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Thread: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

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    QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    The humble CPU cooler plays a vital role, so who in your opinion does it best?
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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Loads of good coolers out there (both air and AIO). But for air coolers, you can't beat Noctua in my opinion. As long as you are OK with their colour scheme. Price a bit steep, but you have to pay for quality in my opinion.

    I have the Noctua U14S (push/pull) and even though it's been out for a while, it beats or comes very close to even the biggest air coolers. Also puts a number of the AIO's to shame.

    Within 2 degrees of the HUGE Noctua D15 cooler!
    https://www.overclockers.com/noctua-...sink-review-2/
    Live long and prosper.

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    I have to admit that when it comes to CPU coolers I not only look at the performance of the cooler (cooling vs. noise), but also the weight.

    Can't quite remember when and where I read it, but I believe the maximum recommended weight is 450 g, since in most cases the cooler will hang off the motherboard at a 90 degree angle and might damage other components, if the worst came to happen and it would get loose and fall off.

    Most of the best coolers exceed that recommendation by a large margin, which is why I rarely give them a second look. The best compromise for me has been the Cooler Master Hyper212 Evo. It's served me well for the last 5 years or so and I would happily buy it again.

    Noctua and Thermalright are the names most often mentioned with regard to great coolers. I have no experience with the latter, but I've owned case fans from Noctua which had sub par performance and really weren't worth the money. Then again, that's my singular experience with Noctua.

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Christmas on a bike I miss Zalman...

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Again,I tend to look at reviews first. Like with motherboards you cannot just trust one company to always make an item which will fit what you need.

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Be Quiet! and Noctua for air-cooling.

    Don't see the appeal of AIOs and never managed to justify the cost of a custom loop myself - had one planned for my current build but picked up a 2nd 1080 Ti on offer instead. Even on air and in this heat I've never seen them top ~78C. Hotter than I'd like but not hot enough to justify another £600 on cooling IMO.

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Noctua all the way...I used black spray paint to cover the top silver so it looks nice in the case. And use 2 red fans to match the color of the build. Keeps my overclock nice and cool....I never have pump problems or water issues

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Noctua seems to be the better one these days. Cooler Master is still holding on with the 212 EVO.
    Last edited by Korrorra; 04-08-2018 at 04:03 AM. Reason: original

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    Cool Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Now I have never used Bequiet. I have read goods things about bequiet's heatsink products. I would still give Noctua my business.
    Last edited by Korrorra; 04-08-2018 at 04:03 AM. Reason: re-edited double post

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Thermalright used to be the daddy...

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    My current and previous system uses Noctua heatsinks. It's hard to beat them on silent and efficient coolers. Even the accessories are quite comprehensive and can be very handy, and you feel like you're getting your money's worth.
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    ...every time Creative bring out a new card range their advertising makes it sound like they have discovered a way to insert a thousand Chuck Norris super dwarfs in your ears...

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Quote Originally Posted by Korrorra View Post
    Now I have never used Bequiet. I have read goods things about bequiet's heatsink products. I would still give Noqtua my business.
    I'd recommend them highly. I've never used them before my most recent build but I'm using their Dark Base Pro 900 case (comes with a few of their silent wings fans) which is absolutely fantastic, pleasure to build with, great cooling and runs pretty much silent. Also running their Dark Rock 3 CPU cooler, which admittedly was a pain to install but I hear they've improved on that with the newer version.

    Noctua are great too, I use their fans & coolers for the systems at work where performance & noise are the sole criteria.

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    There's been a few "top of the industry" manufacturers through the years, but I think we all have to agree that it's Noctua at the moment. BeQuiet! are a close second on the air coolers front, though.

    Corsair make some good AIO kits, mind you.

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Best one I have had is an old Corsair H50i in this work computer. Almost 24/7 for last 4 years never missed a beat
    Old puter - still good enuff till I save some pennies!

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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    No love for Scythe? Gosh darn, I've carried my Mugen III from a previous AMD system to a reasonably recent Intel, no compatibility issues or anything!

    For my HTPC had to get a quiet low-profile cooler and went with BeQuiet - I was very impressed with the attention to detail and quality, afterwards picked up their PSU as well; I would also trust them completely with any purchase.

  17. #16
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    Re: QOTW: Who makes the best CPU coolers?

    Scythe and the newer Arctic Cooling coolers are great.
    But, nothing beats my mamooth Xigmatek Thor's hammer.

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