Best top down air coolers?

Maddnotez

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
310
Trying to decide. I have an R5 3600 and the stock cooler keeps it around 80 degrees c. I don't need water cooled performance but I wouldn't mind 10-20 degrees less. Aesthetics are important and I do not want one of the giant side fan coolers. At the same time I do not want to sink $100+ into an AIO so my other option is top down air cooler.

I am looking at the Dark Rock TF and the Scythe Big Shuriken 3. I am unsure which performs better or what else is out there that is worth it. What would you recommend?
 
From what ive read the noctua chromax L9i/a are the best combination of cooling, noise and looks for a low profile cooler.
 
Trying to decide. I have an R5 3600 and the stock cooler keeps it around 80 degrees c. I don't need water cooled performance but I wouldn't mind 10-20 degrees less. Aesthetics are important and I do not want one of the giant side fan coolers. At the same time I do not want to sink $100+ into an AIO so my other option is top down air cooler.

I am looking at the Dark Rock TF and the Scythe Big Shuriken 3. I am unsure which performs better or what else is out there that is worth it. What would you recommend?
I recommend the Scythe as the best value. Its significantly less money than Dark Rock TF or Noctua C14. Will give you solid performance. Scythe stuff is great quality.
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If you'd like something a little bigger, but not a whole lot more money, look at the Shadow Rock TF2. Its a 135mm fan (and larger heastink to go with it) Vs. the Big Shuriken's 120mm setup.
 
Trying to decide. I have an R5 3600 and the stock cooler keeps it around 80 degrees c. I don't need water cooled performance but I wouldn't mind 10-20 degrees less. Aesthetics are important and I do not want one of the giant side fan coolers. At the same time I do not want to sink $100+ into an AIO so my other option is top down air cooler.

I am looking at the Dark Rock TF and the Scythe Big Shuriken 3. I am unsure which performs better or what else is out there that is worth it. What would you recommend?
Really depends on what case, motherboard and RAM you have .. as well as how your case airflow is setup. Tower coolers (ones with side fans) almost always cool much better thean flat coolers. Reason is unless case has an vent with intake fan directly above cooler the air being used by by cooler is 8-12c hotter than room (tower coolers have 2-4c warmer air). Poor case airflow while gaming these air temps can be as high as 25-30c hotter than room. Reason is fan pushes air down through flat cooler hitting motherboard and turning out, hitting RAM, GPU, etc. turning up along side of cooler and fan where it is drawn right back into cooler. Tower coolers normally draw air in from front side of case and exhaust their heated air directly in front of case's rear exhaust vent. But even with tower cooler case needs to have good airflow and supply cooler with cool air.
 
Really depends on what case, motherboard and RAM you have .. as well as how your case airflow is setup. Tower coolers (ones with side fans) almost always cool much better thean flat coolers. Reason is unless case has an vent with intake fan directly above cooler the air being used by by cooler is 8-12c hotter than room (tower coolers have 2-4c warmer air). Poor case airflow while gaming these air temps can be as high as 25-30c hotter than room. Reason is fan pushes air down through flat cooler hitting motherboard and turning out, hitting RAM, GPU, etc. turning up along side of cooler and fan where it is drawn right back into cooler. Tower coolers normally draw air in from front side of case and exhaust their heated air directly in front of case's rear exhaust vent. But even with tower cooler case needs to have good airflow and supply cooler with cool air.
Airflow is importnat. But, in my experience, the reason top down coolers have less relative cooling potential, is because they usually have smaller heatsinks. Tower designs are much easier to design with a relatively larger heatsink. That said, top down are absolutely fine, until you use a CPU which saturates the size of your heatsink.
 
I just bought a shurikan it comes in tomorrow if I remember and have the time I'll put some numbers down here
 
I just bought a shurikan it comes in tomorrow if I remember and have the time I'll put some numbers down here
I need to redo and move my top fans but I'm returning the shuriken as it performs no better than the stock amd 3600 cooler.

Maybe user error but i was definitely expecting 10-15 degrees cooler and I'm not getting that.
 
I need to redo and move my top fans but I'm returning the shuriken as it performs no better than the stock amd 3600 cooler.

Maybe user error but i was definitely expecting 10-15 degrees cooler and I'm not getting that.
Hmm. I would try installing it again to double check. Your stock cooler is the Wraith Stealth, right? The heatsink on that is definitely smaller than the Big Shuriken 3. And the Shuriken should at least be quieter, for the same temps. Because the Wraith Stealth is 2500rpm.

Alternatively, I suppose you could try to get one of the coolers which ships with a 3900x
 
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I need to redo and move my top fans but I'm returning the shuriken as it performs no better than the stock amd 3600 cooler.

Maybe user error but i was definitely expecting 10-15 degrees cooler and I'm not getting that.
God I hope I get better results than that. I have the 3600 and was hoping for some significant improvements over the tiny little stealth. I heard that the spire is very close the same temps as many Low Profile but The stealth seemed very anemic
 
Don't judge the Ryzen cooler performance by temperature alone. Also look at the clocks. Better cooler you have the higher Ryzen boosts, which again increases temperature.

That said I am not particularly happy with my Noctua C14S either. The hotspot spikes to 80C way too quickly for my tastes. 🤔
 
Airflow is importnat. But, in my experience, the reason top down coolers have less relative cooling potential, is because they usually have smaller heatsinks. Tower designs are much easier to design with a relatively larger heatsink. That said, top down are absolutely fine, until you use a CPU which saturates the size of your heatsink.
That's your opinion and you are entitled to it. But based on your reply I suspect your experience is quite limited. My knowledge is based not just on my own but others who like me have years ofexperience testing and reviewing case airflow and coolers, both tower and flat / pancake coolers in many different case designs. Everyone who has monitored air temp into coolers has found flat coolers to lag behind tower cooler performance. Only time they come close is like I said, when case venting is directly above / beside CPU cooler.

Air coolers under heavy load react almost 1:1 to air temp changes into cooler. If air is 5c warmer, than CPU will also be 5c hotter .. so supplying air coolers with air close to same temp as room is very important. As I said before most cases have almost wothless fans and even those good fans rarely are setup so they flow cool air to component coolers as needed.
 
That's your opinion and you are entitled to it. But based on your reply I suspect your experience is quite limited. My knowledge is based not just on my own but others who like me have years ofexperience testing and reviewing case airflow and coolers, both tower and flat / pancake coolers in many different case designs. Everyone who has monitored air temp into coolers has found flat coolers to lag behind tower cooler performance. Only time they come close is like I said, when case venting is directly above / beside CPU cooler.

Air coolers under heavy load react almost 1:1 to air temp changes into cooler. If air is 5c warmer, than CPU will also be 5c hotter .. so supplying air coolers with air close to same temp as room is very important. As I said before most cases have almost wothless fans and even those good fans rarely are setup so they flow cool air to component coolers as needed.
Yeah and the point of my post is that you have to look at things in relative comparison. Most top down coolers have less heatsink materal and/or surface area, than similarly priced tower coolers. You can't really do a mostly fair comparison. Most top down coolers are smaller, therefore less capable, as a rule. I have plenty of experience.

You would have to make some very specific choices, to actually get a top down cooler and a tower cooler, which had the same fan size and also similar enough heat sink size, and also similar overall quality (and that's ignoring pricing). And when you do find those top down coolers, their performance is as good/nearly as good as quality tower coolers. But they can demand a price premium and if you want top performance, you lose much of the height advantage and therefore compatibility, with smaller cases. And that's because top performance demands a larger heatsink. The Dark Rock TF cools just fine. Similar to some of the best coolers. But its also very expensive. And its very large, more like the popular tower coolers. Its probably the only top down cooler which really is comparable in heatsink size, to the popular tower coolers.

Airflow is always a consideration, for any cooler. I don't believe top down coolers are any more susceptible to the issue (I certainly haven't experienced it and I also haven't seen compelling evidence proving it). You may run into some issues with very specific case designs. But If we are going to talk about case design...well, there's a whole market for low profile top down coolers, which can fit into cases in which a tower could never go. And I've also found that a good case is a good case. A good case shouldn't demand a specific cooler. Aside from form factor specific sizing issues.
 
Trying to decide. I have an R5 3600 and the stock cooler keeps it around 80 degrees c. I don't need water cooled performance but I wouldn't mind 10-20 degrees less. Aesthetics are important and I do not want one of the giant side fan coolers. At the same time I do not want to sink $100+ into an AIO so my other option is top down air cooler.

I am looking at the Dark Rock TF and the Scythe Big Shuriken 3. I am unsure which performs better or what else is out there that is worth it. What would you recommend?

I'm in the exact same mode with my new 3600, except I am building in a mATX/ITX case with a max cooler hieght of 150mm.

Search Engine: "Review [insert CPU cooler name]"

That being said, why not just go with the AMD Wraith Prism:

615uW1DbLVL._SL1500_.jpg

They can be a little loud and that's why I'm not going with it. Also, they do cool decently, but not excellently.

The best top down cooler for actual cooling that I have researched so far is:

81SPOa8QnuL._SL1500_.jpg
This is essentially a full 140mm tower cooler flipped n its side. The problem? 70.00USD --Not just no, but no fuck no.
Noctua NH-C14s
 
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Yeah and the point of my post is that you have to look at things in relative comparison. Most top down coolers have less heatsink materal and/or surface area, than similarly priced tower coolers. You can't really do a mostly fair comparison. Most top down coolers are smaller, therefore less capable, as a rule. I have plenty of experience.

You would have to make some very specific choices, to actually get a top down cooler and a tower cooler, which had the same fan size and also similar enough heat sink size, and also similar overall quality (and that's ignoring pricing). And when you do find those top down coolers, their performance is as good/nearly as good as quality tower coolers. But they can demand a price premium and if you want top performance, you lose much of the height advantage and therefore compatibility, with smaller cases. And that's because top performance demands a larger heatsink. The Dark Rock TF cools just fine. Similar to some of the best coolers. But its also very expensive. And its very large, more like the popular tower coolers. Its probably the only top down cooler which really is comparable in heatsink size, to the popular tower coolers.

Airflow is always a consideration, for any cooler. I don't believe top down coolers are any more susceptible to the issue (I certainly haven't experienced it and I also haven't seen compelling evidence proving it). You may run into some issues with very specific case designs. But If we are going to talk about case design...well, there's a whole market for low profile top down coolers, which can fit into cases in which a tower could never go. And I've also found that a good case is a good case. A good case shouldn't demand a specific cooler. Aside from form factor specific sizing issues.
Bottom line here getting cool air to top down coolers is much more critical than it is to tower coolers. Top down cooler are harder to keep cooler's heated exhaust separate and not mixing with cooler's cool intake air supply than tower coolers. I've tested it, and others have tested it. Below is data from testing Thermalright AXP-100 (6x 6mm heatpipe 120mm fan cooler with similar performance to 4x-6x 6mm heatpipe 120mm fanned tower coolers).

Found I get lower temperature using TY-100 pulling out of AXP-100 than pushing in so I did some runs to see. Ends up it's the air blowing down into cooler that is much cooler. Air blowing down through AXP-100 hitts motherboard and goes out hitting the GPU, RAM, I/O housings, etc and comes back up around cooler and is sucked back in by fan. With fan pulling air out of AXP-100 goes up and away. Hopefully your case has a vent and/or fan that catches it and removes it from case. CPU is 5-7c cooler with fan pulling out of cooler.

AXP-100 w/ TY-100 pushing in
Tested with i7 920 stock
Handbrake @ realtime

Room ambient . Idle CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust. . 100% CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust . mobo; NB; Cooler intake*
21.5c . . . . . . . . . 33-34-35-31c 2400rpm 28.0c . . 67-68-67-66c 2400rpm . 39.5c . . 36c . . 51c
22.0c . . . . . . . . . 33-34-35-31c 2250rpm 28.0c . . 68-68-69-67c 2250rpm . 39.5c . . 36c . . 51c . . 30.0c
22.5c . . . . . . . . . 36-35-39-33c 2000rpm 30.0c . . 69-70-70-69c 2000rpm . 40.0c . . 39c . . 51c
22.5c . . . . . . . . . 35-34-38-33c 1750rpm 29.5c . . 72-73-73-71c 1750rpm . 43.0c . . 40c . . 54c
22.5c . . . . . . . . ; 35-35-39-34c 1500rpm 30.0c . . 76-78-77-75c 1500rpm . 47.0c . . 40c . . 57c
23.0c . . . . . . . . . 37-36-41-36c 1200rpm 31.0c; 39c & 46c mobo & NB
2400rpm is maximum rpm mounted pushing in
*Temperature of air 30mm above TY-100


I re-ran a couple of the fan pushing in tests. Intake air is much warmer than room ambient.
AXP-100 w/ TY-100 pulling out
Tested with i7 920 stock
Handbrake @ realtime

Room ambient . Idle CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust. . 100% CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust . mobo; NB; Cooler intake*
21.5c . . . . . . . . 32-31-35-31c 2450rpm 26.0c . . 62-62-63-61c 2450rpm . 33.5c . . 34c . . 46c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 33-31-35-31c 2250rpm 25.5c . . 63-64-65-63c 2250rpm . 34.5c . . 37c . . 45c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 33-32-37-33c 2000rpm 30.0c . . 64-65-65-64c 2000rpm . 35.5c . . 34c . . 48c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 35-34-39-34c 1750rpm 28.5c . . 66-67-66-65c 1750rpm . 37.5c . . 35c . . 50c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 34-33-38-32c 1500rpm 27.0c . . 69-70-70-69c 1500rpm . 39.5c . . 34c . . 51c
21.0c . . . . . . . . 35-34-38-33c 1200rpm 28.0c; 34c & 47c mobo & NB
*I neglected to put a probe under cooler, sorry.
. 2450rpm is maximum rpm mounted pulling out


Running TY-100 pushing in again and finding the heat difference is because of air temperature over cooler / fan intake. Idling at 2400rpm the air 30mm above AXP-100 is 28.5c with 22c ambient. That's with a TY-140 40cm away and 15cm above work top blowing 22c ambient over test setup.

From now own I'm going to worry more about what actual cooler intake temperature is than ambient temperature. rolleyes.gif

https://hardforum.com/threads/thermalright-axp-100.1732322/page-2#post-1039510094

Link to long thread about AXP-100 and links to other testing below:
https://hardforum.com/threads/thermalright-axp-100.1732322/

Testing done on GA-EX58-UD3R Rev 1.6 motherboard setting on a bench with GeiL Value Plus RAM and old Radeon X1600 Pro GPU. It's the GPU, RAM, I/O fittings and other chips/pots on motherboard turning the airflow coming out from under AXP-100 up, than intake fan on cooler pulling it back into cooler. I suspect mostly the RAM and GPU but it all adds up to much warmer air going into cooler.

When fan is sucking air up through cooler it just keep going up into room.

I don't think any test setup running a downflow cooler can get room ambient air to cooler. Top or bottom. With upflow air going to bottom is being warmed some by motherboard components. With downflow air coming up off of motherboard is mixing and warming up intake air. Well, could if you put a barrier between intake and air coming off of motherboard... a 1 meter funnel leaning off to the side to get ambient air. :D

Tower coolers are not as problematic because air flows in over RAM and out over motherboard I/O so no mixing to worry about.


So like I posted above. From now on I'm going to monitor cooler intake and not room temperature. ;)
https://hardforum.com/threads/thermalright-axp-100.1732322/page-2#post-1039511052

There are many top down coolers with as many heatpipes and equal cooling ability that cool very similar to tower coolers when they are using air the same temp as tower coolers. Problem is top down coolers by design are much more likey (like almost always) to end up mixing their heated exhaust air with cool air coming to them .. and thus end up giving higher CPU temps. Not because they can't cool as well, but because the air temp into them is several degrees warmer than it is into tower coolers. Anyone who has accurately tested coolers knows there is an almost exactly 1:1 ratio between air temp into cooler and resulting CPU temp as same fan speed and CPU load .. if air into top down cooler is 5c warmer than into comparable tower cooler, then CPU temp will be 5c higher too.

Again, bottom line is not top down quality or ability to cool, it is air temp entering top down cooler is almost always several degrees warmer than into tower cooler .. and it's much easier to keep coolers' heated exhaust air from warming up airflow into cooler with a tower cooler than it is with a top down cooler.
 
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Trying to decide. I have an R5 3600 and the stock cooler keeps it around 80 degrees c. I don't need water cooled performance but I wouldn't mind 10-20 degrees less. Aesthetics are important and I do not want one of the giant side fan coolers. At the same time I do not want to sink $100+ into an AIO so my other option is top down air cooler.

I am looking at the Dark Rock TF and the Scythe Big Shuriken 3. I am unsure which performs better or what else is out there that is worth it. What would you recommend?
Form what I have read, the Scythe Big Shuriken 3 performs poorly given its size.
 
Bottom line here getting cool air to top down coolers is much more critical than it is to tower coolers. Top down cooler are harder to keep cooler's heated exhaust separate and not mixing with cooler's cool intake air supply than tower coolers. I've tested it, and others have tested it. Below is data from testing Thermalright AXP-100 (6x 6mm heatpipe 120mm fan cooler with similar performance to 4x-6x 6mm heatpipe 120mm fanned tower coolers).

Found I get lower temperature using TY-100 pulling out of AXP-100 than pushing in so I did some runs to see. Ends up it's the air blowing down into cooler that is much cooler. Air blowing down through AXP-100 hitts motherboard and goes out hitting the GPU, RAM, I/O housings, etc and comes back up around cooler and is sucked back in by fan. With fan pulling air out of AXP-100 goes up and away. Hopefully your case has a vent and/or fan that catches it and removes it from case. CPU is 5-7c cooler with fan pulling out of cooler.

AXP-100 w/ TY-100 pushing in
Tested with i7 920 stock
Handbrake @ realtime

Room ambient . Idle CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust. . 100% CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust . mobo; NB; Cooler intake*
21.5c . . . . . . . . . 33-34-35-31c 2400rpm 28.0c . . 67-68-67-66c 2400rpm . 39.5c . . 36c . . 51c
22.0c . . . . . . . . . 33-34-35-31c 2250rpm 28.0c . . 68-68-69-67c 2250rpm . 39.5c . . 36c . . 51c . . 30.0c
22.5c . . . . . . . . . 36-35-39-33c 2000rpm 30.0c . . 69-70-70-69c 2000rpm . 40.0c . . 39c . . 51c
22.5c . . . . . . . . . 35-34-38-33c 1750rpm 29.5c . . 72-73-73-71c 1750rpm . 43.0c . . 40c . . 54c
22.5c . . . . . . . . ; 35-35-39-34c 1500rpm 30.0c . . 76-78-77-75c 1500rpm . 47.0c . . 40c . . 57c
23.0c . . . . . . . . . 37-36-41-36c 1200rpm 31.0c; 39c & 46c mobo & NB
2400rpm is maximum rpm mounted pushing in
*Temperature of air 30mm above TY-100


I re-ran a couple of the fan pushing in tests. Intake air is much warmer than room ambient.
AXP-100 w/ TY-100 pulling out
Tested with i7 920 stock
Handbrake @ realtime

Room ambient . Idle CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust. . 100% CPU; rpm; Cooler Exhaust . mobo; NB; Cooler intake*
21.5c . . . . . . . . 32-31-35-31c 2450rpm 26.0c . . 62-62-63-61c 2450rpm . 33.5c . . 34c . . 46c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 33-31-35-31c 2250rpm 25.5c . . 63-64-65-63c 2250rpm . 34.5c . . 37c . . 45c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 33-32-37-33c 2000rpm 30.0c . . 64-65-65-64c 2000rpm . 35.5c . . 34c . . 48c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 35-34-39-34c 1750rpm 28.5c . . 66-67-66-65c 1750rpm . 37.5c . . 35c . . 50c
21.5c . . . . . . . . 34-33-38-32c 1500rpm 27.0c . . 69-70-70-69c 1500rpm . 39.5c . . 34c . . 51c
21.0c . . . . . . . . 35-34-38-33c 1200rpm 28.0c; 34c & 47c mobo & NB
*I neglected to put a probe under cooler, sorry.
. 2450rpm is maximum rpm mounted pulling out


Running TY-100 pushing in again and finding the heat difference is because of air temperature over cooler / fan intake. Idling at 2400rpm the air 30mm above AXP-100 is 28.5c with 22c ambient. That's with a TY-140 40cm away and 15cm above work top blowing 22c ambient over test setup.

From now own I'm going to worry more about what actual cooler intake temperature is than ambient temperature. View attachment 226404

https://hardforum.com/threads/thermalright-axp-100.1732322/page-2#post-1039510094

Link to long thread about AXP-100 and links to other testing below:
https://hardforum.com/threads/thermalright-axp-100.1732322/

Testing done on GA-EX58-UD3R Rev 1.6 motherboard setting on a bench with GeiL Value Plus RAM and old Radeon X1600 Pro GPU. It's the GPU, RAM, I/O fittings and other chips/pots on motherboard turning the airflow coming out from under AXP-100 up, than intake fan on cooler pulling it back into cooler. I suspect mostly the RAM and GPU but it all adds up to much warmer air going into cooler.

When fan is sucking air up through cooler it just keep going up into room.

I don't think any test setup running a downflow cooler can get room ambient air to cooler. Top or bottom. With upflow air going to bottom is being warmed some by motherboard components. With downflow air coming up off of motherboard is mixing and warming up intake air. Well, could if you put a barrier between intake and air coming off of motherboard... a 1 meter funnel leaning off to the side to get ambient air. :D

Tower coolers are not as problematic because air flows in over RAM and out over motherboard I/O so no mixing to worry about.


So like I posted above. From now on I'm going to monitor cooler intake and not room temperature. ;)
https://hardforum.com/threads/thermalright-axp-100.1732322/page-2#post-1039511052

There are many top down coolers with as many heatpipes and equal cooling ability that cool very similar to tower coolers when they are using air the same temp as tower coolers. Problem is top down coolers by design are much more likey (like almost always) to end up mixing their heated exhaust air with cool air coming to them .. and thus end up giving higher CPU temps. Not because they can't cool as well, but because the air temp into them is several degrees warmer than it is into tower coolers. Anyone who has accurately tested coolers knows there is an almost exactly 1:1 ratio between air temp into cooler and resulting CPU temp as same fan speed and CPU load .. if air into top down cooler is 5c warmer than into comparable tower cooler, then CPU temp will be 5c higher too.

Again, bottom line is not top down quality or ability to cool, it is air temp entering top down cooler is almost always several degrees warmer than into tower cooler .. and it's much easier to keep coolers' heated exhaust air from warming up airflow into cooler with a tower cooler than it is with a top down cooler.
" CPU is 5-7c cooler with fan pulling out of cooler. " Did you measure your VRM temps when the air was blowing down on them vs atower cooler that has virtually no air flow over the VRMs? Ithink you can overcome the hot air getting pulled back into teh cooler by using better case ventilation. My current case (not the one I am building in) has a 230mm fan on the side door blowing directly into the MB/Video card area.
IMO, the price that Thermalright wants, at 80 bucks, is ridiculous.
 
" CPU is 5-7c cooler with fan pulling out of cooler. " Did you measure your VRM temps when the air was blowing down on them vs atower cooler that has virtually no air flow over the VRMs? Ithink you can overcome the hot air getting pulled back into teh cooler by using better case ventilation. My current case (not the one I am building in) has a 230mm fan on the side door blowing directly into the MB/Video card area.
IMO, the price that Thermalright wants, at 80 bucks, is ridiculous.
Well, to be fair this discussion was not about this specific top down cooler. AXP-100 just happened to be one I had data showing how much higher temps were with fan pushing toward motherboard vs pulling air out. All caused by lack of heated exhaust and cool intake airflows. Keep in mid those tests were also done on an open bench test station with TY-140 fan flowing air over it, not in a much worse and hotter case environment. Besides, that $80 model is the all copper 'show-off' model, not normal one that sells for less thant $40 in EU before tax.

Having side fans usually causes hotter rather than cooler air entering coolers. All 180-230mm fans I've tried have been terrible performers .. often a good single 140mm fan will keep system cooler than the big ones do.

Alpenfohn Brocken EVO will fit and is good performer too, if you can find one.
https://www.alpenfoehn.de/images/Pr...84000000148_Dimensions_BrockenECOAdvanced.pdf

There are other quite good 90mm and 120mm fanned tower cooler under 150mm tall, but I can't think of them off the top of my head because I almost always build in cases with 160+mm CPU clearance. Could you post a couple of links to sites you can buy from.
 
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Well, to be fair this discussion was not about this specific top down cooler. AXP-100 just happened to be one I had data showing how much higher temps were with fan pushing toward motherboard vs pulling air out. All caused by lack of heated exhaust and cool intake airflows. Keep in mid those tests were also done on an open bench test station with TY-140 fan flowing air over it, not in a much worse and hotter case environment. Besides, that $80 model is the all copper 'show-off' model, not normal one that sells for less thant $40 in EU before tax.

Having side fans usually causes hotter rather than cooler air entering coolers. All 180-230mm fans I've tried have been terrible performers .. often a good single 140mm fan will keep system cooler than the big ones do.

Alpenfohn Brocken EVO will fit and is good performer too, if you can find one.
https://www.alpenfoehn.de/images/Pr...84000000148_Dimensions_BrockenECOAdvanced.pdf

There are other quite good 90mm and 120mm fanned tower cooler under 150mm tall, but I can't think of them off the top of my head because I almost always build in cases with 160+mm CPU clearance. Could you post a couple of links to sites you can buy from.
I'm doing that research now.
 
Form what I have read, the Scythe Big Shuriken 3 performs poorly given its size.
I've got one on a 3600 and it does pretty well I think. At least for the price. I have it running in pull configuration with a noctua industrial 120 pwm and the shurikan fan as the case exhaust on the outside of the silverstone Rvz03 (the thin silverstone fans are both pushing onto the gigabyte dual fan vega 64 )and playing games like Ark the while systems reaches steady state at about 77C after about 5hrs in game at mostly high settings (some adjustment made to reach 60fps).
 
From what ive read the noctua chromax L9i/a are the best combination of cooling, noise and looks for a low profile cooler.
They aren't going to do any better than the stock 3600 cooler. You'll get a lot quieter operation, however. That said, I can;t find a review for the L9a and the 3600. Seems nobody can come up with a test using that combination.
 
It's worth reviving though. I've been contemplating taking my AIO off and using the

Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4

81OzpWhMNkL._AC_SL1500_.jpg


It has twice the pipes and sink vs the

Noctua NH-L9a.​


I want to do some modding in the top end area, and the AIO take up all of the space in that area. Plus, having air is just one less thing to worry about. I'll put an RGB or ARGB fan on top of the L9A-65, though. Having that Noc L9 would clean things up too. However, one thing I do not care for about the L9A-65 is that the fan clips on. The Chromax L9A screws down on the radiator, which is a lot cleaner looking. Fan clips are so, so 1990s.
3060ti.jpg
 
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Been using a ProSiphon Cooler myself, which is a Vapor cooler that does a good job on cooling my 3970X. I also have a Noctua NH-C14s new in box just in case i need it.
 
It's worth reviving though. I've been contemplating taking my AIO off and using the

Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4

View attachment 449825

It has twice the pipes and sink vs the

Noctua NH-L9a.​


I want to do some modding in the top end area, and the AIO take up all of the space in that area. Plus, having air is just one less thing to worry about. I'll put an RGB or ARGB fan on top of the L9A-65, though. Having that Noc L9 would clean things up too. However, one thing I do not care for about the L9A-65 is that the fan clips on. The Chromax L9A screws down on the radiator, which is a lot cleaner looking. Fan clips are so, so 1990s.
View attachment 449820
What case are you using and what is it's CPU clearance? There are some 120mm fanned tower coolers only 135mm tall, even shorter if using 92mm fan. Thermalright Mini and Silver Soul 135 with 120mm, Silver Soul 110 and Macho 90 with 92mm fan are a couple.
 
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What case are you using and what is it's CPU clearance? There are some 120mm fanned tower coolers only 135mm tall, even shorter if using 92mm fan. Thermalright Mini and Silver Soul 135 with 120mm, Silver Soul 110 and Macho 90 with 92mm fan are a couple.
The case is a Crystal 280X MiniATX/ITX case.
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Crystal-Series-280X-RGB/p/CC-9011137-WW

PXL_20210925_035332098.jpg


Before my new white card shown above. The clearance is 150mm right up against the glass. Really, the AIO isn't bad and you get the extra water block RGB effect. I can take the Enermax decal off the back of the cover plate, also, and use my own if I wanted. Those two you mentioned would fit and also these two:

Thermalright AXP90-X47 White​

Thermalright Assassin King 120 Mini CPU Air Cooler​


The top down cooler is interesting, but the others lack aesthetic appeal, being just wire hung basic towers. The Thermalright AXP90-X47 White would be a perfect choice for my white build. I'd need a different fan for the RGB effects, though. There aren't a lot of ARGB/RGB 92mm fans. I was thinking about a custom water system. However, I'm kinda over this case and build. I'd like to build in this next time, but it's a mid tower, and I've gotten away from mid and larger towers. I like the mini builds. However, this case really does take it to the next level:

Antec Torque White / Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case/ Winner of iF Design Award 2019, Torque Black/White

61Wyc2ljLxL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

Gotta admit, for a mid tower even, this is one bad ass case. I'd love to do a full custom RGB water system in it.
 
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Been using a ProSiphon Cooler myself, which is a Vapor cooler that does a good job on cooling my 3970X. I also have a Noctua NH-C14s new in box just in case i need it.
That thing is huge. It better cool well.
 
I just upgraded from a Ryzen 2600X spire cooler ( Vapor chamber version ) on my R5 3600 to an ID Cooling SE-914-XT which is a 92mm tower cooler somewhere in the 130mm high range. Id have to check the paperwork but I want to say 125mm listed.. My temps went from about 92* stressed to 75* stressed and Cinebench picked up 100 pts. The best part is it is basically Noctua mounting and cost $28 shipped. The ARGB version was about $10 more. It is rated to 150W so it should cool up to about a 5900X should you really need that much..

IMO, the Wraith Prism is really the best 'value' you can get if a top down cooler is needed.
 
I just upgraded from a Ryzen 2600X spire cooler ( Vapor chamber version ) on my R5 3600 to an ID Cooling SE-914-XT which is a 92mm tower cooler somewhere in the 130mm high range. Id have to check the paperwork but I want to say 125mm listed.. My temps went from about 92* stressed to 75* stressed and Cinebench picked up 100 pts. The best part is it is basically Noctua mounting and cost $28 shipped. The ARGB version was about $10 more. It is rated to 150W so it should cool up to about a 5900X should you really need that much..

IMO, the Wraith Prism is really the best 'value' you can get if a top down cooler is needed.
Prism is a good cooler, but it's noisy. Otherwise, it would have been a no brainier.
 
The case is a Crystal 280X MiniATX/ITX case.
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Crystal-Series-280X-RGB/p/CC-9011137-WW

View attachment 450012

Before my new white card shown above. The clearance is 150mm right up against the glass. Really, the AIO isn't bad and you get the extra water block RGB effect. I can take the Enermax decal off the back of the cover plate, also, and use my own if I wanted. Those two you mentioned would fit and also these two:

Thermalright AXP90-X47 White​

Thermalright Assassin King 120 Mini CPU Air Cooler​


The top down cooler is interesting, but the others lack aesthetic appeal, being just wire hung basic towers. The Thermalright AXP90-X47 White would be a perfect choice for my white build. I'd need a different fan for the RGB effects, though. There aren't a lot of ARGB/RGB 92mm fans. I was thinking about a custom water system. However, I'm kinda over this case and build. I'd like to build in this next time, but it's a mid tower, and I've gotten away from mid and larger towers. I like the mini builds. However, this case really does take it to the next level:

Antec Torque White / Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case/ Winner of iF Design Award 2019, Torque Black/White

View attachment 450013
Gotta admit, for a mid tower even, this is one bad ass case. I'd love to do a full custom RGB water system in it.

150mm gives a pretty good selection of tower coolers that will fit. Problem with flat coolers with top down airflow thru them is keeping heated air out of them from mixing with cool airflow to them. Reason for needing to keep heated cooler exhaust away from cool air entering cooler is every degree warmer air entering cooler is translates into same degree hotter CPU is at same fan speed and load. Obviously this is not as much a problem with tower coolers because air enters on front side and exits back toward rear vent, same basic airflow as cases have with front intakes and rear exhaust.

ID-Cooling are good, but not much in white .. and I assume you are looking for something white.

Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi is good, but again not white.

Antec Torque would definitely look nice with ARGB and clear tubing .. if that's what you are into. Personally I like a more subtle functional look. I like white cases as it's easy to see in them, and with good cable / tube management can look quite elegant. But water cooling is so much more expensive and time consuming I use air cooling. I was into water cooling when we used car radiators and aquarium pumps, but moved to air when Thermalright started using heatpipes and doubt I will ever go back to H2O.

Flat coolers with fan moving air away from motherboard instead of toward motherboard usually helps move heated exhaust air away allowing cool air to flow to cooler, but without a vent directly above cooler flat coolers usually run hotter than tower coolers. See post #16 this thread.

Edit:
ID-Cooling SE-214-XT ARGB White
1646316523731.png
 
Last edited:
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150mm gives a pretty good selection of tower coolers that will fit. Problem with flat coolers with top down airflow thru them is keeping heated air out of them from mixing with cool airflow to them. Reason for needing to keep heated cooler exhaust away from cool air entering cooler is every degree warmer air entering cooler is translates into same degree hotter CPU is at same fan speed and load. Obviously this is not as much a problem with tower coolers because air enters on front side and exits back toward rear vent, same basic airflow as cases have with front intakes and rear exhaust.

ID-Cooling are good, but not much in white .. and I assume you are looking for something white.

Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi is good, but again not white.

Antec Torque would definitely look nice with ARGB and clear tubing .. if that's what you are into. Personally I like a more subtle functional look. I like white cases as it's easy to see in them, and with good cable / tube management can look quite elegant. But water cooling is so much more expensive and time consuming I use air cooling. I was into water cooling when we used car radiators and aquarium pumps, but moved to air when Thermalright started using heatpipes and doubt I will ever go back to H2O.

Flat coolers with fan moving air away from motherboard instead of toward motherboard usually helps move heated exhaust air away allowing cool air to flow to cooler, but without a vent directly above cooler flat coolers usually run hotter than tower coolers. See post #16 this thread.

Edit:
ID-Cooling SE-214-XT ARGB White
View attachment 450121
I could probably put some stand off washers on the glass panel and get another 5mm out of it too. The Noc L9A 65 isn't white, so I'm not set on it. I'd have to have a white fan with RGB though. Sure a tower will run cooler for the reasons you say, but cool enough is cool enough. What I wanted to do is find a 92mm to 120mm adapter and put that on top of the NocL9A (not the 65) because the L9A has the screw down fan mounts. Then I could use a 120mm ARGB fan or fan ARGB cover on it. It would look cool too. Also, it would partially block the RAM from the top, but not a huge deal. There are some 92mm towers also, just not in white. Noc also has a 92MM tower. Really nice, but all black.

Noctua NH-U9S chromax.Black, 92mm Single-Tower CPU Cooler (Black)

81iZO1SKzOL._AC_SL1500_.jpg


I think I'll just run the AIO for now. I'll have to remove the board, which means removing all of the custom soldered strips and rerouting everything too, so for now, naw.
 
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The ID Cooling SE 224 ARGB White is listed at 154mm. Their 914-XT coolers are almost identical to the Noctua U9S but, only available in basic nickle/ black and ARGB black
 
I could probably put some stand off washers on the glass panel and get another 5mm out of it too. The Noc L9A 65 isn't white, so I'm not set on it. I'd have to have a white fan with RGB though. Sure a tower will run cooler for the reasons you say, but cool enough is cool enough. What I wanted to do is find a 92mm to 120mm adapter and put that on top of the NocL9A (not the 65) because the L9A has the screw down fan mounts. Then I could use a 120mm ARGB fan or fan ARGB cover on it. It would look cool too. Also, it would partially block the RAM from the top, but not a huge deal. There are some 92mm towers also, just not in white. Noc also has a 92MM tower. Really nice, but all black.

Noctua NH-U9S chromax.Black, 92mm Single-Tower CPU Cooler (Black)

View attachment 450472

I think I'll just run the AIO for now. I'll have to remove the board, which means removing all of the custom soldered strips and rerouting everything too, so for now, naw.
It's hard to keep system quiet with cooler using 94mm fans. Difference is cooling to dBA between 94mm fanned coolers and 120mm fanned coolers is considerable. Much more so than 120mm fanned coolers to 140mm fanned coolers.

The ID Cooling SE 224 ARGB White is listed at 154mm. Their 914-XT coolers are almost identical to the Noctua U9S but, only available in basic nickle/ black and ARGB black
You are correct, ID-Cooling SE-224-XT White is 154 mm tall. I said SE-214-XT ARGB White is 150mm tall, just as specs say.
1646398663935.png

http://www.idcooling.com/Product/detail/id/204/name/SE-224-XT WHITE

ID-Cooling SE-214-XT ARGB White is 150mm tall as specs say in their link below:
1646398719898.png

http://www.idcooling.com/Product/detail/id/281/name/SE-214-XT ARGB WHITE
 
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Yes. However Im pretty sure the 214 is an older cooler. I know the mounting is inferior. I would think there are better options. I think the Vetroo V5 comes in white and is 150mm as I recall. But I can't attest to that being quality
 
Having tested many ID-Cooling coolers I can say their mounts are not at all bad. Not saying improvement isn't possible, but 214 mount is definitely up to the job. Vetroo V5 has 5x heatpipes and does come in white and seems to cool fine.
 
Having tested many ID-Cooling coolers I can say their mounts are not at all bad. Not saying improvement isn't possible, but 214 mount is definitely up to the job. Vetroo V5 has 5x heatpipes and does come in white and seems to cool fine.
I have the 914 and it's mount basically copies Noctua. It's a great unit
 
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