Best bang for buck i7 CPU cooler

Hi all, by tommorrow I need to buy a CPU cooler for my i7 3770k. I am looking for the best bang for buck CPU cooler. I want to overclock my i7.

I am thinking of going for the coolermaster 612S.
http://m.ebuyer.com/290461

Any advice or suggestions would've much appreciated.
The highest temp I have seen so far on my i7 at 100% load was 75degC, but it's normally between 60-70degC at max load. That's all on the stock heatink and cooler.

I have an antec 302 case and vengeance low profile ram. I think both should be fine for most coolers.

Thanks

Most would agree that the Hyper 212 (Plus, Evo, Etc) is the best bang for the buck cooler on the market currently.

Take a look at the Hyper 212 before you pull the trigger on the Coolermaster.

There's also the TRUE Spirit 140, if you want a bit more performance than the 212+.

Expect around 4.2GHz on the 212+, maybe 4.5GHz on the TS 140.

The cheapest tower-style heatsink with 120mm or 140mm fans from a reputable manufacturer.

That usually is the TS140 or the H212.

They are both from coolermaster, the hyper has fewer heatpipes but they are bigger, also the fan on the hyper 212+ is the blademaster 2000rpm, on the evo it's 1600rpm, on the 612s it's 1300rpm.
The blademaster 2000rpm is silent enough and when it's running full rpm it's not that loud either.
You can fit any of those fans however.
Looks to me the 612s has a different mounting method, the one on the hyper is pretty good overall but I assume both are sufficient in their own way.
Read positive reactions about the hyper in general, 3770k included.
It does a good job for 4,5Ghz speed, maybe a little higher depending on pc case and ambient temperatures.
So therefor it appears to be the best bang for buck since you need better cooling devices for higher speeds that are usually twice the price.

Thanks. would you recommend better thermal paste than what the coolers come with? Which would you recommend? Thanks.

You can get better thermal paste, such as Arctic Cooling MX-4 or Prolimatech PK-1, but the difference might be 1-3 degrees.

Thanks, what do you suggest for cleaning the old thermal paste?

Get the highest percentage alcohol you can find. You want at least 90%.

Is something like this worth getting?

http://www.ebuyer.com/139175-arctic...-and-thermal-surface-purifier-arcticlean-60ml

It works well.

But that's 30mL of cleaning fluid for £6.29.

Bottle of Isoprophyl Alcohol is about 473mL for $2.50, or £1.58. About x62.75 cheaper.

wow thats a good price Knufire, the cheapest I could find in the UK £3.99 for 100ml

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100ml-IPA...ultDomain_3&hash=item3f1736bb9c#ht_819wt_1037

Also, do you use pads or something to clean it with?

Thanks

Ebay? Your local drug store/pharmacy should have it for much cheaper. This is the type of alcohol you would use to clean cuts and stuff.

Any sort of lint-free cloth would work.

You don't need reagent class alcohol neither. Grab one from your closest drug store or pharmacy as Knufire said.

I've used the Arctic Clean thingy and it's really amazing, but not worth the price. I think it uses something based on citric fruits because of the smell of the first bottle.

I use these , eBay item # 180953506974 , I go through loads of these as I'm changing CPUs constantly for benching and they work perfectly, plus there ultra cheap and last ages.

Sorry for the item # link but I'm using my phone and cant get the full addy from the mobile site

using alchol to clean old thermal paste might not be a bad idea

I was out today and couldn't find any alcohol isopropanol, my local chemist stop selling it. Also I couldn't find lint free cloth.... back to the modern way... Internet

Is this the what you were referring to keny?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180953506974

Is it ok that they are not at least 90% as mentioned in the thread?

Thanks.

Yep , that's them mate , don't worry about the alcohol grade as they work a treat and 1 swab will do the whole CPU. I just use a tea towel edge to polish off whats left of the evaporated alcohol, you can get smaller packs for even cheaper if you don't change you're CPU often.

I recently (a month back) went through the choosing the best performing value HSF thing and spent far too long looking into it!

after some time I found the the next step up in performance from the Hyper 212+ or Evo were these :

Thermolab Trinity Ultra-Quiet - £34.98
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2600&page=1
Cooling a 150watt heatsource = 15c over ambient @ 50.6db

Zalman CNPS10X Performa - £26.71
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2498
Cooling a 150watt heatsource = 16.6c over ambient @ 58.7db

Coolermaster Hyper 612 PWM - £34.99
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2644
Cooling a 150watt heatsource = 15.1c over ambient @ 50.7db


The Trinity cooler is a nice choice as it manages to perform so well while not getting as large as the 612.

The Thermalright TrueSpirit 140 is an excellent cooler I would choose over any here in this list I think, but gets into a higher price bracket.

If you plan to overclock your 3770k to about 4.5GHz any of these coolers should be fine. But if you want to go for the max you can squeeze out of it you will want something better, going into the TrueSpirit 140 and better territory. Those Ivy chips start producing much more heat fast going about this speed+ and the vcore that will be needed.

If spending that kinda money then you might as well get the best ones out there which more or less come down to:

Noctua NH-D14
NZXT Havik
Phanteks PH-TC14PE

As they have the headroom to cope with heat pretty much all other HSF's get thermal runaway from. I almost bought the Trinity cooler for my current set up (which being an older 6core chip I felt I might need that extra cooling performance) till I saw the following review covering most of the coolers we are talking about :

NZXT Havik vs Noctua NH-D14 Review

Well, I hope my accumulated experience from Many hours of trawling through reviews etc help a bit. That review basically sums it all up for whatever level of cooling you think you will require and money you want to spend


(I bought my Noctua NH-D14 from ebay for about half the normal price, are lots of Great coolers on there from those buying water cooling setups - while folding@home with sig setup I am running at only 55c, very happy with this!)

Thanks for the help everyone, and thanks for the fantastic post from Humanoid1. It really helped me. I went for the 612S (+ standard 2nd 120mm fan) with MX-4 thermal paste, looking forward to recieving it and installing.