Cheapest coolers that can keep a 5600X at max boost speeds?

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SpongeBob

The Contraceptive Under the Sea
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I might not be alone on this since I'm way over budget on this build. I Watched a video regarding the stock cooler and the thing seems to be performing around 4.2-4.3Ghz with the stock cooler. I'd like to at least hit the advertised boost speeds. What's the cheapest decent cooler? Hopefully some recommendations other than the Hyper 212, I absolutely hate this coolers mounting procedure. I gave my last one away with the CPU I sold. I much rather use the regular mounting system if possible. I would buy a Wraith Prism but on ebay it would cost me like $65 so screw that. Bummer too I really like the looks of that cooler.
 
Without knowing your case CPU clearance, motherboard model and RAM we can't suggest coolers and know if they will even fit into your build. Also good to know where you can buy because prices and availability vary depending on where you are.

And don't think a good CPU cooler will keep things cool. Coolers are dependent on case flowing air within a couple degrees of air temp in room. If air entering cooler While case airflow even in a case with good airflow is 2-3c warmer entering CPU cooler when GPU is working hard (gaming), if is 20c warmer than room air than CPU will be 18c hotter. I've seen many builds with no attention paid to case airflow that had air more than 20c warmer than room entering cooler when gaming, so you likely need a couple good case fans as well as cooler. Once we know what case is we can suggest how to set it up properly. Link below is basics of how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow:
https://hardforum.com/threads/basic-guide-to-improving-case-airflow.1987938/
 
I would not go cheap on a cooling solution maybe for a budget build but not for these newer multicore processors.
 
drutman said:
I would not go cheap on a cooling solution maybe for a budget build but not for these newer multicore processors.
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Well you start hitting diminishing returns and paying $100 for a cpu cooler seems kinda overkill for just wanting to maintain stock boost speeds.
 
Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo, best value for the money and beats a number of more expensive coolers. It uses custom mounting though, but you can see Arctic's instructional video on Youtube whether the installation procedure is ok for you.
 
ARO-M14O and ARO-M14G are same cooler with different top color only for AMD CPUs and will definitely keep your CPU cool.. I'm using one on 3600 and it never goes above 70c with cooler & system fans below 1000rpm. Honestly I would get Macho Rev. B or Rev. C. Same basic cooler with mount to any CPU. More future-proof. ;)
Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Power is one of the very best if not best cooling cooler on the market. It's $51.99 price is way way less than others with similar performance. But it is very wide and very tall, so make sure it will fit in your build before buying
https://www.amazon.com/Thermalright...child=1&keywords=true+spirit+140+power&sr=8-1
 
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TheSlySyl said:
What do you consider "cheap"?

For $50 or so the https://smile.amazon.com/Thermalrig...ld=1&keywords=thermalright+macho+rev+c&sr=8-8 should more than suffice.
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The least amount of money for a cooler that I need to spend to get the job done? I’m genuinely not being sarcastic when I say I really don’t know how I can define that further. I don’t need some wannabe twitch star RGB monstrosity just the cheapest performance per dollar cooler to keep boost speeds at max stock speeds to avoid throttling.
 
The amount of variables in that situation is basically impossible for one of us to judge unlesss we know every intimate detail about your build, your case, your airflow, what other components are in the case and your ambient temperature.
 
What TheSlySyl said. Without knowing what case, motherboard and RAM are being used we can't say what coolers will fit. And if case does not have good airflow even the best cooler will probably not keep CPU cool.
 
Is it even possible to maintain max boost clocks on air? My understanding based on zen2 is that it's typical for boost clocks to decay over time as temperature rises, even with a really good air cooler. Maybe this is possible on the 65 watt SKUs though?
 
This is a good question, one advantage of the 5600 over the rest is the much easier ability to main high clock over constant load (it is running much cooler than the 3600x if I am not mistaken), here it shows that a Noctua NH-U14S seem to do the job very well:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-5600x/21.html

While going to a 240 mm AIO made no difference, would be interesting to see the cheapest cooler that can achieve that.

That could give you a starting point on what the maximum is needed.
 
Nevermind guys got it $50 cooler equivalent in performance or above to a Truespirit 140 or AC 34 eSports in performance and above otherwise you require someone with a PHD from SpaceX engineering department to determine an adequate cooler in 2020.
 
SpongeBob said:
Nevermind guys got it $50 cooler equivalent in performance or above to a Truespirit 140 or AC 34 eSports in performance and above otherwise you require someone with a PHD from SpaceX engineering department to determine an adequate cooler in 2020.
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When you're below $50 and not counting the Hyper 212 (basically the best price/performance cooler that exists).
It's kind of hard to beat stock.

Cause literally my first reccomendation upon seeing this thread was "Well that's easy, get a Hyper 212." and we'd be done.
Although it seems that the Arctic Esports Duo is probably winning that price bracket now. (Damn Arctic is getting stuff done.)
 
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TheSlySyl said:
When you're below $50 and not counting the Hyper 212 (basically the best price/performance cooler that exists).
It's kind of hard to beat stock.

Cause literally my first reccomendation upon seeing this thread was "Well that's easy, get a Hyper 212." and we'd be done.
Although it seems that the Arctic Esports Duo is probably winning that price bracket now. (Damn Arctic is getting stuff done.)
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I never said find a $10,40, 50 cooler just the cheapest to keep the boost max stock boost speeds from throttling cheapest recommendation could have been an $80 cooler. I haven’t looked at coolers since 2013. All I know is from this a stock cooler doesn’t cut it although that benchmark might be running that cpu harder than games would
 
If you haven't looked at coolers since 2013 then you probably aren't aware of just how much the way CPUs throttle has changed since 2013.
It's impossible to not throttle these days, even if you have a full $1000 watercooled system the CPU is still gonna throttle. That's how they're built.
The other issue is, getting a cooler that won't throttle your 5600X would basically cost the equivalent of moving up to a 5900X so, when you said "cheapest", I, at least, assumed you meant something that is adequate for a 5600X but not costly enough that you could have just bought a better processor in the first place.

Now this is entirely anecdotal.

However, and this is why we said we need more information. With every other bit of hardware the same, same processor, same motherboard, same CPU cooler, same undervolt*, etc.
Changing my case is what made my CPU temp go down 10-15c, which was enough for my 3900X to stop temperature throttling. Before I was being choked by a lack of airflow.

*Along with the undervolt, that undervolt is basically -3% performance for -10C temps and i'll take it for silence. But silence is my preference.

*I should state. I use a Thermalright Le Grand Macho and my 3900X maxes out around 75C at 100% transcoding load. Before undervolt it would easily hit 85C.

Also, if you're only worried about gaming temps then its a much, much less big deal than if you're actually going 100% load, my gaming temps tend to be much, much lower than transcoding temperatures which is what I do.
 
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If you have the space, that thermalright Macho is a good value. Its a 140mm fan and a large, quality heatsink.

If you don't have the space for a 140mm, I recommend the Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B. for a fat size 120mm setup. its high quality, mounts securely and easily. can be rotated. has design features to allow some space for RAM. I own one and love it.
https://www.newegg.com/scythe-scmg-5100/p/13C-0004-00075#

If you are really space constrained, the Reeven justice is one of the best performing 120mm slim towers on the market:
https://www.newegg.com/reeven-rc-12...ven-_-1DR-003S-00004-_-Product&quicklink=true
 
SpongeBob said:
I might not be alone on this since I'm way over budget on this build. I Watched a video regarding the stock cooler and the thing seems to be performing around 4.2-4.3Ghz with the stock cooler. I'd like to at least hit the advertised boost speeds. What's the cheapest decent cooler? Hopefully some recommendations other than the Hyper 212, I absolutely hate this coolers mounting procedure. I gave my last one away with the CPU I sold. I much rather use the regular mounting system if possible. I would buy a Wraith Prism but on ebay it would cost me like $65 so screw that. Bummer too I really like the looks of that cooler.
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You can't do this with anything cheap lol. You gotta realize that past 68c is the point where the boost tables get lowered. It's not the throttle point which is 95c but the max temp to stay under to ensure max boost tables.
 
Just pokin the bear hehe. Being that theres at least 5 $50 coolers that are excellent for what hes asking for ;)
 
Anyone who thinks what case is being used doesn't matter obviously has no idea how cooling works.
Obviously not all coolers fit in all cases.
But even if cooler fits into case, if case airflow doesn't supply cool air to cooler system will be loud and CPU will run hot.
 
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Hyper 212 used to be a good economy cooler, but it's just a simple 4x 6mm heatpipes 120mm fan aluminum base direct contact cooler like so many other similar cooling similar priced coolers. For many years in USA it was economy cooler of choice because other brands like Thermalright, Alpenfohn, Scythe, etc. had small or no market share. At same times in Europe TRUE Spirit 120, Alpenfohn Matterhorn, Sythe Kotetsu, Raijintek Leto (3x 8mm heatpipes), etc were similar sometimes lower priced with similar simetimes better cooling. Shop around in $20-30 range for tower coolers with 4x 6mm heatpipes and 120mm 1600-1800rpm fan.

NewEgg has Deepcool Gammaxx 400 for $23.99 while 212's are $29.99-43.19 for RGB model Standard Hyper 212 Evo is $34.79
 
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doyll said:
Anyone who thinks what case is being used doesn't matter obviously has no idea how cooling works.
Obviously not all coolers fit in all cases.
But even if cooler fits into case, if case airflow doesn't supply cool air to cooler system will be loud and CPU will run hot.
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I've gotten deals on Noctua U14s and NH-D15 bc they didn't fit in the orig purchasers case.....and everyone else on CL couldn't accommodate them either. Lingered for months.
 
I've gotten a few big coolers 2nd hand for same reason. Also a few that didn't clear RAM on newer AMD builds.

While AMD Motherboards usually have bigger spacing between CPU and PCIe sockets, RAM sockets are usually closer to CPU than Intel. This can cause front fan clearance problems
 
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