Cooler for an AM3 and fan recommendations

[phil675]

Hello I've been out of the loop for a while, finding that my PC turns itself off in the middle of heavy games as the big graphics card heats it up like an oven and the cpu only has a piddly stock cooler.

So what's a good value midrange cooler these days? Years ago it was Thermaltake? I'd want to spend around £20, maybe more?

Also my front fans are some 120mm Akasa ones which I must have bought for quietness but they are completely useless, no air flow at all. I've swapped one for a random 80mm with more airflow but it's a tad loud.

So tldr I need a cooler for AM3, 3x 120mm and 1x 140mm to replace case fans, I want decent airflow but not too loud, 3 pin so i can use the fan controller ive got.

What would you get?

 

[doyll]

What case, motherboard and RAM do you have? Knowing these we can determine what size coolers will fit and what kind of case airflow is possible.

 

[EsaT]

Never remember Thermaltake having been any good valua brand. Unlike say Scythe or Thermalright.

This would be certainly good for the price.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-ben-nevis-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-048-al.html


And for fans Arctic P12/P14, which handle impedances/obstructions very well.
In 120mm size PWM model is anyway out of stock currently.
Anyway there's no loss in that with normal fans being extremely controllable with start up voltage below 3V.
https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/p12.html#techspecs
And 140mm version has start up voltage of 2.1V
https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/p14.html#techspecs

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p12-black-case-fan-120mm-fg-04g-ar.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p14-black-fan-140mm-fg-04m-ar.html

 

[Drumroll]

Some of Thermaltake products may look nice or exotic, but as someone who owned some in the past, won't happen any time soon. Rather go with Phanteks, Fractal Design, be quiet! or similar for good quality, performance and good price. Thermaltake was more about bling, and plastics.