Best >£20 AM3 Cooler?

Cookeh · 13 Jun 2010 at 13:00

Hi,
As per title really, decided to go for an Athlon II X3 instead of the Phenom II X2 giving me approx £20 to spend on a decent cooler, and £5 on the best TIM (is this still AS-5?) to get the best overclock I can!

Thanks,
Alistair

PermaBanned · 13 Jun 2010 at 13:08

Just use the thermal compound that comes with the cooler, oftentimes it will be better or you won't notice a difference from AS5 (actually, MX-3 is supposed to be the leader now).

Anything from a Coolermaster Hyper TX3 to an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 or any other number of coolers depending on what you want. Low temps? Low noise?

RJC · 13 Jun 2010 at 13:14

Used the Arctic 7 in the past on systems and not had any complaints also this comes with MX-3 pre applied.

Mr Krugga · 13 Jun 2010 at 13:34

You could have a look at Zalman CNPS10X-Performa. It is a well performing cooler and comes with a decent TIM (ZM-STG2).

There's also Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus which you could pair with Zalman ZM-STG1 or any other TIM you want.

Cookeh · 13 Jun 2010 at 14:21

With RE to Superewza, Im not too bothered about noise, either have music blasting through speakers or headphone/set on!

More bothered about price/performance aspect and how well it will cool a chip under high load.

The CM Hyper 212 seems to come out reasonably well in reviews, but cant find any figures on it :confused:

PermaBanned · 13 Jun 2010 at 15:00

Well for that price i think the best choice is the Gelid Tranquillo, but it doesn't seem to be on OCUK any more.