. I personally don't see a reason to get the models that perform on par with similar air cooling units. However, the top end of these self contained water units are an interesting alternative. Some people don't like the idea of a kg of air cooler pulling on their motherboard. ;p
Click to expand...

Yet people are willing to put water in their box's ... crazy.
 
KingFatty said:
If you have to spend a lot on cooling, you start getting into the territory of being able to use that money instead to get higher performing hardware.

Like, getting a $200 video card and spending $150 on a cooling system to let you overclock it, may be worse overall than if you just spent the total $350 on a $350 video card.

For this principle alone, I'd say go with the Hyper 212 and get the overclocking ability for a very low amount, keeping the total cost of the chip+cooler lower to be in a best bang/buck situation.
Click to expand...

Thank God for other sane posters. Took the words outta my mouth. I would recommend something like a Corsair CAFA50 or Hyper 212+ if you intend to run at stock or have a mild OC.

If you find yourself spending a fortune on cooling, maybe you should just use that money to buy the next-highest tier of CPU or GPU and run it at stock. If you're already at the highest tier then why not pocket the money and put it towards a future upgrade? The only people who "need" extreme cooling solutions are those who want performance that doesn't exist yet, like something faster than a i5-3770K/Sandy Bridge-E. And "need" in this context means "need" in the first-world-problems sense of the word.
 
That's basically why I recommended the Gaia for $20, will be close to Hyper 212+ (non-EVO) and fine for mid-tier OCing.
 
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