CPU Cooler Selection

dougie180

dougie180

dougie180

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Joined
4 Jan 2012
Posts
50
Hi All

I currently have the corsair H60 but i am not impressed - very noisy and the results dont seem that great so i am thinking of returning this and looking at going back to air. Looking around the forums i come accross the below fans quite often and was wandering which is the best or do you have any other recomnendations. I am looking at overclocking my i2500k to about 4.5Ghz and I am willing to spend upto about £60 on this.


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-CM&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
 
stulid said:
Is this cooler for the PC in your sig? as the Gskill Ripjaw RAM (if thats what you have?) is taller than low profile RAM such as Corsair XMS3/Kingston HyperX.
Click to expand...


Yes I have the GSkill Ripjaws - looks very very big? Will it fit in the case i have also HAF 912 Plus?

Thanks.
 
dougie180 said:
Yes I have the GSkill Ripjaws - looks very very big? Will it fit in the case i have also HAF 912 Plus?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/cooler_master_haf_912_plus_review,4.html

The width of the case provides no issues with tall heatsinks like the Noctua NH-U12P which is around 158mm in height. There is at least an inch to spare with the door panel fitted.
Click to expand...

The NH-D14 is,
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=34&lng=en&set=1
Height (with fan) 160 mm
Click to expand...

Will fit fine.
 
For £60 you're really limiting your options, I've got the HAF 922 and the H100 I bought was the best investment for my PC ever
 
Jay794 said:
For £60 you're really limiting your options, I've got the HAF 922 and the H100 I bought was the best investment for my PC ever
Click to expand...

I would strongly disagree, for ~£60 you can buy a Noctua NH-D14 (as suggested above), Thermalright Silver Arrow, Thermalright Archon or Phanteks PH-TC14PE.

Each of these tower coolers offers the same or better cooling compared to the H100 while offering much quieter operation (see this review).

The only possible issue with these coolers is their size, but the HAF 912 is plenty big enough and it has already been established that the Noctua NH-D14 fits fine with his RAM.
 
Not from all the reviews I've seen, the H100 comes out on top of every test. That Noctua D14 comes in pretty close though.

The reviews I've read come from stuff like PCFormat and CustomPC so maybe theyr'e bias. Maybe it's just personal taste but since installing the H100 in my HAF 922 I've yet to see anything better
 
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dougie180 said:
Hi All

I currently have the corsair H60 but i am not impressed - very noisy and the results dont seem that great so i am thinking of returning this and looking at going back to air. Looking around the forums i come accross the below fans quite often and was wandering which is the best or do you have any other recomnendations. I am looking at overclocking my i2500k to about 4.5Ghz and I am willing to spend upto about £60 on this.


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-CM&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
Click to expand...

I can def recommend the NH-d14. I have overclocked my 2500k to 5Ghz using this. The fans only run at 1200rpm and I can not hear it over the case fans.
 
Yea, the H100 can often come out top - but you need to check what fan speed setting the H100 is set to for each of the readings.

For example, in this review the H100 beats the Silver Arrow in terms of cooling performance - but only at the high (2500rpm) fan setting. At medium (2000rpm) it matches the Silver arrow cooling performance and at low setting (1300rpm) it loses to the silver arrow. Just for comparison, the Silver arrows fans run at up to 1300rpm.

In the noise comparison, the H100 at Medium and High fan settings is significantly louder than the Silver arrow - while at low settings it is slightly quieter than the silver arrow.
 
todosmentira said:
Happy with my arctic freezer 13 co ; quiet and keeps my 2600k @ 4.2 ghz below 35 idle and below 65 load.
Click to expand...

H100, 2600k @ 4.2Ghz, below 24 idle and below 60 on burn test :)

cmndr_andi said:
the H100 at Medium and High fan settings is significantly louder than the Silver arrow - while at low settings it is slightly quieter than the silver arrow.
Click to expand...

Gotta agree there mate, on full whack the H100 is loud but on standard and medium settings I don't find it too bad
 
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For air coolers, you have 4 choices of air coolers; the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, Thermalright Silver Arrow, Noctua NH-D14, and Alpenfohn K2. All four are superior to the Corsair H100 in that they are more efficient with given fans and even by default, they can match the H100 despite having lower RPM fans. In turn, they end up much quieter.

Now for your budget of £60, you're left with the Phanteks Orange, Thermalright Silver Arrow and the Alpenfohn K2. The Thermalright Silver Arrow is rarely in stock here so that leaves you with the Phanteks and the K2. Between the two, only the K2 will pose no issues with your RipJaws so I would opt for that.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-020-AL
 
The D14 will easily out perform the H60 yes, the only good Corsair watercoolers are the H80 and H100, if you have space for the H100 that is
 
Thing is to those recommending the Noctua, as brilliant as it is, it's still quite a bit more than the K2, a cheaper alternative that's just as good.
 
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