Big Air: 14 LGA 2011-Compatible Coolers For Core i7-3000, Reviewed

[Crashman]

Do Intel’s Core i7-3000-series CPUs really need closed-loop liquid cooling? Today we're testing fourteen different LGA 2011-compatible air coolers on an overclocked Core i7-3960X in order to determine whose is the most effective.

Big Air: 14 LGA 2011-Compatible Coolers For Core i7-3000, Reviewed : Read more

 

[phamhlam]

I saw the Corsair A70 with rebate for $25. I am glad these coolers are proven to be the best value. I don't need to spend more than $50 for a cooler when a $30 cooler can give me almost the same performance.

 

[CaedenV]

I was disappointed by the Evo's noise level in my own system, and found some very silent (rated at 8dB) Enermax fans, and threw 2 of them on and that did the trick very well. Even though they don't move a lot of air, the push-pull effect still gets me a lower overall temp on my CPU. So remember that with a lot of these coolers you are not stuck with the fans that they come with as they are very easy (stoopid easy) to replace.

 

[giovanni86]

Troublesome with the height especially concerning with the 8 DIMM slots so close by. I don't like the appearance of the NH-D14 but it does do the job and give you the clearance. Hopefully cooler manufactures will approach these new found boundaries and release ones that will clear all DIMM slots otherwise CPU water cooling looks to be in my near future.
On a side note i wish the "ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-R" was reviewed as well considering on newegg it is compatible with LGA 2011, and I've been eye balling that one since it came out for my next build.

 

[bison88]

[citation][nom]BigMack70[/nom]Meh... I still see no reason to even consider the Noctua over the $35 Hyper 212 Evo.If I were to consider a cooler in the ~$90 range, I'd be going water cooling anyways.[/citation]


I've heard nothing but great things from CM's Hyper 212+ and Evo variants. Might I add the other powerhouse in affordable cooling, Thermalright's TRUE Spirit 120 for just about the same price. It seems the Hyper 212+ and TRUE Spirit have fallen off in Heatsink/Fan comparison charts despite kicking some serious ass against there competition price rise, and can even hang very well against high-end coolers costing 2-3 times as much.

I realize you have to compare modern products to modern products for the sake of it, but just a FYI for those not familiar with the cooling scene. Don't ever count out a product that first debut 2-3 years ago, they can still hang, the good ones at least.

 

[molo9000]

[citation][nom]BigMack70[/nom]Meh... I still see no reason to even consider the Noctua over the $35 Hyper 212 Evo.If I were to consider a cooler in the ~$90 range, I'd be going water cooling anyways.[/citation]

Water cooling is a lot more expensive and a lot more complicated. Water cooling systems are not maintenance free and always add the risk of a leaking pipe.

$80-$90 is a small price to pay for getting a quieter PC without resorting to water cooling.

 

[theuniquegamer]

Yeah my evo still rocks even on LGA 2011 platform

 

[Guest]

I been using a Prolimatech Megahalems since its introduction back in 2009. I remembered that in a few months later Noctua took the crown as top performing air cooled heatsink. It is nice that new cpu heatsinks are becoming better in performance, but i don't like the fact that they are becoming bigger and heavier than previous cpu heatsink kings by only earning a degree or two above the rest. Could you guys do a heatsink Weight/cooling efficiency chart? This is to make readers see which manufacture did its engineering mission to make a much more effective unit than its competition. Not just slab more metal to defeat the other guy. To heatsink manufactures: Do something innovating if a wall seems to be in the way! Just look at PSU manufactures, they are reaching 92% Platinum rating, from 82% rating four years ago.

Example:
Noctua NH-D14 weighs 900g without fans and it did 45c at full load.
900g/45c= 20.00 efficiency ratio.

Panteck PH-TC14PE weighs 970g without fans, performing at 46c.
970g/46c= 21.09 efficiency ratio.

CM Hyper 212 EVO Weighs 580g with fan, performing at 51c.
580g/51c= 11.37 efficiency ratio.

Ideally, the lower the ratio, the more efficient a cpu cooler is. Other charts count as well when making a final decision.

 

[razor512]

anyone know where I can buy the Xigmatek Venus SD1266 in the US?

I checked newegg and amazon

seems like a good replacement for my sunbeam core contact heatsing

 

[builder4]

[citation][nom]bunnywanny[/nom]I been using a Prolimatech Megahalems since its introduction back in 2009. I remembered that in a few months later Noctua took the crown as top performing air cooled heatsink. It is nice that new cpu heatsinks are becoming better in performance, but i don't like the fact that they are becoming bigger and heavier than previous cpu heatsink kings by only earning a degree or two above the rest. Could you guys do a heatsink Weight/cooling efficiency chart? This is to make readers see which manufacture did its engineering mission to make a much more effective unit than its competition. Not just slab more metal to defeat the other guy. To heatsink manufactures: Do something innovating if a wall seems to be in the way! Just look at PSU manufactures, they are reaching 92% Platinum rating, from 82% rating four years ago.Example: Noctua NH-D14 weighs 900g without fans and it did 45c at full load. 900g/45c= 20.00 efficiency ratio. Panteck PH-TC14PE weighs 970g without fans, performing at 46c.970g/46c= 21.09 efficiency ratio.CM Hyper 212 EVO Weighs 580g with fan, performing at 51c.580g/51c= 11.37 efficiency ratio.Ideally, the lower the ratio, the more efficient a cpu cooler is. Other charts count as well when making a final decision.[/citation]

By that logic, having no cooler at all is the most efficient... 0g/200c= 0 efficiency ratio. And a dead CPU.

Also, the higher the temperature (Bad), the lower the ratio, which doesn't make sense.

You would also need to use the ambient temperature delta rather than the absolute temperature in any sort of ratio for the results to be meaningful.

I think that the majority of people don't care how heavy their cooler is, only about the price.

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]lostmyclan[/nom]why =) you need mass for your decision ? i think its about surface and not mass...[/citation]

I am not saying that i need mass to make my decision. And i agree that surface is important. All i am saying is that i want to see cpu heatsinks to be more efficient or equal at cooling with less metal.

 

[ztr]

Good to see the Hyper 212 Evo battling it out with the Big boys and putting them to shame lol

Great cooler and I am happy for the fact I choose it over others in the same price range

 

[Guest]

Too bad A70 doesn't fit above most DIMMs.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]sublime2k[/nom]Too bad A70 doesn't fit above most DIMMs.[/citation]If your DIMMs are taller than 1.8 inches, they certainly do not fall within the "most DIMMs" description.

 

[BattleshipLorenzen]

The A70 can often be had for $25 or $20 after MIR, and although their rebate company isn't great, Corsair IS great about fixing their rebate company's messes if you ask them. I have an A70 on my i5-2500k asrock z68 Extreme3 Gen3 in a Zalman z9 plus and the "push" fan fits over my G.Skill Ripjaws X RAM just by clipping it on a little higher (you can do that, easily, and it's fine). Sorry to bore with system details - I just put those in there for the sake of people googling to see if the A70 would work in their system .
Also, controlling fan speeds with A70 is simple with the Asrock MOBO. Just don't plug it into a CPU header--plug it into a 3-in Chassis header and let Speedfan set the speed (with voltage regulation) based on CPU temp. With the inline resisters, I can get RPMs down to 1000-1100, which seems pretty quiet. Seems to have little effect on cooling - weird thing about the A70 is that higher CFMs don't change much unless you hit the 130+ levels. Maybe it doesn't conduct well enough?

 

[AppleBlowsDonkeyBalls]

Care to explain why you didn't bother to test the Corsair A70 using its included resistor, which reduces fan speed to 1600RPM?

Seems like a very biased review all around. If you're gonna give a prize to the Noctua NH-D14 despite its price and size on the basis that it's one of the top performers and it's quiet, you should have also tested the A70 at the lower fan speed and accordingly given it OR the Hyper 212 Evo a prize for being the best bang-for-buck for cooling performance or noise-to-performance-to-value ratio.

People that are gonna buy the i7-3820 probably care a little about value, too, and the money saved from getting a cheaper cooler could go somewhere else--like a faster/higher capacity SSD, more RAM, a more feature-rich motherboard, etc.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]AppleBlowsDonkeyBalls[/nom]Seems like a very biased review all around.[/citation]You mean like, biased in the sense that every manufacturer got one shot to prove itself? Biased as in, everyone gets the same single opportunity? Is this the perspective gained from modern schools of progressive thought?

 

[fegefeuer]

Did you use the supplied L.N.A. (Low-Noise-Adapter) with the Noctua's NH-D14? It would be very interesting to see how the low-noise-adapters change the noise/temperature rating of the NH-D14 in case you didn't use them.

Any chance of re-testing this?

Many thanks for the article, very helpful.

 

[cknobman]

Just wondering why no Xigmatek?

I remember them at one time having some of the best coolers around.

 

[AppleBlowsDonkeyBalls]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]You mean like, biased in the sense that every manufacturer got one shot to prove itself? Biased as in, everyone gets the same single opportunity? Is this the perspective gained from modern schools of progressive thought?[/citation]

No, biased as in "you used a crappy testing methodology (by not using the included inline resistor for the A70 which would in turn lower fan noise)" and gave the top-performer the only award because, according to you, people buying i7s have completely disposable incomes. According to you, the people buying into this platform don't give two craps about performance for the money, and it doesn't matter that they could use the money saved from going with a less expensive cooler for something else like a better SSD or a more feature-rich motherboard.

Again, if you're gonna give the Noctua NH-D14 an award, you need to give one either to the Hyper 212 Evo or the Corsair A70, too, on the basis that they deliver the best bang-for-buck. With the A70 we don't even see an accurate comparison regarding fan noise, so it's impossible to know if it would've been the jack of all trades.

 

[wiyosaya]

On any of the more noisy coolers, it is certainly possible to replace the stock fan with a much less noisy fan from a manufacturer like Scythe. However, lower noise may mean less fan speed and CFM of cooling air through the cooler. Fortunately, temps will be driven in part by the surrounding air in the case. With a case that is airy and supports several additional fans, I see it as entirely possible to build a quiet, yet sufficiently cooled PC.

I've been using Thermalright coolers in my builds recently, however on one build, I combined a Thermalright CPU cooler with a quiet Scythe fan, and several quiet Scythe case fans in an NZXT Gamma chasis. The result is much quieter than I expected, however, the system is well cooled.

 

[BattleshipLorenzen]

IMO the testing methodology was not flawed. Rather, like all testing methodologies, it can't be perfect for every purpose. Should the resistors have been used with the A70? They could have been, though then that opens up using the noise reducing options for all of the coolers. It may have been a nice page to have for some though.

What was the method of application for the TIM?

Thanks for the article! Glad to see my A70 doing well. I wish it had beaten the Evo by more than 1C based on its higher original price, but considering it can often be had for a little less, I'll take it .

 

[billybobser]

Looks like the conclusion is a dual slot radiator closed loop water cooling then. (H100 anyone?)

Just seeing one of those hanging from my motherboard would always have me wondering if the board could take it.

Though I wouldn't have the issue, as I wouldn't have the cash for such an overkill system

 

[icepick314]

I WAS going to get Noctua NH-D14 from Amazon based on the review but after reading the comments, I ended up with Corsair A70 from Newegg. Thank goodness Amazon didn't have enough stock so I was able to cancel order before my card charged.

I'm doing incremental upgrade for i7 3930k and only getting GTX 550 TI in SLI for now.

Later I will use water cooling and will get far better GPUs so $40 air cooler with $15 rebate will do nicely for now.

 

[AppleBlowsDonkeyBalls]

[citation][nom]battleshiplorenzen[/nom]IMO the testing methodology was not flawed. Rather, like all testing methodologies, it can't be perfect for every purpose. Should the resistors have been used with the A70? They could have been, though then that opens up using the noise reducing options for all of the coolers. It may have been a nice page to have for some though. What was the method of application for the TIM? Thanks for the article! Glad to see my A70 doing well. I wish it had beaten the Evo by more than 1C based on its higher original price, but considering it can often be had for a little less, I'll take it .[/citation]

The cooler should be tested with what it includes, so yes, it is flawed. If it comes with the resistor, test it with it. It doesn't open the door for using it on the others because they do not include it.

And again, the review simply ignored any basis for an award based on performance-to-value ratio because "LGA 2011 is for rich people that don't care about value". Very flawed, if not outright biased.