My favorite is the prolimatech megahalems. I have about 12 of them and they are great!
Although some say the Hyper 212+ is good. I have one but was disappointed it. I guess the megahalems spoiled me
I've got a Megahalem, a TRUE, a Noctua NH-U12P and the latest Noctua NH-D14. When the TRUE was released, Anandtech provided what seems like the most comprehensive testing and comparison-review for dozens of coolers. The only thing that much came close to the TRUE's performance was that . . . . Typhoon thing. (Or maybe it was something different, but the TRUE still ranked at the top.
That review seemed contrary to a more prevalent practice of picking the competition to skew the results.
But the main point -- which probably needs to be repeated for newer forum members -- is that measured thermal resistance (the inverse of thermal conductivity) should be used for the comparison. Next to that, you'd compare coolers using the same test-bed at the same controlled room ambient temperature for performance under the same stress-software for idle and load temperatures, since lower temperatures would demonstrate lower thermal resistance under testing. Other factors in testing include different controlled fan speeds, noise in dBA, etc.
So the only value of "aesthetic design" might be how it fits in the case and how it requires you to channel airflow.
Following the TRUE, the Megahalem and Noctua entries -- very similar designs -- proved themselves. ThermalRight had also introduced an "extreme" cooler called the IFX-14. That design seems to have been resurrected with the Noctua NH-D14, although the latter doesn't include an "extra" mini-heatpipe cooler that fits on the back of the motherboard.
Frankly -- if you ask me -- I'd say that for anything but "enthusiastic" over-clocking, the old TRUE would be more than adequate. I'd like to see some comparisons -- like those done by Anandtech -- for the Prolimatech (Megahalems) and the Noctua coolers. Actually, such reviews may be "out there" and available -- but knowing what I know this time around, I didn't look more carefully.