Best cooler for around $30

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Kano

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 6, 2007
Messages
353
In a couple weeks I plan to build a whole new system.
I intend to buy:
Intel e4300 or e6300 core 2 duo
nvidia 8800 GTS or AMD HD 2900XT
2 gigs DDR2 800 ram (G.Skill)
and most likely a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 rev3

The case I have and will keep is a Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS full tower case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133154
It has two 120mm fans and two 90mm fans.

My hope is to overclock the core 2 duo to 3ghz+.
To do so I'm going to buy a cheap aftermarket cooler.

I was hoping you guys could recommend one.
Right now I'm considering the Thermalright Ultra-90 (with some kind of a good fan) and the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. UPDATE: Also under consideration is the Cooler Master Hyper Tx
Kind of leaning towards the Thermalright right now.
SVC.com is where I'm planning to order the cooler from. But if you know of a website that has the cooler cheaper then I'll certainly consider it.

I'm completely open to suggestions right now, I just want to keep the cost around $30 including shipping (I live in Florida).

If you recommend a cooler that does not come with a fan please also recommend a fan.

-Thanks
:D
 
I'm thinking the Arctic Colling Freezer Pro 7 is probably going to best fit the bill for the price / performance you're looking for.

Just pop it in Google or Pricegrabber or Nextag or any of the comparison sites to find the best price.

You're probably right at the $28-$30 shipped price from any decent cooling / mod vendor.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has suggestions other than the A.C. Freezer Pro at this pricepoint.
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Evoic said:
I'm thinking the Arctic Colling Freezer Pro 7 is probably going to best fit the bill for the price / performance you're looking for.

Just pop it in Google or Pricegrabber or Nextag or any of the comparison sites to find the best price.

You're probably right at the $28-$30 shipped price from any decent cooling / mod vendor.

I'd love to hear if anyone else has suggestions other than the A.C. Freezer Pro at this pricepoint.
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Click to expand...


Yeah this was the first cooler I considered.
But then I heard good things about the Thermalright Ultra-90.

I looked at SVC and even including a fan the Thermalright was about the same price as the AC Freezer 7 Pro.
Truth is I'm not entirely sure how the Ultra-90 performs stacked up against the AC Freezer 7 pro, thats why I'm asking for input.
 
in a tower case, the ultra-90 performs slightly better than the older xp90. imo with a low-medium speed panaflo with will perform similar to the ac freezer pro, with a higher speed 92mm fan, it will definitely outperform the ac freezer pro by a couple degrees, nothing really significant though. the two are great coolers for the buck and you really can't go wrong with either.
 
I have a Full tower Thermaltake Armor VA8000 case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133154

It has two 120mm fans and two 90mm fans.

I really can't decide on what fan to buy for the Thermalright, I usually don't care that much about sound.

Also the AC Freezer comes with thermal paste pre-applied and the Thermalright comes with its own tube of thermal paste. Will these solutions be good enough or will I want to get some AS5?
 
The last question I had concerned the push-pin design the new Intel motherboards incorporate.

Some people say that the design is not tight enough and that a aftermarket solution is necessary.
Like this bolt-thru kit for the Thermalright: http://svc.com/lga775-bolt-th.html

So I'm asking if the push-pin design is good enough for the kind of cooler I want or will I need something else?
 
the thermal paste that comes with the heatsink is perfectly fine to use. as5 may get you cooler temps by a degree or so and its always handy to have a tube of as5 just in case you decide to remount your heatsink in the future. anyways, the lga775 push pin design is pretty poor imo. it works and works fine, but it can be a pain to use for the most part. a bolt thru kit is always better and more secure.
 
o0akoni0o said:
the thermal paste that comes with the heatsink is perfectly fine to use. as5 may get you cooler temps by a degree or so and its always handy to have a tube of as5 just in case you decide to remount your heatsink in the future. anyways, the lga775 push pin design is pretty poor imo. it works and works fine, but it can be a pain to use for the most part. a bolt thru kit is always better and more secure.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking.

I'm considering buying the same motherboard that you have.
Do you think its necessary to modify or put a fan on nb to overclock the cpu?
 
KD28 said:
I second the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. 20 bucks at eWiz. Dropped my cpu temps by bout 10oC over stock HSF.
Click to expand...

Any idea where eWiz is located?
Just so I have an idea of how far it has to ship.

I've been hearing that a lot of the e4300s are concave and need to be lapped.
How can you tell if the IHS is convex or concave?

How much will it help to lap it?
 
Kano said:
Any idea where eWiz is located?
Just so I have an idea of how far it has to ship.

I've been hearing that a lot of the e4300s are concave and need to be lapped.
How can you tell if the IHS is convex or concave?

How much will it help to lap it?
Click to expand...

eWiz is in Northern CA.

Not sure about the concave issue, but generally speaking, lapping a CPU results in a 1-3° C drop.
 
Evoic said:
eWiz is in Northern CA.

Not sure about the concave issue, but generally speaking, lapping a CPU results in a 1-3° C drop.
Click to expand...

Probably not worth it then.
I may end up getting the AC Freezer 7 Pro now, I can get it for $31 with shipping and I don't have to worry about buying a fan.
I guess I'll have to use the push-pin design for mounting it, don't know of another method for the Freezer 7.

I'm still open to suggestions.

I'd be interested in seeing the cost of the Thermalright Ultima-90, wish it would come out soon...
 
Kano said:
Thats what I was thinking.

I'm considering buying the same motherboard that you have.
Do you think its necessary to modify or put a fan on nb to overclock the cpu?
Click to expand...
if you plan on overclocking, it would probably be a good idea to put a 40mm or 50mm fan on the northbridge. with a small overclock you might get away without using one, but if you're gonna push your processor relatively far, you definitely want one. be aware though that most aftermarket heatsinks may prevent you from adding a fan onto the northbridge, forcing you to look at aftermarket solutions for the northbridge as well.
 
o0akoni0o said:
if you plan on overclocking, it would probably be a good idea to put a 40mm or 50mm fan on the northbridge. with a small overclock you might get away without using one, but if you're gonna push your processor relatively far, you definitely want one. be aware though that most aftermarket heatsinks may prevent you from adding a fan onto the northbridge, forcing you to look at aftermarket solutions for the northbridge as well.
Click to expand...

Hot glue and zippy ties. :D
 
Wow $30 for a cooler that handily beats an infinity and includes fan and looks it will fit anywhere. I think we have a winnar!
 
I'd recommend spending some time at:
MADSHRIMPS cooler reviews and then fill in the gaps and cross-reference with:
BigBruin
FrostyTech (they use a synthetic heating method for thier testing... you want to look at the 85W tests for Core 2 Duo)
Anandtech
SilenPC Review's recommended lists.


Cooler Master Hyper Tx
My overall impression is that this is roughly the same performance as a FP7 (or possibly much better, depending on how you correlate the various reviews and which ones you believe), but is lighter, quieter and may provide additional cooling on the mb with that cowling.

Hyper Tx vs. Freezer Pro 7 shoot-out
SysOpt.com review
Big Bruin review
X-bit Labs review

$26.99 + shipping - Directron (Houston, Tx)
$29.99 + shipping - FrozenCPU (NY)
$29.99 + shipping - PC Extreme (UT (Utah?))


Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B.
$36.99 + shipping - Petra's Tech Shop (San Jose, Ca.) (there are also other prices when combined with other fans)
$37.99 + shipping - Directron (Houston, Tx)
$38.00 + shipping - ePowerhousePC (Troy, MI)


Other
SVC probably has about the best prices on the Ultra 90 and Freezer Pro 7 right now.

Performance-PCs is located in Palm Bay FL. (for future reference)
 
I recomend the thermalright.

I have the bigger brother, the Ultra 120, which took a couple of "the best cooler ever" awards --of course depending on what fan you use. The thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 seems to be the best ever.

The thermalright supplied thermalpaste in the few reviews I'v read is on par with AS5.

I vote the XP 90.

edit: w00t pg 2!
 
The Ultra 90 looks like it performs almost exactly the same (maybe a few C better at load) as the XP-90C (all-copper version of the XP-90). Both of which outperform the Noctua 90 using the same fan and are also roughly the same as the Noctua 120 performance-wise (the Notua 120 using a bigger, higher CFM fan).

I don't think the Ultra 90 can outperform the Hpyer Tx without putting a fast/loud fan on it, unless you can get a 120mm fan rigged. The problem with most of the reviews I've found so far is getting all the heatsinks you're interested in into the same review (and using the same fans, where applicable).

But if someone finds good/better info, I'd be interested as well.
 
Evoic said:
Great little chart with solid reviews and lots of numbers for comparison.....

Click Here
Click to expand...
honestly, i wouldn't trust a heatsink comparison chart that doesn't have the tuniq tower in it and places a pentium lga775 heatsink at the top for low noise :eek:.
 
From what I can tell the AC Freezer 7 Pro and Cooler Master Hyper Tx are almost the exact same as far as performance.

The AC Freezer is slightly louder but has better heatsink fins.
 
o0akoni0o said:
honestly, i wouldn't trust a heatsink comparison chart that doesn't have the tuniq tower in it and places a pentium lga775 heatsink at the top for low noise :eek:.
Click to expand...

I agree that the Tuniq Tower should definitely be on there (top 3) and as far as the Intel cooler, it's for a stock Pentium D.
I think the newer coolers are obviously much louder, but these guys test everything and put audio files up for listening, so I don't doubt their claims regarding noise.

Just my $0.02

if you have a better chart or a comparison that is actively updated, please post it.
The more info, The BETTER ! :D
 
Another one that looks 'interesting' (8mm heat-pipes, relatively light weight, cools well with both low and high speed fans, etc) in the <$40 range is the Akasa Evo 120 v2 (AK-920-2), but it's tough to find in the US right now. The only place I've seen is from Sidewinder for $36.95 as I type this (currently out of stock).

It's not clear if Frostytech was testing the newer 'v2' version or not, but the Akasa site says the new one has "New design copper block and improved retention". You can find other reviews linked from there.

On the other hand, if you look at the AMD (125W) page of the FrostyTech review, he has it not performing as well as the Noctua heatsinks, but without using the same fan, it's hard to compare. I haven't checked the other site reviews yet, so the jury's still out on this one for me, but it's probably worth checking out.
 
SentToSchool said:
If you're going to spend $30+, might as well spend it on a Ninja or Infinity.
Click to expand...

All other things being equal (availability, aesthetic, available space/layout on mb and in case, mounting mechanism, weight, etc), and until something proves better in that price range, I agree (on the Ninja, at least).
 
SentToSchool said:
If you're going to spend $30+, might as well spend it on a Ninja or Infinity.
Click to expand...

The coolers we've been talking about come out to about $30 with shipping and fans if needed.
It would seem that in most instances the AC Freezer, CM Hyper Tx, and TR Ultra-90 all perform on par or better than the infinity.

The Scythe Ninja Rev. B with stock fan also performs at the same level and doesn't really get good until you add a high CFM fan, which amounts to nearly $50.
 
Kano said:
The coolers we've been talking about come out to about $30 with shipping and fans if needed.
It would seem that in most instances the AC Freezer, CM Hyper Tx, and TR Ultra-90 all perform on par or better than the infinity.

The Scythe Ninja Rev. B with stock fan also performs at the same level and doesn't really get good until you add a high CFM fan, which amounts to nearly $50.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I only brought up the Ninja as a point of reference, but also because it's just recently started showing up for under $40. The other HSFs from Scythe (katana, kama cross, etc) in the lower bracket don't look like they're up to par - which is a shame, because I kinda like the 'V8' look of the Kama Cross :).
 
I would be fine with getting a huge 120mm cooler if it was cost effective.
But there is really no reason to pay more than about $30 for a cooler in my opinion.

Some could even argue the stock HSF is good enough to get decent overclocks.
Pushing 3Ghz with the e4300 ($110) and getting similar performance to Intel's $900 X6800 at stock is my goal.
This should, at least, be achievable.
 
Yeah, I'm in a similar boat... if I had my druthers, the Ultima 90 looks like the perfect HSF for me, but I'm guessing that it's easily going to be in the $45+ range, if not $50+ if/when it shows up (earliest estimate on my part would be June).

So dropping back to what's available, I think any of the Ultra 90, Hyper Tx or Freezer Pro 7 would serve you (me) in that price-range. My only concern with the Ultra 90 is that Thermanlright HSFs tend to be designed more towards high-speed fans (louder) than lower-speed fans, so they may ultimately cool better (higher range of cooling), but it comes at the cost of my sanity (noise) :).

Following that same train of thought, it appears that the Hyper Tx may have a slight edge in cooling efficiency (within a degree or two of the FP7, while using a slower/quieter fan), but it costs a few bucks more.

From a parctical stand-point, when I clock my E6400 (8x multiplier) up to the 3.0GHz range, it's just too hot for the stock cooler (particularly in the summer), but 7-10C lower temps would bring that into a more comfortable range and any of the above should do that, or more.
 
I think that with a better and higher CFM fan the AC Freezer would actually be the best.
Due to the increased number of fins and their size.

Read a comparison between the Hyper TX and Freezer 7: http://www.futurelooks.com/399-Arct...-CoolerMaster-Hyper-TX-for-Socket-LGA775.html

The Freezer does dissipate heat quicker, but in that review you can't see a difference because they don't overclock the CPU at all.

Question is if its even worth shelling out more money for a better fan.
But future upgradeability is always a plus.
 
I can't find the source now, but I believe the Ninjia is way better than those ~$30 ones.
 
cooljay said:
I can't find the source now, but I believe the Ninjia is way better than those ~$30 ones.
Click to expand...

With stock fan it is not.
I'll look for the review that compares the AC Freezer 7 and Ninja.
 
Somehow I don't think an Arctic cooling 7 or ultra 90 would beat an Infinity, given the same heat load, same fans, and same conditions. 5 U shaped heatpipes, a mass of fins, it's pretty far up the list. somewhere around an ultra 120, Tuniq, etc etc. Maybe an ultima 90 with the 120, but until then..
 
I remember even with the stock fan it's still WAY BETTER. Remember the stock fan is 120mm. It has low rpm but still provides pretty good air flow ~50cfm.
 
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