Cheap Low Profile cpu cooller

Kurokidan

Honorable
Apr 27, 2014
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Hello all, I have a Coolermaster Elite 120 case and my cpu is an intel 4770K with stock cooler. I was planning to buy an AIO watercooling system but at the moment my budget is very limited so I'm looking to buy a cheap low profile cooler instead to improve the stock cooler's temperatures. I don't plan doing any OC with it at least not until i get a better AIO watercooling system so i think it will cover me. My options are Arctic Freezer 11 LP & Raijintek Zelos both in the same price range (round 20$).

Which of the two you think is best solution considering both temperatures and noise levels?

Thanx
 
Hello,

Your case has a peculiar layout which is not helping at all (the PSU is right above the CPU and is mounted with the fan upwards). If you can mount the PSU with the fan downwards, this will be a good solution:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/scythe-kozuti-mini-itx-air-cooler,3971.html (just mount its fan the other way around, so the airflow will be: side fan --> CPU cooler --> CPU cooler's fan --> PSU fan --> exhaust).

If you cannot change the PSU orientation, I guess you should wait for the water cooler.
 
Yes I know what you mean but I thought that in these cases you place the psu upwards if you have air cooling and downwards if there is water cooling. Scythe cooler seems good enough but unfortunately costs almost twice as the other two. There are many other low profile coolers which are better of course but some of them go as high as the cheapest AIO water cooling kit so i don't want to spend much money either way cause it would be such a waste when i upgrade my system with watercooling.
 
If you can live with slightly lower CPU performance for a while, you can reduce the CPU operating frequency and also reduce the voltage; another idea is to deactivate one or two cores (of course, if your motherboard let you to modify the settings).
 
I see your point. It is true that during the summer while gaming my cpu reached 80-85C, at that point (after having a semi stroke) i removed the case cover and kept it like that ntill recently. So i think i will look into that to see if my mobo can support any of the settings you have mentioned.