CPU coolers - is there anything worthwhile between £20-£50?

[Kyndylan]

Hi guys.

I'm after a CPU cooler for a new build, and I need some help.

I have a budget of about £40, and I hear lots of people recommending the Hyper 212 Evo, which is £25, and the Noctua NH-D14, which is £65.

Is there anything worth purchasing between those extremes? Maybe a 212 with third party fans?

For reference - I want to cool a 3570k with a mild overclock (4.2 - 4.4) inside a Fractal Design Define R4.

Thank you!

 

[fishingcat]

The Hyper 212 Evo would be fine for the overclock that you're looking at, and is pretty cheap.

There are a few other decent options in that price range. I've looked at the Thermalright True Spirit 140 (£31 from Scan), Thermalright Mach HR-02 (£38 from Scan) and Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme (£51 from Scan).

 

[Kyndylan]

Thanks fishingcat,

Do you have any idea how those compare acoustically? My current 6 year old rig sounds like a jet engine, so I'm keen to get something much quieter if at all possible.

 

[fishingcat]

My current 6 year old rig sounds like a jet engine, so I'm keen to get something much quieter if at all possible.

You don't by any chance have an AMD stock cooler? I recall mine being hideously loud.

I think your best bet is getting the True Spirit 140. It's very cheap for the thermal performance, and the acoustics compare very favorably to other coolers.

Here are a couple of reviews: RWLabs and HardOCP.

 

[Kyndylan]

I'll have a close look at the 140 then. Unfortunately most of the reviews are a little old, but I guess the basics hold true!

 

[lehtv]

+1 to true spirit 140. Also check out HR-02 macho, zalman cnps9990 max, phanteks u-type, be quiet! dark rock advanced and dark rock 2

 

[Kyndylan]

+1 to true spirit 140. Also check out HR-02 macho, zalman cnps9990 max, phanteks u-type, be quiet! dark rock advanced and dark rock 2

Thanks for the other options. I like the look of the be quiet! models, but reviews seem mixed.

I can't see a 'u type' on the Phanteks website...do you mean the PH-TC12DX?

 

[lehtv]

Yeah. http://www.scan.co.uk/search.aspx?q=phanteks+u+type

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2013/03/12/phanteks-ph-tc12dx-review/2

 

[Eureka]

I think the Hyper 212+ will do fine. Use speedfan to set a quieter fan profile and you're good. You could pay the extra 30-40 for a nicer fan, but it will only net you about 5-10°C of cooling difference, and you don't need that to reach 4.4 Ghz. And I think coming from an older system, any fan will be much quieter.

 

[coffeejunkee]

But it's not 30-40 more, more like 15 more for the True Spirit 140. I think it's worth it for extra cooling, easier mount and lower noise. Only problem is the height, but it fits in the R4.

 

[Eureka]

Well, I can't say for the availability in the UK but in the US the 140 is 2x the price of the 212+... I guess it depends if you really think it's worth it for that little extra gain. I haven't had any noise issue with 120mm fans, and I'm running Ultra Kazes on my H70.

 

[Kyndylan]

Hmm, lots to think about. I suppose there is a possibility that I will decide to overclock more than I'm currently planning on doing, in which case a little extra investment now might be worthwhile.

As ever, it's the question of price/performance, and where on that curve you want to be. I'll ponder it for a while...I've got about a week until I'm planning on ordering components, so hopefully I'll have come to a conclusion!

Please do continue discussing though...

 

[coffeejunkee]

Well, I can't say for the availability in the UK but in the US the 140 is 2x the price of the 212+... I guess it depends if you really think it's worth it for that little extra gain. I haven't had any noise issue with 120mm fans, and I'm running Ultra Kazes on my H70.

Well yes, if you can get it with the 10$ rebate so it goes from its normal retail price of 30$ to 20$ it's very hard to beat price/perf wise. But I based my comment on the uk prices mentioned and actually added a bit of safety margin as well. If the mentioned prices of £25 for Hyper and £31 for TS140 are correct it seems like a no brainer to me.

As for noise, it's so subjective...assuming you have the 2000rpm kazes, at which rpm they run during idle?

Btw, little extra gain? You do realize the TS140 is a budget version of the Archon? Check this review: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermalright-archon_5.html#sect0, Hyper 212 wouldn't be able to keep the cpu from throttling in that test.

 

[Eureka]

I don't doubt that the 140 is better, but they are running at 1.46V in that test... I have my 3570K at 1.28V and it's enough for 4.5 Ghz.

I'm running at the lowest RPMs it will allow without throttling. I'm using the curve profile on my motherboard's software... it says 35%, but I don't know what that actually translates too. It goes through the H70 first before the power gets distributed to the two fans.

My point is that once you get past the 120mm fan coolers, the performance isn't necessary unless you really want that to-the-brim overclock, in which case it may be more desirable to go liquid, anyway.

 

[Kyndylan]

TS140 is currently £36, Hyper 212 EVO is £25.

I think the extra £11 might be worth it, even though the c. 50% price difference obviously won't result in 50% performance.

I must admit, I do prefer the look of the Phanteks PH-TC12DX, but given that it's going in a windowless case I probably shouldn't let that sway me too much. It is only an extra £4 over the TS140 though...

Hmmmm.

 

[lehtv]

But if you add the cost of the CPU, and then compare the cost of the CPU+cooler versus the maximum 24/7 clock speed of each setup, they might be pretty close in bang for buck.

 

[Kyndylan]

That's a novel way of looking at things, lehtv! I hadn't considered that, but it does make sense.

Do you have any sense of whether the TS140 or the TC12DX is a better performer, both thermally and acoustically? I can't seem to find anywhere that's reviewed them both, and I find it hard to compare reviews from different sites...

 

[lehtv]

TS140 is probably better in both regards, I'd expect. That usually is the case when comparing 140mm to 120mm coolers

 

[Kyndylan]

Looks like TS140 might be the way forward then!

Thanks all for your help - I'll be ordering this weekend, so if anyone wants to make other suggestions please do so before then!

 

[John Tauwhare]

At £35 from Amazon also consider the Xigmatek Aegir.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Xigmatek-Aegir-CPU-Cooler-Review/1365/8
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Xigmatek/Aegir/7.html
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=573&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=8
http://www.eteknix.com/xigmatek-aegir-sd128264-cpu-cooler-review/10/

It is very effective. With the single fan it kept my i7-2700K, 4.8GHz at 100% load in IBT at >=80C. Noisy flat out at 2200 RPM though, so I keep it at about 1300 for normal use and it's very quiet. With a second fan temps under full load reduce to >=75C, or >=85C at 4.9GHz.