Which cpu cooler should i get

Liquid cooling can undoubtedly give your processor the thermal headroom it needs to run comfortably overclocked, but there are other reasons you might want to have an AIO in your system. The vainest is the aesthetic—not having a huge hulking heatsink clogging up your chassis when there's a Perspex peephole to show off your components is often desirable. That can also play into having a smaller chassis entirely.

Liquid coolers can often give you the thermal performance to run a high-spec CPU in a small chassis where you'd only otherwise be able to fit a weaker, small form factor air cooler. The coolant passes through a closed-loop via a plate that's attached to your CPU, and in combination with the attached radiator and fan, it cools the CPU.

It's simple and a hundred times easier to install than an entire water-cooling loop. Included in this guide: 1. Image 1 of 2. Image 2 of 2. Scale: mm.

Full radiator dimensions: mm x mm x 27mm. Fan speeds: RPM. Noise level: Up to Reasons to avoid - If cooler aesthetics bother you at all, it is rather plain-looking. Deepcool Gammaxx L V2. Noise level: Up to 30dB A. Reasons to avoid - Can get loud under significant CPU load.

Corsair Hydro Series H60 V2. Fan speeds: Up to RPM. Reasons to avoid - Would struggle with super high-end CPUs. Deepcool AS Plus. Fans: 2x mm PWM. Dimensions L x W x H : mm x mm x mm. Noise level: Max Reasons to avoid - Not built for high-end overclocked CPUs. Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2. Fans: 1x Pure Wings 2 mm. Reasons to avoid - BIG - Louder than you might expect under load.

Image 1 of 4. Image 2 of 4. Image 3 of 4. Select a cooler model that fits your motherboard using our motherboard compatibility list. Do you want to overclock? Do you want your system to run as quietly as possible? As a rule of thumb, the bigger a cooler is, the bigger is its cooling performance: Whereas some of our compact, low-profile cooler models are only suitable for lower TDP CPUs, the bigger models are ideal for high TDP CPUs and overclocking. Also note that cooling performance and noise go hand in hand: By choosing a cooler that offers plenty of performance headroom for your CPU, you will be able to run the fan s at very low speeds and noise levels.

By contrast, if you choose a cooler that will be fully maxed out by your CPU, the fans will run at higher or maximum speeds more often when your CPU is under full load.

If you plan to use DIMMs with tall heat spreaders on them, you must make sure that your cooler allows enough clearance above the motherboard for your memory. For liquid cooling, either AIO or a custom loop, the number and size of radiators your case will support is key for deciding how many radiators you can install and how big they can be. Case manufacturers also typically list the radiator mounting locations and sizes. Be careful with top-mounted radiators, because the total height of the radiator and your chosen fans can interfere with the top of the motherboard and its 8-pin power connector.

If price and ease of install are your primary concerns, an air cooler is likely your best choice. For a bit more, one of the best air coolers on the market is the be quiet! However, if you want a quieter PC with lower CPU temperatures, a water-based cooler is probably for you. Just plan to spend more money. But unless your case is quite large, a three-fan radiator may not fit in your PC anyway. Key differences mostly come down to aesthetics and pricing.

Whatever cooler you're considering, check the TDP rating. In a lot of cases, air and AIO cooler specifications will also list the TDP rating how much heat the cooler can dissipate , which is a good way to determine the capacity of the chosen unit. If the TDP of your processor is higher than what your cooler lists, chances are your CPU will throttle or your fan will run loud all the time or both. If so, then you need to spend more in order to get a higher-end cooler.

Are you building a budget-oriented gaming computer and not planning on overclocking it? In that case, you can either get by with an entry-level cooler or—if your budget is too tight to accommodate an entry-level cooler—just stick with the stock cooler that comes with the processor. But, if you will be looking to get as much performance out of your processor as possible, then an upgraded cooler is a must. Air cooling vs liquid cooling is a big decision for system builders and each cooling options have their own pros and cons, which we have covered in detail in this article here.

But, here are the main pros and cons of each style of cooler to help you decide which option is better for you:. From Wikipedia :. The thermal design power TDP , sometimes called thermal design point, is the maximum amount of heat generated by a computer chip or component often the CPU or GPU that the cooling system in a computer is designed to dissipate under any workload. To explain it as simply as possible, if you purchase a CPU cooler that has a lower TDP rating than your processor, it will not do an adequate job of cooling your processor.

And, this is especially as true if you are planning on overclocking. While most CPU cooler manufacturers produce their coolers in such a way that they will fit with most CPU sockets usually by offering different brackets for various common sockets , there are certain CPU coolers out there that will only fit with a specific CPU socket.

Some CPU Coolers are too tall to fit inside of certain cases. Most high-end air coolers out there can have clearance issues because of how bulky they are. Their bulkiness can get in the way of the DIMM slots on the motherboard you have chosen and interfere with taller memory kits , or they can also hang over the top PCIe lane, thus forcing you to install your GPU in a lower lane.

AIO cooler radiators come in a lot of different sizes. However, not all cases can accommodate each radiator size. So, again, before you choose an AIO cooler, you need to check the spec sheet of the computer case you are considering and make sure it can accommodate the radiator size of the AIO cooler you want to get. Aesthetics are a big part of choosing a CPU cooler. Some builders prefer the sleek low-profile look of AIO coolers. Other builders like the extreme look of custom liquid cooling setups.

While others prefer the look of a big bulky high-end air cooler.