Help With Future Cooler Purchase

Shadow MK I

Shadow MK I

Shadow MK I

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Joined
27 Apr 2012
Posts
7
Just waiting for my recently purchased i7-3770k to finish off my new build and I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a decent aftermarket cooler?

I'll be running it on the stock one for a short period, as I've not built a new PC in quite some time and I'm still trying to get up to speed with all the latest tech. Since my last build I've noticed there's around 5-10 new companies around now making quality coolers...

I have no previous background with water cooling, so I wouldn't no where to start looking in terms of quality cooling.

Obviously as stated it'll be cooling a i7-3770K that will no doubt be OC'd in the future, set up in an NZXT Phantom 410 case.

Any help would be highly appreciated, as I'd prefer to make a much more educated choice before I upgrade the stock one!
 
Thermalright Silver Arrow > Noctua NH-D14 > Phanteks PH-TC14PE = Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom are the top 4 Air coolers in that order. Depending on your budget you'd be looking at them or the Gelid tranquillo and Cooler Master Hyper 212 at the lower end. There's also a few in the middle of those two extremes.

Silver Arrow is nigh on impossible to find stocked anywhere however.
 
As for Water cooling I'd skip the all in ones like the Corsair H100 etc as high end air is jsut as good/better and go striaght for the XPSC Rasa kits which are decent. If you're thinking of spending over £200 then you'll want a custom loop and should ask in the watercooling forum.

Also i have no idea about that case so it may/may not be suitable for some watercooling or too small for the high end air coolers.
 
The Phantom 410 has a bay in the top of the case for putting a radiator in as such, but I'd prefer to use a decent air cooler.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check into them, I've currently got a memory cooler on so I'll have to figure out dimension wise what will fit nicely.
 
I'm currently looking at a Zalman CNPS11X Extreme, I've had Zalman coolers in the past and couldn't really fault them. With a bit of research this one seems to cool rather well and wouldn't accommodate most of my motherboard / case. Anyone had any experience with this model, I've seen / read some positive reviews that are pushing me towards one.

Those recommended coolers although brilliant, they're also incredibly hench and I'm not sure they would fit inside my case. With my Corsair Dominator heat spreaders plus the attached cooling fans, it would probably cause a major problem fitting either of those.
 
You could take the fins off the top of the Dominator GT heatspreader. That will let you install something like the K2. Your case claims to support coolers up to 170mm in height.
 
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