current best air coolers

I have my 5700x installed on the B550 with the PA 120 SE, still not sure which setting is best in bios for fans to let the 5700x boost to 4750 - 4800Mhz gaming, it uses to do it on my x470 with the stock 3700x cooler which has a switch on the side of it for high performance mode.
 
crazycrave said:
I have my 5700x installed on the B550 with the PA 120 SE, still not sure which setting is best in bios for fans to let the 5700x boost to 4750 - 4800Mhz gaming, it uses to do it on my x470 with the stock 3700x cooler which has a switch on the side of it for high performance mode.
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Not boosting as high has nothing to do with the HSF in this situation. My b550 doesn't boost as high as my x470 either. Something to do with the b550 motherboard from Asus that I have that just doesn't want to work the same.
 
Geezer000 said:
Not boosting as high has nothing to do with the HSF in this situation. My b550 doesn't boost as high as my x470 either. Something to do with the b550 motherboard from Asus that I have that just doesn't want to work the same.
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By manually adjusting the PBO settings (PPT, TDC, EDC, Scalar) you should be able to get the Asus B550 working at higher frequencies.
 
crazycrave said:
My x470 is MSI Gaming Plus, B550 is MSI Mortar, it uses to let the 5600x boost that high with PA 120 SE as seen in this video on that B550, only thing that changed was the cpu being switched out.


View: https://youtu.be/3EcEtHqE4sw?si=ZlnRBoa2WsboUSsr
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now youre comparing a 5600x to a 5700x, so yeah it may not boost the same, theyre different chips. and we didnt need another youtube video either...
 
I have my 5600X in my sons system right now, all cores are boosting to 4850 under a PA120. I will bump him to my X3D today as he would benefit from it..
 
Dopamin3 said:
By manually adjusting the PBO settings (PPT, TDC, EDC, Scalar) you should be able to get the Asus B550 working at higher frequencies.
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Haven't been able to yet. I had the MSI X470 gaming plus as well and it was a beast of a board.
 
Air coolers are boring.

The best? Noctua d15.
Quietest? Noctua d15
Best fans? Noctua
Ugliest? Noctua

Ugh it's been like this for ages. STOP BEING SO GOOD, NOCTUA
 
auntjemima said:
I'm not sure what this means when noctua air coolers match quite a few water cooling solutions and bests almost all air coolers.
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So if it almost beats all air coolers then it isn't the best. Other air coolers can match water coolers and better fans exist. Noctuas are cool but a delta will still literally blow it away.

*Edit* Even in the video the Thermalright comes out ahead. So what's this about nothing else in the industry beats it?
 
From one fanboy to another, buy Thermalright coolers if you want the best performance. Buy Noctuna if you want yesterday’s performance, just like BQ.. their coolers are kind of sucky too. But if you would like, I could link you to a review showing a Thermalright cooler beating the D15 all the back in 2016.. Noctua has been resting on a their laurels after ripping off Scythe and Thermalright to get where they are today.
 
What freeagentt said.

Thermalright was in computer cooler business 4 years before Noctua started up.
In March 2007 Thermalright showed us their 4x 8mm twin tower IFX-14 Inferno Fire eXtinguisher with HR-10 backside cooler. They used that cooler base and 4x 8mm heatpipes design with different shaped finpacks in their original Silver Arrow. First review of Silver Arrow that I know of was October 2010. Noctua didn't come out NH-D14 until November 4, 2009
 
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I have an AMD 5950x and was using the original Id Cooling SE-224-XT (NOT the XTS), one of the very best single-tower RGB coolers in existence. I carefully tuned it up with the Asus bios and DDR4-4200 RAM to overclock and got 45,200 in cpubenchmark (just about the average benchmark for the 5950x). Then I installed a Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE in my system, and instantly upgraded to 47,500 in performance, i.e. a 5%+ improvement from that cooler. I'm sold :). My cooler cost $40.90 on Amazon. It's an unreal value, the best RGB dual cooler available according to Hardware Canucks.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaJBsQPqxRA
 
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systemBuilder said:
I have an AMD 5950x and was using the original Id Cooling SE-224-XT (NOT the XTS), one of the very best single-tower RGB coolers in existence. I carefully tuned it up with the Asus bios and DDR4-4200 RAM to overclock and got 45,200 in cpubenchmark (just about the average benchmark for the 5950x). Then I installed a Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE in my system, and instantly upgraded to 47,500 in performance, i.e. a 5%+ improvement from that cooler. I'm sold :). My cooler cost $40.90 on Amazon. It's an unreal value, the best RGB dual cooler available according to Hardware Canucks.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaJBsQPqxRA
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pretty sure that vids been posted but good that the cooler working out for you. theres a reason these and the PA are so recommended....
 
Id Cooling SE-224-XT is one of about 20 coolers with 4x 6mm finpack with 120mm fan/s. All cool similar with price ranging from around $20 to about $35.

All cool about half as well as Thermalright Phantom Spirit series with pricing starting around $31. ;)
 
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Id-cooling makes some really solid heatsinks but like everyone else, they just cant compete with Thermalrights price to performance.
 
KazeoHin said:
Air coolers are boring.

The best? Noctua d15.
Quietest? Noctua d15
Best fans? Noctua
Ugliest? Noctua

Ugh it's been like this for ages. STOP BEING SO GOOD, NOCTUA
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I have a DH-15S sitting in storage that isn't as good as my AK620 cooler. A little on the expensive side, but the quality is there, and still cheaper than the Noctua..
 
Niner said:
I have a DH-15S sitting in storage that isn't as good as my AK620 cooler. A little on the expensive side, but the quality is there, and still cheaper than the Noctua..
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Yea my 12700Kf is idling at 26c with the AK 620 digital lol. It's a sweet piece of cooling. I really like it better aesthetically also compared to other coolers because of the small rgb accent lights and the sensor readouts.
 
The good thing about the Arctic 36 is that is considerably smaller than similarly performing competition in air coolers. The other dual tower ones are so bulky and performance is similar. Also the 36 is cheaper than it's competition while being smaller.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
The good thing about the Arctic 36 is that is considerably smaller than similarly performing competition in air coolers. The other dual tower ones are so bulky and performance is similar. Also the 36 is cheaper than it's competition while being smaller.
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I guess. As for the price from watching the GN video that might be temporary pricing and it might actually be around $50. So get it now when it's cheap. Going up to $50 would kill it.
 
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Arctic 36 is just another of so many other similar sized 4x 6mm heatpipes single tower coolers with single or double fans on the market these days. Nothing special about it at all except it's one of several in it's low price range.

While in theory 4x 6mm heatpipes can cool a little more than 300w of heat in optimal conditions, I seriously doubt these cheap 4x 6mm heatpipe single towers are able to do it .. especially in our normal environment's. A maximum of 200w TDP is much more realistic.

Here's link to good source of heatpipe information:
https://celsiainc.com/heat-sink-blog/heat-pipe-design-guide/

GamerNexus review shows Arctic 36 performance much more accurately. ;)
Hope they don't mind that I edited it to show only their air cooler results
1709742898043.png
 
For current generation i7's, i9's and Ryzen 9's, I really like the Frost Spirit 140v3. $43 isn't (or shouldn't be) a burden when buying a CPU like that and its a beefy cooler.
 
criccio said:
For current generation i7's, i9's and Ryzen 9's, I really like the Frost Spirit 140v3. $43 isn't (or shouldn't be) a burden when buying a CPU like that and its a beefy cooler.
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Is there anything non-cosmetic about the Frost Spirit 140v3 that actually makes it better than the original version? Because you can get the original version for ~$15 cheaper. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P34RVPX?th=1

The Frost Spirit 140 for $28 is a MUCH better deal than that Arctic Freezer 36 IMO, unless you absolutely need a heatsink with smaller physical dimensions.
 
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GotNoRice said:
Is there anything non-cosmetic about the Frost Spirit 140v3 that actually makes it better than the original version? Because you can get the original version for ~$15 cheaper. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P34RVPX?th=1

The Frost Spirit 140 for $28 is a MUCH better deal than that Arctic Freezer 36 IMO, unless you absolutely need a heatsink with smaller physical dimensions.
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At that price for dual tower, it is a good deal... unless that extra space is something you're trying to avoid.

Since Arctic is have to "take a loss" to be competitive, it might be a much better long term deal. Not saying TR isn't taking a bath on price, but they've been doing it consistently for longer (?)

YMMV. Still, competition is good.
 
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cjcox said:
At that price for dual tower, it is a good deal... unless that extra space is something you're trying to avoid.

Since Arctic is have to "take a loss" to be competitive, it might be a much better long term deal. Not saying TR isn't taking a bath on price, but they've been doing it consistently for longer (?)

YMMV. Still, competition is good.
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Agreed, Frost Spirit is way better cooler than Arctic 36.

Neither Arctic or Thermalright are 'taking a bath' at these prices. Cooler material and construction cost is very low. I would be surprised if Frost Spirit manufacturing cost more than about $7 and fans $1 each .. total cost including boxing is only about $10
 
doyll said:
Agreed, Frost Spirit is way better cooler than Arctic 36.

Neither Arctic or Thermalright are 'taking a bath' at these prices. Cooler material and construction cost is very low. I would be surprised if Frost Spirit manufacturing cost more than about $7 and fans $1 each .. total cost including boxing is only about $10
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Maybe better said then, Arctic is always trying to "rip you off". Remember what their retail pricing is for the 36 ($50+).
 
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cjcox said:
Maybe better said then, Arctic is always trying to "rip you off". Remember what their retail pricing is for the 36 ($50+).
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Then what does that say about the coolers double or triple the price? They're taking food out of your kids mouth 😦 lol
 
Actual cost of manufacture vs retail pricing is almost always at least 10 mill markup. That's a product costing $1 to make sells for at least $10. Some things (cel phones, earbuds, Nike shoes, etc) are $1 cost of manufacture sells for $300-1000.

Quick proof is check out prices of earbuds on Temu ($3.00) that look just like Sennheiser's $260 and Apple's $170 earbuds. Sure, Temu's are not as good quality material or sound, but not 57-87 times worse / better.
 
Starrbuck said:
Thermalright Peerless Assassin SE 120 for $35
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That's not even a good deal. You can get a Frost Spirit 140 for <$28 which is better than the Peerless Assassin 120. If you don't have the space for the Frost Spirit 140, you can get the Phantom Spirit 120, which is the same size as the Peerless Assassin 120 and a direct upgrade in every way (including better fans), for about $35 also... So why on earth would anyone buy a Peerless Assassin 120 for $35?
 
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