Question What Are the Best Air Coolers?

[ReveurGAM]

Which coolers would you add to this list? Please note the manufacturer and model, plus P)erformance (MAX dT+6?), Q)uiet (MAX 30 dBA/~1.1 sone or P&N.
Please also note what class it's in:

• B)udget
• L)ow profile
• S)ingle tower
• D)ual tower
• Pa)ssive
• O)ther (specify if you know)

If I misclassified something, please let me know.

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 P&N, D
DeepCool AK620 P, D
DeepCool AG620 P, D
DeepCool Assassin III/IV, P&Q, D
Noctua U12A, P&N, S
Noctua NH-D15 P&N, D
Noctua NH-P1 Q, P
Sycthe ninja 5 B, P, D
Scythe Fuma 2, P, D
Scythe Fuma 3, P, D
Thermalright Frost Commander 140 P, D
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120/SE, P, BD
Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120/SE, P, D
Zalman CNPS10x Performa Black 120, P, BS

What about other brands' models that meet the criteria?

Alpenfohn
Alseye
Cooler Master
Cooljag
Corsair (

)
Cougar
Gigabyte
Ice Giant
ID-Cooling
Jonsbo
Lian Li
Raijintek
Sama
Thermaltake

And all the rest....

 

[Nine Layer Nige]

I am using the Arctic Freezer i35 ARGB Air Cooler in my Fractal Designs Focus G case. It works just fine with my i5-12600k.
I'll leave the stats gathering to you.

 

[CountMike]

Which coolers would you add to this list? Please note the manufacturer and model, plus P)erformance (MAX dT+6?), Q)uiet (MAX 30 dBA/~1.1 sone or P&N.
Please also note what class it's in:

• B)udget
• L)ow profile
• S)ingle tower
• D)ual tower
• Pa)ssive
• O)ther (specify if you know)

If I misclassified something, please let me know.

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 P&N, D
DeepCool AK620 P, D
DeepCool AG620 P, D
DeepCool Assassin III/IV, P&Q, D
Noctua U12A, P&N, S
Noctua NH-D15 P&N, D
Noctua NH-P1 Q, P
Sycthe ninja 5 B, P, D
Scythe Fuma 2, P, D
Scythe Fuma 3, P, D
Thermalright Frost Commander 140 P, D
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120/SE, P, BD
Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120/SE, P, D
Zalman CNPS10x Performa Black 120, P, BS

What about other brands' models that meet the criteria?

Alpenfohn
Alseye
Cooler Master
Cooljag
Corsair (

)
Cougar
Gigabyte
Ice Giant
ID-Cooling
Jonsbo
Lian Li
Raijintek
Sama
Thermaltake

And all the rest....

Which CPU ?All hinges on that,

 

[Lafong]

I'd think any useful categorization would have to include height because any cooler is useless if it won't fit in the case at hand.

 

[Phaaze88]

When a cooler can be more effective on Intel's cpus than AMD's offset CCD cpus, and the opposite can also be true... then the query is rather vague, isn't it? Ones that do both, while including things like height and noise level... and still being #1... that would be a short list.

Too few reviews that test using both platforms; most use one, or the other.

 

[geofelt]

@op...
What is the purpose of your request?

 

[ReveurGAM]

Which CPU ?All hinges on that,

I totally agree that the CPU is critical. Unfortunately, that is such a deep dive that it's way beyond what I'm trying to learn. You are certainly welcome to try, though!

 

[ReveurGAM]

I am using the Arctic Freezer i35 ARGB Air Cooler in my Fractal Designs Focus G case. It works just fine with my i5-12600k.
I'll leave the stats gathering to you.

Does it meet the stats (P & Q) that I suggested? Which? I see it's a single-tower.

 

[ReveurGAM]

I'd think any useful categorization would have to include height because any cooler is useless if it won't fit in the case at hand.

That's a good idea. I have low-profile already, so how do you suggest this be categorized, or just show the height, length and width with fan(s) installed?

 

[ReveurGAM]

When a cooler can be more effective on Intel's cpus than AMD's offset CCD cpus, and the opposite can also be true... then the query is rather vague, isn't it? Ones that do both, while including things like height and noise level... and still being #1... that would be a short list.

Too few reviews that test using both platforms; most use one, or the other.

I agree. How do you suggest addressing this, especially given your closing statement?

Also, I don't have problems with people listing, say, the TR4 version specifically.

 

[ReveurGAM]

@op...
What is the purpose of your request?

Research for the future for when I can get around to doing CPU cooler testing.

Of course, that'll mean I'll need an Intel and an AMD computer, or a great simulacrum.

 

[CountMike]

I totally agree that the CPU is critical. Unfortunately, that is such a deep dive that it's way beyond what I'm trying to learn. You are certainly welcome to try, though!

Well, without CPU context it's difficult to choose. Some could be good for some CPUs and awful for others

 

[ReveurGAM]

Well, without CPU context it's difficult to choose. Some could be good for some CPUs and awful for others

Again, I agree. Feel free to choose and specify the CPU it works best with. If it needs an offset frame or something, mention that. Does that help?

 

[CountMike]

Again, I agree. Feel free to choose and specify the CPU it works best with. If it needs an offset frame or something, mention that. Does that help?

Most of those i never even heard of let alone to pass judgment on. Not counting some inherently hot CPUs I divide coolers by single tower for up to 65W processors and dual tower for above 65W which are further divided by fan size according to case depth. Horizontal are a must for thin cases and when cooling VRM is more important. Other than that I wouldn't even consider them. For too many years those were only ones and usually inadequate. My first active cooler came with 486.
Other than those divisions all are practically same performance differing mostly in looks (highly personal preference) and fan noise (easily replaceable) so that shouldn't count.
During the years I proffered Cooler Master (212 evo and 612), Scythe Mugen series and when price was not object Noctua of course, As of lately I recommend Arctic Sport series for air coolers, just rightblend of price and performance. There arealso xtremly ckeap coolers like LC Power but would never recommend them unless price is primary concern and that usually goes hand in hand with cheep and less poweful CPUs.
All that said I must admit I'm firm beleiver in over cooling for practical reasons, less noise andand more reserve in case of CPU upgrades, after all theylast long and and don't have to be replaced often so it pays to invest some more than absolutely neccessery.

 

[ReveurGAM]

Most of those i never even heard of let alone to pass judgment on. Not counting some inherently hot CPUs I divide coolers by single tower for up to 65W processors and dual tower for above 65W which are further divided by fan size according to case depth. Horizontal are a must for thin cases and when cooling VRM is more important. Other than that I wouldn't even consider them. For too many years those were only ones and usually inadequate. My first active cooler came with 486.
Other than those divisions all are practically same performance differing mostly in looks (highly personal preference) and fan noise (easily replaceable) so that shouldn't count.
During the years I proffered Cooler Master (212 evo and 612), Scythe Mugen series and when price was not object Noctua of course, As of lately I recommend Arctic Sport series for air coolers, just rightblend of price and performance. There arealso xtremly ckeap coolers like LC Power but would never recommend them unless price is primary concern and that usually goes hand in hand with cheep and less poweful CPUs.
All that said I must admit I'm firm beleiver in over cooling for practical reasons, less noise andand more reserve in case of CPU upgrades, after all theylast long and and don't have to be replaced often so it pays to invest some more than absolutely neccessery.

It's interesting that you haven't heard of most of them. CM 212 Evo isn't often recommended nowadays for modern CPUs because they just can't handle the high temps of the most demanding ones. Peerless Assassin can compete with the D15 until you get above it's thermal threshold. Frost Commander and Phantom Spirit are a better and have a higher threshold, but the former is noisier (~+8 dBA). Honestly, though, Thermalright has a LOT of coolers that are almost identical in appearance and performance. And some models have lots of variations: the Assassin X is a single tower and has 13, of which 3 have 2 fans, and 4 are ARGB. I have to wonder why they needed that many!

I also believe in over-cooling and I have to chuckle when people say "overkill" or "you don't need that" because better cooling means better performance, and a better cooler will be your main cooler for more CPUs than if you got one that was "just right".

 

[CountMike]

It's interesting that you haven't heard of most of them. CM 212 Evo isn't often recommended nowadays for modern CPUs because they just can't handle the high temps of the most demanding ones. Peerless Assassin can compete with the D15 until you get above it's thermal threshold. Frost Commander and Phantom Spirit are a better and have a higher threshold, but the former is noisier (~+8 dBA). Honestly, though, Thermalright has a LOT of coolers that are almost identical in appearance and performance. And some models have lots of variations: the Assassin X is a single tower and has 13, of which 3 have 2 fans, and 4 are ARGB. I have to wonder why they needed that many!

I also believe in over-cooling and I have to chuckle when people say "overkill" or "you don't need that" because better cooling means better performance, and a better cooler will be your main cooler for more CPUs than if you got one that was "just right".

Well, not all coolers are available everywhere. I'm now in eastern Europe so even less choices, effectiveness of many I have not personally used is difficult to judge,have to relay on often contradictory descriptions and stated performance. Apart from esthetics those of same class are too close to call.Last few years I prefer AIO coolers as they became very reliable and cheaper and provide excellent performance and cleaner installation in large cases while saving on case fans. Top CPUs are getting hotter, not that there was some hot ones in the past but even more important is amount of heat produced which rises with numbers of cores, There are some science breakthroughs that just may make classic coolers obsolete or again cause smaller sizes.

 

[Phaaze88]

I agree. How do you suggest addressing this, especially given your closing statement?

It's up to the person making the review. They can either accept or refuse requests to test on both platforms.
Doing both eats up more time, which they may not have much to spare, if there aren't at least 2 separate test rigs.
TechPowerUp has been doing it since April 2021, although their test systems could use a little update(using 3900X and 10900K).

TechPowerUp

www.techpowerup.com

First 2 pages of cooler reviews are done that way, but it's a mix of air and AIOs, so there's not many air coolers to examine at all.
Deepcool's AK620 looks to be better on AMD than Intel, the AK500 was the reverse, and the Assassin IV seemed to do both well.


Now that I look at your list again, I recall the Ice Giant. That must've flopped, cause I haven't heard anything about it in a while...

 

[ReveurGAM]

Well, not all coolers are available everywhere. I'm now in eastern Europe so even less choices, effectiveness of many I have not personally used is difficult to judge,have to relay on often contradictory descriptions and stated performance. Apart from esthetics those of same class are too close to call.Last few years I prefer AIO coolers as they became very reliable and cheaper and provide excellent performance and cleaner installation in large cases while saving on case fans. Top CPUs are getting hotter, not that there was some hot ones in the past but even more important is amount of heat produced which rises with numbers of cores, There are some science breakthroughs that just may make classic coolers obsolete or again cause smaller sizes.

I guess we're fairly lucky in the US for a lot of PC stuff. Yeah, i have to rely on reviews, too. Change is inevitable.

It's up to the person making the review. They can either accept or refuse requests to test on both platforms.
Doing both eats up more time, which they may not have much to spare, if there aren't at least 2 separate test rigs.
TechPowerUp has been doing it since April 2021, although their test systems could use a little update(using 3900X and 10900k)

Those are 2 of the big reasons I would prefer a device that can mimic any CPU's heat pattern.

But if they update, they can not compare the new stuff to the pre-update reviews....

First 2 pages of cooler reviews are done that way, but it's a mix of air and AIOs, so there's not many air coolers to examine at all.
Deepcool's AK620 looks to be better on AMD than Intel, the AK500 was the reverse, and the Assassin IV seemed to do both well.

Yeah, so that is why I asked about 2 PCs...

Now that I look at your list again, I recall the Ice Giant. That must've flopped, cause I haven't heard anything about it in a while...

I am not sure. It got good and bad reviews...