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Top 5 air coolers

post #1 of 41
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What are top 5 best air coolers on the market in terms of performance?
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post #2 of 41
Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow (SB-E version works better with SB-E), Phanteks PH-TC14, Alpenföhn K2, and Prolimatech Genesis. biggrin.gif

That's in no particular order. However, I would say the Phanteks is best in pure performance. The Noctua is an old standby, and if you can get it on sale it's a great deal. The Silver Arrow is probably the best mix of price/performance and sound level. The Alpenföhn K2 is also the Deep Cool Assassin, though it's not easy to find. The Genesis can be the best if you have the right set up (fans, case, airflow, air pressure in the case), but it is expensive and not guaranteed to be the best. The Genesis also helps cool the motherboard, VRMs, and RAM.

You should look in my high-end air coolers thread to ask other knowledgeable people. Typically they're active so you should get a quick and helpful response. thumb.gif
 
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post #3 of 41
Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai Batgirl View Post

Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow (SB-E version works better with SB-E), Phanteks PH-TC14, Alpenföhn K2, and Prolimatech Genesis. biggrin.gif
That's in no particular order. However, I would say the Phanteks is best in pure performance. The Noctua is an old standby, and if you can get it on sale it's a great deal. The Silver Arrow is probably the best mix of price/performance and sound level. The Alpenföhn K2 is also the Deep Cool Assassin, though it's not easy to find. The Genesis can be the best if you have the right set up (fans, case, airflow, air pressure in the case), but it is expensive and not guaranteed to be the best. The Genesis also helps cool the motherboard, VRMs, and RAM.
You should look in my high-end air coolers thread to ask other knowledgeable people. Typically they're active so you should get a quick and helpful response. thumb.gif

The Prolimatech Genesis is no better than my HAVIK 140.

@OP – You also have to consider the difficulty in maintaining the coolers. Is it easy to remove the fans and put them back on? No one wants to remove the CPU cooler everytime they want to dust their case.
 
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post #4 of 41
There are lots of good coolers out there.
Please keep in mind the temp difference between the top 5 and the top 50 is only 4c.
post #5 of 41
Quote:
Originally Posted by doyll View Post

There are lots of good coolers out there.
Please keep in mind the temp difference between the top 5 and the top 50 is only 4c.

^ This, but while that is true (as an owner of a cheapo 212+) if he really wants to push his CPU he will have to high-end like the Silver Arrow and Noct or maybe go the sealed loop route and get a H100 and swap out the fans for some nice GT's. So while I'm content with only 4.6 on my 2500k he might not be if he had one and might want to hit 5.0+ (I know he has an Ivy this is merely an example), if that was the case he would basically be forced to go high-end since the farther you OC the more the difference really shows in some of those coolers. Those Ivy's run so toasty that I would probably suggest going full custom loop if he really wants to push high clocks 24/7 on his 3570k.
Edited by Junkboy - 6/13/12 at 4:23am
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Ada
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post #6 of 41
once you go into the "top 5", the difference in temps is going to be nominal, so id be looking for ease of cleaning and price.
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post #7 of 41
"Top Five" is not what you should be looking. There are too many extremely good coolers on the market to choose from... At least 15 that have almost identical cooling ability.

Top 50 within 5c were all based on readings from a 30x30mm copper interface die with 150W heat loads applied on the LGA775 version of the Mk.II Test Platform

Top 50 within 4.4c were all based on readings from a 30x30mm copper interface die with 125W heat loads applied on the LGA775 version of the Mk.II Test Platform

Top 50 within 3.8c were all based on readings from a 30x30mm copper interface die with 85W heat loads applied on the LGA775 version of the Mk.II Test Platform

As for H100, well it MIGHT be 1c cooler then best AC coolers and has many unresolved pump problems.
post #8 of 41
Quote:
Originally Posted by homestyle View Post

What are top 5 best air coolers on the market in terms of performance?

First you need to define "performance" before anyone can answer your question accurately - as the definition can be quite varied.

As far as thermal efficiency and capacity the test database below will show you how most of the popular HSFs compare. How a HSF actually performs in your PC case with your hardware can vary a bit but any of the top HSFs will be within a couple degrees C, so Buy What Makes YOU Happy.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2654&page=5
post #9 of 41
Quote:
Originally Posted by AMD4ME View Post

First you need to define "performance" before anyone can answer your question accurately - as the definition can be quite varied.
As far as thermal efficiency and capacity the test database below will show you how most of the popular HSFs compare. How a HSF actually performs in your PC case with your hardware can vary a bit but any of the top HSFs will be within a couple degrees C, so Buy What Makes YOU Happy.
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2654&page=5

thumb.gif
post #10 of 41
What they all said was good information. biggrin.gif

I probably shouldn't have answered a help thread so early in the morning... redface.gif

I hope my information did help, though.

By the way, the Havik is also a really nice cooler. kikkO, when I said the Genesis is in the top five, I meant it could be with the right setup. I do believe certain setups can affect the Genesis more-so than other coolers.
The Legit Reviews review of the Genesis showed that it could compete, but they only used Vortex fans from Prolimatech. Those fans aren't bad at all, but there are better fans. They also tested it on a 3960X, which is a chip (size) the genesis wasn't designed for.
 
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