Recommend me a CPU Cooler!

[billybowens]

Who knows a good fan for less than 40 dollars that can keep an intel i5 running cool and can keep the noise level as far down as possible.

I thought about getting a H80i but its 80$$ and it might be a little overkill on cooling since i will not be overclocking it. It also blocks 3 fan ports on the case I want (Corsair Spec-03). Any recommendations?

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

Hyper 212 EVO. $30 - $35. Has made both my FX-6300 @ 4.5 GHz @ 1.428 V and my i5-4690k @ stock 3.5 GHz as cool as a cucumber with both under 48 degrees under max gaming load and it's nice and quiet.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Thermalright TS-120M 53.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $38.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-31 17:34 EDT-0400

 

[Francisco Costa]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rls12v24pkr1

It's a good option. If you want air cooling then go for this: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2

 

[billybowens]

Hyper 212 EVO. $30 - $35. Has made both my FX-6300 @ 4.5 GHz @ 1.428 V and my i5-4690k @ stock 3.5 GHz as cool as a cucumber with both under 48 degrees under max gaming load and it's nice and quiet.

forgive me if i am wrong i am new to computers i am building my first one soon. but isn't 48 degrees Celsius almost 120 Fahrenheit? and that's hot! is that fine for the CPU?

 

[billybowens]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Thermalright TS-120M 53.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $38.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-31 17:34 EDT-0400

is having only 2 of those copper heat pipes adequate? or the more the merrier?

 

[prit87]

coolermaster hyper 212 evo (30$) would be my first choice but spec 3 has a 157 mm of cooler clearance and the cooler has 159mm height but the case has bulge sides so i think u will have no problem with the cooler i have seen a friend of mine using spec2 cabinet with the same cooler..
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-212-RR-212E-20PK-R2/dp/B005O65JXI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406842457&sr=8-1&keywords=cpu+coolers

 

[billybowens]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rls12v24pkr1

It's a good option. If you want air cooling then go for this: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2

i would rather pick up a fan just because the case I am going for that is nice has 3 fan slots on the back for exhaust that gets blocked from a water coolers radiator. But that fan does look nice and has a lot of ratings. Problem with it is it says 36 dBa and that is quite a lot isn't it? I will consider it though because of the price and rating.

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

48 degrees Celsius is actually cool for most CPUs. When you start seeing your graphics card go north of 70 degrees C, you start to get an idea of how hot these part can get and still be fine.

 

[billybowens]

48 degrees Celsius is actually cool for most CPUs. When you start seeing your graphics card go north of 70 degrees C, you start to get an idea of how hot these part can get and still be fine.

Oh wow I didn't know that. Alright well thanks for the advice! I will definitely look more into the one you recommended since I am looking into the same CPU you have. the i5 that is

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

That's the problem with the Spec lineup they aren't very wide.

 

[Francisco Costa]

48 degrees Celsius is actually cool for most CPUs. When you start seeing your graphics card go north of 70 degrees C, you start to get an idea of how hot these part can get and still be fine.

Oh wow I didn't know that. Alright well thanks for the advice! I will definitely look more into the one you recommended since I am looking into the same CPU you have. the i5 that is

I have the same CPU cooler and I don't have noise complaints, although I don't care much about noise. One thing is fur sure, it's much quieter than the most part of the competition

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

No problem. I might be an outlier, though. A lot of people, from what I hear, have the i5-4690k going towards 70 degrees under full load with a good CPU cooler! Then again, that's absolute max load with something like Prime95. I've only recorded the max temps I get while playing a huge series of CPU intensive games (Crysis 1, Borderlands 2, Saints Row 2, etc). I might as well go download Prime95 now and do a quick run of it, and see where my CPU goes in terms of temps. In addition though, I keep my rig in a super, super cool part of my room -- smack-dab next to my air conditioner which is constantly on full blast.

UPDATE: 1 minute in and I've already reached 53 degrees.

 

[billybowens]

No problem. I might be an outlier, though. A lot of people, from what I hear, have the i5-4690k going towards 70 degrees under full load with a good CPU cooler! Then again, that's absolute max load with something like Prime95. I've only recorded the max temps I get while playing a huge series of CPU intensive games (Crysis 1, Borderlands 2, Saints Row 2, etc). I might as well go download Prime95 now and do a quick run of it, and see where my CPU goes in terms of temps. In addition though, I keep my rig in a super, super cool part of my room -- smack-dab next to my air conditioner which is constantly on full blast.

UPDATE: 1 minute in and I've already reached 53 degrees.

Might as well look into water cooling then huh... I think i might downgrade to an i5-4590 instead since its 40 dollars cheaper. I can put that into a better cooler so I have peace of mind haha

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

Definitely no need to look at water cooling unless you're overclocking. 53 degrees sounds like a lot (and the results I'm about to talk about are even higher) but it's honestly not bad. An i5 is an absolutely no danger at those temps, and it wasn't the slightest bit noisy.

So I turned off my air conditioner and ceiling fan, and the ambient temperature in my room settled to 22.8 Celsius but honestly felt warmer. The noise in my room was minimal. I could practically hear a pin drop. After about 10 minutes, Prime95 had my i5 at a max of 60 Celsius and it fluctuated below that for a good 'nother 5 minutes. In terms of noise, I could barely hear anything. No other applications were running. I could hear the slightest little noise. At worst it sounded like someone gently blowing air through their lips, and I mean that in the quietest way possible. For all intensive purposes, it was silent.

Then out of nowhere Prime95 encountered some error about opening my file log and it caused my temps to skyrocket to 65. I still let it run for another 5 minutes, and it actually managed to max out at 67, but it stayed closer to 63 - 65 for those last 5 minutes. In terms of noise though, it sounded like my fan barely picked up. It was just barely audible, and I use the word audible cautiously. Anyone walking into the room at that point would certainly not have even noticed it unless they were looking for it. But yeah, though those temps surprised me, my CPU was fine. Prime95's FFT test is a sort of absolute worst case scenario sort of thing when you're doing the most intensive work. Gaming is not included, as there's really no game out there which will do that or even close to that with your CPU, as my 47 degree max temp while gaming has shown.

67 as a max really isn't bad either, and remember I had my AC and fan off. The point at which an i5-4690k will begin to throttle is 72.72 C according to Intel's site, so though I was somewhat close, I really wasn't worried. There's no real world application that myself or basically anyone uses which can match that in heat generation, and it was quiet as hell, so I don't think it's an issue. There's no need to look at water cooling. The HYper 212 EVO will do just fine.