Best AM3 Cooler under £25

[Predator]

Hey what is the best AM3 Cooler under £25?

I don't really know what I am looking for when it comes to cpu coolers except that it fits!

Any views?

If I can get it from pc world or a local computer shop then even better

[Cheapy]

Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus. Its a large tower style cooler but its the best bang for buck and one of the few cooles that can be mounted in any orientation on AM3 motherboards. Just make sure its the plus version and the orginal hyper 212 you buy.

[Legarm]

Also depends on the size of your case mate. Some might be too big to fit.

frostytech.com have good reviews

[Predator]

Oh, I didn't think of case size.

Its a coolermaster Centurion.

Not massive but it does the job

This? http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...m2-am2plus-am3

Plus an extra cheap fan will be about £25

[Legarm]

Make sure your case is wide enough to take the height of the heatsink otherwise you might not be able to put the side panel back on!!

[Pob255]

Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus. Its a large tower style cooler but its the best bang for buck and one of the few cooles that can be mounted in any orientation on AM3 motherboards. Just make sure its the plus version and the orginal hyper 212 you buy.

This
Scan sell it you should of put it on your order
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...m2-am2plus-am3

Play has currently got it for £23 + free shipping http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/117187...rlrefer=search

if you want to use two fans on it the fan it comes with is the coolermaster blade master 120mm, it's a decent PWM fan, don't use in not on pwm mode as at 2000rpm it's loud.

My hyper 212 plus with a single fan idles around 700rpm (the fan can go to 600rpm min but 700 is the slowest my motherboard can run it, apart from off) goes to around 1300rpm under stress testing, not sure under normal gaming load but I never hear it.

If you want to get a 2nd fan then
Hyper 212 plus http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...productid=9673
extra blade master fan http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...roductid=12037
PWM splitter, so you can run both fans off the cpu header http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...roductid=11923
total with 1st class recorded delivery £36.66

[Legarm]

Scythe make great fans if you wanted to try a quiet yet great perfoming fan.

[Iron Sights]

How about this one that I saw in the current bargain section:

Xigmatek HDT-D1284 CPU Cooler £9.59
http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/#2
Find it under cooler section
(Thanks to Kumagoro for the find)

Anyone know how it compares with the 212plus?

[Predator]

I have some artic cooling fans i got today, they look so awesome through the mesh in the side panel!

I'd like a fan that glows blue, I don't mind if it isn't the best, just quite quiet i was thinking:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...quiet-case-fan

I have at the minute, 5 120mm fans, 2 80mm fans (one on the back of the motherboard)

I want a blue glow though

One of these? http://www.scan.co.uk/products/phoby...-30cm-uv-white

[Cheapy]

How about this one that I saw in the current bargain section:
Xigmatek HDT-D1284 CPU Cooler £9.59
(Thanks to Kumagoro for the find)

Anyone know how it compares with the 212plus?

Its as good as the coolermaster. THe only downside to the Xigmatek is that on AM3 it only mounts with the fan facing either the top or bottom of the case.
The Xigmatek Crossbow ACK-ATI775 lets you rotate it 90 degrees but I havnt seen it for sale anywhere.
Heres its official page.
http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?...&type=overview

[mrt9888]

If you do get the Coolermaster 212 it uses a backplate and screws so you will have to fit the backplate to the back of the motherboard.

[Predator]

I Drew a rough picture of my fan layout, on the fan with the cpu, the fan is on the back off the motherboard blowing under the CPU Socket. And the two on top of the motherboard are on the side panel.

What would be the best way for the CPU fan to blow?

[Pob255]

Which case have you got? is it the coolermaster 690? (only that and the 590 can fin 80mm fans behind the motherboard that I know of)
However the two side 120mm look odd for the 690 or 590 as they are vertical one above the other.

The splitter I was on about is simular to that but a 4pin PWM one so you can use two PWM fans off one header (most motherboard only have 1 PWM header for the cpu fan)

You don't need two fans on the hyper 212 plus, just improves the cooling a bit more useful for very high overclocks.

The older Xigmatek HDT-D1284 stacks up very well vs the hyper 212plus and at under a tenner

If you want an LED fan have a look at the new BitFenix fans http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...fdb%29-1000rpm they seem to be the same as the cm sickleflow fans but cheaper
come in 5 different LED colours, although scan's not got the blue in stock yet, lots of sizes and a very nice price.
If your case can use 140mm fans then get some

In a case with that layout haveing a tower cooler that points up or backwards shouldn't matter much.

My personal preference on cpu coolers is PWM fans, most can be more noisy at full speed but under PWM control should rarely reach full speed and I like to know that my fans will automatically increase speed to keep the cpu cool than having a fixed speed low rpm fan that may not be cooling my cpu enough causing it to overheat when under load on a hot day.

[Predator]

This is my case:

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=3927

It will take 140mm but they were all a bit loud, and ugly!

What is PWM?

On my motherboard I have CPU_Fan and PWR_Fan

[Queelis]

This is my case:

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=3927

It will take 140mm but they were all a bit loud, and ugly!

What is PWM?

On my motherboard I have CPU_Fan and PWR_Fan

PWM stands for pulse width modulation, in essence it's for regulating the fan speed depending on the temperature of the CPU (if it idles, fan speed is low, load the CPU and the fan speed increases to keep the CPU cool).

CPU_Fan header should be 4 pin (so would support PWM), PWR_Fan I guess is 3 pin and doesn't support PWM.

[Predator]

PWM stands for pulse width modulation, in essence it's for regulating the fan speed depending on the temperature of the CPU (if it idles, fan speed is low, load the CPU and the fan speed increases to keep the CPU cool).

CPU_Fan header should be 4 pin (so would support PWM), PWR_Fan I guess is 3 pin and doesn't support PWM.

I understand, that will be why my fan doesn't start up straight away.

I think all the fan pins on the motherboard are all 4-pin