Recommendations for an air cooler?

[Vishera]

I'm gonna be grabbing a Ryzen 5 1600 to replace my R3, and I know it comes with a better stock cooler. The Stealth Cooler currently has my R3 running at 3.8GHz just fine, so I'm kind of wondering if I'll need anything other than the stock cooler for the 1600 if I want to shoot for the same OC? If I'm better off going aftermarket, what are some coolers y'all would recommend for $60 or less?

 

[EarthDog]

Considering trying to reach your overclock on stock first then another cooler if needed.

 

[Alaric]

For under $60, the CM Hyper 212 towers seem to work pretty well. I have a single fan version on a FX 8350 (temporarily) and it works fine (at stock speeds) on that little heater. They may not be the top of the heap anymore, but it seems to still be a good unit.

 

[juane414]

I have the R5 1600 currently overclocked to 3.7GHz on the stock cooler. However, I previously only had two 120mm fans in my case and my CPU has overheated and shut down a couple times this summer (my office is not air conditioned). Just today I added three 140mm fans and it seems to have brought my max temps down by about 10 degrees Celsius, so I may try to push my OC a little more, at least when the weather starts to cool off. The stock cooler seems to be pretty solid.

If you want to look at upgrading, make sure you do your research. Lots of CPU coolers that advertise being AM4 compatible require additional kits or just don't install very well. I was looking at a CM Hyper 212, which is what I have on my AM3 rig, but I would have to buy a kit for that cooler. I was leaning toward getting a Deep Cool Gammaxx 400 since it's super cheap and AM4 ready out of the box. I believe the CM Hyper 212 LED Turbo is AM4 ready. The MSI Core Frozr is probably one of the better AM4 ready coolers right now. I believe there are a few Noctua coolers that work with AM4.

 

[freeagent]

For 50 bucks U.S. (and shipping) I got a Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power. Its an awesome cooler, especially for the price and it is AM4 ready. It performs a little better than my Le Grand Macho RT, which performs on par with the D15. I only mention it because I have seen guys running them on their Ryzens and are satisfied. For heat load I have my x5690 that hates trees and polar bears. 130w right out of the box, and climbs quickly from there lol. You could add a TY-143 later, runs quiet like a TY-147A/B up to 1300rpm, after that you can start to hear it. I love that fan. I have a Hyper 212 Evo, trust me, its not even in the same league.

 

[storm-chaser]

For 50 bucks U.S. (and shipping) I got a Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power. Its an awesome cooler, especially for the price and it is AM4 ready. It performs a little better than my Le Grand Macho RT, which performs on par with the D15. I only mention it because I have seen guys running them on their Ryzens and are satisfied. For heat load I have my x5690 that hates trees and polar bears. 130w right out of the box, and climbs quickly from there lol. You could add a TY-143 later, runs quiet like a TY-147A/B up to 1300rpm, after that you can start to hear it. I love that fan. I have a Hyper 212 Evo, trust me, its not even in the same league.

Couldn't agree more the TRUE is in a league of it's own. I recently acquired a TRUE 120 Extreme and did some benchmark comparisons to the Hyper 212. In all tests the TRUE seems to handily outperform its counterpart. You are talking 12 heatpipes versus 8 so the improvements are substantial. For my QX6850 tests it seems to run 10-15*F lower than the Hyper 212 under max load.

 

[freeagent]

Couldn't agree more the TRUE is in a league of it's own. I recently acquired a TRUE 120 Extreme and did some benchmark comparisons to the Hyper 212. In all tests the TRUE seems to handily outperform its counterpart. You are talking 12 heatpipes versus 8 so the improvements are substantial. For my QX6850 tests it seems to run 10-15*F lower than the Hyper 212 under max load.

Yup, I still have my old one from 2007, but I need to order a new mounting kit. As for pipe count, 212 is four pipes, and the ultra 120 extreme is six pipes

 

[trents]

I don't think the Hyper 212 Evo should be considered in the same class ("counterpart") as the TRUE. The TRUE was much more expensive and has a lot more metal. I would have never expected the Hyper 212 to perform as well. The TRUE has a very dense fin stack and really begs for a push/pull fan setup to make sure the air passes through efficiently.

 

[freeagent]

I don't think the Hyper 212 Evo should be considered in the same class ("counterpart") as the TRUE. The TRUE was much more expensive and has a lot more metal. I would have never expected the Hyper 212 to perform as well. The TRUE has a very dense fin stack and really begs for a push/pull fan setup to make sure the air passes through efficiently.

Just to be clear, my original recommendation was for the True Spirit 140 Power, not the ultra 120 extreme, commonly referred to as the TRUE. I sold my D14 because I liked the TRUE better with 120x38s, which took up less space, and performed better in that config. As for my 212, I didn't pay for it, it came with my sig rig that my brother hooked me up with. I just added a case, hard drives ram and a cooler. Or else id still be rocking my x58 as a daily driver I guess the 212 is ok, Im just used to using better.. don't mean to sound rude or snobbish about it or anything..

 

[OC-NightHawk]

I have the R5 1600 currently overclocked to 3.7GHz on the stock cooler. However, I previously only had two 120mm fans in my case and my CPU has overheated and shut down a couple times this summer (my office is not air conditioned). Just today I added three 140mm fans and it seems to have brought my max temps down by about 10 degrees Celsius, so I may try to push my OC a little more, at least when the weather starts to cool off. The stock cooler seems to be pretty solid.

If you want to look at upgrading, make sure you do your research. Lots of CPU coolers that advertise being AM4 compatible require additional kits or just don't install very well. I was looking at a CM Hyper 212, which is what I have on my AM3 rig, but I would have to buy a kit for that cooler. I was leaning toward getting a Deep Cool Gammaxx 400 since it's super cheap and AM4 ready out of the box. I believe the CM Hyper 212 LED Turbo is AM4 ready. The MSI Core Frozr is probably one of the better AM4 ready coolers right now. I believe there are a few Noctua coolers that work with AM4.

I had my Cooler Master V8 GTs already. It falls into the category of having to buy a AM4 kit. Coolermaster only charged for shipping but it felt like eBay shipping prices where they recoup fees out of higher priced shipping. They are still for sale but you have to order the kit too so I don’t know if I would suggest it.

That MSI Core Frozr looks very nice and it would go nicely with the MSI GF GTX 1080TI Gaming X.