A Desperate Plea For Advice On A New Air CPU Cooler!!

THE_EGG

THE_EGG

THE_EGG

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I would REALLY appreciate your input here guys.

Like may of you I've spent many hours researching components and reading reviews and slowly compiling a list of all the parts I want on my new system.

But unlike many of you this upgrade for me this is HUGE as it's the first new system I've bought for myself in nearly 10 years!

I'll be ordering my new computer system this week and the only thing I have left to decide on is - (drumroll please) - The CPU Cooler!!

Now I apologise for not wishing to be part of the Overclocking club just yet as I have no plans initially to overclock my new system as I'm sure (well at least praying!!) that I'm going to notice a big improvement upgrading from an old AGP based system with a Pentium 4 3.4GHz CPU.

I'm going with an i5 2500K CPU with a ASUS P8P67 board and I want an AIR based cooler that fits these requirements:

1. Be as cheap as possible (under £50 would be ideal)
2. Effective Performance (in terms of being a worthy upgrade in giving much better temps than the Intel stock cooler for the price)
3. Be easy to fit on an ASUS P8P67 board, and I mean simple! The one thing I hate doing is fitting coolers around CPU's as it has always made me feel both anxious and nervous and I always dread doing it!
4. Going with the Coolermaster HAF X or Corsair 600T case (depending on stock when I order) so this cooler also needs to fit.
5. Obviously a cooler that is quiet would be ideal too!
6. Ideally not cover all the RAM banks - but I'm going with 2 strips of Corsair XMS3 4GB so only really need 2 to be available.

I really want to get this build right first time so want to fit the preferred choice of CPU cooler rather than have to open up my PC later to swap out the stock cooler later.

I really do welcome your thoughts and appreciate anyone that can help advise me.

Many thanks :)
 
Thanks for these recommendations, really appreciate it :)

That Akasa Venom looks tempting - I know I'm being petty here but it being yellow puts me off a little. The reason why is the ASUS board is blue and all the internal cables I've bought are blue to match it and with my case having a side window i guess it would be nice if everything matched.

To be honest easy fitting is vital so any more recommendations please else it looks like it will be the Akasa Venom?
 
I also can't decide what cooler to get with my Sandybridge system. Been looking at the reviews for the Akasa Venom myself and they seem to suggest that it's a pretty decent cooler. Was also looking at the Corsair A70 but the fans don't support PWM.
 
SeeknDestroy - I saw that Zalman CNPS9900 but was put off by reviews that said it was noisy and was tricky to install with the hex key it comes with.

Anyone have any other suggestions please?
 
Since posting above, I have been looking at the Gelid Tranquillo and think I will be going for that over the Akasa Venom. Having read reviews on it, the biggest negative seems to be how fiddily it is to install but all reviews said it performs very well for it's price. Smaller than the Akasa too which means less chance of it taking up some DIMM slots.
 
S Innes - I had the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus as my first choice originally but not a single person recommended it when I asked what CPU air cooler they'd chose.

Anyone - is the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus any good and is it easy to fit???????
 
Hi there.

If you are put off the Akasa Venom then try its smaller sibling the Freedom Tower.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-067-AK

I put this on my Dad's I5 750 running at 3.6ghz and set the fans rpm to run low. It only hangs over the first ram slot on his mobo and should be ok for the mobo you are getting.

Have a look :)

EDIT: I found fitting the Freedom Tower really easy but thats me!
 
THE_EGG said:
S Innes - I had the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus as my first choice originally but not a single person recommended it when I asked what CPU air cooler they'd chose.

Anyone - is the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus any good and is it easy to fit???????
Click to expand...

I have got the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus hits 100c every time i run prime95 so looking for something a lot better.
My setup is i5 750 Running @ 3.8
 
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thanks for the feedback guys - looks like I need to rule out the Hyper 212 Plus then.

Also lots of reviews saying that the Gelid Tranquillo was a nightmare to fit so leaving that one behind too!

Think I'm going to go with the Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom then as there doesn't seem to bee anything better for the price.

...unless anyone else has any suggestions ;)
 
but PapaLazaru - I laugh in the face of 'adequate' ;)

A friend said he has used the ThermalTake Frio CPU Cooler but it covers one of his ram module slots. I'm thinking that I only need 2 slots so may try this as it gets good reviews.

Hmmm, Venom or Frio - time to toss a coin ya think?
 
I'm going for the Arctic Freezer 13 because it's v quiet a stock speeds, not physically massive and will give scope for some reasonable overclocking in the future.
 
Slam have you read the review on here about the Arctic Freezer 13?

It also has the word '13' in the title so sod that :p
 
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