Best Value CPU Cooler?

archer_dan · 20 Nov 2008 at 23:43

I'm looking to get a cooler that'll keep an E8500 cool when clocked at around 3.6GHz, possibly a little higher, and i'm wondering how much i'm gonna need to spend on a cooler.

I've been looking at the AC Freezer 7 Pro and the Akasa 965BL, both cost around £15. Am I right in thinking that the Akasa provides the better cooling?

I imagine these have noticably worse performance than say, the Thermalright TRUE, but is the difference compared to the expensive coolers worth the extra cost?

archer_dan · 21 Nov 2008 at 19:26

Thanks for the info, i've been reading some reviews, and looks like the 965 is slightly better than the Freezer 7 in general (also performs surpisingly well compared to coolers that cost over £20 more).

Those who have one, does it come with some decent thermal paste applied, or should i buy some separately?

archer_dan · 21 Nov 2008 at 20:37

fornowagain said:
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 as above, very good cooler for the money.

any hints as to where to find these? my google search doesn't return much in the way of vendors

archer_dan · 23 Nov 2008 at 15:42

Sean_UK said:
I've used 965 cooler with loads of Dual Core builds and performs excellent, even with high overclocking. Although much like the AC Freezer 7 Pro; it's rubbish for Quads unless you plan to keep the chip at stock, or close to stock, imo.

So the quads kick out so much more heat that they need more expensive cooling solutions for overclocks?