SOLVED CPU Cooler? $120.

[Jawn]

So I am looking around at reviews a decided it would be nice to hear some opinions

Now I plan to buy an aftermarket cooler and have about $120 to spend on it.

I live in a hot enviroment but will be using AC which will bring the room temp to about 25C, but if not it can reach 36 degrees (I won't be doing much if i run the PC without AC).

So what options do I have? What would be best but will also look great (I like the look of the H100 will it be find with a higher ambient room temp?^_^

I don't really plan to overclock as of now but might in the future.

So long story short; what is the best cooler to get for $120?

Jawn.

-My system:
HAF X (4x200mm, 1x140mm)
Corsair HX850
i7 2600k
2x ASUS GTX 560ti
ASUS XONAR Essence STX
16GB XMS Corsair memory
OCZ 120 Agility 3, 1TB WD Back, Seagate 500GB.
ASUS P8-Somthing V PRO

 

[SMOR3S]

I heard the Noctua NH-D14 is a good CPU cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

The COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus is good also: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065


I personally own the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle, because at the time the 212 was way more expensive, but I like my CPU cooler... I am using Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Paste also.

 

[Jawn]

I'll look into them some more

 

[SMOR3S]

I'll look into them some more

Cool ^_^, hope you find one you like.

 

[muddocktor]

This is for the system in your sig, right?

A 2600K isn't really hard to cool until you start going extreme on overclocks with ambient air cooling.

Since you have a healthy cooling budget, I will use the scattergun approach to recommending heatsinks. I will also point out advantages and drawbacks to the various coolers too.

• Noctua NH-D14 - as previously said, a great cooler but on the expensive side. It does come complete with fans though, so it's a true out-of-box cooler. Disadvantages for it are the size of it can interfere with ram slots, sop if you are using ram with tall heatspreaders you will have interference with the first 1-2 ram slots with the front mounted fan (closest to ram slots). That can be worked around by mounting the 140mm fan between the fin stacks and the 120 mm fan behind the back fin stack. Also, if your case has a side door mounted intake fan, you will most probably have clearance issues between the fan and the heatsink. Roughly $85-90 shipped from Sidewinder Computer Systems. BTW, the 1 from newegg linked above is the older model and the 1 Sidewinder is selling is the newer model that comes with mounting hardware for LGA2011.
  
• Prolimatech Genesis - Another extremely able heatsink, which works well with lower cfm quieter fans. Doesn't come with fans, so that is an extra expense for you besides the heatsink. One side overhangs the ram slots and the fan mounted on that fin stack blows air across the ram slots, keeping the ram cool. Has adequate clearance for even tall heatpreaders on the ram, but you can't remove or install ram with the heatsink mounted. Heatsink mounting is very easy due to the layout of the cooler. Roughly $75-80 shipped from Sidewinder Computer Systems without fans.
  
• Thermalright True Spirit 140 - Performs right up there with the 2 listed above at a cheaper price. Uses a single fin stack instead of 2, but don't think that doing so hurts performance. It's performance for it's price point, as well as overall performance is simply great. Mounting system is good (not great) and holds the heatsink in place very well, but can be a little tricky to install unless you do what I learned to do with the heatsink that use this mounting system that Thermalright sells and put a drop of superglue on the top plate that goes across the heatsink base to keep it from sliding until you have the heatsink mounted on the mobo. Also, I have read a post in here that someone had clearance issues with the vid card and some mobo that had the first pci-e-16 slot as the top of the board, but I had no clearance issues personally. This is also a complete cooling solution, needing nothing else for you to buy. Roughly $50-55 shipped through Amazon.com
  
• NZXT Havik 120 - Another complete cooler, and this one comes with 2 fans for a push pull fan setup. It tested very well on my heatsink test system and the Intel mounting system is decent. The fan mounting system uses rubber straps to hold the fans in place and can be used with most any 120 mm sized fan that has open corners. This can be bought for around $50 delivered from Newegg and Amazon.
  
• Thermalright Venomous X - Another excellent cooler from Thermalright, but more expensive than the TS 140. Has a slightly better mounting system (and different and not interchangeable with the TS 140). You can find them for sale without fans and also a retail version that comes with 1 fan and a plastic fan mount. Figure around $70 delivered for this one in either version.

There are probably others that can hang with these, but I haven't personally tested them formally such as the Thermalright Silver Arrow and Archon, the Phanteks PH-TC14PE (if you want to color coordinate your cooler to your system) and others.

Hope this helps you out.

 

[MongGrel]

The Noctua cooler I've never used, but I imagine it's nice as I have two of the high pressure fans in push-pull in shrouds on my True 120 Copper I do remember reading good things about it, but haven't been following things in awhile since I built this one and put the ornament in here, I suppose they really don't cool better than the aluminum TRUE's but I like it.

I do like those fans myself, I put two of the higher flow, less pressure ones on the rear of the 1200 here, and they all move a lot of air for how quiet they are. That and ripped the stock 1200 ones out of the drive bays and put arctic cools in the front, the system runs pretty quiet for the air flow.