current best air coolers

There's a 7 heatpipe version of the PA 120 SE out now. Its called the Phantom Spirit 120 SE. Not available in the U.S., yet. But Amazon Canada has it.

Also, I just bought a PA120SE to upgrade the cooling in the kids build I did last summer. I really had to work to make the Mugen 5 Rev. B usable for the 12600k (50mv undervolt + limiting the power limit a bit). And I don't think it will make it through Oregon's next 100 degree summer (I gave it to them in the fall).

I wanted to get a Scythe Fuma 2 for a cooling upgrade. As it still has the offset design, to allow you to feature an RGB fan right next to the RGB RAM. But....Fuma 2 don't seem to be available anywhere. So, PA120 SE it is!
 
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It is insane how they are able to sell the PA120 for so cheap. Really there is no other choice when it comes to air coolers. They could easily charge double for it. Been using one in my NAS for awhile and been happy with it. Only noise I hear from it is the spinning rust going.
 
chameleoneel said:
There's a 7 heatpipe version of the PA 120 SE out now. Its called the Phantom Spirit 120 SE. Not available in the U.S., yet. But Amazon Canada has it.

Also, I just bought a PA120SE to upgrade the cooling in the kids build I did last summer. I really had to work to make the Mugen 5 Rev. B usable for the 12600k (50mv undervolt + limiting the power limit a bit). And I don't think it will make it through Oregon's next 100 degree summer (I gave it to them in the fall).

I wanted to get a Scythe Fuma 2 for a cooling upgrade. As it still has the offset design, to allow you to feature an RGB fan right next to the RGB RAM. But....Fuma 2 don't seem to be available anywhere. So, PA120 SE it is!
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That one looks better than the original PA 120. Phantom spirit lol. If it had rgb it would be even better. I wonder how it stacks up against the og in performance.

But doesn't the Fuma 2 perform worse than the PA 120? According to Kanauks test?
 
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xDiVolatilX said:
That one looks better than the original PA 120. Phantom spirit lol. If it had rgb it would be even better. I wonder how it stacks up against the og in performance.

But doesn't the Fuma 2 perform worse than the PA 120? According to Kanauks test?
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The Fuma 2 does perform worse than the PA 120.
However, its still solidly better than the Mugen 5 Rev. B ----- and also has an offset design like the Mugen 5, allowing you to feature an RGB fan next to the RGB RAM. Not covering the RAM.

**The PA 120 SE came in the mail today. No shipping box. Simply its retail box---which is not sealed at all and doesn't even close tightly. Its a wonder it made it here intact and is actually a brand new product!!
 
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The Fuma 2 has a Rev. B out now, maybe that one's in stock? Doesn't seem like a big upgrade though. Different fans.

When I had a 12400, I used the stock Intel cooler. It ran great for what it was with just that. I didn't have one of the fancy BCLK overclocking boards though.

Still have a Mugen 5 in one build, but it's definitely showing its age.
 
chameleoneel said:
The Fuma 2 does perform worse than the PA 120.
However, its still solidly better than the Mugen 5 Rev. B ----- and also has an offset design like the Mugen 5, allowing you to feature an RGB fan next to the RGB RAM. Not covering the RAM.

**The PA 120 SE came in the mail today. No shipping box. Simply its retail box---which is not sealed at all and doesn't even close tightly. Its a wonder it made it here intact and is actually a brand new product!!
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Damn, that's not cool at all. I've ordered probably 6 or 7 of them from Amazon and they have all been inside boxes. None have had packing inside, other than the token airpacker of course.
Be sure to check that the towers aren't bent out of shape.
 
hititnquitit said:
Damn, that's not cool at all. I've ordered probably 6 or 7 of them from Amazon and they have all been inside boxes. None have had packing inside, other than the token airpacker of course.
Be sure to check that the towers aren't bent out of shape.
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I almost wonder if it's better to just have been shipped in the retail box rather than being tossed side to side in the box with the token airpack. I'm surprised they didn't try to cram in it a large plastic envelope like they do to a lot of things that shouldn't be.
 
grabbed before theyre gone or price shoots up. still less than half a d15 up here. ill let you know what it shows up in...

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pendragon1 said:
grabbed before theyre gone or price shoots up. still less than half a d15 up here. ill let you know what it shows up in...

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I'm interested to see if it's ~$12-13 better at cooling than the PA. I guess if you're on the edge it could be, but for average/mainstream CPU usage, it would be similar I'd imagine.
 
kirbyrj said:
I'm interested to see if it's ~$12-13 better at cooling than the PA. I guess if you're on the edge it could be, but for average/mainstream CPU usage, it would be similar I'd imagine.
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for me it was ~$15 cheaper. i didnt catch the pa until it jump up to $60, its currently $78...
edit: actually, we can get it for $42 from another seller. damn...
 
kirbyrj said:
I almost wonder if it's better to just have been shipped in the retail box rather than being tossed side to side in the box with the token airpack. I'm surprised they didn't try to cram in it a large plastic envelope like they do to a lot of things that shouldn't be.
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Yeah I just got a couple open box itx mobos. In their retail box---in a plastic Amazon bag. Not even a bubble bag.

The PA129 SE heatsink seems about as straight as they can be.

The Fuma 2 Rev. B seems delisted, not just sold out.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
But can we get the phantom spirit version even if we are in America?
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Nope. I already tried, well not in Ohio at least. I assume its the same nationally.
kirbyrj said:
I almost wonder if it's better to just have been shipped in the retail box rather than being tossed side to side in the box with the token airpack. I'm surprised they didn't try to cram in it a large plastic envelope like they do to a lot of things that shouldn't be.
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Hahaha, no plastic envelopes yet but I'm sure its just a matter of time! They might as well be tbh. They are usually crammed into a box that's so tight there's very little chance for movement at all (Ive had a couple that did come in giant boxes too). My last 120se, (the one Im using right now) came in a half crushed box. Whoever stepped on, kicked, karate chopped it, missed the hs but smushed the fan/accessory box side. It didn't damage anything but that fan sounds like a smurf on crack at anything above 40%. Sooo yeah.
 
The brand new Asus B650E-I which I ordered from Amazon----did come inside a large box. Well stuffed with air bags, so it would not bounce around. Haven't opened the mobo box yet. Not sure I'm keeping it. *actually, it was even inside a box, inside the big box, along with airbags.
 
chameleoneel said:
The brand new Asus B650E-I which I ordered from Amazon----did come inside a large box. Well stuffed with air bags, so it would not bounce around. Haven't opened the mobo box yet. Not sure I'm keeping it. *actually, it was even inside a box, inside the big box, along with airbags.
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Yea this is how my stuff comes in. Over packaged most of the time.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
Yea this is how my stuff comes in. Over packaged most of the time.
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You guys are fortunate. I got a new mb from Amazon last month and it was packed just like the pa 120s. Squeezed into a box just wide enough to keep it from moving with a single useless strip of air packers.
No issues with thankfully 🙂
 
xDiVolatilX said:
How bout we just wait for the deepcool assassin 4 where they already have the a double pull config so it doesn't block the ram? I may or may not jump on this when it releases if it's priced right

Could be up to $100 which isn't appealing compared to the 39.99 of the peerless assassin fml.
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that lineup looks sick, thanks for linking
 
came in a box with one bubble, fine by me. box has been rotated so the heatsink sits on its side now, other than that no real difference. gen 4!(of idk what).
the fin stacks are a little difference and the got rid of the serrations. pipes are bent a little different due to the extra 1. size is basically identical.
ill do some testing on the weekend, but the only thing i have that isnt custom water cooled is a 8350....
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some pics kinda suck, stupid phone doesnt want to focus correctly...
 
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pendragon1 said:
came in a box with one bubble, fine by me. box has been rotated so the heatsink sits on its side now, other than that no real difference. gen 4!(of idk what).
the fin stacks are a little difference and the got rid of the serrations. pipes are bent a little different due to the extra 1. size is basically identical.
ill do some testing on the weekend, but the only thing i have that isnt custom water cooled is a 8350....
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some pics kinda suck, stupid phone doesnt want to focus correctly...
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Do you live in Canada?
 
Sure you can. I live in Canada and can get most anything. If you are looking at Amazon.ca check out .com too. Most of the time there are better deals. I got my first FC140 the day it was released and bought it from AliExpress and it was installed within 9 days from purchase.
 
freeagentt said:
Sure you can. I live in Canada and can get most anything. If you are looking at Amazon.ca check out .com too. Most of the time there are better deals. I got my first FC140 the day it was released and bought it from AliExpress and it was installed within 9 days from purchase.
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It isn't on AliExpress yet and it's unavailable in the states. You guys up north lucked out for once!
 
pendragon1 said:
came in a box with one bubble, fine by me. box has been rotated so the heatsink sits on its side now, other than that no real difference. gen 4!(of idk what).
the fin stacks are a little difference and the got rid of the serrations. pipes are bent a little different due to the extra 1. size is basically identical.
ill do some testing on the weekend, but the only thing i have that isnt custom water cooled is a 8350....
View attachment 547650 View attachment 547635 View attachment 547636 View attachment 547642

View attachment 547637 View attachment 547638 View attachment 547639 View attachment 547640 View attachment 547641

View attachment 547643 View attachment 547644View attachment 547645
some pics kinda suck, stupid phone doesnt want to focus correctly...
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So the only difference is the peerless has 6 heat pipes and the phantom has 7 heat pipes? Also the black coating on the phantom has the thermalright logo on it? Are those the only differences? Other than the minor ones u mentioned.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
So the only difference is the peerless has 6 heat pipes and the phantom has 7 heat pipes? Also the black coating on the phantom has the thermalright logo on it? Are those the only differences? Other than the minor ones u mentioned.
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yup. i guess theres a tiny bit more surface area due to the fin stack differences but theyre not much different at all. logo is painted vs stamped on the pa120. im guessing it might only be a couple degrees in temp difference.
 
For the money, there really isn't any competition. At least not in Canada. I bought two of them a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with them.

I wish I knew more about thermalright, last summer. I finally got around to replacing the stock cooler for my i5-8400 rigs with a hyper 212 evo. They were over $45 at my local computer store. Had I done a bit more research I would have picked up two Peerless Assassin X's for around $24 each. But maybe they just weren't in stock back then...
 
oneils said:
For the money, there really isn't any competition. At least not in Canada. I bought two of them a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with them.

I wish I knew more about thermalright, last summer. I finally got around to replacing the stock cooler for my i5-8400 rigs with a hyper 212 evo. They were over $45 at my local computer store. Had I done a bit more research I would have picked up two Peerless Assassin X's for around $24 each. But maybe they just weren't in stock back then...
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Hyper 212 were great for the longest time but they got to expensive. You use to be able to get them for $20-25 but the price went up cause of the popularity. It is also lagging behind in cooling performance nowadays.
 
I have a PA120, so no sure if PS120SE would be much of an upgrade. Plus I have a couple FS140s, definitely better than PS120SE. Although if I had neither, this would be a happy medium..
 
I'm getting confused now. So which Thermalright cooler is the absolute best air cooler money aside just performance which one cools the most?

At first I thought it was the peerless assasin but no? I'm considering getting a Thermalright for my 13900KS cause I'm getting tired of dealing with the waterloop so which air cooler is the absolute king of air coolers? (not the noctua i need rgb)
 
oneils said:
For the money, there really isn't any competition. At least not in Canada. I bought two of them a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with them.

I wish I knew more about thermalright, last summer. I finally got around to replacing the stock cooler for my i5-8400 rigs with a hyper 212 evo. They were over $45 at my local computer store. Had I done a bit more research I would have picked up two Peerless Assassin X's for around $24 each. But maybe they just weren't in stock back then...
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You bought 2 of what? Peerless assassin 120s?

What's the X version? But you are on a 8400 that is easy too cool anyway right?
 
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