[Guru3d] Cooler roundup using 3770k

[Termie]

It's rare to see a really comprehensive roundup of modern coolers, so here you have it at Guru3d: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/cpu_cooler_roundup_2013_q1_review,1.html

The results may be surprising to some readers. The Noctua NH-D14 beats the latest Corsair water cooler easily, and the very popular Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo...doesn't do too well. Basically only beats its more expensive brother the 412, plus the lowly Gemin II SF524 that I have in my HTPC.

And out of nowhere, the ungainly Scythe Grand Kama Cross beats just about every cooler in the roundup, other than the Noctua and Corsair.

Here's a sampling of the results for starters:

 

[lehtv]

Definitely a surprising result with the D14. Alpenfohn's up there too, nice. H100i just seems overpriced doesn't it?

212 Evo does just fine for its price level, I'd say.

The Grand Kama Cross is a piece of art, by the way. It just looks magnificent. And it's practical too, with lots of clearance for RAM.

 

[Termie]

Definitely a surprising result with the D14. Alpenfohn's up there too, nice. H100i just seems overpriced doesn't it?

212 Evo does just fine for its price level, I'd say.

The Grand Kama Cross is a piece of art, by the way. It just looks magnificent. And it's practical too, with lots of clearance for RAM.

Yes, on a price/performance spectrum, the 212 Evo is good, but it's not great. All of the Scythe coolers, including the similarly-priced Katana, beat it handily, and the $35 Ninja kills it. And of course, for serious overclockers, a Noctua is totally worth it, even if it's twice the cost. The performance is in another league, and just the fans included are nearly worth the price delta.

Point is, despite the fact that I've recommended the Hyper 212 over and over again on this forum, I might be inclined to point builders in a different direction next time.

By the way, I'm not saying the Kama Cross is ugly, it's just pretty bulky and unusual. But it works.

 

[Face2Face]

I picked up a 1st gen H60 for cheap. I wonder if this graph is using the 2nd Gen? Either way I think there was 1c or 2c difference between the models. H60 does pretty well, and I have mine in push/Pull.

 

[Pedroc1999]

I disregard the noctua for one simple reason... IT TAKES UP HALF OF A WHOLE MOTHERBOARD! and weighs a tonne

 

[lehtv]

Point is, despite the fact that I've recommended the Hyper 212 over and over again on this forum, I might be inclined to point builders in a different direction next time.

Too bad Scythe is not in the US market anymore. Hope they're going back. On newegg, 212 Evo is still pretty much the top dog at its price point. Currently the Arctic i30 is probably the strongest contender mainly due to the lower noise level, but it's on discount.

 

[Termie]

Too bad Scythe is not in the US market anymore. Hope they're going back. On newegg, 212 Evo is still pretty much the top dog at its price point. Currently the Arctic i30 is probably the strongest contender mainly due to the lower noise level, but it's on discount.

I hope they'll be back, because Scythe makes some top-notch products (including all of the 120mm fans in both of my systems). That being said, you can actually pick up a Katana 4 for $35 shipped right here: http://www.superbiiz.com/query.php?d...=%23displaytop

I agree, however, that at that price, it's not a sure bet against a discounted Evo 212.

 

[dmoney1980]

Yeah, it's sad to see Scythe products going away here. If you live near a Micro Center, you can score some good deals on the CPU coolers, like the Kama Angle Rev.B for $10! http://microcenter.com/product/310123/Kama_Angle_Rev_B_Universal_CPU_Cooler

 

[tracerbullet]

Awesome article. Wish it had come out a month ago! I love my H100i just fine, but would have gotten the bigger Noctua if I had seen this at the time of purchase.

Seems like the H100i is a great cooler, as seen by the load temps at the highest overclock, just behind the Noctua. So I take some comfort in that I guess, that at even if it's not a good value, it's still a good cooler. Oh well.

I'd be curious to see weights and etc. on the different setups and try to equate mass with cooling ability.

 

[BrightCandle]

Shame I don't have a 3770K to play with or I would put it under a custom water loop. My guess is that a well specced custom loop would achieve around 55C if it comes out anything near like an X79 chip.

The prebuilt loops do have quite a few problems that stop them from performing where they should for water-
- They have too little surface area and thin radiators and its just not really enough cooling without high speed fans (which they inevitably use).
- The water blocks in these things are from Acetel, they suck at making waterblocks. Its not a Heatkiller or an EK or any of the other good block manufacturers. My CPU waterblock costs the same as an entire prebuilt, its a lot better engineered and produces dramatically better cooling for it.
- The pumps are underpowered and the vibrations from them are directly on the CPU which is going to disturb the seating a little.

They cost a lot but don't really get you water cooling, just in the realm of high end air for more money. I just don't think they are a good buy in general. Eventually they will be better and more expensive ones will come out that don't make bad trade offs and then we might finally see the death of custom loops. For now the prebuilt water loops don't really compete with custom loops.

 

[Face2Face]

Shame I don't have a 3770K to play with or I would put it under a custom water loop. My guess is that a well specced custom loop would achieve around 55C if it comes out anything near like an X79 chip.

The prebuilt loops do have quite a few problems that stop them from performing where they should for water-
- They have too little surface area and thin radiators and its just not really enough cooling without high speed fans (which they inevitably use).
- The water blocks in these things are from Acetel, they suck at making waterblocks. Its not a Heatkiller or an EK or any of the other good block manufacturers. My CPU waterblock costs the same as an entire prebuilt, its a lot better engineered and produces dramatically better cooling for it.
- The pumps are underpowered and the vibrations from them are directly on the CPU which is going to disturb the seating a little.

They cost a lot but don't really get you water cooling, just in the realm of high end air for more money. I just don't think they are a good buy in general. Eventually they will be better and more expensive ones will come out that don't make bad trade offs and then we might finally see the death of custom loops. For now the prebuilt water loops don't really compete with custom loops.

Maybe the new Swiftech X220 will change future AIO units all together? I think many other companies may follow this design that Swiftech has shown us at CES. I really think this will be a successful product.

http://www.swiftech.com/h220.aspx

 

[HomerJS]

I would love to these this chart along with noise levels/decibels

 

[tracerbullet]

I would love to these this chart along with noise levels/decibels

Well you're in luck, because the article has noise readings for each at idle and load.

 

[RussianSensation]

Interesting results when i7 3770K is replaced with the much hotter i7 3930K @ 4.6ghz:

^ The Corsair H100 is outperformed by the SB-E Extreme. I am pretty sure the Thermalright SB-E Extreme and Phanteks PH-TC14PE have toppled the Noctua NH-D14 in cooling performance. Actually even the previous Thermalright Silver Arrow was slightly superior in terms of noise levels at the same temperatures.

Point is, despite the fact that I've recommended the Hyper 212 over and over again on this forum, I might be inclined to point builders in a different direction next time.

If you can find the CM 212/Evo for $15-22, then it's a great value. However, for $30, I'd rather spend $10 more for a far superior cooler in the Thermalright True Spirit 140. This is essentially a non-nickel plated Thermalright Archon with the awesome Thermalright TY-140 PWM fan, and Thermalright Chill-Factor 3 paste that's better than Noctua NT-H1.

The Thermalright TS140 delivers Corsair H80 level of temperatures for $40 at lower noise levels.

But since the AIO watercooling craze took over, many PC enthusiasts somewhat lost track of actual temperature and noise level performance metrics. There is no AIO liquid cooler for less than $80 that can deliver the balance of performance and quiet noise levels of Thermalright True Spirit 140. The H80i would beat it for twice the price but if you want quieter noise levels and better performance, then you'd have to pony up for H100i and NZXT Kraken but they cost a lot more than something like a TS140.

 

[JeBarr]

I'm so glad to see another air cooler roundup, since as the OP mentioned they rarely come around anymore what with all the hype and popularity of AIO water cooling.

It's a shame too that for many years there hasn't actually been what I would call a comprehensive roundup review.

I just want to remind some of you that may have forgotten your basics.....

When you see a traditional tower cooler being outperformed by a smaller/cheaper down-draft cooler and wonder why or how that could be possible. Consider that the testers make no mention of the fact that tower coolers standing vertically on an open test bench will be at a disadvantage. Only when high quality fans are introduced into the equation do you see vertical tower coolers overcome the disadvantage (noctua).

 

[Mitty13]

I recently secured some replacement mounting screws from Scythe for a Big Shuriken Rev. B. In one of my emails I expressed disappointment at their withdrawal from the U.S. market. The representative advised that they were reorganizing and they planned to reenter the U.S. market. No timetable was mentioned, but I was glad to hear the news.

Mitty