20 Best Cpu Cooler For Overclocking (2023 Updated)

I haven’t used air coolers for a while but I heard great things about the Noctua brand. This was larger than I expected. If you get this then make sure you go for lower profile ram sticks. When opening the box I was surprised how well packaged it was.

It was hard to imagine the fan getting damage in shipping. I was also surprised to find that you thermal paste. After reading about Noctua’s thermal paste online it seemed better than the one I purchased.

Purchased for a Ryzen 9 3950X build and I am very happy. This thing is big and heavy so make sure you have a case that can take it, I have a Corsair 750D for reference and it fits very well inside that.

Installation can be a little frustrating, securing the heatsink to the included fixing plates was a little difficult but I will put this down to something I was doing wrong. Ran Prime95 torture test for half an hour and at 100% load the CPU went up to 61 degrees C, at idle it’s in the 31 to 34 degrees C range.

Noise levels are just fine, I run the included fans at full speed (1500RPM) and there is a very low hum coming from the PC which is approx 1 foot away on my desk, not very loud in any way. I bought Noctua HSF for another dual Xeon build some time ago and, they too, were as good as this was, testament to the quality that Noctua provide.

If your case can accomodate this HSF you won’t be disappointed. The package also includes the Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste, you don’t need to get anything else.

Brought this awhile back. Very pleased with the results as always with Noctua! Easy to fit and quiet when running, does a great job of keeping my ryzen9 5900x cool although I havent got it overclocked to the max only running at 4.

5Ghz and temp of 48 off load and 68 underload. Scan, delivered my order fast, well packed and all items there!.

I compare the Z73 with Corsair’s iCue 360 Elite: The Kraken is well built and does what they say. Since reservoirs seem to be passe I like beefy tubes and bigger rads (for liq. volume). The Corsair iCue 360 has a thicker radiator (great if you’ve got a larger case) but the LCD hangs on the CPU block via magnets which can be bumped askew.

The Kraken probably holds fewer ml sadly but the numbers are fine and the LCD attaches solidly. At idle my Ryzen 9 5900 shows 43c and at half load 58c. Well below the 85-90 okay range. I suspect the sensor is off a tad because the BIOS consistantly showed 3c higher.

Still great, but be aware. Hoses are long enough to reach any corner of my huge ATX case. I think I like the look of the iCue better. The Kraken display options are okay – I choose both CPU and GPU temps with a slow rainbow background.

You need to buy an extra controller to control the fan RGBs, which are included, but that brings the cost of the main kit down a tad. The iCue RGB controller is included with it’s higher price but the power connector needs duct tape to keep it from vibrating out of its socket.

That’s an easy fix but I have no similar issues with the Kraken. Some Corsair users have had red triangles of death on their LCD screens which prevents mboards from POSTing which is why I had to switch to the Kraken.

Both had pre-applied thermal paste with acceptable coverage just beware it’s easy to muck it against something when you need three hands trying to switch out the pre-installed Intel mounting connectors for the supplied AMD connectors.

Overall, I’m sticking with the Kraken Z73.

Amazing hardware. Keeps my 12900k cool much better than the MSI unit it replaced. BUT you’re required to use their Windows only NZXT CAM software for it to work correctly. Specifically, you need the NZXT CAM software to start with your Windows machine every time to set fan and pump speed curves.

If you start your machine without the software, the unit’s ability to cool is severely hindered. Your settings aren’t saved on the hardware. You HAVE to start the software for the settings to be applied.

In my opinion, this is a very poor engineering decision. For example: with NZXT CAM started, I can run Cinebench with PL1=PL2=241W without thermal throttling. However, restart the machine without starting NZXT CAM and run the same test, my 12900K thermally throttles within seconds and maintains 97+ deg C.

As far as I can tell (and I searched), you cant control the pump through the BIOS, it’s all software controlled. If the software crashes or exits (such as in between benchmarks or other resource intensive programs), the cooler no longer reacts to the CPU temperature and the CPU starts heating up without the pump and fans compensating for it.

I’m hoping to return this item since it’s beholden to clunky and resource hogging software. Furthermore, what happens if NZXT decides to stop supporting an older version of Windows or this product? There isn’t a version for Linux (although there is an open source alternative with limited functionality).

I’m pretty disappointed, considering how great the actual hardware is.

Works well straight out of the box. I’ve used the X53 in the past but upgraded to this for the larger radiator (2×140 mm fans, too) and the RGB to utilize in my new case. You have to make sure you install it correctly or else air bubbles may accumulate and the AIO won’t be as quiet as it can be – also long term use may create issues in the AIO.

Just make sure the pump head with the NZXT logo is lower than the intake point on the radiator. I installed mine in an NZXT H510 Flow case and had no issues. You can rotate the NZXT logo display on the pump head unlike the previous X52/X53 versions of this AIO pump.

My only issue with this product is the amount of cables connected to the pump head. There is a micro usb to mobo usb as well as a special connection that routes to CPU Fan and I believe SATA. Depending on your motherboard layout this can get annoying with cable management, but it is a slightly smaller cable now versus what NZXT used on the X52/X53.

Also keep in mind with the RGB model you need to have the NZXT AER RGB 2 system controller for controlling the lighting using NZXT CAM software. The NZXT “i” cases come with this but not any others. You can still connect the fans normally with any mobo, but you need the controller for the RGB lighting.

The fans daisy chain together with a nice short extension to let you do this within the confines of the radiator space, but that does take a bit of figuring out if you haven’t hooked up RGB 2 fans by NZXT before.

Rating 4 stars because of ease of installation/lack of super clear instructions, and the number of cables at the pump head that should be refined to make for cleaner setups.

This is the first time I’ve installed an aftermarket cpu cooler. Only ever used the ones that came with the processor (which apparently they don’t anymore). I’ve been Argonauting my other PC for 15 years and this is the first completely fresh build since then (though I did bring over the Seasonic 850 platinum rated power supply that I had installed in the old one earlier this year; I put a Corsair 550 in the old one and still use it for mobile recording).

This is a workstation on which i do audio work and I’m angling toward silence. It’s an i9-10850k 3. 6Ghz running at constant 4. 8 for stability, and the temperature stays below 50 degrees Celsius easily so far in a dry 70 degree F ambient environment.

I am waiting on a set of Noctua case fans and am currently running the new system with the stock fans in the Fractal Define 7 which do not allow motherboard speed control. It’s not loud but it’s not silent.

I made an early attempt to overclock to 5. 2 GHz and the system broke to the point of needing to reinstall windows, but otherwise it’s been snappy and all programs are running better than I could have imagined before with seemingly no stress on the system.

Not sure how much this heatsink has to do with that, but it’s definitely not hurting. I guess I should also say that I’ve never manually overclocked before and thought I should try to get the most out of what I have going on, but might have done something wrong.

In any case, I’m sure this cooler was not the reason the 5. 2 overclock failed. I’m a little concerned about the weight of the heatsink but honestly once it was put together it seemed like it wasn’t pulling on anything too hard.

The screw system between the heatsink and the mounts was a little janky coming together. Only two screws, each on opposite sides of the processor. The male side is on the mounting brackets, and on the heatsink itself is a female screw with springs.

I’m not sure why there are springs; they may only serve to complicate the process of achieving an optimal mate between the plate on the heatsink and the processor, obfuscating the amount of torque you’re applying.

Mounting the heatsink to its own brackets was the hardest part. One screw would go in, then I would twist and twist on the other but the screw wouldn’t mate with the bolt. I went back and forth several times, easily getting the first screw to engage and being careful not to tighten it any more than necessary for it to simply be engaged, then moving to the other to try to get it to engage and twisting and twisting and it just wouldn’t.

This process did give me an opportunity to see that I had not applied enough thermal paste, then to see that I had applied too much and wipe it off the edges of things. (Microfiber cloth, 99% alcohol.

) Mounting would seem more stable to me if there were four screws through a structure integrated into the heatsink itself and then into the brackets that come in from behind the motherboard, but then it would be less modular and different models would have to be made for different processors and it would probably cost 7x as much and apparently this way is fine so.

let’s do it. Seems nice, keeps things cool. Just be careful not to bust anything when you’re screwing it all together.

This thing is awesome. It’s tall, but if you have the space for it in the case, it is worth it. Not too difficult to install, just pay attention and make sure everything is facing the right direction.

The offset is perfect to clear RAM with heatsinks on them. Lets my 11700K run full out with no thermal throttling even with a little overclocking. I did swap out the stock fan with a black one and added the optional second one.

Repurposed the original as an extra top exhaust. Came with all the extra hardware needed which is a nice touch.

Ah the old D15. In a field where tech moves so fast like computers a part being produced and considered high quality year after year is special. If you not the biggest stickler of minor noises from you PC I genuinely recommend this cooler.

Be careful tho the fins are sharp so when working on your rig you can easily draw blood. I’ve done it on both of these I’ve installed and well. Just just say it’s taken the blood needed to perform the black magic it uses to keep you cpu cool.

I’ve been using Noctua coolers for years in my builds, and have nothing bad to say about the cooler itself. The only reason I’m giving a lower rating is the wait on an LGA1700 adapter. It’s being sold as compatible out of the box since December, yet mine didn’t have the adapter.

I’ve been waiting for 10 days now since putting in my request for the free mounting kit, and still no shipping confirmation. I have everything else ro build my new system, including the thermal paste that shipped from HK in a standard mail packet.

It’s rather aggravating, coming from one of my favorite products.

The unit came very well packaged and plenty of accessories. Came with a long, Corsair branded philips head screwdriver for installing the cooler. Also came with all of the mounting hardware for AMD, Intel, and included a fan splitter so that both fans can be tied to the CPU fan header on your motherboard.

I used the FM2 hardware which worked well. Secure four screws around the CPU socket using the included washers, tighten all of them (and bracket) all the way down, and screw the cooler onto the bracket.

The screws on the cooler cannot be overtightened against the bracket, it’s impossible due to a fancy screw/spring combo. The unit itself was in good shape and was very large and quality feeling. The Corsair branded plate on the front can be easily removed to attach the cooler to your motherboard.

There was an extra 1 gram tube of thermal paste in the package but I did not use it, as the Pre-applied thermal paste on the cooler looked sufficient. Once installed the side panel on my case would not close due to the size of the cooler, but I expected that and I’m planning to buy a new case, anyway.

After installing I ran Cinebench R23 single core and multicore test. Scored a 423 single core on my A10-7800. The CPU hit 100% utilization for the entire test and was at max turbo the entire time. Never went above 63 degrees Celsius and the fans were not loud.

To say the score was surprising is an understatement. Now obviously this is not a high power i9 10900K but for lower power Ryzen/Athlon/lower power Intel chips I imagine it will be fine. You can replace the fans with other 120 mm fans, if you want something quieter, flashier (RGB) or better performing.

I don’t think I will swap out the included Corsair fans. My low profile memory presented no problem but the fans can be moved up and down on rails to accommodate taller RAM. Obviously, this will make the cooler EVEN TALLER so if you are cramped for space this will not be an option.

In conclusion, this cooler is good for me but not for everyone. On sale and with the rebate card, however, it’s hard to deny. Good accessories, good aesthetics, good thermals in my specific use case.

I like the somewhat calming sound of the fans but if you value silence this cooler is probably not for you. I will probably update this review when I switch CPU.

This is the first modern desktop computer I have ever built. (I used to mess with building desktops back in the Windows XP days, so a little has changed since then. Haha. ) I’m glad that Corsair’s instruction manual was clear and that the CPU fans were easy to install.

My case is old and doesn’t have room for cable management and my build doesn’t have a GPU yet. I’m still actively buying parts but GPUs are through the roof right now! With that in mind, please don’t hate on my cable management – or lack thereof – as my case is from 2007! This is one beefy heatsink too! Feels like it took up most of the room in my ATX case.

(I’ll also be buying some cable ties soon too, so I hope to eventually have it look respectable. ).

Seems to be a solid air cooler and feels premium. With how often it goes on big sales it is a total steal. As long as your case can support the large size of it, it seems to be an absolute win. My i7-8700 seems to be maxing itself out all the time while paired with it.

I don’t think its worth the full price tag, but if you find it on sale and are down with the no RGB aesthetic but huge chonker performance, you will be pleased.

First off this unit is big, x3 140mm fans but easy to install and download the ICue software to customise your pump and fan lighting with effects either complex or basic using the pre loaded profiles.

The build quality is the usual high Corsair standard and noise levels are very acceptable even on max loads. The software enables you to alter speeds of each individual fan as well as having an idle/no spin mode giving you plenty of options in ur builds provided you own a full sized tower case or a custom chassis large enough to mount the radiator.

The commander core controller box even includes spare spaces to control other RGB fans as well as the ones included. Pre applied thermal paste included so no need to purchase separate unless your regularly removing the components.

The screw holes on the radiator and the fans do not line up. My bad luck. That’s why I give it a 1 star. Bad Quality Control. I have seen videos on this product and those builders didn’t have to deal with this.

I created an RMA request yesterday with Corsair since I am past my Best Buy return date. No word from Corsair as of this time. So, my PC build has come to a standstill. I will say that I would buy this product again – but I would make sure the screw holes lined up before I left the store so I would not have to go through this again.

Put a new build together then booted up. The boot sequence reported a CPU fan error. After about 10 seconds the pump started flashing red and the fans went to 100%. The system shut itself down, I assume because the CPU was overheating.

Booted up again, got the CPU fan error again and the flashing red pump. Went immediately to BIOS and noticed my CPU temp was @ 86 degrees and climbing. I immediately shut it down. The was my first foray into liquid cooling.

Not a good first impression.

I ran an AMD CPU with the stock cooler in a PC for a couple of years but was getting annoyed at how loud the fan was. As I was building a new budget PC for a family member that would be located in a bedroom, I decided to get this cooler for it, as it seemed to be well-reviewed, inexpensive, and quiet.

I got a second one for the old PC at the same time. The cooler comes with stand-offs/brackets for multiple sockets, but I only needed the AM4 socket ones. It also comes with a small (but sufficient) tube of thermal compound – I used 2/3rds of a tube for each CPU.

Both fans can be daisy-chained off one motherboard header. Mounting was easy, following the video guide from Arctic, which included exactly which parts to use. The only difficulty on the old (ASRock) board was that the backplate was ‘loose’, meaning it needed to be pushed up from behind the motherboard so the thumbscrews could reach the standoffs.

The fans need to be detached before mounting then clipped back on after, which was a little fiddly but not a huge issue. The fans are very quiet – it is noticeably quieter (and cooler) than the stock heatsink.

Well worth the inexpensive price.

First the reason for this purchase was the AMD Wraith Stealth wasn’t up to the job of playing Star Citizen. The temps were close to 85 and prior to a light dusting, the game would crash. This was with all fans on full.

Installing the unit was relatively straight forward with the online instructions. They must have improved on them as some reviews complain about how difficult its to install and confusing. It can be fiddly, but take you time and its golden.

My install was on an AM4 socket system with a Ryzen 5 3600 I was expecting a decrease in Temps but 10 degrees or so, but was stunned that my temps playing Star Citizen hardly went about 52 degrees. The fans were on full.

I wear headphones mainly so im not bothered about fan noise. Overall a decent product that has great performance on my system. Installing is fiddly & can be confusing with all the fixings in the box.

Use the online instructions and you shouldn’t go wrong.

A little fiddly to attach the fans to the heatsink and was dubious about the plate being narrower than the AM4 6500x chip I fitted this above, but this runs increadibly cool. Was seeing idle temps of 65c and peak of 95c with the automatic clock throttling kicking using the stock CPU.

Idles as low as 35c now and peaks around 65c with the odd spike to 70c. Running the cooler on silent mode in bios and it only occasionally picks up the volume beyond a whisper. Previous CPU was a FX-6300 BE with an IceQ cooler.

That was an excellent cooler but could still hit peaks in the 90’s. Sound profile is similar. Just don’t attach your exhaust/intake fans the wrong way around as I initially did – that ended up just as cool but it sounded like a jet engine!.

On the plus side, this cooler work with just about any CPU and is easy to install. All mounting hardware, thermal paste, and even a screwdriver are included. Unfortunately, there are many issues. This thing is humongous, and will consume all open space in your case.

Build quality is very low – the cooling fins are easy to bend/break and the clips holding the fans in are difficult to release without damaging the fins. The fans are only quiet at their lowest speed.

Finally – it’s just doesn’t cool well. Using this cooler on my Ryzen 5900x, the cpu was at 72C at 10% load. Pulling this out and putting the Wraith Prism from my old 2700x in it’s place, and the cpu is now at 62C at 10% load.

Don’t waste your money.

Upgraded to this cooler from a Cryorig H7 cooler. The Cryorig struggled to cool Ryzen 5800X which is known to run hot. At 100% load, temperature reached 90C with high fan speed, very loud. But with this cooler, temp reaches about 80C and fans stay relatively quiet.

And in intensive CPU games, only about 70 – 75C max, as opposed to 80 – 83C with Cryorig, while staying very quiet. Very impressive performance and the cooler is not as large as it seemed, especially compare the Noctua D15 of course.

Mounting system is easy to use, albeit a bit fiddly, nice they included a long screwdriver though. Also, if you have GSkill Trident Z RAM, the front fan perfectly clears the top of the RAM.

Bought this cooler based on dual fans and heat dissipation. After purchase found numerous positive reviews. Installation straightforward using existing bracket for my AMD 5900X. No clearance problems in my mid-tower case.

That’s having 4 DDR4 and Gtx2080 in a x470 AM4 board. Support very responsive requesting clips for adding an additional fan. At this time, cooler sold out.

I was looking to replace the horrible stock AMD CPU cooler for my FX-6 6300, and this was frequently touted as the go-to option. I have never replaced a CPU cooler before up until now, but from what I’ve experienced so far, it’s been a resounding success, even after only a tiny handful of the youtube tutorials I watched while preparing did what I wanted to do and installed it while the motherboard was still in the case.

Everything about installing the cooler was surprisingly easy, even down to screwing in the cooler from the other side of the motherboard while holding the fin block in place, a step of the process I was legitimately worried about! Where the product gets a 9 rather than a 10 is in the clips that hold the fan on.

They were rather frustrating in how easy they fell off the fan while I was attaching it back onto the fin block, but this is still a minor gripe. It comes with a registration card to extend the warranty of the cooler to 6 years, and comes highly recommended by me as someone who had minimal confidence in installing a part like this.

Very easy to install, very quiet, highly recommended!.

Pros: Cryorig H7 Tower Cooler. An excellent purchase, for the price it provides unbeatable cooling. Are there better CPU coolers? Yes! But they cost at least twice as much. The Cryorig H7 has been used to cool my overclocked I7 7700k running at 1.

25v @4. 8ghz. Temps are in the acceptable range, pushing into the low 80’s on overclocking load tests and generally in the 60-70 degree mark in CPU intensive games. Cons: The mounting system is a little fiddly, I originally had the back plate on the underside of the motherboard the wrong way around, and then ensuring the clamps stayed in the right position while it was lowered onto the screws was a definite pain, but it eventually worked out.

Inserting it onto the CPU whilst the motherboard was already installed in the case was difficult, would have been much easier if the motherboard was outside of the PC still.

This heatsink is awesome. Price is affordable and fit in my tower with plenty of room to spare. All of my ram was accessible after installing too. It’s extremely quiet and keeps my tower cool. Both where what i was looking for as i had a stock heatsink from radeon.

My tower would be very loud and hot to the touch. It’s a little difficult to install considering how easy the youtube videos make it out to be. First, you need a very long flat-head screw driver to make the bracket fit your cpu socket.

That seems often overlooked in the tutorials i watched. Second, this is mainly my tower’s fault, but you might have to remove your motherboard to access the back socket and fit the brackets. I wasn’t expecting to touch my motherboard.

It’s not something i’d like to do again, but considering the installation tutorials for the coolermaster, i’d say this was an easy process.

excellent

Perfect thanks nice and cold CPU

TranslateShow in original languageeinfach nur schön, gut verarbeiten, leise aber nicht unhörbar. ein Tipp vor Montage passende Teile raussuchen, AMD oder Intel, Restteile gleich wieder in den Karton.

WärmeleitPste ist nicht aufgetragen, aber in einem Tütchen dabei.

Be wary if building in Small Form Factor, likely the fan underneath will touch the memory unless you have low-profile memory, and some cases the fan on top will be too high to put the side panel on. (SSUPD Meshlicious).

Great performance and excellent cooler however.

Upgraded from the Wraith Stealth stock cooler and have noticed a ~15-20 degree decrease in cpu temps, and all this from a tiny form factor! One thing to note, only works in the lowest configuration with very low profile ram such as Kingston Fury Beast.

Its always a pleasure to buy a product from Noctua. Even before you unbox the product you can get the sense of a premium product from the package. Been using Noctua for years and hopefully will continue so for years to come.

I got a used I5-8400 rig with OEM Intel cooler on its way out. Temps up to 85-90 deg c and audible fan imbalance were too much to take. I got this setup on a budget so this cheap solution was best reviewed and regarded a replacement for OEM cooler.

Product is good for the money. Not perfect. Like all people claim, mounting pins are just CHEAP and fit poorly. If you’re swapping OEM Intel cooler, just remove mounting pins all together from Intel cooler and transplant them to the Arctic product.

After this treatment, Arctic Alpine is a FIVE-STAR product. With fresh MX-4 paste instead of pre-applied MX-2 I’m idling 31, normal load 33-45 (depending on use), games 55-65 deg C with 80-90% fan speeds.

Undervolted to 1. 080 CPU core. One exhaust and two intake 120mm Arctic p12 PWM PST fans, custom fan curve with 620rpm base for all fans, controlled by PWM all installed in mATX case. 32 deg C and 32dB noise right in front of the case while writing this review.

It’s almost silent. Low vibration when going up and down, sturdy fan frame, smooth ball bearing and can almost cool the CPU passively all the way up to 50 deg C no problem, so fans never go above 620rpm base speed unless real load is on.

Again 120mm P12 PWM PST fans, night and day compared to stock case fans. Daisy-chained for single control signal, worth looking at if you don’t fancy Be quiet or Noctua prices.

I always choose Arctic for my cooking needs because they perform at reasonable cost. I have purchased B-stock items from them in the past, as well as this LGA1151 fan and am never disappointed. You save a few bucks at the cost of the packaging showing some wear.

Its going in the recycling bin anyway, so its a non-issue for me. The cooler came brand new, with the thermal paste in tact with the plastic protective shipping cover and Im very happy with my purchase.

Thank you again to the team at Arctic for always delivering exactly what I need at a reasonable price and quickly to the front porch.

The heat sink has performed perfectly well as a replacement item. The product fan is quite and quite acceptable. The value for money is superb. The product by CCL arrived three days ahead of stated date.

I love this company and have had 20 years great service.

Great single tower air cooler, the Deeepcool AS500 Plus and AS500 use a mounting system that is pretty much identical to Noctua’s SecuFirm mounting system, so installation is a breeze and very simple.

I’ve got the AS500 Plus cooling an i9-10900K on an MSI Z490M GAMING EDGE motherboard, and with stock PL1 and Tau values, even under an all-core AVX load, the CPU settles around 65-70c. If you are overclocking or your motherboard imposes no power limit/or a higher power limit, expect higher temperatures, but at stock, this cooler is more than capable of handling high end CPUs like the i9-10900K.

The included fans are very quiet and will only ramp up and become noticeable under higher CPU loads, the exact fan curve will depend on your motherboard, as each one is different and for most motherboards, you should be able to adjust fan curves in the BIOS.

If you are looking for high performing, single tower air cooler that is well priced, I can absolutely recommend the Deepcool AS500 or AS500 Plus, the latter of which comes with an extra fan, which can be used for push/pull or kept as a spare.

I am blown away by the performance of this product. I bought this cooler due to the larger fan size (140mm) in order to keep the accoustics low and this thing hardely spins up at all. Currently running on a 5600g and since I was using the on-board GPU I was expecting the fan (and temps) to ramp up when playing games, but nope stays steady on 60ish (idles at 38).

So yea I love the low-key RGB but thats just me, I wasnt too fussed on that as I prefer minimal lighting when playing. But yea really good cooling paired with silent fan speeds and at a price that doesnt rip your wallet out.

I bought this cooler for a mixture of performance and aesthetics. And it satisfies on both, installs remarkably easy and is easy to control with motherboard software. My only gripe is the lighting could be slightly brighter, however this could be down to the heavy tint on the Black 4000D Airflow Case.

I used Newegg’s custom build interface to construct what I thought was a sound computer, good for intense graphics processing. Within three weeks, the computer began crashing every other day, until one night when I got a sequence of Blue Screens of Death.

No troubleshooting could fix this, so I returned the computer to Newegg for a replacement. Recently I received an email saying they were converting this to a refund because one of their parts was out of stock.

Which one? Why not replace it with a similar product? Why not warn me in the custom builder that this was the wrong cooler? I couldn’t tell until I looked at my order again, and only the CPU cooler was not eligible to be placed on a wishlist.

Great communication, Newegg. Either the Noctua is a substandard product that can’t tolerate moderate usage, or I happened to get the one bad one in stock, and Newegg has no backup/replacements for it.

I’ve pretty much used Cooler Master HSF’s exclusively for as long as I’ve known of them (around 20ish years). My previous System used an Hyper N520 which performed reliably for 10 years. So It was a no brainer to go with the evolutionary design for my new 10700K.

While the Hyper 212 is highly compatible with numerous sockets, it requires a whole bunch of various and small component parts which are both a little confusing to assemble, and not to mention easy to damage or lose if you’re not careful.

What I really don’t like about this thing though, is the metal fan clips. It comes with one fan preinstalled, which you do need to remove to put the socket mounting parts on. it was a little annoying getting it lined back up right before installing it into the case, but then adding/replacing fans once inside the case proved to be very, very annoying (Esp because I have huge hands).

I replaced the stock fan with 2 Bgears b-PWM’s (Red and Blue), and getting the clips to fit snugly was just. a trial in frustration, to put it mildly. They just wouldn’t fit snugly till I made a couple of bends (outward, not inward).

I didn’t break out the micrometer, but while they are both standard 25mm total width, this is likely a result of slightly different design Dimensions between the Silencio Fan it came with and the BGears b-PWM’s I installed in it’s place which are much higher max flow rate (110CFM), but also seem to be more lightly constructed.

This is NOT a negative on the Silencio fan at all, it’s just that airflow capacity was more of a priority for my needs then silence (My system has sound matting installed inside to deaden the roar from the 3X140MM&1X4X120MM b-Blaster intake & exhaust fans.

Yes, they are massive overkill, but for my needs it’s calculated overkill. You’ll just have to trust me on this trhough, because this is about the Hyper 212, not my “ode to excess” of a PC). Given a choice, I would have preferred to more b-Blasters to the Hyper 212, but they are 38mm wide, and just wouldn’t fit between it and both the memory DIMM’s or the VRM heatsink on the Asus Z-590 Prime board I’m using.

So the b-PWM seemed like my next best option, but other brand/model’s of fans may not run into the same problem I did. It depends on the exact manufactured dimensions. The good and bad news about the metal clips is that they only seem to be used on the 212 BE, while the RGB BE and other versions of it use plastic clips that screw into the fan instead.

You COULD replace them with the plastic ones, which are listed on CM’s webstore, but always seem to be out of stock, and can’t be gotten anywhere else. Why they even use the metal clips on this model I can only conjecture (Cost savings, probably), but I suppose you could figure another way to rig them in using Wire tires or maybe even fashioning your own metal clips, or even printing your own plastic ones if you have the ability to do that.

But that’s probably something everyone will need to figure out for themselves.

I love how this product looks and it has brought temps down in my pc. However they need to create more clear instructions on how to install it. The instruction booklet just has pictures and no written documentation to accompany it in the booklet.

Which I think could have helped matters quite a bit. The rgb isn’t addressable outside of the controller provided. Making it annoying of you wanted to change the colors since you’d have to remove one of either side panels to access it.

Hopefully they come out with a version that can be configured right in Windows. Similar to Corsairs ique software. I also found the connector between the controller and the rgb header to be fairly loose.

The connector provided snaps into the fairly easily but the rgb header doesn’t connect so permanently making it easy to accidentally remove. Other than those problems I love having it in my system. Comparing it to the stock cooler it’s great how low the temps can go.

The cooler design is beautiful to look at and the size isn’t too obscene. Though if you want something to fit on a mini case I’d definitely not recommend it. Overall it’s a good product. Just wish they put more effort into the rgb and instructions.

I recently bought a Powerspec desktop with a 12700KF that came with this cooler installed and it did not perform very well. Any CPU test I ran (Intel Burntest, ADA 64, etc. ) would quickly get all cores into the mid 90s and most cores would hit a peak of 100C after several minutes.

I see similar results in my normal workflows (not stress tests). Exports from my photo editing software got similar temps. My CPU is running at stock speeds. I tried new thermal paste, adjusting fan curves.

nothing could get temps down to a reasonable range on this cooler. Finally gave up and installed a quality air cooler (Mugen 5 black) and getting much better results. I’m assuming my unit is defective, as reviews say this cooler should perform much better than I experienced.

Mine appears to be working properly. The pump is running and fans spin full RPM, so idk why the temps are so high? My advice: run a stress test and check your temps! Don’t assume.

I purchased this to replace a Corsair H60 with Noctua NF-F12 fans in push-pull. The Phanteks cooler is noticeably quieter even with the fans a full speed, and my CPU temperatures dropped from 63C to 50C on a stock speed i5-6600K at full load (Prime95+Furmark).

I’ve also noticed improved temperatures on the other components in my case, which I think is a result from better exhaust airflow. This is installed in a Phanteks Enthoo Luxe case with Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM, and with the fan against the RAM, I have just under 1″ clearance to the case window.

Now that it’s installed, I love this case. My only complaint, like others have mentioned, is that it is difficult to install. The mounting hardware all goes in easily enough, though you do have to make sure that the brackets stay in the right location when tightening the fasteners.

The issue appears when you try to attach the cooler to the 2 studs on the mounting bars. I found it easy enough to get the first nut fastened, but it took a lot of work & more force than I liked to get the second nut lined up well enough to start.

Outside of that one issue, the rest was easy. I did install with my motherboard still in the case, as I had easy access to the back, & could remove the top panel of the case, which helped the install immensely.

If your case doesn’t have a removable top panel, I would definitely recommend removing the motherboard first. If I were to build another computer tomorrow, I would purchase this heatsink again. Update: I’m now running my i5-6600K at 4.

6GHz with 1. 31VCore. With a 21C ambient, I see 25C idle, 50C during typical gaming loads, & 70C during Prime95 SFF test. I’m running the fans at 1. 5%/C PWM. During typical usage, the fans are extremely quiet.

They do get noticeably louder during Prime95 tests (full speed), but even then, the noise is no worse than my AC running.

Best HSF purchase decision I’ve ever made. It’s huge! Surface area is part of the secret, but that’s the price of high end cooling. The HSF fins will obstruct one RAM slot on most motherboards (it does clear standard sticks).

You can elect to mount fans “in reverse” if you prefer, but “standard” orientation leaves the first fan obstructing the other 3 RAM slots. Can’t use this if you have RAM with high heat sinks (that don’t do anything anyway).

I would have to remove the HSF to change/service RAM sticks. Standard orientation doesn’t interfere with main PCIe (GPU) slot on most boards. at least 3/4″ clearance, maybe 1″. Fans are large enough to touch the case panel on full tower.

maybe 1 or 2mm clearance. Fan cables are long, sleeved, slightly stiff. Fan clips are a little awkward to understand, instructions are clear if you use a magnifying glass on this step. They’re fine, just required some experiment and thought.

Thermal compound is included in case you forget or are out. I had to reconsider cabling. Motherboard power connector on edge opposite the back panel, such that wire leaving the connector could touch the first fan.

I re-routed that with a 180 degree turn to pass the cable “behind” the backplate (behind the motherboard). looks better anyway. On full ATX board, first fan is about 3/4″ from the edge of the board. If HDD cage has simple rack of disks behind front panel, I’d have to remove the HSF to pull the topmost HDD drive.

I might JUST be able to “angle it” out if the drive below it were pulled first. It was definitely worth re-routing cables and covering my RAM sticks to achieve this level of cooling without risking water.

It has been a while since I ordered an actual fan for a processor. I certainly did not expect it to be this big. (of course I could have read the dimensions on the product page. ) anyway I was quite pleased, as I was replacing a water cooling system.

The cooling system was an old Thermaltake single fan radiator, which averaged my temps around 40-50. due to age the pump wore out, as expected, and i ordered this cooling system. to my surprise, it averages my temperatures around 30-35 degrees.

This greatly increased my computers performance while playing games. It is nice and big, which i like about it because it is more efficient at cooling and also the aesthetics. This was a very good investment for my computer and just the component that my computer needed to give it that extra notch of power for my gaming experience.

The fan is not very loud at all, and offers a great amount of airflow. It is heavy, but it has a support piece that you attach to the back of your motherboard. Unless you have had a previous fan with the support you will need to remove your motherboard to install this fan.

Great cooler and near silent at max fan speed. The only minor problem for me was size. With all the cathick cabling I have, there’s no room to move in my mini tower. But it still works just great.

Sorry for writing in english. Im using this cooler with ryzen 3950x. The installation was easy and the noise level is very low. The CPU can reach 80C under heavy load, which is acceptable.

TranslateShow in original languageFoarte foarte silentios, pe langa suportii pentru intel si AMD, pachetul mai vine cu o sergina cu pasta termoconductoare si o surubelnite magenitca foarte lunga. Manualul de montare este foarte detaliat si usor de urmarit pentru cei care sunt la prima montare a unui cooler.

Sunt foarte multumit de temperaturile procesorului, am un r9 3900x, la cold start in idle sta in 30-32C, dupa cateva ore bune de functionare ajunge la 35C, in cinebench R20 (toate nucleele la 4,3ghz) ajunge la 70-75C, in PUBG pe ultra settings temperatura joaca intre 55-63C.

Nu este chiar un contra dar este extrem de mare si greu. Trebuie tinut cont inainte de al pune pe procesor ca au fost bagate toate cablurile, este posibil sa nu iti mai incapa mana in zona respectiva.

Pentru inlocuirea placutelor ram este necesara demontarea acestuia sau demontarea ventilatorului de pe partea cu placutele ram. La specificatii scrie ca are 155mm, in cazul meu a ajuns la 160mm deoarece placutele ram sunt foarte inalte si ventilatorul a trebuit montat putin mai sus.

I bought this cooler for a Ryzen 7 2700x and to be installed in a Fractal Design Define 7 Compact Silent case. I got the latest REV 3, which was great, it was brand new, as expected, and all the parts were in the package.

I contacted the vendor to as a few questions, they replied in a couple of hours and they answered all my questions. Comes with a decent amount of thermal paste. The VRM fan was hitting the VRM with the default bracket pins, but the REV 3 kit has non-standard pin placement for AM4 to offset the entire block to avoid such problems, and it didn’t get in the way of my M.

2 bracket. I have edited the fans profile in the bios, I limited the speed for the cooler’s fans at around 1100 RPM on full load, and I limited the 120 mm fan at the back of the case at around 900 RPM, the case is now basically silent on idle, and all I can hear is a gentle whoosh sound on full load.

The CPU runs at around 72 degrees Celsius after 60 minutes of rendering a heavy 3D scene, which is pretty good considering that I installed the cooler in a silent case with limited airflow. I installed the radiator in the front of the case, and it fitted perfectly, but I had to use a zip tie to hold the tubes down a bit, as they are very long for such a small case and were hitting the side panel.

I bought this cooler after seeing a good review on Gamers Nexus, and I am not disappointed, the whole computer is dead silent now, which is perfect since it sits on the top of my desk. I had the cooler for about 2 weeks now, and I couldn’t be happier, I will definitely recommend this cooler to my friends!.

EDIT: Just bought another one of these for a system build for a friend, this time was sent a Rev 3 model, the included mounting hardware hit the VRM capacitors on my board. Called up Arctic, explained the situation to Jeff, and he was extremely friendly and helpful.

He had no problem sending me out a set of Rev 2 and Rev 4 hardware. He said Rev 4 was designed to counter this exact issue, and be easier to mount than Rev 2, but since I knew that rev 2 would work with this board (have used the LF II rev 2, with this exact board before), he would send that out too.

He was very efficient, friendly, and helpful. Even asked if I needed extra thermal paste, which I didn’t. Very refreshing to have a customer service call like that, especially in the tech field. Makes me feel very confident buying from Arctic, as I know if something goes wrong I’ll be quickly taken care of.

Another thing to note, this thing is Thicc. I don’t have the clearance if I wanted to top mount in my case. So just be aware of that. What can I say? It performs exceptionally well. Gamers Nexus was right.

Mounting mechanism is a bit of a pain but not as much as I was led to believe. You just don’t mount it while it’s in the case. I put the retaining bracket down on the mobo box, placed the motherboard on top, then mounted the cold plate, then put the mobo in the case.

Mounting it in the case would be a huge pita, so just don’t mount it in the case. Also, the stock thermal paste is very good. I tested first with the Arctic thermal paste first, then switched to Kyronaut, and only saw about a 2-3 degree improvement.

3900x [4. 3 GHz All Core OC] Phanteks P400a Case RTX 2070 Super Hybrid Water/Air Cooled [+500 MHz memory, +150 MHz Core] ASUS TUF x570 Plus 32gb 3200 CL 16 RAM [Not very good ram but OC’d as far as it would go] 1 TB WD Black NVMe Drive Games [Ultra Settings]: ~50C Cinebench: ~60C Blender [Classroom & BMW]: ~60C Prime95: ~80C Davinci Resolve : ~40C w/ spikes to 45 Ableton Live [Music Production & Engineering]: ~40C.

This is an amazing AIO IF you can fit it in your case. The radiator is 39mm by itself then you add on 25mm for the fans. If you are planning to front mount this, make sure you have enough space. I have this cooler mounted in a Thermaltake X1 (probably the biggest ITX case you can buy) in the front with the fans situated to pull air through the radiator in from outside of the case (the fans come mounted in a push configuration) to cool a 3700X that is OC’d to 4.

35Ghz @ 1. 4V core voltage and my lowest CPU temp is 28 degrees Celcius in a 20-degree Celcius room. Running AIDA64 CPU benchmark for over 4 hours the max temp I have seen in my case has been 48 degrees Celcius on the processor and the CPU package has been at 58 degrees, and my system is stable.

A couple of notes: ** Mounting this on a ASUS ROG STRIX X570-I was not easy. if the stock backplate does not have long enough lugs you may need to contact Arctic for a backplate. I was able to use 4 small extensions that were included to use with my mobo.

Not sure if that was intended, but they worked. ** I used Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste. I already had it from a previous build. I know the MX-4 is very good, but your mileage may vary. Please. PLEASE!, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD MAKE SURE TO MOUNT YOUR RADIATOR CORRECTLY! If front or back mounting make sure that the TUBES ARE ON THE BOTTOM!!! This will help prevent premature pump failure and whine.

My install is top-mounted, cooling a Threadripper 3960X. The product does what it says. It cools the CPU and it does it well. No problems there. It was straightforward to install, and even came with thermal grease preloaded on the heat sink plate.

The instructions could have perhaps been slightly clearer, but for anybody experienced in doing computer builds, not really a problem. But I’ve struggled with the software since day 1. My CPU temp cycles on a sawtooth wave about every 10s (this is a commonly reported problem on Threadripper systems).

This causes the cooler fans to cycle speeds every 10s, and that’s very annoying. This should be mitigatable with Flow Control software, but because of the way Flow Control locks down portions of the temperature curve, I’ve only been able to partially mitigate it.

Further, there’s a control which suggests you can just set a flat fan speed, but it’s never flat (the cycle continues no matter how high I run the fans). Also, I don’t trust the numbers the software is reporting for CPU temperature.

Right now, the software is claiming the CPU is cooler than room temperature. Huh? Independent CPU monitoring software confirms that, indeed, the CPU is not cooler than room temperature. And the fans seem louder than necessary.

Not crazy loud, but definitely not quiet. And then, today, <2 months after purchase, one of the fans began to rattle at certain speeds. Argh! Noctua fans ordered, gritting of teeth until they arrive.

I mean it’s an alright aio cooler. Used it for 6 months now without any issues. But I would not buy again. Corsair h100 or h100i are much better at acoustics. Considering the same level of cooling performance.

Revisiting this review after going through some hard times with this AIO even before hitting the 12 months mark! Fans are louder than any cooler I have used on my builds. Pump started making gurgling sounds last month (10 months usage) which lead to a constant buzzing noise up to date.

Tried unmounting the radiator and swayed it to move the liquid around to get any bubble stuck at the pump up to the rad. Did not solve the issue. Short pipes so can’t be mounted vertically as front intake.

Priced is way higher than it’s actual worth. EVGA support experience: Submitted my support question on November 9th 2020 Got my Support RMA ticket number on November 25th 2020 Still didn’t submit the ticket number for opening an RMA coz I don’t have a replacement cooler.

Yes they expect you to either ship the item first, or pay them money via Paypal to get the replacement unit first. I’ve searched YT to see others experience with EVGA RMA system. Found a guy who got shipped 3 broken (refurbished) GPUs for his broken GPU replacement.

Thought to myself I wouldn’t want to get a refurbished replacement at all. Either new or none. So now I’m waiting for my local market to restock on AIO’s so I can purchase a NEW one before sending out my CLC280 to EVGA.

All in all, not a pleasant experience and definitely not the same level of customer service I was hoping for based on what I hear from youtubers. But hey, sponsorships are kinda cool.

To some it may be important as this pump uses a USB 2. 0 interface for controls of the lighting effects as well as the PWM fans. Some may prefer it like this; but I feel that the fact it needs software to interface with it via your USB interface.

I am someone who prefers to have all fans and pumps controlled at a motherboard level and the prerequisite of proprietary software to be able to control the fans when connected to the pump mechanism I think is an extra step that could have been avoided.

If EVGA is listening I think it would be a great idea to have one series where controls are at an OS/Software level like this one but also give an alternative line that enables Motherboard level fan control.

After all, not everyone runs Windows.

Gigabyte Aorus RGB motherboard, Gigabyte RTX 3070, G. Skill Trident Z ram, all blinking beautifully around or dam right obscured under the huge ugly Noctua NH-D15s. Seriously, Noctua make the best air coolers around but dam the original non Chromax is an eyesore.

So it was either another £90 for Chromax Noctua or an AIO. As this was only 20 bucks more at time of purchase I went with the X53 and boy I’m glad I did. Now instead of the huge ugly mass of steel and brown fans on the Noctua I have the stunning to look at Kraken x53.

Can confirm that the X53 will cool a 9900k OC’d to 5Ghz just as well as top tier air coolers. On gaming the Kraken x53 is flatout better keeping my cpu temps below 60C averaging around the 40-50C mark.

Prime pushes both coolers to their limits and they seem about equal here topping out at 91C on the hottest core. As I only benchmark for OC stability purposes hitting 91C when PC is pushed to its limits is fine as that is not my day to day usage.

So if your like me and primarily game, Youtube etc. this will keep you cpu cool even OC’d. If your pushing your PC to its limits video encoding or rendering or some such hours a day I would then recommend the 280-360 AIO versions if you want to try and keep your cpu in the 80Cs range if OC’d.

I got this to use as the cooler for a graphics card using an NZXT G12 adaptor, and have been very happy with the results. I used to get a lot of fan noise from the graphics card during gaming sessions, but now it is almost below the level where it can be heard at all.

The fitting process does require some familiarity with the rest of the PC, so if you would not know where to find a spare USB header on your motherboard for example it might take some time. I’m using this in an NZXT 510 case, and have found that this hits the wires going to the top front case buttons and USB port if you try to mount the radiator directly to the case with the fans behind, but is fine if you put the fans between the radiator and the case.

The CAM software to control the pump seems quite straightforward to use, and the extension cable supplied for the fans is long enough to be able to run behind the motherboard to keep things tidy.