Best air cooler AM4?

[doyll]

Seems all will wants to do is complain about what other post while contributing nothing constructive,

To be fair, there are a few other companies making coolers in same class as Thermalright, but very few cool as well or have Thermlaright's good looks and color choices at competitive prices.

 

[wiill]

I'm not "shilling" them as you put it, I made a recommendation because they currently make the best air coolers which is a fact. In the other posts you'll see that recommendation was based on actual testing data from numerous reviews, or do you reckon they're all thermalright shills?

That's fine - but you wouldn't let up when the guy didn't go on your suggestion - that's what makes it look iffy

 

[sx_turbo]

You have to hand it to Noctua, they do an amazing job marketing to get people to pay for a brand. Other coolers don't just perform close to them for cheaper, they usually perform better for cheaper. For example the £22 Thermalright AK120 SE that I recommended is a superior cooler to the £50 NH-U12S Redux.

I can't find a direct comparison, but in this review from GamersNexus you can see it gets beaten in a 35dBA test by a Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120, which is worse than an AK120 SE. Note that the Arctic Freezer Esports Duo is even further ahead, which gets beaten by the AK120 SE in another review.

Spoiler: GamersNexus Comparison

Spoiler: Hardware For Gamers Comparison

Also worth checking this video, the £100 NH-D15 gets beaten in outright performance by a £36 Peerless Assassin 120. The Noctua is substantially bigger too being a 140mm cooler.

Gamers nexus gave the noctua d15 and deepcool assassin 3 best cooler awards, the coolers are very similar, but the noctua is quieter due to other brands having faster spinning fans. (Note the fan speeds in the GN chart, the noctua holds its own with much lower speeds)

At the end of the day people can only make recommendations it's then down to those making the purchase to do their own research.

Noctua isn't just a marketing gimmick, they perform aswell noted by the positive reviews by all and sundry, and they only sell quality backed up by top notch customer service.

Personally I went with the noctua nhd15, I spent £350 on a CPU, done plenty of research and noctua was consistently recommended as the one to beat. Having spent so much on a CPU I didn't want to take a chance on a £30 cooler, that's the cost of 1 noctua 140mm fan alone, I wanted to know that what I was purchasing will work 24/7, there is always going to be a question mark when buying budget, budget options suit some people and builds.

The brown and cream colour isn't for everyone but that's why they now do black.

 

[Eddie99]

I wanted to know that what I was purchasing will work 24/7, there is always going to be a question mark when buying budget

Do you have some data showing Noctua are more reliable or are you just assuming they will be because they are a "premium" brand that is more expensive? The only thing that can really go wrong on an air cooler is a fan, which are generally extremely reliable and not something to worry about. The NH-D15 and PA120 SE fans both have fluid dynamic bearings so I would expect them to have a similar lifespan and reliability. Even if a fan did fail it would work just fine with one fan until you replaced it.

 

[sx_turbo]

Do you have some data showing Noctua are more reliable or are you just assuming they will be because they are a "premium" brand that is more expensive? The only thing that can really go wrong on an air cooler is a fan, which are generally extremely reliable and not something to worry about. The NH-D15 and PA120 SE fans both have fluid dynamic bearings so I would expect them to have a similar lifespan and reliability. Even if a fan did fail it would work just fine with one fan until you replaced it.

Do you have any facts to prove they aren't reliable?

They come with a 6 year warranty and noctua are famed for their customer service.

Noctua have been around for a while now and many people have their coolers in their pc for a long time and there isn't very many complaints.

If such an expensive cooler was unreliable we'd hear about it

On the other hand if a £30 cooler fails in a year or 2, would people be complaining about it? Likely not, they be meh it was only £30

 

[doyll]

Coolers last virtually forever .. heatpipe lifespan is at least 20 years, and can go through thousands of freeze-thaw cycles without damage. Most failure is manufacturing defect and exposure to unplanned conditions. I'm still using Thermalright XP120 I got in 2004.

Fan life is usually longer than buyer uses them .. most will last at least 5-6 years, so Noctua 6 year fan warranty is no big deal.

Many companies give long warranty because many people (like you) think a long warranty mean long life. But few buyers both with doing a warranty when something goes bad .. often because of they have had bad experiences trying to get warranty honored.

Noctua has old history of good customer support, but I've heard of several customers in last year or two who were not happy with support.

Thermalright has been around sense 2001, Noctua came out in 2005. So based on age Thermalright is better.

Reason Noctua name is more common is only old computer people know Thermalright name. Thermalright is well known in Asia, but only push their marketing in Europe and Americas for a first few years. Thermalright name wasn't seen much in Europe and Americas until last couple of years. Considering how hard it is to gain market share I think they have done very well with only a couple years of new marketing .. which is still very limited. Very few computer shops stock Thermalright. Thermalright isn't up in your face like other brands, but they can be found if you look.

 

[krooton]

I do love the fact that the Noctua D14 I bought second hand for £35 8 years ago, continues to cool even my most recent machine (5700x) with ease.

 

[Eddie99]

Do you have any facts to prove they aren't reliable?

I didn't say they weren't reliable, but if there are no statistics we can't assume that one is more reliable than the other just because they set higher profit margins thanks to their successful premium brand marketing.

They come with a 6 year warranty and noctua are famed for their customer service.

That's good but not really a big deal, as I mentioned before the only thing that can really go wrong is a fan which are generally extremely reliable and you can expect to last 100k+ hours. If a fan does fail outside the warranty you're looking at spending £5 for a replacement fan.

Noctua have been around for a while now and many people have their coolers in their pc for a long time and there isn't very many complaints.

Thermalright has been around longer than Noctua and there aren't many complaints.

 

[PieEater]

@Eddie99 I think what you are missing is when you invest in a Noctua cooler you are also buying into their excellent customer support which effectively means your cooler will last you through potentially unlimited upgrades as they will provide fitting kits for new sockets free of charge even if you're not the original purchaser of the cooler. A Thermalright cooler may physically last as long as a Noctua one but that does you no good if you want to transfer your cooler over to an upgraded motherboard and CPU if the mounting is different. So a Noctua cooler will in fact last longer than a Thermalright purely because of their excellent customer support.
Noctua Trustpilot Reviews vs Thermalright Trustpilot Review

I have no particular axe to grind having used a Macho HR-02 in the past and now owning a NHD-15 with no complaints about either but life experience has taught me that the adage "buy cheap buy twice" is invariably true so my recommendation would be if you are purchasing for yourself and have no intention of moving away from air cooling for the foreseeable, Noctua would be your best bet unless you are constrained by your budget.

 

[Eddie99]

@Eddie99 I think what you are missing is when you invest in a Noctua cooler you are also buying into their excellent customer support which effectively means your cooler will last you through potentially unlimited upgrades as they will provide fitting kits for new sockets free of charge even if you're not the original purchaser of the cooler. A Thermalright cooler may physically last as long as a Noctua one but that does you no good if you want to transfer your cooler over to an upgraded motherboard and CPU if the mounting is different. So a Noctua cooler will in fact last longer than a Thermalright purely because of their excellent customer support.
Noctua Trustpilot Reviews vs Thermalright Trustpilot Review

I have no particular axe to grind having used a Macho HR-02 in the past and now owning a NHD-15 with no complaints about either but life experience has taught me that the adage "buy cheap buy twice" is invariably true so my recommendation would be if you are purchasing for yourself and have no intention of moving away from air cooling for the foreseeable, Noctua would be your best bet unless you are constrained by your budget.

Already mentioned here.

I suppose the free mounting kit upgrades could come in useful if you have an Intel platform that frequently changes, but they're certainly not worth the enormous price premium.

I have an AM4 system and plan to upgrade to AM5 at some point which doesn't require a new mounting bracket so it's not useful for me. It could be useful if you have an Intel system, but then you could just buy a mounting bracket or even a brand new cooler and sell the old one, the total cost would still be far cheaper than Noctua. Also my old components tend to go to family members for free upgrades so I'd still have a use for it if I had to buy a new cooler.

It's really clutching at straws to say Noctua is worth triple the price because of free mounting kits.

 

[doyll]

If you want a cooler that you can use now and move it to new builds for next 5-10-20 years than Noctua many be the way to go, but this means if you want to sell functioning old system when you upgrade you will have to buy a cooler for it. Using Thermalright at 1/3-1/2 as much money and in 5 year you buy a new cooler when you build new system you not only have less money spent on 2 coolers than price of single Noctua, but you spend less than half as much for first cooler on first build instead of instead of twice as much for Noctua .. you've got have of Noctua cooler cost to use for life of system.

I would much rather spend £40 today for PS120SE (7x 6mm heatpipe twin tower) and £40 again in 5 years when I build another system then spend £100 today. And PS120SE is not only smaller than NH-D15, but also definitely cools as good or better than NH-D15.

 

[Eddie99]

Arctic have released a new P12 Max fan which seems very competitive with the best fans for a reasonable price (£9). It would be interesting to know how much better something like the PA120 SE would be with upgraded fans as it would still only be a little over half the price of an NH-D15. Also has a 6 year warranty @sx_turbo.

 

[doyll]

Arctic have released a new P12 Max fan which seems very competitive with the best fans for a reasonable price (£9). It would be interesting to know how much better something like the PA120 SE would be with upgraded fans as it would still only be a little over half the price of an NH-D15. Also has a 6 year warranty @sx_turbo.

My guess is little to no difference in temps but much louder sound profile. These coolers work very well with stock fans. While higher airflow will improve tempw a little, it also increase noise levels. Keep in mind if you increase cooler airflow you also have to increase case airflow.

If you change cooler fans to higher speed / higher airflow fans like P12 Max you will also need to change case fans to to match increased airflow or your case will not be flowing enough air to meet P12 Max. When that happens the cooler fans start reusing some of their own heated exhaust air. This increases air entering cooler causing CPU temps to rise same additional degrees as case air temp. This means case fans have to run faster increasing noise levels even more.​

With stock fans is room is 22c and case air entering cooler is 25c (normal increase in case air temp) with CPU running 70c at under full load, and the Arctic P12 Max at higher speed and being much louder moving 50% more air this will cause case air to be 35c and CPU will be 80c.​

Every degree warmer air is entering cooler causes CPU to be same degree hotter. If you increase case fan speed to move more air thru cooler case air will then become even louder again. Increase case fan speed to match cooler needs will increase system noise even more.​

That's why I say changing to higher speed fans isn't very practical.

 

[sx_turbo]

Arctic have released a new P12 Max fan which seems very competitive with the best fans for a reasonable price (£9). It would be interesting to know how much better something like the PA120 SE would be with upgraded fans as it would still only be a little over half the price of an NH-D15. Also has a 6 year warranty @sx_turbo.

Excellent, good news, I like arctic gear, was going to get their aio as it seems to be held in high estime, only reason I didn't was because of me making the decision to make a custom case.

People have the choice to purchase what they wish and different people have different requirements and wants.

People also have the choice to recommend what they wish there isn't a wrong or right

 

[Bencher]

Any particular reason other than brand name?

How about the fact that their 10 year old cooler is still topping charts with the latest CPU's? That kind of longevity is insane. Check what the D15 (or even the u12a) does with older CPUs (the ones that they were designed to work well with) against the TR assassin.

The $50 Noctua Killer

The best CPU cooler I've reviewed doesn't come from Noctua or be quiet! and it may not have the highest performance but when it comes to bang for buck, the T...

www.youtube.com

 

[doyll]

How about the fact that their 10 year old cooler is still topping charts with the latest CPU's? That kind of longevity is insane. Check what the D15 (or even the u12a) does with older CPUs (the ones that they were designed to work well with) against the TR assassin.

The $50 Noctua Killer

The best CPU cooler I've reviewed doesn't come from Noctua or be quiet! and it may not have the highest performance but when it comes to bang for buck, the T...

www.youtube.com

Thermalright has many older coolers that are still topping the charts. Look at how Ultra 120 (cc 2006 w/ 4x 6mm heatpipes) which evolved into Ultra 120 Extreme (cc 2007 w/ 6x 6mm heatpipes).

Computer cooling changed dramatically with the use of heatpipes in about 2004. For several years after that heatpipe coolers improved. But we have see very little improvement in last ten years, maybe more. Most improvements are result of better fans.

Old coolers with similar ability to newest ones are NH-D14, Silver Arrow (original), HR-02, PH-TC14PE, R1, Dark Rock Pro, etc. With good fans they even cool new systems extremely well.

Thermalright's claim to fame now is not just cooler improvements but giving us these great coolers at such low prices!!

 

[Eddie99]

How about the fact that their 10 year old cooler is still topping charts with the latest CPU's? That kind of longevity is insane. Check what the D15 (or even the u12a) does with older CPUs (the ones that they were designed to work well with) against the TR assassin.

The $50 Noctua Killer

The best CPU cooler I've reviewed doesn't come from Noctua or be quiet! and it may not have the highest performance but when it comes to bang for buck, the T...

www.youtube.com

That depends on the chart, the D15 wins some and it loses some (against a £36 120mm cooler). In the video you linked he says the U12A "gets spanked by this thing" so I'm not sure why you mentioned it. The video is a little outdated though because they have an improved version out now with an extra heatpipe.

 

[Bencher]

That depends on the chart, the D15 wins some and it loses some (against a £36 120mm cooler). In the video you linked he says the U12A "gets spanked by this thing" so I'm not sure why you mentioned it. The video is a little outdated though because they have an improved version out now with an extra heatpipe.

I mentioned it cuase a single tower. The difference in noise normalized is 1c BTW at 260w

 

[Twinz]

I'm a fan of the PS120SE. I first tried in a build for someone else because it was cheap and reviews were good, then I bought one for my 5950X after seening how well it performed in that build.

However, my 5950X build is in a case with dark side panels. (So anything without its own light source isn't visible) At $35, I can't think of anything that performs as well as the PS120SE, but my 5800X3D build has a clear side panel, so asthetics matters in that build.

The black D15S went in the 5800X3D build because I like the look of the massive, no-fan fin-stack sitting adjacent to the large pass-through fins on the graphics card.

IMO, the PS120SE has taken the place that the Hyper 212 Evo held long ago when quad cores were considered top-tier: It's a cost-effective solution that can handle pretty much any consumer CPU on the market. (At stock, and even allows for some overclocking in most situations)

 

[mattyfez]

I had a TRUE120 back in the day. It was good.
I then went to a hyper 212 which twas OK but the fan got noisy after a couple of years.

I now run a silent assassin in my secondary PC and a noctua DH15 in my main computer.

So there